J.K. Dobbins: “Whenever they want to let me out the cage, it’ll be the right time”

Since the first day of training camp, Baltimore Ravens running back J.K. Dobbins expressed his desire to be off the sidelines and practicing. With 30 minutes remaining in Day 1 of training camp, Dobbins, who was on the Player Unable to Perform list, joined the field in uniform and was speaking with Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh. He then spoke to General Manager Eric DeCosta on the sideline, who was in conversation with Owner Steve Bisciotti. After 10-15 minutes, he left with a trainer and Harbaugh was asked about the exchange following practice.

“Yes, J.K. definitely wants to go,” Harbaugh said. “He’s made it very clear, and he’s not just clear in the fact that he tells everybody all the time. I told him again today, ‘I know how you feel about that. You’ve told me.’ But that’s up to the doctors and him, and they’ll work it out. As soon as he’s back out there, we’ll be coaching him really hard. He’s doing an individual period with the trainers right now.”

Quite possibly, the words most used by Dobbins when speaking with the media has been “patient” and “patience.” He had to be patient with the rehab. Patient about when he was coming off PUP. Patient with individual drills and patient on when he would play. However, It appears his patience has worn thin, following the Ravens 19-17 win over the Bengals, where Dobbins played his fewest snaps (26).

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On Thursday, Dobbins was asked about how he felt about not getting the carries he may have had before the injury.

“It’s funny that you say that. I’ve never had a game where I had more than 15 carries… throughout my whole career,” Dobbins said with some . “It’s me being patient. I gotta keep doing that. Whether it’s the organization protecting me and being very cautious—which I really appreciate cause I could be somewhere where they don’t care about me but they do here. And sometimes it can be hard as an athlete and a competitor that I am, because I want to be the best. I just have to keep being patient and keep working hard and whenever my numbers called I do what I do.”

Dobbins was then asked what he thinks he can do to prove that he’s ready for a greater workload.

“I just [have] to keep performing. Just, keep performing,” Dobbins said. “Whenever they want to let me out the cage, it’ll be the right time and I trust them. As long as we keep winning, I’m fine.”