Kenyan Drake can handle the role of top running back

The Miami Dolphins have not yet announced who will start on Sunday night at running back. They don’t need to just yet. It should be Kenyan Drake.

On the official Miami Dolphins depth chart, Damien Williams is listed as the number two runner on the team. That won’t last beyond this weekend if it makes it that far. Williams is a solid third down receiving tailback but he is not a starting tailback.

That is where Kenyan Drake comes in. Drake is a fast runner with a lot of power and he has similar moves to Jay Ajayi. Drake has more potential to bounce outside given his speed and that mismatch will help the offensive tackles in their run blocking by allowing them to hold their blocks for a shorter period of time.

Drake doesn’t have the same power that Ajayi does when it relates to making the first tacklers miss or yards after first contact but few in the NFL match that attribute of Ajayi. Drake brings other aspects to the position though.

For starters, Drake is a better pass catcher than Ajayi and that will help the offense as well. Williams is probably the best pass catching runner on the team and he is very good in picking up the blitz so in reality both players will obviously see a significant rise in playing time. It’s unclear how Drake is at picking up the blitz as the body of work is a small sample.

Jay Ajayi was not one-dimensional. He was electric but the play calling was one dimensional. Hand the ball off, create a small hole, let Jay Ajayi attack it. That is how it worked. Ajayi, for as quick and agile as he is, wasn’t the elite outside runner. He struggled to take an inside play to the outside and while he was hard to bring down once he got in motion, he had to get in motion first.

So why if Drake could handle it was Ajayi still on the field? Habit. Simplicity. Complacency. It all became easy for Adam Gase. It perhaps hindered Gase but there was no denying that Ajayi was effective and could break a game open on one play. That becomes almost a crutch for a head coach.

Drake’s speed alone and toughness should help the Dolphins offense but he is still raw and hasn’t seen the amount of NFL action that the Dolphins had hoped for. He will now. Drake has a lot of potential between the 10’s and Damien Williams will become the second head of the Dolphins rushing attack inside the 10’s and on the goal line where his pass catching will come into play.

Sunday night will be interesting and the Dolphins offense could look a lot different from what it has. Of course it can’t really get that much worse now can it?