Smash & Flash
At one point in his career Jordan Howard was viewed as one of the NFL’s most promising young tailbacks.
Howard rejuvenated the Chicago Bears’ rushing attack as a rookie in 2016, delivering a Pro Bowl season while rushing for 1,313 yards and 5.2 yards
With the 2020 NFL season fast approaching, the South Florida Sun Sentinel takes a look at 10 storylines to watch for in a 10-part series ahead of the Miami Dolphins’ first day of training camp, which is set for Tuesday, July 28, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
per carry.
“Once upon a time,” Howard said, brushing off his smoldering hot NFL start. “That was a while ago.”
He followed it up with a second consecutive 1,000-yard rushing campaign, but he failed to get into four-digit realm the next two seasons, and the 26-year-old’s production has decreased each year.
Last season, injuries and the emergence of rookie tailback Miles Sanders limited Howard’s production with the Philadelphia Eagles — who traded to acquire him from the Bears before that year — to 119 carries, which he turned into 525 yards and six touchdowns.
Tailbacks typically wear down physically faster than other position players in football because of the brutal nature of the sport, which explains why there’s a belief that Howard’s best years are in his past.
“I really don’t have anything to prove to anybody, just to myself that I can still be that type of player,” said Howard, who signed a twoyear, $6.72 million deal with the Dolphins as a free agent this spring. “[I] just feel like I’m one of the top backs in the game, even [if ] people don’t give me respect or credit.”
This season, Howard will have a chance to prove just that.
He’s expected to share Miami’s backfield with Matt Breida, a three-year veteran the Dolphins traded for during the second day of the 2020 NFL draft.
The goal is for this pair to rejuvenate Miami’s rushing attack, which set franchise lows for production last season.
And they’ll have a realistic chance to do so running behind a re-built offensive line, which was enhanced by the signing of veterans Ereck Flowers and Ted Karras, and the selection of three offensive linemen early in the 2020 draft.
Howard and Breida, who has been clocked with the NFL’s fastest speed (22.3 miles per hour in 2019 and 22.03 in 2018) for a ball carrier according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, are expected to deliver a thunder and lightning presence to the Dolphins’ backfield.
Howard, who measures in at 6 foot, 225 pounds, is respected league-wide as a powerful zone-runner who has grinded out 4.3 yards per carry throughout his four-year career by reading his blocks effectively. But he’s reliant on the offensive line creating running lanes.
Breida, who will be playing on a restricted tender that pays him $3.25 million this season, has averaged an impressive 5.0 yards per carry on the 381 attempts he had with the San Francisco 49ers because he’s a home run threat every time the football is in his hands.
The former Georgia Southern standout, who has struggled to stay healthy throughout his NFL career, has routinely delivered a big run or yards after the catch on his 67 career receptions, which he’s turned into 561 yards and four touchdowns.
Howard and Breida need to stay healthy. They also need to convince new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey they can be the meat and potatoes of Miami’s offense and lay the foundation for an effective play-action passing attack.
When Gailey served as the Dolphins’ play-caller for two seasons under Dave Wannstedt, Miami’s offense delivered 496 carries in 2000, and 473 carries in 2001.
While neither offense produced more than 3.8 yards per carry with Lamar Smith as he team’s leading rusher those seasons the commitment to the rushing attack was consistent.
The last time the Dolphins had a 400-plus carry season was in 2016, when Jay Ajayi served as Miami’s lead back, and the running game was the catalyst for the offense during the team’s last playoff-bound season.
However, in Gailey’s three seasons (2010-2012) as head coach with the Buffalo Bills, the run game wasn’t a focal point until the 2012 season, when C.J. Spiller led a rushing attack that delivering 2,217 rushing yards on 442 carries.
In two seasons as offensive coordinator with the New York Jets (2015-16), Gailey called plays for a balanced attack, one where Chris Ivory produced his lone 1,000-yard rushing season in 2015. That season, the Jets gained 1,868 yards on 448 carries. And in 2016 Matt Forte and Bilal Powell paired well to produce 1,802 rushing yards on 418 carries.
If the Dolphins get that type of rushing production from Howard, Breida and the rest of the team’s tailbacks it could help the Dolphins create one of the NFL’s most efficient, and effective offenses, and that would help Howard redeem his status as an upper-echelon back.