Dolphins 2022 Week 15 Snap Count Observations
What stood out about the Miami Dolphins snap counts from their 32-29 loss against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium on Saturday night.
-- As a reminder, the inactives were QB Teddy Bridgewater, WR Erik Ezukanma, S Eric Rowe, DB Elijah Campbell, RB Jeff Wilson and WR River Cracraft. All but Ezukanma were on the final injury report of the week.
-- For a second consecutive game, the only players who were active but did not seen any action were QB Skylar Thompson and T Eric Fisher.
-- Five position players saw their only action on special teams: LB Sam Eguavoen, LB Channing Tindall, RB Myles Gaskin, OL Michael Deiter, T Greg Little and TE Tanner Conner. Deiter remains the only position player on the roster who has yet to play a non-special teams snap this season.
DOLPHINS OFFENSIVE OBSERVATIONS
-- For a third consecutive game, the Dolphins offense didn't get anywhere near as many snaps as their opponent, though the margin this time was 78-59 as opposed to 80-51 against the Chargers.
-- With Wilson out, Raheem Mostert got the bulk of the work load at running back as expected — and he obviously made the most of it. Mostert played 45 of the 59 snaps, with Salvon Ahmed getting 14.
-- At wide receiver, what's noteworthy is that Braylon Sanders got as many snaps (13) after being elevated from the practice squad for the game as offseason acquisition Cedrick Wilson Jr. The return on investment for Wilson continues to be less than desirable.
-- It's nothing, however, like what keeps happening with tight end Mike Gesicki, who played a paltry 12 offensive snaps against the Bills. It's now 41 snaps for Gesicki over the past three games, matching his total for the Week 12 game against the Houston Texans. Again, this is for a player who the Dolphins are paying almost $11 million after applying the franchise tag on him.
-- Also at tight end, Hunter Long was active for the first time since the Week 9 game against Chicago, though he played only six snaps on offense with none on special teams. Durham Smythe got the bulk of the work at tight end with 38 snaps.
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DOLPHINS DEFENSIVE OBSERVATIONS
-- Starting cornerbacks Kader Kohou and Xavien Howard were the two players who played all 78 defensive snaps.
-- Safety Jevon Holland, who came having played all but one of the defensive snaps all season, missed 11 snaps against the Bills after leaving the game with a neck injury in the second quarter. He did return in the second half wearing a neck brace.
-- Rookie free agent Verone McKinley III started at safety opposite Holland in the absence of Rowe and played 67 snaps, the same amount as Holland
-- In the lineup for the first time since Week 9, 2020 first-round pick Noah Igbinoghene played 33 snaps (42 percent) in the secondary, his second-highest snap count of the season. Igbinoghene made his second start of the season with the Dolphins opening in a 2-4-5 alignment.
-- Up front, it was another busy game for Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler, who played 69 and 65 snaps, respectively. Raekwon Davis was next for snaps, but way behind with 25.
-- At linebacker, what stood out was Melvin Ingram played only 22 of the 78 snaps (28 percent). Andrew Van Ginkel also got only 15 snaps on defense, as the Dolphins went mostly with Jaelan Phillips (60 snaps) and Bradley Chubb (56) among edge defenders.
-- As always, we close with the special teams, where Justin Bethel and Clayton Fejedelem tied for the highest snap count with 25, followed by 21 for Duke Riley. The highest special teams snap count for an offensive player went to Smythe with 14, followed by wide receiver Trent Sherfield with 11 to go along with his 32 snaps on offense.
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