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Kris Rhim, ESPN
LOS ANGELES — Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins suffered a sprained MCL and is expected to be out Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday.
Dobbins will be week-to-week moving forward, the source told Schefter.
Dobbins sustained his injury in the first half of the Chargers’ 30-23 loss Monday night to the Baltimore Ravens and didn’t play in the second half. He had 40 yards on six carries before the injury.
The injury came in perhaps the most important game of the year for Dobbins, who was playing against his former team. The Ravens let Dobbins, 25, walk last offseason after he played in just 24 of a potential 73 games since the Ravens drafted him in 2020.
Instead, Baltimore signed former All-Pro running back Derrick Henry, who ranks second in the NFL this season with 1,325 rushing yards. Dobbins signed with the Chargers for one year and $1.61 million with just $50,000 guaranteed, a deal that reflected how much his stock had fallen around the league because of injuries.
But Dobbins had been amid a career renaissance in L.A., with Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh campaigning for him to be the Comeback Player of the Year. Dobbins’ 2023 season ended early after he sustained a torn Achilles tendon in the Ravens’ season opener.
“To watch him come back even stronger, quicker, faster than before the injury, what a testament to his will,” Harbaugh said earlier this year. “It’s just incredible.”
Dobbins ranks fourth in the AFC in rushing (12th in the NFL) with 766 yards, averaging 4.8 yards per carry, and has scored eight rushing touchdowns.
With Dobbins sidelined, running back Gus Edwards will likely get the bulk of the carries against the Falcons.
The Chargers (7-4) are in second place in the AFC West.