Number 18 and the Three Dolphins Who Wore It Best

Tough task to come up with a top three.

Sep 20, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Aaron Colvin (22) tackles Miami Dolphins wide receiver Rishard Matthews (18) during the second half of an NFL Football game at EverBank Field. The Jacksonville Jaguars won 23-20. / Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

The countdown to the start of the 2024 regular season has begun now that we're under 100 days away, so we'll honor every day the best players to wear the corresponding number for the Dolphins.

Today, we're at number 18.

The top players at each number so far have been DE Jason Taylor at 99, DT Jared Odrick at 98, DE Phillip Merling at 97, DT Paul Soliai at 96, DT Tim Bowens at 95, DT Randy Starks at 94,  DE Trace Armstrong at 93, LS John Denney at 92, DE Cameron Wake at 91, DE/OLB Marco Coleman at 90,  WR Nat Moore at 89, TE Keith Jackson at 88, TE Andre Tillman at 87, WR Oronde Gadsden at 86, LB Nick Buoniconti at 85, DE Bill Stanfill at 84, WR Mark Clayton at 83, WR Brian Hartline at 82, WR O.J. McDuffie at 81, WR Irving Fryar at 80, T Jon Giesler at 79, T Richmond Webb at 78, LB A.J. Duhe at 77, T Branden Albert at 76, DT Manny Fernandez at 75, T Mark Dennis at 74, NT Bob Baumhower at 73, T Terron Armstead at 72, T Todd Wade at 71, DE Kendall Langford at 70, G Keith Sims at 69, G Robert Hunt at 68, G Bob Kuechenberg at 67, G Larry Little at 66, OL Jeff Dellenbach at 65, G Ed Newman at 64, G Mark Dixon at 63, C Jim Langer at 62, C Tim Ruddy at 61, G Bert Weidner at 60, LB Doug Swift at 59, LB Kim Bokamper at 58, C Dwight Stephenson at 57, LB John Offerdahl at 56, LB Earnest Rhone at 55, LB Zach Thomas at 54, LB Bob Matheson at 53, LB Channing Crowder at 52, LB Bryan Cox at 51, LB Larry Gordon at 50, CB William Judson at 49, CB Gerald Small at 48, S Glenn Blackwood at 47, S Don Bessilieu at 46, CB Curtis Johnson at 45, CB Paul Lankford at 44, LB Andrew Van Ginkel at 43, WR Paul Warfield at 42, FB. Keith Byars at 41, S Dick Anderson at 40, FB Larry Csonka at 39, CB Calvin Jackson at 38, CB J.B. Brown at 37, FB Don Nottingham at 36, DB Walt Aikens at 35, RB Ricky Williams at 34, RB Karim Abdul-Jabbar at 33, RB Kenyan Drake at 32, and S Brock Marion at 31, RB Ron Davenport at 30, CB Sam Madison at 29, CB Don McNeal at 28, CB Terrell Buckley at 27, S Jarvis Williams at 26, CB Xavien Howard at 25, RB Delvin Williams at 24, CB Patrick Surtain at 23, RB Tony Nathan at 22, RB Jim Kiick at 21, S Reshad Jones at 20, and WR/KR Ted Ginn Jr.

As a reminder about the ground rules, the top three will be determined only by what the players did while wearing that uniform for the Dolphins.

Players who wore 18 for at least one regular season game:

QB Dick Wood (1966), DB Mike Smith (1985-86), Cliff Stoudt (1989), QB Sage Rosenfels (2002-05), WR Ernest Wilford (2008), WR Roberto Wallace (2010-11), WR Rishard Matthews (2013-15), WR Preston Williams (2019-21)

The breakdown of 18 with the Dolphins

We have arrived at perhaps the least productive number so far. It's slim pickings when it comes to getting a top three out of number 18, but we'll try anyway. Dick Wood has the distinction of being the starting quarterback for the Dolphins' first-ever game, but that 1966 season didn't go well for him. He was 0-4 in four starts, completed 36.1 percent of his passes and had four touchdowns against 14 interceptions. Taht would be his fifth and final season of pro football. Mike Smith was a fourth-round pick who played 21 games with no starts for two seasons before he switched to 25 in 1987. Cliff Stoudt had played 63 games with 20 starts in the NFL before he joined the Dolphins at the start of the 1989 season, but he appeared in only three games for Miami and didn't attempt a pass. Sage Rosenfels came to the Dolphins in a trade one year after he was a fourth-round pick for Washington and he appeared in 13 games for Miami over four seasons. He was 0-2 in his two starts for the Dolphins, but he passed for 272 yards and two touchdowns in the second half of a 2005 game against Buffalo when he helped Miami rally from a 21-3 deficit to win 24-23. Ernest Wilford arrived as a free agent in 2008 and his most memorable accomplishment was telling the media he would only speak on a certain day of the week — a rare occurrence in those days, especially for someone who was not a star. Wilford played seven games for the Dolphins and caught only three passes before he was gone. Roberto Wallace made the Dolphins roster as a rookie free agent in 2010 and flashed in two training camps, but he played only 14 games over two seasons and caught six passes. Rishard Matthews was a seventh-round pick in 2012, though he wore 86 as a rookie. After switching to 18, Matthews had seasons of 41 and 43 catches over the next three years, including his Dolphins highs of 662 yards and four touchdowns in only 11 games in 2015. Preston Williams got off to a great start as a rookie free agent — 32 catches for 428 yards and three touchdowns — before his torn ACL against the Jets, saw his second season cut short by another injury and his once-promising career went sideways. And finally there's Erik Ezukanma, who was a non-factor as a rookie in 2022 before spending almost all of last season on IR because of a neck injury and now is attempting to earn a roster spot this summer. It actually wouldn't take Ezukanma much to earn a spot in the top three.

The top three Dolphins players with number 18

1. WR Rishard Matthews

2. WR Preston Williams

3. QB Sage Rosenfels

Dolphins 18's among the NFL's all-time best

Obviously no Dolphins player deserves to be mentioned in this conversation. The greatest 18 also is pretty obvious, that being Peyton Manning. Other Hall of Famers who wore that number are Charlie Joiner and Emmitt Thomas.