Can the Dolphins coaches effectively feed Raheem Mostert, De’Von Achane, and Jaylen Wright?
The Miami Dolphins featured a high-flying offense last season but had its wings clipped through seven games. After 59 plays of at least 20 yards in 2023, Miami’s struck a league-low 16 plays of at least 20 yards this year.
There aren’t many bright spots on offense, but the ground game is one unit trending in the right direction. The Dolphins rank ninth with an average of 131.7 rushing yards per game and they’ve been even better of late — bumping that average to 177 yards over the last three games.
Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane headline Miami’s running back room but rookie Jaylen Wright stealing the spotlight in his limited action. He’s carried the ball 29 times for 169 yards and a touchdown over the last four games.
“He’s done a fantastic job,” offensive coordinator Frank Smith said Thursday. “It goes into the process to get to your performance and we knew – like all along what we’ve talked about for him is just getting used to the complexity of an NFL offense versus the offense he came from (in) college. But man, he’s worked his tail off, and [having three good running backs is] awesome for us and a good problem to have.”
Wright’s second on the team with 190 rushing yards and averages 5.3 yards per carry on just 36 attempts. Achane leads the team with 81 carries, and Mostert is second with 45. That said, the rookie has played just nine snaps over the last eight quarters — logging 5.6 yards per play during that time.
“We’re making sure that we have groupings where each [running back] can get involved earlier,” Smith said. “It’s something that we’re being conscientious about.”
