Are Miami Dolphins running backs good enough? Exploring the team’s backs and how they look
The most puzzling part of this past Dolphins offseason, aside from the jettisoning of linebacker Kyle Van Noy?
Probably the decision not to add a starting-caliber running back and again bypass selecting one in the first two days of the draft.
Miami’s decision to pass on available free agents (such as Chris Carson) and not take any of the draft’s consensus top three backs (Najee Harris, Travis Etienne and Javonte Williams) speaks to the Dolphins’ faith in Myles Gaskin, Salvon Ahmed and newcomer Malcolm Brown, a former Rams backup.
It also speaks to the Dolphins’ belief that adding speed at receiver (Will Fuller, Jaylen Waddle) will help the running game because safeties cannot play as close to the line of scrimmage. “It definitely could open the box,” Gaskin said.
What’s clear is this: The Dolphins’ running game must be better than a year ago. Not only did the Dolphins average just 3.9 yards per carry (27th in the league), but they averaged just 1.4 yards after contact per rushing attempt, which was worst in the league. By comparison, the AFC East champion Bills averaged 2.3 yards after contact.
Gaskin averaged 2.54 yards after contact, which was 83rd of 142 backs. Salvon Ahmed averaged 2.32 after contact, which was 107th of 142. Brown, for the Rams, averaged only 2.18 yards after contact last season, which was 115th of 142.
Dolphins running backs broke only 19 tackles all year, per profootballreference. What’s more, Miami was just 19th in rushing yards before contact, at 2.5.
Miami’s longest run of the year went for 31 yards, worst of any team in that category. And 17.9 percent of Dolphins runs were stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage, which ranked 21st.
So why did the Dolphins stick with this group? One reason was the lack of top running backs in free agency. Another was how the draft board fell; Miami believed one of the top backs might be available with the 36th pick, but Denver traded up to 35 to take Williams.
And another is appreciation for Gaskin, who averaged 97.2 yards from scrimmage per game, which was 10th for players with a minimum of five games. And the Dolphins also liked what they saw in Ahmed, who averaged 4.3 yards on 73 carries, and believe Brown is better than a pedestrian backup.
Keep in mind that PFF ranked Gaskin 26th and Ahmed 36th of 70 qualifying NFL running backs.
“Myles is awesome,” running backs coach Eric Studesville said this week. “I love who he is. I hated him getting hurt last year. Such a freak deal, last play of the game, hit on the side of the knee. He gives you everything he has the entire day.”
One key with both Gaskin and Ahmed: They must be available more. Gaskin missed six games (a couple were due to COVID-19, three more with that knee injury) and Ahmed missed three of nine games after being elevated to the active roster.
“I want to be available,” said Gaskin, who ran for 584 yards last season (that 4.1 per carry was 40th in the league) and caught 41 of 47 targets for 388 yards. “I know that’s hard to do in the NFL but over this offseason, I’m just trying to prevent a lot of things. I’m eating a lot better and stretching, doing Pilates.”
The running backs that Gaskin has tried to model himself after? Former Chargers star LaDanian Tomlinson and former Dolphins running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush.
With Ahmed, the Dolphins are glad they moved him to their 53-man roster last October when the Chargers tried to poach him off Miami’s practice squad. He flashed last season by rushing for 85 yards against the Chargers and 122 against the Patriots.
His pass blocking must improve: He allowed two sacks and four pressures in just 29 pass blocking opportunities. Conversely, neither Brown nor Gaskin allowed a sack in nearly 70 pass-blocking snaps last season. “Second year, you should get better,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed also is an accomplished rapper; he has contributed to two albums with the help of a Seattle friend who owns Breaking Records studio.
Brown — who signed a one year deal for $1.75 million — started only two games in six years with the Rams and was used on 42 percent of the Rams’ offensive snaps last season, mostly in obvious passing and third-down situations. That 42 percent was by far his highest offensive usage in six years with the Rams; he had never before topped 20 percent.
His 4.0 career per carry average (4.1 last year) is solid, and he’s considered a physical, capable blocker. “Malcolm has been great in the room,” Studesville said, mentioning how helpful he is in pass protection.
Though he’s a competent receiver, he has been thrown only 61 passes in six years, with 43 catches for a 7.6 average.
He gives Miami a big physical back (222 pounds, compared with the 200-pound Gaskin and 196-yard Ahmed), but his short-yardage numbers have been average. On 50 occasions in his career, Brown has been handed the ball when his team needed between 1 and 3 yards for a first down (or touchdown), per Profootballreference. He has converted 27 of those, with nine touchdowns.
“I’m excited to have his knowledge, his wisdom,” Gaskin said of Brown.
Former teammates rave about him: “He’s a guy that does nothing but step in and rise to the occasion every time we need him,” Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth said during Brown’s time in Los Angeles.
Also new to the room: Jordan Scarlett and Gerid Doaks.
Scarlett, a former Carolina fifth-round pick who grew up in Fort Lauderdale and attended St. Thomas Aquinas, has four career carries for 9 yards, all with the Panthers in 2019. He was cut by the Panthers last August, joined Detroit’s practice squad Dec. 16 and signed with Miami a month later.
He has looked good in camp as a runner but has dropped multiple passes as a receiver out of the backfield.
Playing for his hometown team is “definitely unreal to me,” he said. “I like to soak it in every day and take it every day. I’m happy to be a Dolphins for sure.”
Doaks, one of the Dolphins’ two rookie seventh-round picks, averaged 4.7 yards per carry for Cincinnati last season, rushing for 673 yards with seven touchdowns. He averaged 5.2 yards in his college career. As a receiver, he caught 36 passes for 407 yards (an 11.3 average) with four touchdowns. “I bring power,” he said.
Doaks — who was Mel Kiper Jr.’s 37th-best running back and Todd McShay’s 32nd in this draft — has run the ball hard in this camp.
Scarlett and Doaks are immersed in a battle for a roster spot with incumbent Patrick Laird, whose carries plunged from 67 in 2019 to 13 in 2020. He played just 14 percent of Miami’s offensive snaps last season, compared to 27 percent in 2019.
The Dolphins moved on from Matt Breida (who signed with Buffalo) and DeAndre Washington (an October acquisition from Kansas City who averaged just 3.1 per carry on 28 attempts as a Dolphins).
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 4:30 PM.
