J.K. Dobbins swapped coasts this offseason, moving from the Chesapeake Bay to mere miles from the Pacific Ocean when he joined the Los Angeles Chargers.
The move was like a breath of fresh ocean air, except for the salt. After recovering from another season-ending injury suffered in 2023 -- this time, it was an Achilles -- Dobbins feels good and is ready to shake off any negative associations.
"I'm 100 percent now," Dobbins said Monday of his health status and recovery. "It was like a walk in the park, it was like a sprained ankle. It was very easy, because I had the knee [injury] -- the knee was pretty hard. The Achilles was, I would say, easy, just because that's my mentality. It was pretty easy to me. I've had these injuries.
"It's been a storm the past two years, having great games, and then, the next thing you know, hurt. Got the injury-prone [label] out there, but I think that the storm is over with. I think that I'm going to take off now. There will be no setbacks. The injury-prone thing will be gone, out of the window, again."
Dobbins' career began with great fanfare in Baltimore, where he arrived as one-third of a three-headed backfield known for grinding opponents down on the ground. He lived up to those expectations as a rookie, too, picking up 805 yards and scoring nine touchdowns on just 134 attempts, averaging six yards per carry for a Ravens team that finished 11-5 and reached the playoffs via a wild-card berth.
The optimism tailed off from there, though, as Dobbins suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 2021 preseason, and played just eight games in 2022 due to another knee issue. Finally healthy in 2023, Dobbins again ran into terrible luck, suffering a torn Achilles tendon in Week 1, effectively ending his career in Baltimore with just one season of double-digit games played.
After Baltimore moved on, it was up to Dobbins to find a new home. He followed a familiar face -- former Ravens running mate Gus Edwards -- to Los Angeles, where the Chargers needed backfield reinforcements following the departures of Austin Ekeler and Joshua Kelley.
"I think that (we) complement each other very well," Dobbins said of Edwards. "He can do a lot of stuff, too. A lot of people think that he is just power, power, power, but I think that he has some other parts to his game, too, which will be great. I feel like I can do everything, and when one gets tired, we can roll it in and keep rolling, win some games."
Former Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman -- the mastermind behind Baltimore's past run-first attack that shredded opponents across the NFL -- is filling the same post with the Chargers, too, making for an easy adjustment for Dobbins.
"It gives me a lot of excitement. It's fun to play in his offense," Dobbins said of Roman. "I think that he does have some good things in the passing game, too. Like you said, he sticks with the run, that's the identity. You want an offense that has an identity. You don't want to be looking everywhere else to find your identity, you want to have it. I think that his offense has that. The guys that he builds and puts in there, it complements that idea. I think that it's going to be great."
Ultimately, though, it will be up to Dobbins' health, the essential determining factor as to how successful he can be with his new team. Dobbins is champing at the bit to get back, but also knows he must trust the Chargers' medical staff in the process, especially after learning his lesson about rushing himself back in the past.
"If it's up to me, yes," Dobbins said while laughing when asked if he'd be fully available for training camp. "I had this problem two or three years ago, I'm thinking that I'm full-go, I think that I'm ready to go, and the next thing you know, I'm on PUP.
"Some stuff is above my paygrade. Hopefully, I can start. I think that I'm ready to start at the beginning of training camp, but that is not up to me, as I've learned."
