Dolphins Week 1 Snap Count Observations

Diving into the playing time and its implications for De'Von Achane, Zach Sieler, Jaelan Phillips, Jalen Ramsey, Chop Robinson and other Miami Dolphins players

Miami Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips (15) celebrates after sacking Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (not pictured) during the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

What stood out regarding play counts in the Miami Dolphins' 20-17 victory in the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium.

-- We'll start with the inactive list, which produced maybe a couple of mild surprises with rookie RB Jaylen Wright and cornerback Ethan Bonner. The other inactives were LB Channing Tindall, LB Mohamed Kamara, OL Andrew Meyer and WR Malik Washington, who had been ruled out Friday with a quad injury.

-- The only player who was active but did not play against Jacksonville was backup quarterback Skylar Thompson.

-- A total of eight position players saw action only on special teams: LB Duke Riley, CB Siran Neal, DB Elijah Campbell, LB Anthony Walker Jr., T Patrick Paul, T Kendall Lamm and G Lester Cotton.

DOLPHINS OFFENSE OBSERVATIONS

-- Maybe what stands out on offense is at tight end, where it was second-year player Julian Hill who easily got the most snaps with 42, followed by starter Durham Smythe with 30. Dolphins coaches talked all camp about Hill's improvement after his rookie free agent season and this maybe was proofl

-- For the opener at least, we need to slow down on the notion that Jonnu Smith would become a huge part of the offense because the veteran offseason acquisition played only 20 of the 71 offensive snaps. Then again, Smith didn't have a great performance, so that very well may have played into the low snap count.

-- No big surprise at wide receiver, where it was a lot of Jaylen Waddle (51 snaps) and Tyreek Hill (50), a little bit of Braxton Berrios (26) and then newcomer Grant DuBose (13) and practice squad elevation Robbie Chosen (12) filling out the rest. From here, this should look like this for a while barring injuries and/or until Odell Beckham Jr. can return and make an impact.

-- At running back, De'Von Achane was a big factor in the passing game and ended up playing the most snaps, though the work was split fairly evenly between him and Raheem Mostert (37-31). Jeff Wilson Jr. got 11 snaps late in the game and his fresh legs likely helped him record an impressive 5.2 average on his five carries.

-- QB Tua Tagovailoa and the offensive linemen played every snap.

DOLPHINS DEFENSE OBSERVATIONS

-- The big story on defense coming in was the snap count for both Jaelan Phillips and Jalen Ramsey, the former in his first game back from his Achilles injury and the latter dealing with a hamstring injury.

-- Ramsey ended up playing 41 of the team's 53 defensive snaps, a rate of 77 percent.

-- As for Phillips, he played 34 snaps (64 percent) and had a fourth-quarter sack.

-- The reason that Riley and Walker only played on special teams was that David Long Jr. and Jordyn Brooks never came off the field on defense. Having two linebackers play the whole game wasn't seen in recent years because Jerome Baker usually was the only with that distinction.

-- The other three players who played every snap on defense were cornerback Kendall Fuller and safeties Jevon Holland and Jordan Poyer.

-- While new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver talked about the use of three-safety looks throughout the season, it happened one only three snaps against Jacksonville with veteran Marcus Maye joining Holland and Poyer on those plays.

-- On the defensive line, it was more of the same from last year for Zach Sieler, who played 87 percent of the snaps (a total of 46, to go along with eight more snaps on special teams).

-- Given his age (38), it figured that Calais Campbell wouldn't get nearly as many snaps as Sieler and he finished with 35.

-- Related to the talk of the defensive tackle position in light of Christian Wilkins' offseason departure, it was noteworthy that the only three defensive linemen on the roster combined for 32 snaps, with only Da'Shawn Hand getting more than eight (he got 19).

-- We close with the special teams, where we certainly could determine what the core of the unit will be. Not surprisingly, it was Riley, Neal and Quinton Bell who led the way with 20 special teams apiece, followed by Elijah Campbell, Walker and Julian Hill with 17 each. The other top three offensive players in terms of special teams snaps were Tanner Conner with 11 and Wilson with 10. How unusual was it for Wilson to get 10 special teams snaps? He had 15 and 14 in the past two seasons.

-- Lastly, rookie first-round pick Chop Robinson saw modest playing time, with 16 snaps on defense and 13 on special teams.