Dolphins 2022 Week 10 Snap Count Observations

Jeff Wilson Jr., Alec Ingold, Duke Riley and Justin Bethel were among the Miami Dolphins with noteworthy playing time against Cleveland

What stood out about the Miami Dolphins snap counts from their 39-17 victory against the Cleveland Browns at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.

-- As a reminder, the inactives were RB Myles Gaskin, QB Teddy Bridgewater, CB Noah Igbinoghene, WR Erik Ezukanma, TE Hunter Long and WR River Cracraft. Bridgewater (knee) and Long (concussion protocol/illness) were the only two kept out of the game because of health issues.

-- The only players who were active but did not seen any action were tackles Austin Jackson, who still hasn't played since Week 1, and tackle Kion Smith, who was elevated from the practice squad Saturday. It was the third (and final) elevation for Smith, who ended up not playing in any of the games when he was called up.

-- Four position players saw their only action on special teams: DB Clayton Fejedelem, LB Channing Tindall, TE Tanner Coner 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

-- The two things that stand out on offense deal with the backfield, starting with Jeff Wilson Jr. dominating the snaps at halfback. In his second game with Miami, Wilson played 42 of the 69 offensive snaps (61 percent), compared to 19 snaps for Raheem Mostert. This goes with head coach Mike McDaniel saying Friday the team would have a pretty even rotation but also wouldn't hesitate to go with the hot hand. And Wilson was borderline spectacular against the Browns.

-- Then there was fullback Alec Ingold, who also played 42 snaps. This not only represented a season high, but it dwarfed his previous season and career high of 29 snaps (against Pittsburgh).

-- Same story as usual at wide receiver, with Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill and Trent Sherfield dominating the snaps, though this time Sherfield (45) played almost as much as Waddle (51) and Hill (49), a testament to the kind of season he's been having.

-- The tight end snaps again were split fairly evenly between Durham Smythe (37) and Mike Gesicki (32), but neither factored very much in the passing game — Gesicki was targeted three times; Smythe was not targeted.

-- On the offensive line, it's worth noting that Terron Armstead missed nine snaps during the game after coming in with toe and calf injuries. Seven of those snaps came at the end of. the game after Skylar Thompson replaced Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback with the Dolphins victory safely in hand. It was Greg Little who played the nine snaps at left tackle during Armstead's absence from the game.

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DOLPHINS DEFENSIVE OBSERVATIONS

-- On defense, the first-half injuries to Emmanuel Ogbah (triceps) and Keion Crossen (shoulder) affected the playing time.

-- Safety Jevon Holland was the only player who played all 67 snaps on defense, with cornerbacks Xavien Howard and Kader Kohou each playing 66.

-- Linebacker Melvin Ingram got increased playing time with 34 snaps, his highest total since the Week 5 game against the New York Jets when he played 36. That very well might have come as a result of Ogbah's injury.

-- Newcomer Bradley Chubb actually played 10 fewer snaps against the Browns (44) than he did in his Dolphins debut against the Chicago Bears. His snap count very well might go up moving forward with Ogbah now out for the season.

-- While Eric Rowe started at strong safety and played 50 snaps, rookie Verone McKinley III got 32 snaps in the secondary in his first game after being signed to the 53-man roster a day earlier.

-- With the injury to Crossen, Justin Bethel played 23 snaps on defense — and was very effective. That was his second-highest total of the season behind only the 59 snaps he played against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

 On the flip side, linebacker Duke Riley played only five snaps on special teams, his lowest total in his two seasons with the Dolphins (the previous low was 13 in the 2021 opener at New England). Riley did play a season-high 32 snaps on defense.

-- We close with the special teams, where Bethel tied for the highest snap with Elijah Campbell and Fejedelem. The highest special teams snap count for an offensive player went to Conner with 13.

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