The Miami Dolphins made a move at the 2020 NFL trade deadline to bring in a running back into the mix — trading for Kansas City Chiefs running back DeAndre Washington in a late-round pick swap. The move was initially speculated to be simply a boost to a struggling running game, but a report late yesterday from the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson has revealed Miami’s other motivation for making a deal:
Starting running back Myles Gaskin is expected to miss several weeks with an MCL sprain suffered against the Los Angeles Rams.
Per source, reason Dolphins acquired RB today is Myles Gaskin has sprained MCL and expected to miss three games
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) November 3, 2020
This injury will certainly interrupt the offensive continuity around young quarterback Tua Tagovailoa; but that may not necessarily be a bad thing for Miami either based on how the running game has trended over the course of these last few weeks. Miami struggled greatly to get any action going on the ground, bogged down in part by the team’s efforts to pay extra attention to DL Aaron Donald.
The presumed leader in the clubhouse to take Gaskins’ reps will be RB Matt Breida, who the team traded for in April during the third day of the 2020 NFL Draft. Breida has been the back to get mixed in intermittently — but Miami has struggled to find a consistent role for him. Perhaps being forced into a bigger role will produce some more consistent results. Breida is Miami’s best “home run hitter” among their skill players, but his ability to read the point of attack behind Miami’s offensive line has yet to prove itself as consistent.
And while Breida has had success in limited looks in the passing game, we may be seeing the Dolphins cash in on Washington’s experience there to assume that role.
If we had to guess, Breida takes the early down reps and Patrick Laird takes the pass catching reps against the Cardinals. And, perhaps the following week we’ll see Washington weaned into Laird’s role a bit more. With the addition of another back, the Dolphins will have options — which was the motivation for making this deal all along.
