Dolphins 2022 Week 13 Snap Count Observations
What stood out about the Miami Dolphins snap counts from their 33-17 loss against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on Sunday.
-- As a reminder, the inactives were RB Myles Gaskin, QB Teddy Bridgewater, CB Noah Igbinoghene, WR Erik Ezukanma, T Terron Armstead, T Austin Jackson and TE Hunter Long. Armstead (toe/pec), Jackson (ankle), Bridgewater (knee) and Gaskin (shoulder/ankle) all were on the final injury report before the game.
-- The only players who were active but did not seen any action were running back Salvon Ahmed, and offensive linemen Kendall Lamm and James Empey. The latter two were elevated from the practice squad Saturday to provide depth in case of further injuries on the offensive line.
-- Five position players saw their only action on special teams: DB Justin Bethel, DB Clayton Fejedelem, LB Sam Eguavoen, LB Channing Tindall and OL Michael Deiter. Deiter remains the only position player on the roster who has yet to play a non-special teams snap this season.
DOLPHINS OFFENSIVE OBSERVATIONS
-- We have to start with the fact the Dolphins had only 46 snaps on offense, according to the official gamebook, compared to 84 for the 49ers — which explains San Francisco having the ball for more than 40 minutes.
-- Even with the limited number of snaps, it's almost shocking to see tight end Mike Gesicki with only nine offensive snaps. That represented easily the lowest total of snaps of his career, "topping" his previous low of 16 snaps, which happened three times during his rookie season in 2018. Gesicki's snap percentage of 20 also was a career low. It's been said before, but one has to wonder whether the Dolphins could have used the $10.8 million they're paying Gesicki on his franchise tag for another position considering he's playing only 50 percent of the offensive snaps on the season.
-- Back in the lineup after missing one game with a knee issue, Raheem Mostert regained the lead role at running back with 28 snaps compared to 17 for Jeff Wilson Jr. Neither player was much of a factor in the game considering Miami ran the ball only eight times.
-- At wide receiver, the story was Jaylen Waddle being limited to 24 snaps because of ankle problems, but maybe more telling was that River Cracraft more than doubled Cedrick Wilson Jr.'s snap count (20-9). Wilson is playing only 26 percent of the offensive snaps so far this season, which would imagine is not what the Dolphins envisioned when they signed him to a three-year, $21 million in the offseason.
-- For those keeping score, Tua Tagovailoa played 45 of the 46 snaps at quarterback before he was pulled in favor of rookie Skylar Thompson after the 49ers' final score, and Thompson's only snap resulted in an interception.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR EVEN MORE COVERAGE ON THE MIAMI DOLPHINS, CHECK OUT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S MIAMI DOLPHINS PAGE ON SI.COM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOLPHINS DEFENSIVE OBSERVATIONS
-- Safety Jevon Holland, and cornerbacks Xavien Howard and Kader Kohou again played every defensive snap for the Dolphins, and safety Eric Rowe came close with 80 of the 84 snaps.
-- Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler have become absolute studs in the middle of the Dolphins defensive line, and they had the snap count to prove it against the 49ers. Each played 76 of the 84 snaps, each setting a career high by a large margin. Wilkins' previous high was 64 snaps in the 2019 opener against Baltimore and earlier this season against Chicago; Sieler's previous high was 65 snaps in 2020 against the Los Angeles Rams.
-- Among the edge defenders, it was Jaelan Phillips, who got the most work with 55 snaps, but interestingly Andrew Van Ginkel outsnapped veteran Melvin Ingram 31-21.
-- Newcomer Justin Zimmer played 13 snaps along the defensive line, the exact same number he played in his Dolphins debut against Houston.
-- Jerome Baker had a very active game and ended up playing 74 of the 84 defensive snaps, easily the highest number among the inside linebackers, with Elandon Roberts getting 56 snaps and Duke Riley getting 30.
-- We close with those special teams, where Bethel and Elijah Campbell tied for the highest snap count with 27, followed by 24 for Fejedelem. Campbell also played five snaps in the secondary. The highest special teams snap count for an offensive player went to Smythe with 15, followed by fullback Alec Ingold with 12 to go along with his 25 snaps on offense.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for reading. Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest Dolphins news and analysis year-round. Also, you can follow me on Twitter at @PoupartNFL, and that's where you can ask questions for the regular All Dolphins mailbags. You also can ask questions via email at fnalldolphins@yahoo.com.
