The Denver Broncos selected RJ Harvey with the 60th pick of the 2025 NFL draft, much to the dismay of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he's yet to fully break out. He's had his moments, including a three-touchdown day vs. the Dallas Cowboys, for which he was voted NFL Rookie of the Week, but his lack of production as a ball carrier is a problem.
There is still a path to success, and Harvey has done well as a receiver out of the backfield, but running the ball has largely been a disaster, outside of two carries. With J.K. Dobbins on injured reserve for the season, the Broncos have to correct things with Harvey as the No. 1 running back.
Now, Harvey has 61 rushes for 244 yards, or a 4.0 rushing average. On the surface, these are solid numbers, but his two big runs inflate them. He has two individual carries for 50 and 40 yards, accounting for 37% of Harvey’s yardage this season. Those runs still count, but they help illustrate his failure to launch as a ball carrier.
Without those two runs, Harvey averages 2.6 yards per carry, and 3.3 yards per carry is the bare minimum you want from a running back. Those 2.6 yards would be the lowest average in the NFL among running backs with at least 50 carries, according to NFL Pro. Again, the two big runs count, but they inflate the numbers to make it seem like Harvey has been doing better than he has.
Harvey has two rushing touchdowns, a 40-yarder and a one-yarder. His success rate is the best way to highlight how inconsistent he's been, which is based on a running back picking up a certain percentage of yardage that varies by down.
Harvey has a success rate of 31.1%, down from 32% entering the Week 11 game against the Kansas City Chiefs. To be clear, you are looking for around a 45% success rate from running backs, and Harvey isn’t close to that.
In fact, Harvey has the third-lowest success rate among backs with at least 50 attempts, ahead of Woody Marks and Bucky Irving, both of whom are under 30%.
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Denver Broncos running back RJ Harvey (12) runs against the Dallas Cowboys.
Oct 26, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos running back RJ Harvey (12) runs against the Dallas Cowboys in the second half at Empower Field at Mile High. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
Denver has gotten a lot out of Harvey as a receiver, which is excellent. That's likely why he still has a role on this offense and hasn’t been outright benched, but there are still limitations to him in that role, as he can’t block or consistently read assignments. That makes it predictable when he's in the backfield on obvious passing downs.
In terms of target percentage, Harvey ranks eighth among running backs, and his 32 targets are tied for the 15th-most among qualified backs. The 1.5 yards per route are the 15th-most, and Harvey's four receiving touchdowns are tied with Devon Achane as the second-most. Again, Harvey has shown his abilities as a receiver out of the backfield, which were questioned throughout the draft process, and even after Denver drafted him.
Harvey's issues boil down to running the ball. While it's not all his fault, as the Broncos' offensive line was problematic against the Chiefs, and tight end Adam Trautman has been a negative factor all year long in the run game, a lot stems from the rookie. When you turn on Harvey's tape, three major issues pop up that are holding him back.
Patience
Harvey has a lot of burst, but he has to balance that out with patience. Too often, he is quick to the line where the blocking hasn’t had time to set up, and he runs into a scrum and can't get away from it. He has to slow things down, even just a hair, and give the blocking more time to develop.
Again, there are times where the blocking gets beat (looking at you, Trautman), and left guard Alex Palczewski was ineffectual against the Chiefs, but that doesn't account for every Harvey run. He needs to slow it down because when he has shown that patience, he has been picking up 4-plus yards more consistently.
Every RJ Harvey touch in week 11. Saw 65% of the rushes, 38 snaps. pic.twitter.com/5w4gL7gg3b
— Andy Holloway (@AndyHolloway) November 18, 2025
There is a balance required: when the hole is open, he needs to hit it quickly, which helped on those two runs of 40 and 50 yards, but learning when to be patient and when to be quick isn’t coming easily to Harvey.
Vision
Now we arrive at Harvey's vision issues, which have become more noticeable over recent weeks than earlier in the season. He has missed running lanes that have been open, and while they likely wouldn’t have been large runs, they would’ve picked up more than the one or two yards he's been getting.
Contact Balance
The final issue is contact balance and how easy it is for Harvey to bring down. Among 48 backs with at least 60 carries, he has the second-fewest missed tackles forced. He is one of three with under 10, per Pro Football Focus. Harvey also has zero broken tackles for the Broncos this season, according to Pro Football Reference.
Denver needs to find a run game, especially without Dobbins, and Harvey fell flat in his first opportunity to carry the torch. Hopefully, the coaches can help Harvey figure some things out during the Broncos' Week 12 bye.
The Broncos can give Harvey another game, maybe two, but they should be exploring other options as a fail-safe, and Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyler Badie likely aren't it. Harvey might simply need more time to develop the three issues that are holding him back as a ball carrier, but meanwhile, the Broncos have fish to fry.
If it comes to it, the Broncos might need to scour the free-agent running back market or pull from another team's practice squad. Whatever the case, Harvey has a long way to go to prove himself as a runner in the NFL, especially as a starter, but at least his receiving ability gives Denver something to work with.
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