Sean Payton smirked, the upturned mouth a tell for the 205-pound ace hidden up his sleeve.
“There’s that saying,” Payton said Wednesday, asked on rookie RJ Harvey’s development. “‘You haven’t seen anything yet.’”
Anything arrived on Sunday, the making of a true three-down back taking shape inside a muscled-up gameplan against the Raiders.
The Broncos saw Harvey as a runner, first and foremost, when they drafted him out of UCF in the second round in April. They saw the balance. The vision. Everything else — Harvey’s potential as a pass-catcher, Payton said Sunday — came later. And yet, for much of his rookie season, that everything else came first in Harvey’s development: change-of-pace runs to the outside, choice routes out of the backfield, pass-protection.
When starting running back J.K. Dobbins suffered a Lisfranc injury in a Week 8 win over the Cowboys, these Broncos needed the pieces of Harvey’s newfound role to click back with what he did best at UCF. Run. And run hard. But for two games against the Chiefs and Commanders, even as he contributed in the red zone and passing game, Harvey was bottled up on the ground: 2.7 yards per carry.
Against the Raiders, though, Payton deployed Harvey as his battering ram behind a mighty front. Denver turned often to heavier and run-blocking-oriented groupings against Las Vegas, a 2-10 team that nonetheless flummoxed the Broncos back in a previous November matchup. And Harvey bludgeoned his way to 75 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown in the Broncos’ 24-14 win, adding six catches for 25 yards through the air.
“The dude’s a freak,” left tackle Garett Bolles told The Post after the game. “I mean, there’s a reason why we drafted him the way we drafted him. He’s just getting better and better.”
The rookie has swapped many hats in 2025, learning the intricacies of pass-protection and route-running while working behind Dobbins in a change-of-pace role. On Sunday, he finally tugged all those hats on at once. Payton drew up the first play of the game for him, a well-screened 11-yard swing pass that’s become an increasingly large part of the Broncos’ offense. Three plays later, quarterback Bo Nix swung the ball to Harvey again on a checkdown on a 3rd-and-3.
There was no hope, here. Raiders linebacker Jamal Adams read Nix perfectly and jolted Harvey as soon as he touched the ball, a full 213 pounds ramming him at full speed.
Harvey backpedaled a few steps, turned, and drove Adams into the grass in Vegas, wheeling away for a first down and a four-yard gain that felt like 40.
“He’s got good contact balance,” Payton said Sunday.
Big-time effort by RJ Harvey to stay on his feet to pick up first down
DENvsLV on CBS/Paramount+ pic.twitter.com/QQCd0aD3R3
— NFL (@NFL) December 7, 2025
That played out for four quarters Sunday, in another important large-scale development to the Broncos’ stretch run. The Raiders threw heavy doses of heavier defensive personnel at the Broncos. Payton adjusted by deploying consistent doses of run-block-oriented personnel groups himself, and having Nix check into runs at the line of scrimmage if the Raiders were in their base defense. The result: Harvey received 13 of his 17 carries against a “stacked” box Sunday — eight or more defenders near the line of scrimmage.
Harvey came into Week 14 averaging just 2.9 yards per contact against stacked boxes, according to Next Gen Stats. Against the Raiders, he churned for 60 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries (4.6 yards per carry) on such runs, repeatedly hitting inside holes and pushing piles for extra yardage.
“Doesn’t go down very easily,” Bolles said. “He just is a wrecking crew, man. And it was just a moment of time until he hit his stride.”
In Week 13, Harvey turned down a couple opportunities to hit inside holes for chunk yardage and instead tried to bounce runs outside, resulting in an inefficient day despite two touchdowns: 35 yards on the ground on 13 carries. Teammates and coaches have praised Harvey’s IQ throughout the season, though. And the rookie focused clearly Sunday against Las Vegas in finding the gaps in the trenches.
Harvey’s held up well in expanded pass-protection situations in the last three games, too. And for the Broncos to keep winning ugly, they’ll need Harvey to keep playing like a vet.
“He’s grown up quick,” Payton said, “because of the injury to J.K.”
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