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Is RJ Harvey the starting running back for the Denver Broncos? Will J.K. Dobbins play in Week 11? Read the RJ Harvey fantasy football outlook and J.K. Dobbins injury updates for Week 11 (2025).
Denver Broncos running back RJ Harvey has been the backup to starting RB J.K. Dobbins (foot) all season, much to the chagrin of those who used a fourth-round pick (or similar) to draft the rookie this season. It made sense, as he was a second-round draft pick.
He's taken a backseat to Dobbins all year, though, never out-touching him and only seldomly scoring double-digit PPR fantasy points thanks to reception volume and touchdowns. But things could change soon, because Dobbins is dealing with a foot injury, and he could be placed on injured reserve.
This leaves just Harvey and RB Tyler Badie as the two active healthy running backs that have actually played in the majority of games this season, while RB Jaleel McLaughlin, who's been active for one contest, figures to get more work moving forward. But will Harvey be the starter?
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Is RJ Harvey The Starting Running Back For The Broncos?
It's pretty clear that he will be. Denver using a second-round pick on him wouldn't make sense if they didn't have big plans for him. His usage so far has been very disappointing, though. In his last six games, he's played between 20 and 32 percent of the offensive snaps.
In that span, he never had more than ten touches, and averaged just 6.5 touches per game, while Dobbins handled 17 touches per contest. That's nearly triple what Harvey had. That's a lot of volume to be absorbed, which means we could easily see Harvey handling nearly 20 touches per contest while Dobbins is out.
RJ HARVEY TO THE CRIB!
DALvsDEN on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/lwVIoXtNoZ
— NFL (@NFL) October 26, 2025
Harvey's showed plenty of explosiveness in his rookie season. On outside runs and receptions, he's been quite productive, and has made multiple explosive plays and scored multiple touchdowns. On inside runs, he's been decidedly less productive, often getting stonewalled at the line of scrimmage.
This could persist for a few weeks -- Harvey being the starter, of course. While we haven't had any formal updates, Dobbins is reportedly being considered for injured reserve for a foot sprain that occurred on a hip-drop tackle (go figure) in Week 10. We'll have to wait for any formal announcement to find out for sure, though.
RJ Harvey Fantasy Football Outlook
In the preseason, he showed an unfortunate tendency to try to bounce runs outside that he should have kept between the tackles That was likely a large driving factor in the team signing Dobbins and continuing to feature him so heavily. It's unclear if the run game will just stall out on A and B-gap runs or if Denver will try to spice things up.
On runs out of the pistol, he's averaged 8.7 yards per carry this year. That average drops to 4.3 YPC from under center and just 1.9 from shotgun. The problem is that he only has had ten carries from pistol formations, but perhaps that will change as the personnel shifts.
The RJ Harvey panic is wild. Dude had ONE clean hole in these 6 carries and still managed 3.6 YPC with only one TFL. That’s not concerning—that’s impressive. People acting like he fumbled 2X. pic.twitter.com/8MbugEakXP
— Forever Broncos (@denver_TD_catch) August 11, 2025
It turns out the Harvey panic was well-deserved. While part of that is just Dobbins continuing to outproduce his expectations, there have been legitimate concerns here, and there's reason to believe that Payton will at least consider not making him the workhorse and continuing to lean on a committee backfield.
Right now, that seems like more of a fear-based take than anything, but we also seemed to think in the preseason that Harvey would easily take over the backfield with Dobbins serving in a secondary role. That obviously didn't happen. It's more for a lack of options that it seems safer to assume Harvey is the workhorse now.
Either way, this is a valuable backfield to have the starter in, as long as he actually has pass-catching upside, so Harvey is a must-start even in a tough matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs based on volume projections alone. If he doesn't perform well next game, then you can start getting worried about his viability moving forward.
Who Should I Start Tool
Not sure who to start? Check out the Who Should I Start tool:
Compare up to four players and we'll tell you who to start...
Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some common Week 11 fantasy football lineup decisions are regarding players like Quentin Johnston, Parker Washington, Jerry Jeudy, Dalton Schultz, Colston Loveland, RJ Harvey. But not to worry, we are here to help make these decisions and build winning lineups in Week 11. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups for Week 11 of the 2025 NFL season. Our free Who Should I Start? tool will help make your fantasy football lineup decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to start... all free! Get your winning lineups set, and make the right decisions.
Week 11 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Quentin Johnston, Parker Washington, Jerry Jeudy, Dalton Schultz, Colston Loveland, RJ Harvey. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 11.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player name. In the second box, search for the second player name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our 'Who Should I Start?' tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, players news, and enhanced search results with data to compare with a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do, is to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circle), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 11 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 11 (2025)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 11 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular Week 11 searches and comparisons from our 'Who To Start' tool for Quentin Johnston, Parker Washington, Jerry Jeudy, Dalton Schultz, Colston Loveland, RJ Harvey compared to others:
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