Making sense of the Miami Dolphins running back rotation
One of the biggest surprises of the Miami Dolphins’ early season campaign has been the prominent role afforded to running back Myles Gaskin. It’s been a surprise — the Dolphins went aggressively after upgrading their running back room only to see a player who was on the roster last year command the majority of the reps. Given Miami’s investments in RB Jordan Howard and RB Matt Breida, Gaskin is a living upset for the Dolphins’ personnel groupings.
So what gives? What is it about Gaskin that has the Dolphins ready to keep him (at least for now) at the forefront of the Dolphins’ backfield? Offensive coordinator Chan Gailey spoke with the South Florida media yesterday to discuss the dynamics of the backfield.
“There is only one football. Nobody ever gets it enough. That’s just the way it happens in this game. When you have good receivers, you have a good tight end, you have good running backs, everybody cannot touch it as much as they would like to touch it or as much as anybody would like for them to touch it,” said Gailey.
“You have to do what the defense allows you to do. Matt (Breida) played well yesterday and did some really good things. Myles (Gaskin) continues to do some good things. Jordan (Howard) runs hard for us on the goal line and in some other places. We’re just going to continue to try to do what they do best.”
Perhaps the most telling tidbit there is the designation of Howard running on the goal line. That’s not necessarily an expected role for a player who inked a 2-year deal worth nearly $10M this offseason, yet that is where Howard has commanded the majority of his work. And, to his credit, he has two rushing touchdowns this season. But he’s averaging 0.8 yards per carry on 13 carries along the way. An inconvenient truth? Miami’s run blocking on offense isn’t very effective yet. Rookie Solomon Kindley is an impressive contributor from a power perspective, but he’s still raw. The same can be said for Austin Jackson. Ted Karras has been erratic early on as well.
The Dolphins can’t hit their landmarks and win gaps with the consistency needed right now for Howard to find room to run. So the reps go more frequently to Gaskin and Breida. And Gaskin seems to be Miami’s player of choice on passing downs as well — so when you consider this offense has been trailing for much of the early season, it makes sense that Gaskin is the guy getting the call.
