Dolphins 2022 Week 6 Snap Count Observations

Raekwon Davis, Mike Gesicki and Christian Wilkins were among the Miami Dolphins with noteworthy playing time against Minnesota

What stood out about the Miami Dolphins snap counts from their 24-16 loss against the Minnesota Vikings at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday afternoon:

-- As a reminder, the inactives were QB Tua Tagovailoa, RB Myles Gaskin, WR Erik Ezukanma, CB Kader Kohou, T Terron Armstead, DT John Jenkins and TE Durham Smythe. Tagovailoa (concussion), Kohou (oblique), Armstead (toe) and Smythe (hamstring) all were on the injury report heading into the game.

-- The only player who was active but did not seen any action was offensive lineman Kion Smith, who was elevated from the practice squad the day before the game.

-- Six position players saw their only action on special teams: DB Clayton Fejedelem, DB Elijah Campbell, LB Sam Eguavoen, G Robert Jones, C/G Michael Deiter and RB Salvon Ahmed.

DOLPHINS OFFENSIVE OBSERVATIONS

-- The absence of Smythe figured to create a bigger role for Mike Gesicki, and it certainly played out that way. Not only did Gesicki have two touchdown catches against the Vikings, he played a season-high 50 snaps. That topped the 44 snaps he got in Week 2 at Baltimore when his presence was needed as the Dolphins were in catch-up mode throughout the game.

-- Gesicki getting more than twice as many snaps as Hunter Long in a game where the score was pretty close throughout indicates the gap there is between the team's top two tight ends (Smythe and Gesicki) and young players like Long and rookie free agent Tanner Conner. Conner got only eight snaps against the Vikings and didn't help his cause with a second dropped pass in two weeks.

-- At wide receiver, it's obvious by now that Trent Sherfield is the No. 3 guy behind Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, and that was proven again in this game with him getting 52 snaps (67 percent of the offensive plays). What's noteworthy here is that River Cracraft got more snaps (17) than offseason free agent acquisition Cedrick Wilson Jr. (15). Wilson has dealt with minor injuries this season but has yet to make an impact for the Dolphins after signing a three-year contract in the offseason.

-- After Raheem Mostert dominated the snaps against the Jets, there was more balance in this game, with Mostert getting 48 of the 78 snaps and Chase Edmonds getting 31. We should recall, though, that Edmonds dropped two passes against the Jets, which probably led to him giving way to Myles Gaskin, who wasn't even active in against Minnesota.

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DOLPHINS DEFENSIVE OBSERVATIONS

-- The big story on defense for the Dolphins in this game unfortunately was injuries, with CB Nik Needham, CB Keion Crossen, LB Trey Flowers and DE Emmanuel Ogbah all leaving at one point with Ogbah the only one able to return.

-- Because of the injuries at cornerback, which began with Kader Kohou inactive because of an oblique issue, special teams ace Justin Bethel was forced into action in the secondary. Bethel ended up playing 13 snaps on defense, and if you don't think that's significant, consider that represented his highest total since Dec. 24, 2017 when he played 15 defensive snaps for the Arizona Cardinals in a 23-0 victory against the New York Giants.

-- Also at cornerback, 2020 first-round pick Noah Igbinoghene ended up playing the exact same number of defensive snaps as he had against the Jets (31), though he had a higher percentage of the defensive snaps against Minnesota (60-53).

-- Along the defensive line, Christian Wilkins had a really impressive outing and it came on a day when he tied his career high for highest percentage of defensive snaps played at 94 percent. Wilkins, who played 49 of the 52 snap against Minnesota, also was at 94 percent in the forgettable 2020 season finale against the Buffalo Bills.

-- Three players were on the field for every defensive snap — S Jevon Holland, LB Jerome Baker and CB Xavien Howard. That certainly was good news regarding Howard, who was back in the lineup after missing the Jets game because of groin issues.

-- Rookie third-round pick Channing Tindall got on the field on defense for a second consecutive game, but just like the Jets game it was only for two plays.

-- Interesting to note that Flowers ended up playing only one snap before his injury, and on that one snap his pressure caused an incompletion from Kirk Cousins as he was passing out of the Minnesota end zone.

-- We close with the special teams, which were dominated in terms of snap counts by Bethel (28), Duke Riley (28), Andrew Van Ginkel (27) and Fejedelem (22). Conner had the most special teams snaps among offensive players with 19, followed by Sherfield with 18.