Why the Dolphins' Jumbo Formation Is Here to Stay

The Miami Dolphins have made a huge change to their offense in the last four weeks, and it’s paying off big time.

Miami started using offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill as a tight end during the team’s Week 8 win against the Atlanta Falcons when blocking specialist Julian Hill had to sit out because of an ankle injury. This was a big deal for the Dolphins, as it was the first time in Mike McDaniel’s tenure that the Dolphins used an extra offensive lineman.

These are called “jumbo” sets, and it wasn’t something the Dolphins bothered with for about three and a half years. The lack of a changeup has been one of our biggest complaints about the offense for years, so it’s nice to see the team finally figure one out.

There were some questions about whether Brunskill’s snaps would decline when tight end Julian Hill returned from injury. Hill missed Weeks 8, 9, and 10 with an injury.

However, Brunskill still logged 22 snaps against the Commanders in Week 11, so it seems like the jumbo formation is here to stay. Let’s look at why and how successful it has been for the Dolphins.

Jumbo Formation Helps Miami’s Running Game

One of the biggest complaints about Miami’s running game has been a lack of physicality. Well, putting an extra offensive lineman on the field can certainly help with that, and it has thus far.

On 16 rushes against the Commanders with an extra offensive lineman, the Dolphins had 103 rushing yards and averaged 3.63 yards before contact. Any time you churn out 6.43 yards per rush, that’s pretty good.

While the team’s most recent win might’ve been the best example, the Dolphins have run quite well with multiple tight ends all season. The team is averaging six yards per rush when using 12, 13, 22, or 32 personnel in 2025.

It was also a huge reason they finally beat the Bills in Week 10. In that game, Miami had 14 carries for 112 yards out of multiple tight end formations. Brunskill, specifically, didn’t have a huge impact in Week 10, but it’s the same process even if he’s not on the field.

This past week was when Miami really figured out how to leverage Brunskill properly. The Dolphins are known as a heavy outside zone rushing team, but we’ve seen them lean into more diverse concepts in recent weeks.

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— Dante Collinelli (@DanteCollinelli) November 17, 2025

This was Miami’s first run against the Commanders. It features Brunskill collapsing the line of scrimmage, while Aaron Brewer and Cole Strange pull into space. This is a classic power-running game concept, and it’s a completely new wrinkle for the Dolphins.

Miami also used Brunskill, to borrow a phrase from McDaniel, to give defenses the “illusion of complexity.” This run is just crack-toss, a play the team has run plenty in past seasons but got away from a bit in 2025.

Brunskill is in the backfield with Ollie Gordon and De’Von Achane. The Dolphins make this play look like a split-zone run, but it ends up being a toss with linemen out in space.

Adding a sixth offensive lineman just makes Miami’s running game so much more diverse and harder to defend. Defenses can’t go in with the idea that stopping outside zone will shut Miami down — the Dolphins have real changeups now.

Does It Help in the Passing Game?

An extra offensive lineman on the field helping the running game isn’t overly surprising. However, Miami has seen good success passing out of these jumbo formations.

On Brunskill’s 17 pass blocking snaps as a tight end, Tua Tagovailoa has completed 14 passes. Some of those completions have been big plays, too, which is something the Dolphins desperately need.

These two plays from Week 10 against the Bills are an excellent example of the bind defenses are put in when trying to guard against these formations.

The first clip is a running play with Brunskill at tight end and Alec Ingold as an H-back, who motions into the backfield at the snap. Miami gets a nice run with Achane off it.

The second clip is a similar formation that features Brunskill at tight end, Ingold at H-back, and an extra tight end in Greg Dulcich. Again, Ingold motions pre-snap, but this time, it’s a hard play-action fake.

Brunskill becomes an extra blocker; one is better equipped to handle an edge player, allowing Tua plenty of time to load up for a deep touchdown to Waddle. Miami’s formation and tendencies all screamed run, so Buffalo flooded the box, leaving a rookie corner on of the NFL’s best deep threats.

Obviously, just sticking an extra offensive lineman on the field won’t solve all of Miami’s problems. The team’s passing game is still pretty clunky, and the overall running game execution is also inconsistent.

That said, this is the most significant departure from the Dolphins’ formula we’ve seen under McDaniel.

It took too long to get here, and it’s probably not the ideal solution — think Miami would prefer a well-rounded tight end to fill this role — but McDaniel deserves credit for leaning into it, and he shouldn’t stop anytime soon.

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