Dolphins 2023 Week 2 Snap Count Observations

David Long Jr., Eli Apple and Alec Ingold were among the Miami Dolphins with noteworthy playing time against the New England Patriots

What stood out about the Miami Dolphins snap counts from their 24-17 victory against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday night.

-- As a reminder, the inactives were T Terron Armstead, DB Elijah Campbell, WR Cedrick Wilson Jr., TE Julian Hill, CB Kelvin Joseph and LB Jaelan Phillips, while Skylar Thompson again served as the third (emergency) quarterback and he could only play in the event both Tua Tagovailoa and Mike White got injured.

-- There were three players who were active but did not play: White, T Kion Smith and OL Liam Eichenberg.

-- Seven position players saw their only action on special teams, including 2022 seventh-round pick Cameron Goode, who was elevated from the practice squad Saturday for a second consecutive game. The others were CB Parry Nickerson, CB Cam Smith, LB Channing Tindall, RB Chris Brooks, OL Lester Cotton and DB Brandon Jones.

DOLPHINS OFFENSIVE OBSERVATIONS

-- For a second consecutive game, the Dolphins had fewer offensive snaps than their opponent, with the margin this time being 74-63 (it was 81-67 in the Chargers game).

-- After playing every snap in the opener against the Chargers, tight end Durham Smythe came close again, with 61 of the 63 snaps. Tyler Kroft, the only other tight end in uniform, played three snaps. It's further evidence that Smythe is becoming a key element of the offense because of his ability to block and dependability as a pass catcher.

-- Raheem Mostert again got the bulk of the work at running back, which he certainly justified with his 121-yard rushing performance, but Salvon Ahmed appeared headed for a decent amount of snaps as well before he was sidelined by a groin injury. As it was, Ahmed finished with 12 snaps.

-- Rookie third-round pick De'Von Achane made his NFL debut and played six snaps on offense along with one on special teams.

-- There was nothing overly surprising at wide receiver, other than maybe Braxton Berrios (21) and River Cracraft (18) getting almost the same number of snaps, an indication of just how confident the Dolphins coaches are in Cracraft.

-- Erik Ezukanma played 10 snaps on offense, but often found himself in the backfield as a running back, continuing the Deebo-like role he's been given.

-- On the offensive line, the five starters (minus Terron Armstead for a second consecutive game) all played every snap after Isaiah Wynn sat out one play against the Chargers.

DOLPHINS DEFENSIVE OBSERVATIONS

-- The Dolphins clearly had a core group with which they're rolling early in the 2023 season on defense because 11 players were on the field for 70 percent or more of the defensive snaps, with five of them playing every snap (DeShon Elliott, Jevon Holland, Jerome Baker, Kader Kohou and Xavien Howard). Besides them, Eli Apple (68), Bradley Chubb (67) Andrew Van Ginkel (65), David Long Jr. (62), Christian Wilkins (52) and Zach Sieler (52) all reached the 70 percent mark in snaps.

-- Elliott and Holland were the only safeties to see action on defense, which should put to rest the question of who the starter is next to Holland.

-- Van Ginkel, who lined at outside linebacker with Phillips on the inactive list because of his back injury, tied his second-most snaps in a game in his career with the 65, two shy of the 67 he played in the 2021 Thursday night victory against the Baltimore Ravens.

-- Whether it was because Van Ginkel was used on the edge or it would have been the game plan anyway, Long saw his snap count jump considerably after he played only 17 snaps against the Chargers. Long clearly earned the playing time because he was very effective all game.

-- Emmanuel Ogbah's low snap count of only 16 was a tad surprising given that he's listed on the depth chart as the first backup behind Phillips and the Dolphins always had the option of keeping Van Ginkel inside. This obviously suggests Ogbah is behing Van Ginkel and Long in the defensive pecking order, which is disappointing considering Ogbah has the highest base salary ($15 million, all of it guaranteed) on the roster in 2023.

-- Veteran defensive tackle Da'Shawn Hand played 10 snaps up front after being signed to the active roster Saturday, taking precedence over rookie free agent Brandon Pili, who got two defensive snaps. This was to be expected after Hand was added to the 53-man roster.

-- Edge defender Chase Winovich got two snaps on defense after being elevated from the practice squad to face the team that drafted him in 2019, along with his expected heavy role on special teams (16 snaps).

-- Speaking of special teams, Duke Riley again was among the co-leaders for most snaps, but this time with Justin Bethel with 19 apiece (remember that Kelvin Joseph was inactive after he didn't make the trip to New England because of family reasons. Behind those two was rookie second-round pick Cam Smith with 18 snaps. The offensive player with the most special teams snaps was Smythe, who supplemented his heavy load on offense with 13 snaps in the kicking game.

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