While the Miami Dolphins have been what seems like ahead of schedule in their rebuild, the running back position remains a question mark in recent weeks. The most stability they had this season has been when Myles Gaskin is the leading rusher, but a knee injury has cost him the last four games, causing fans and fantasy football managers to wonder when he will return. What is his latest status as the teams heads into a Week 13 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals?
Update December 6th: Myles Gaskin is active for the Miami Dolphins Week 13 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals. Both Salvon Ahmed and DeAndre Washington are inactive, leaving Gaskin and Patrick Laird as the top two backs on the depth chart.
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Myles Gaskin has easily been the best rusher for the Dolphins
Myles Gaskin had been a very pleasant surprise for the Miami Dolphins and fantasy managers to start the year. Being drafted as the RB44 in PPR (130.6 overall), there was hope he could be a potential diamond in the rough, but we had no real concrete data to go off of since the second-year pro only saw 43 touches in 2019 for a combined 184 yards.
However, once he got going this season, Gaskin was a very useable fantasy running back. From Weeks 1 through 8, Gaskin was the RB17 while averaging 14.1 PPR points per game. It was fairly obvious in the first two weeks of the season that the team was unsure who the lead back was going to be. They opened the year with a running back by committee approach.
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But from Week 3 and on, Myles Gaskin took over the workload. He carried the ball 100 times for 384 yards and two touchdowns, along with 30 receptions on 35 targets for 198 yards. During this stretch, Gasking was an RB2 or better in four of five games.
However, all of the momentum Myles Gaskin had was stopped in its tracks as he suffered a knee injury in Week 8 against the Los Angeles Rams.
Gaskin has yet to return and was placed on the injured reserve, where he has been ever since.
Despite missing four straight games, Gaskin is still the leading rusher for the Miami Dolphins. Matt Breida filled in for some time but was largely unproductive with his 47 scoreless attempts for 168 yards. The only other running back that saw decent usage was rookie UDFA Salvon Ahmed, who in his three games rushed 40 times for 166 yards and one touchdown with six receptions on seven targets for 36 yards.
Myles Gaskin participated in practice on Wednesday
According to ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe, Myles Gaskin participated in practice on Wednesday and wore a compression sleeve on his leg.
Gaskin has been on IR since Week 9 with a knee injury, but with him returning to practice this week, signs are pointing towards a potential return to action. The odds seem to be good that he will be able to return, but it isn’t a guarantee. It seemed as if he was almost activated for last week’s game as head coach Brian Flores said he would need to “check the film” to see if he was ready and waited until game day to make his decision.
What we don’t know is how much Myles Gaskin practiced even though he seemed close to making his return. Because he is not on the 53-man roster, the team does not have to give him a designation (full participant, limited, DNP), so we can only speculate on his involvement.
Also, RB Salvon Ahmed, who missed last week’s game with a shoulder injury, practiced on Wednesday.
The Dolphins get another great matchup against a vulnerable Bengals defense in Week 13
Even without both Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed due to injury, the Dolphins rushed for 104 yards on 25 carries in the 20-3 victory against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. The 104 yards was the fourth-highest total of the season, and the team’s 4.2 avg also was its fourth-best and its highest since the first Jets game back on Oct. 18 when they averaged 4.4.
Do you notice the pattern there? Yeah, it’s the New York Jets — because nothing cures offensive blues like facing a winless team. While they don’t get another matchup against the terrible Jets defense, the Cincinnati Bengals are pretty close.
The Bengals have allowed the third-most rushing yards in the NFL (1,318) and give up 22.93 fantasy points to opposing running backs. They are allowing a massive 4.8 yards per rush and 5.1 yards per carry to running backs. There have been nine running backs who’ve totaled at least 75 yards on the ground against the Bengals, and that’s while they’ve run the ball just 43.5 percent of the time against them.
The other aspect that could impact a potential return for Gaskin is who plays starting quarterback. Rookie Tua Tagovailoa missed last week’s game due to an injury, leaving veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick to take over. With Fitzpatrick under center, the Dolphins are a more explosive offense, with the journeyman QB more willing to take shots down the field into dangerous situations. The added deep passing threat could allow more breathing room for the rushing game to find gaps on Sunday should Tagovailoa remain sidelined.
For a team currently in the playoffs, the return of Myles Gaskin from injury could make this team an interesting Wild Card opponent that you might not want to face.
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Tommy Garrett is a writer for PFN covering Fantasy Football. You can read more of his work here and follow him at @TommygarrettPFN on Twitter.