The Miami Dolphins are not your average 4-11 football team. Not by a long shot. While most losing teams are eager to blow past the final fleeting moments of football and embrace the offseason, these Dolphins are probably wishing they had more games to play. Miami has gone 4-4 in their last 8 games and along the way has faced continued overhaul to the bottom of their roster, making a weekly tradition of picking over the practice squads of the other 31 NFL teams and the waiver wire to add talent.
Miami isn’t just stashing players, either. They’re playing them. And some how, some way, they’re having success with several of them. Former Washington Redskin and Cincinnati Bengal running back Samaje Perine hopes to be the next. The Dolphins have signed Perine off of the Bengals practice squad yesterday according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport.
The #Dolphins are signing former #Redskins starting RB Samaje Perine off the #Bengals practice squad, source said. He’ll join them this week and will be part of their future in 2020. Miami RB Myles Gaskin (ankle) sustained an injury yesterday.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 23, 2019
Perine is best known for his record breaking performance at Oklahoma, as he once rushed for 427 yards in a single game against the Kansas Jayhawks. With his low build and potent power, Perine’s rushing style could best be described as “violent”. The challenge for Perine, at least in Week 17, will be finding room to run. Without much in the way of lateral quickness, Perine could face many of the same challenges that Dolphins RB Kalen Ballage experienced — if the designated gap isn’t open, Perine may struggle to find room to run.
But this is, more than anything else, another long-term play for the Dolphins. Perine will look to push Ballage as the “big back” in Miami’s backfield next season, along with whoever else the Dolphins choose to acquire via free agency or the 2020 NFL Draft.