Miami Dolphins Week 3 Snap Counts ... And What They Mean

Breaking down who played how many snaps for the Miami Dolphins in the Thursday night game against the Jacksonville Jaguars and what it means in the big picture

The Miami Dolphins had a couple of lineup changes for their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night, including one we should have seen coming and another one necessitated by injury.

Second-year player Myles Gaskin, if it wasn't already established, is the lead running back for the Dolphins.

Not only did he make his first NFL start against Jacksonville, he again got the majority of the work at running back. Gaskin played 46 of the Dolphins' 61 snaps, easily eclipsing the other running backs — Matt Breida (11 snaps), Jordan Howard (4) and Patrick Laird (1).

The number for Howard actually is shockingly low considering the Dolphins went out and signed him as an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.

On defense, rookie first-round pick Noah Igbinoghene also made his first NFL start, lining up opposite Xavien Howard as the boundary cornerback. Those two were the two defensive players who were on the field for all 66 snaps.

The Dolphins opened the game in a nickel alignment, and Jamal Perry (formerly Jomal Wiltz) was the fifth defensive back on the field. Perry ended up playing 41 defensive snaps (62 percent).

At safety, Eric Rowe got the second-most snaps behind Bobby McCain while making his first start of the season.

Also noteworthy on defense was the snap count for lineman Zach Sieler, who played 31 snaps after playing 20 in the first two games combined. Sieler was active in the game, so one would expect his snap count to increase or at least remain in the 30 range moving forward.

On the flip side, Davon Godchaux played 28 snaps listed as a nose tackle.

Cornerback Nik Needham did not play one snap on defense against Jacksonville after having a rough outing against Buffalo. Tae Hayes, brought up from the practice squad earlier in the day, played 15 snaps (23 percent of the defensive plays).

On offense, DeVante Parker was able to pay 56 of the 61 snaps (92 percent), though NFL Network analyst Troy Aikman kept saying he was visibly affected by his hamstring injury (not sure I saw that).

For the second time in three games, the Dolphins opened with two tight ends — Durham Smythe and Mike Gesicki. In this game, Smythe played 42 snaps and Gesicki ended up playing 30 and Adam Shaheen playing 24 until he left the game with an injury.

Among wide receivers, Preston Williams got the second-most snaps with 35. Jakeem Grant played only eight snaps on offense, but he made the most of them with a 29-yard run on an end-around and a 19-yard reception.

The leaders in snap counts on special teams again were unit captain Kavon Frazier (17), Kamu Grugier-Hill (15) and Patrick Laird (15).