The Miami Dolphins’ 2020 season figures to be a whole lot more fun than the 2019 year — even if the team doesn’t rack up wins at an exponentially faster rate than last year’s team did. The Dolphins battled the narrative last season that the team was “tanking” — and for a while it appeared as though perhaps general manager Chris Grier had gone too far in tearing down the roster. There’s little question of Grier’s intent these days — the Dolphins were much more aggressive in adding talent and took advantage of the team’s embarrassment of riches in the NFL Draft to add eleven new players into the fray.
Each unit for the Miami Dolphins figures to be, at the very least, equal to what they were last year. No position group can be pointed to as getting worse, as Miami didn’t lose significant free agents and retooled several key positions with young talent.
One area of the Dolphins’ roster that should be vastly improved is the team’s running back stable. After a disastrous 2019 campaign that saw the Dolphins unable to move bodies along the line of scrimmage. Some of the shortcomings of the running game fall upon the offensive line, but the Dolphins’ backfield wasn’t especially talented, either. The team added two backs this offseason in hopes to ignite the running game and, along with a brand new offensive line, Miami looks to be better off.
But who will lead the team in rushing yards?
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
Don’t laugh — this man led the Dolphins in rushing last season with 243 yards and 4 scores. But let’s also be honest: Fitzpatrick led Miami in rushing last year because he was running for his life. The Dolphins would have to see the line and backfield go nuclear once again for Fitzpatrick to stand a chance on this front, although if it did we may see more Fitzpatrick than we do Tua Tagovailoa this season.
Bold prediction: 120 rushing yards (5th on team)
RB Matt Breida
Breida is a home run hitter who has averaged over 5 yards per carry in each of his last two seasons. Getting primary ball carrier responsibilities has been the catch for Breida, who started just 18 games in three years in San Francisco and averaged 10 rushing attempts per game in his last two seasons there.
He’ll need to continue to hit home runs if he’s going to lead the team in rushing this season; as his speedy running style isn’t exactly an ideal fit to run downhill between the tackles, which we should expect to see a lot of from the Dolphins. With all of the powerful blockers added to Miami’s offensive line, the tea leaves indicate that Miami will run at the opposition, not necessarily running a lot of wide and outside zone concepts, where Breida’s fit is more pure.
He’s likely to be the change of pace back in Miami.
Bold prediction: 600 rushing yards (2nd on team)
RB Jordan Howard
While Breida has averaged 10 attempts per game over the last two seasons, Jordan Howard averaged over 16 attempts per game over his first three seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. Those three years yielded three seasons in excess of 250 attempts — he’s going to shoulder the brunt of the running game.
A physical runner, Howard will do the dirty work between the tackles and as a result is likely to see the most touches and churn out the most yards. He missed 6 games in 2019 with the Philadelphia Eagles, making him expendable as young RB Miles Sanders stepped up in his absence — but so long as Howard stays healthy he’s going to be a key cog for Miami in the ground game this season.
Bold prediction: 920 rushing yards (team leader)