Dolphins are seemingly doubling down on confidence in Myles Gaskin
Dolphins shows confidence in 2019 7th-round pick Gaskin as lead running back
Myles Gaskin is the type of player I respect the most in the NFL because nothing he’s acquired has been gifted to him.
Everything the Miami Dolphins’ third-year tailback has, he’s earned, and that is rare in the NFL because a player’s draft status, the contract given, or who drafted or signed them has influence far too often on where a player resides on the depth chart.
Gaskin, a 2019 seventh-round pick, earned Miami’s starting tailback job the hard way — by outperforming a former Pro Bowl player (Jordan Howard), and one of the NFL’s fastest players (Matt Breida) during training camp last year.
From the first game to the last, Gaskin, the University of Washington’s all-time leading rusher, proved no matter who Miami added to the roster he was the best back for the job.
“Been doubted my whole life so it’s ok that you don’t believe me,” Gaskin wrote on an Instagram post back in April on a picture of himself playing against the Patriots.
Don’t be surprised if Gaskin, who rushed for 584 on 142 carries and caught 41 passes for 388 yards, pulls off a sequel this season, even if the Dolphins add a veteran tailback like Le’Veon Bell, Kerryon Johnson or Duke Johnson to the team’s stable of backs, which now includes free agent addition Malcolm Brown and Gerrid Doaks, a former Cincinnati standout Miami drafted in the seventh round.
Gaskin’s production last season hints he can do more as the lead back for Miami’s run-pass optionbased offense.
The only tailbacks who averaged more than Gaskin’s 97.2 yards from scrimmage last season were Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook, Tennessee’s Derrick Henry, Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey, New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara, Green Bay’s Aaron Jones, Cleveland’s Nick Chubb, Jacksonville’s James Robinson, Chicago’s David Montgomery and Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor.
If Gaskin didn’t suffer a knee injury that sidelined him for all of November, and hadn’t caught COVID and missed a game in December, it is possible that he would have finished the 2020 season as one of the NFL’s top five playmakers.
Last season, Gaskin averaged 58.4 rushing yards a game and 4.1 yards per attempt. He averaged 5.3 yards every time he touched the ball, which factors in his 41 receptions for 388 yards and two touchdown catches.
If Gaskin’s numbers from last season were extrapolated out to 16 games, and he were given his 14.2 carries-per-game average, he would have produced 932 rushing yards.
If his 4.1 receptions per game were extrapolated out to 16 games and his 9.5 yards per catch average were factored in, he would have caught 65 passes for 617 yards.
That would bring Gaskin’s 16-game contribution to 1,549 total yards, and would have him ranked as the fourth-most productive offensive weapon in the NFL.
He’d be right behind Henry (2,141), Cook (1,918 yards in 14 games), Kamara (1,732 in 15 games) and ahead of Buffalo receiver Stefon Diggs (1,536 yards) and Montgomery (1,508 in 15 games).
That’s good company to be in. While I didn’t support Miami’s decision to select pass rusher Jealan Phillips over Alabama tailback Najee Harris with the 18th pick, I do understand the team’s thought process.
Even though the Dolphins averaged 3.9 yards per carry, which ranked 29th in the NFL, a pass rusher has more value than a running back.
But Brian Flores is a tailback-by-committee type of coach, and would rather the backfield be shared by a group of backs with varied strengths.
Eric Studesville, the co-offensive coordinator, has a history of grooming young tailbacks to stardom.
And most importantly, the Dolphins’ decision makers have a higher opinion of Gaskin than many outside the organization, and his productivity last season hints he could do more if he stays healthy.
While making these types of statistical projections forces us to stretch our imagination, and doesn’t factor in the brutal nature of the tailback position, which often leads to injuries, that type of production hints that more meat could be on the bone with Gaskin, who turned 24 in February.
“I think I saw a lot of growth from Year 1 to Year 2,” Flores said of Gaskin, who sparingly played as a rookie. “He missed a number of games last year due to injury, but when he was in there, he was productive in the run game, the pass game, and the protection game.
“He’s a hard-working kid,” Flores continued. “It’s important to him and he’s going to do everything possible to get every bit of production out of himself.”