Why the Miami Dolphins’ running back injuries aren’t problematic

The Miami Dolphins are entering Week 13 of the NFL season with a limited collection of running backs available for practice participation — it has been a rough month for Dolphins backs as the team has tried to find the right mix to keep their offense alive on the ground. Week 12 proved to be a collaborative effort for Miami, with DeAndre Washington, Patrick Laird and Matt Breida all contributing touches. With Myles Gaskin still on injured reserve and Salvon Ahmed nursing a shoulder injury, Miami pieced together some successful chunk gains on the ground against the New York Jets — but did so at the expense of fumbles from both Laird and Breida on the day.

Now, Miami’s most effective back in Week 12, Washington, is nursing a hamstring injury — he was a non-participant in Wednesday’s practice this week for the Dolphins. The bad breaks keep coming for Miami’s run game.

But ultimately, with the way this offense is constructed for 2020, it won’t matter all that much whether it is Gaskin (who is eligible to return from the injured reserve list), Breida, Laird, Ahmed or someone else toting the football in Week 13. Or, ultimately, for the rest of the season. Because Miami’s run game is just simply not very good — and while the team will rightfully pursue balance on offense, the team’s limited stable of backs seems to be pressed up a glass ceiling behind Miami’s young, inexperienced offensive line.

The formula for success running the ball won’t be predicated on who is carrying it, but rather how Miami gets into those looks. The Dolphins had success in Week 12 passing to set up the run; they’ll need more of that in the coming weeks much more so than they’ll need any one particular back from the depth chart to touch the ball a certain number of times.

Rome wasn’t built in a day — neither will the Miami Dolphins be constructed overnight. There’s no question this offense needs to continue to tinker with the running game. But reinforcements can only come in the form of returning players getting healthy at this point in the season — and Miami has had no backs so good that it would seem to indicate any of them can transcend the conditions in the Dolphins’ backfield.

Next man up, Dolphins running backs!