Dolphins 2022 Week 16 Snap Count Observations

What stood out about the Miami Dolphins snap counts from their 26-20 loss against the Green Bay Packers at Hard Rock Stadium on Christmas Day.

-- As a reminder, the inactives were RB Myles Gaskin, CB Noah Igbinoghene, WR Erik Ezukanma, QB Skylar Thompson, T Eric Fisher, TE Tanner Conner and WR Cracraft. Gaskin, Fisher and Cracraft were on the final injury report of the week.

-- The only players who were active but did not seen any action were QB Teddy Bridgewater and T Kendall Lamm, who was elevated from the practice squad Saturday.

-- Five position players saw their only action on special teams: CB Justin Bethel, S Clayton Fejedelem, LB Channing Tindall, RB Salvon Ahmed, T Greg Little and C 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

-- For a fourth consecutive game, the Dolphins offense had considerably fewer snaps than their opponent, with the margin this time being 66-50 in favor of the Packers.

-- Tight end Mike Gesicki was the target on the game-clinching interception, and that actually was one of his rare appearances in the game. For a second consecutive game, Gesicki played only 12 of the 50 offensive snaps as his lost season continues.

-- Durham Smythe again was the most-used tight end with 32 snaps, with Hunter Long getting four on offense along with two on special teams.

-- Jeff Wilson Jr. returned to the lineup after missing the Buffalo game with a hip injury and got the most snaps at running back with 30, compared to 26 for Raheem Mostert. Fullback Alec Ingold actually ended up playing more snaps than Mostert also, with 27.

-- Finally at wide receiver, it was more of the same with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle dominating the snaps (as they should) and offseason acquisition Cedrick Wilson Jr. playing only 13 snaps on offense.

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DOLPHINS DEFENSIVE OBSERVATIONS

-- Safety Jevon Holland, who had to miss 11 snaps against Buffalo because of a neck injury, was the only Dolphins player on the field for all 66 defensive snaps, with Jerome Baker, Kader Kohou and Xavien Howard almost there with 64.

-- Maybe the most startling number on defense belonged to Christian Wilkins, who was on the field for a whopping 95 percent of the defensive snaps. That was a season-high for him, even though the 63 snaps actually represented a lower overall total than any of the previous three games — against the 49ers, Chargers and Bills.

-- Fellow defensive lineman Zach Sieler also had a heavy workload as usual, playing 59 (89 percent) of the snaps.

-- At linebacker, what stood out were the rather low snap counts for veteran acquisitions Bradley Chubb (28) and Melvin Ingram (13). In Chubb's case, his playing time was affected by a hand injury that had him leave the game for a while before he returned.

-- As a result, Andrew Van Ginkel played 33 defensive snaps (50 percent), setting a season high in both categories to go along with his 15 snaps on special teams.

-- The Dolphins stayed mostly with their only their four starters in the secondary (Howard, Kohou, Holland and Eric Rowe, back after missing the Buffalo game with a hamstring injury), with Keion Crossen getting the most snaps of any backup DB but with only 18.

-- As always, we close with the special teams, where Justin Bethel and Clayton Fejedelem as usual tied for the highest snap count with 21, followed by 15 for Duke Riley and Van Ginkel. The highest special teams snap count for an offensive player again went to Smythe with 13, followed by wide receiver Trent Sherfield with 12 to go along with his 22 snaps on offense.

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