The Miami Dolphins are stacked with a plethora of talented running backs, and head coach Mike McDaniel is not ruling out the possibility of utilizing more than just two starters in the upcoming season.
“I mean, who says we have to stop at two?” McDaniel exclaimed to reporters. “Maybe we can just have four. I think you have to let the players determine who gets the ball and how frequently and how much during the game, and that’s very important. I think the cool thing when you have a position group that on the front end you know by NFL standards is very, very talented — one of the most, if not the most talented that you can remember or you’ve been on teams with — you don’t worry about how that is going to unfold. You let it unfold and it’s always very obvious.”
Leading the pack are Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane, but the Dolphins also boast a deep running back room with Jeff Wilson Jr., Salvon Ahmed, Chris Brooks, and rookie Jaylen Wright, a fourth-round pick in the 2024 draft.
“You can tell by how people execute their blocks and their belief of the player carrying the ball and you have to be able to be open-minded to how it plays out,” McDaniel explained. “So I think the residuals of a deep room, you can see on each individual player. I’m seeing for instance some of Jeff Wilson’s best ball that I’ve seen him play. I worked him out as a player in North Texas back in 2018 and some of his best stuff has been in this camp and I can’t help but attribute that to the overall talent of the entire room. So it’s something that you just keep coaching, you keep seeing how much guys’ games can develop. You don’t put a ceiling on that because guys will continue to surprise you in a positive manner if you let them and we just know that a strength of ours can be handing the ball off to some pretty good backs and we just go from there.”
In the recent preseason opener, rookie Jaylen Wright showcased his potential with 10 carries for 55 yards, while Chris Brooks also impressed with 12 carries for 40 yards. Mostert, Achane, and Ahmed did not see any action in the game, leaving fans eager to see the full depth of talent the Dolphins possess in their running back stable.