DENVER — Even if I trust J.K. Dobbins’ pinky, I don’t trust his hammy.

Jonah Coleman’s time is coming. And coming soon. If you’re Broncos coach Sean Payton, why wait? Start your rookie tailback in the Walmart Bowl against the Rams on Sunday night, and let the Great Value chips fall where they may.

“I think all three of those (running backs) we’re discussing can be (a) bell cow, handle a majority of the carries,” Payton offered Monday during his weekly morning-after conference call.

“Yes, I think there’s a lot ahead of us this week relative to who our runners are going to be.”

Don’t over think it. Dobbins is the best dude. Really. Candid. Thoughtful. Forthright. Almost every trait you want out of an NFL RB1, he’s got. Speed. Burst. Power. Vision. Blocking. Receiving.

Just not “Availability.” Or “Health.”

“I know a lot of people always say, ‘Oh, he’s good for the first 10 weeks.' Like, I’ll be in the top three (in rushing) for the first 10 weeks, right?” Dobbins told us at the start of training camp in July. “Well, (in 2026), forget a top three. I’ll keep saying it. People think I’m crazy, but I’m going to be No. 1 (in the league). And I’m going to keep it there for the whole year. Seventeen games.

“Whoever has my (voodoo) doll … they’re done … Like, it’s just done. I’ll pinky-promise all of you (reporters) … if (17 games) happens, I’ll buy you a drink, or whatever you need.”

At the end of the third quarter of this past Sunday’s 20-13 comeback win over Jacksonville, Dobbins trudged to the locker room with a hamstring injury.

He never returned.

So much for that drink.

NFL insider Tom Pelissero X.com-ed Monday that he’s hearing that Dobbins was “good.” Me? I’ll believe it when I see it. I also believe the stats. And after two games, the numbers for the Broncos’ top three backs look like this:

— First-down carries: Coleman, 2.2 yards per rush with a score; Dobbins, 5.3 per rush; RJ Harvey, 6.0 per rush.

— Second-down carries: Coleman, 6.5 yards per rush; Dobbins, 2.5 per rush; Harvey, no attempts (one catch for 4 yards).

— Second-half carries: Coleman, 4.8 yards per rush; Dobbins, 5.3 per rush; Harvey, 5.0 per rush.

— Carries when leading or tied: Coleman, 5.1 yards per rush; Dobbins, 4.8 per rush; Harvey, 6.0 per rush.

— Carries inside the opponents’ 19: Coleman, 2.0 yards per rush with one score; Dobbins, -0.3 per rush; Harvey, no attempts.

I believe the tape. Coleman didn’t just tread water in J.K.’s absence against the Jags. The kid excelled.

On the rookie’s first NFL rushing touchdown, a 3-yard dive that gave the Broncos a 19-13 lead, he finished the play by striding to the back of the end zone, raising his right elbow high, and giving the fans in the end zone the Mile High Salute.

Turns out Coleman and the great Terrell Davis share a marketing rep. Young man does his homework on Mile High history, too.

“You just have to pay respect to the guys that came before you,” Coleman told reporters after the game. “(TD and I) talked before, talked a couple of times. He’s one of the best to ever to do it. I just felt like I could pay my dues and pay my respects because, at the end of the day, you are playing for something bigger than yourself.”

Something bigger than yourself.

Falling in love yet?

You should be. The Jaguars’ defense in Week 1 limited Cleveland to 87 yards on the ground and five rushing first downs. Over the final 15 minutes of Week 2, Coleman carried it eight times for 38 yards and a score, averaging 4.8 per tote. While the Broncos were nursing a seven-point lead over the final 7:21, Coleman rushed it six times for 33 yards (5.5 per carry). It was textbook, methodical, professional, good old-fashioned clock-killing. At its finest.

And the rook could’ve had more yards, too — but he sacrificed his stats in order to keep the clock moving. On a second-and-11 jaunt with 2:35 left and the Broncos up 20-13, he took the handoff from Bo Nix, bounced outside, found a rush lane and exploded up the field for a 12-yard gain.

Then the smarts kicked in. With Jacksonville defender and former CU Buffs star Travis Hunter closing in and time ticking away, Coleman had options. He could’ve lowered his shoulder and bowled over the skinnier defensive back. He could’ve juked No. 12. He could’ve dodged the ex-Buff and tried to extend his yardage by running out of bounds.

Instead, Jonah Coleman made like Vince Coleman. The Broncos rookie went to the ground immediately in a baseball slide, one arm on the ground, the other cradling the rock, before Hunter could push him out of bounds or try to poke the ball free.

“Jonah played very smart for a young kid, especially at the end there,” Nix said Sunday. “When everybody knows we’re running the football, he has to protect the football, run in-bounds, a lot of things are going through his head while he’s trying to run the ball well … you can tell he does a really good job of paying attention and he’s really smart and he’s got a great football IQ.”

When Coleman returned to the huddle, Super Bo greeted him with an attaboy slap across the helmet. In this AFC, even 25 seconds is probably too much time for the conference’s elite quarterbacks to work with. Thanks to Coleman’s headiness, Jacksonville QB Trevor Lawrence never got the ball back.

“We work on four-minute (scenarios), but that certainly didn’t feel like a rookie series, if you will,” Payton said after the game. “(Coleman’s) play right at the end, staying in bounds, that was something you cover, but maybe he doesn’t get those same (situational) reps in practice.”

You wouldn’t have known it. The eyes don’t lie. Neither does the back of a football card. Dobbins has missed 31% of the regular-season games his NFL teams have played from 2022-25. Coleman, meanwhile, was held out of one game last fall because his ankle got rolled, returned to the lineup, and played hurt after that. He didn’t skip a contest in ’24, ’23 or ’22.

“J.K. always preached to me, ‘Be ready for your opportunity,'” Coleman said after the game. “‘Be ready for your moment and take full advantage of it. You never know when your number is going to be called.'”

Call No. 20, Coach. Feed him. You’re only delaying the inevitable. And in this league, pinky-promises only go as far as your hamstrings can carry them.

____

©2026 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.