Myles Gaskin might need to compete against Salvon Ahmed

Myles Gaskin is injured but will he take his job back from Salvon Ahmed when he returns?

The Miami Dolphins may have a quasi mid-season running back battle when Myles Gaskin returns from IR as Salvon Ahmed may not give it back.

In sports, the ole adage goes “if you lose your job to injury, your job is still there for you when you get back.” What if the job you were doing wasn’t as productive as the next guy that took your place? Do you still get your job back?

It isn’t 100% fair to either runner when it comes to comparing stats. Gaskin has a larger body of work for comparison reasons. Gaskins busted his rear-end in training camp and earned the starting job so summarily handing it over to an undrafted rookie picked up off waivers doesn’t seem like much of a competition.

For his part, Ahmed is making the most of his opportunity. Statistically, Ahmed isn’t lighting up the league leader list but he passes the “eyeball test”. That which allows us to see him running with conviction and decisiveness. Something we haven’t seen this year from other Miami running backs. Including Gaskin.

Gaskin has been a decent runner but he doesn’t hit the holes quickly and his speed burst comes after he is through the hole, whereas Ahmed is full-speed as he moves to the hole then turns up the gears once he is through it.

Looking at the statistics, they are comparable. Ahmed has 28 rushes for 123 yards with 85 of those coming last Sunday against the Chargers. He has one reception and one touchdown.

Gaskin on the other hand has 520 yards throughout 7 games. He has two touchdowns and is more involved in the passing game with 35 targets this season and 30 receptions.

It is pretty certain that Gaskin will take over his role when he returns but the Dolphins now have a set of fresh legs with a lot of quickness that can enter the game at any time and be a threat. Getting Matt Breida back will add another level of speed.

Miami will likely hit the draft looking for a featured running back but that won’t help the Dolphins in 2020 so it will be a committee approach for the rest of the season once Gaskin returns and that isn’t a bad thing. With the small sample of Ahmed on tape, he has still earned the playing time and should stay on the active roster the rest of the year, and instead of competing with Gaskin, will compliment him instead.