Grading the Miami Dolphins first day of fake free agency

Grade: B – 

Seems like every year the Dolphins bring in a running back with roughly the same story as Chase Edmonds. Jordan Howard, Malcolm Brown, Phillip Lindsay, and Duke Johnson all come to mind. I’m sure I’m missing more. The point is this franchise, regardless of who is running things, loves the bargain barrel when it comes to the running back position. I understand why.

$6.1M for a guy who actually had sneaky good stats last year isn’t the worst contract I’ve seen. Last year, Edmonds had 592 yards rushing on 116 carries which went for a nice 5.1 yards per carry. Edmonds also added 311(coming like a nightmare) yards on 43 catches. He did this in 12 games. Not bad at all.

Last year, Edmonds missed four games due to a high ankle sprain. He came back from that only to eventually get hurt for the rest of the season, in week 16, with a hip injury. Obviously, that injury has healed.

Edmonds joins a very crowded backfield. Currently, Miami employs, Myles Gaskin, Salvon Ahmed, Malcolm Brown, Duke Johnson, Phillip Lindsay, Patrick Laird, and Gerrid Doaks. Naturally, some of these guys are going to be released or placed on the practice squad. I couldn’t tell you who will be where.

I’m a fan of multiple running backs instead of one main guy who has one other guy spelling him here and there. I think Mike McD is as well. The NFL is too physical and these guys simply don’t train their bodies like running backs 20-some years ago whose main job was to run, take a beating, and not catch the ball.

Chase Edmonds is a today’s running back. He’s lighting fast. Here are some eye-popping numbers.

Get the ball in his hands any way you can and let him do his thing. In the wide-zone blocking scheme that McDaniel is, probably, going to be what the offense is built on, Edmonds’s ability to plant his outside foot and get upfield will benefit him and the team. And let’s face it, having the ability to take it the distance on any given play is an element the Dolphins haven’t had in the backfield since Lamar Miller. Also, let’s not act like Edmonds didn’t play considerably better once he switched to a single-digit jersey number. That’s how it works.

Ideally, my backfield would consist of Chase Edmonds, Duke Johnson, Myles Gaskin, and a rookie running back that they acquire somewhere in the middle rounds. I think that could work because I’ve seen similar backfields like that in San Francisco, where Mike McD was orchestrating tremendous rushing attacks, be quite successful. A solid signing indeed.