Dolphins Week 1 Snap Counts ... And What They Mean
Free agents Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah were brought in to help the Dolphins as edge defenders, and they got a heavy dose of action in the season opener.
That might be the biggest takeaway from the snap counts for the Week 1 game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium, which ended in a 21-11 loss for the Dolphins.
Lawson led all defensive linemen with 60 defensive snaps — out of the 64 snaps the New England offense had. That comes out to 94 percent, a very high rate for a defensive lineman, even one on the edge.
Ogbah wasn't far behind with 55 snaps (86 percent).
Both of them led the Dolphins defensive linemen, with Davon Godchaux third with 44 snaps, followed by Christian Wilkins (who had a big game) with 43, rookie Raekwon Davis with 27 and Zach Sieler with four.
Another snap count that was noteworthy on defense was cornerback Xavien Howard getting only 27 snaps. Howard, of course, started camp late because of his recovery from knee surgery, though it's also entirely possible the Dolphins didn't play him more because New England ran the ball so much.
Rookie third-round pick Brandon Jones started at safety alongside Bobby McCain, but it still was Eric Rowe who got most of the work at that one spot. McCain played 58 snaps, compared to 54 for Rowe and 34 for Jones.
The other interesting number on defense was that of linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who played only eight defensive snaps. That's a low number given the promise he showed late last season.
On offense, besides the five offensive linemen and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played every snap, the player who got the most snaps was wide receiver Preston Williams with 56 out of a possible 62.
What stands out on offense is that Mike Gesicki got 45 snaps at tight end compared to only 13 for Durham Smythe. Remember that it's Smythe who's listed on the first team on the depth chart and he's the one who started the most games last season (14-5), though Gesicki always gets more snaps.
At running back, it was very interesting to see 2019 seventh-round pick Myles Gaskin easily get the most snaps with 39, 25 more than Matt Breida. Jordan Howard played only nine snaps, though he carried the ball on eight of those plays.
Finally, in terms of special teams, it was special teams captain Kavon Frazier, who led the way with 17 snaps, followed by Brandon Jones and Kamu Grugier-Hill with 14 apiece. Clayton Fejedelem, like Frazier a special teams captain, missed the game because of a pectoral injury.
