The 2024 season was one to forget for the Miami Dolphins. The team only won eight games, and seemingly everyone took a step back and dealt with injury. Even the offense, that was once the scariest, most explosive unit in the league, underwhelmed. Miami was below average on that side of the ball, averaging 325.9 total yards a game (18th in the NFL) and 20.3 points a game (22nd in the league).
Now, entering the 2025 season, the Dolphins are committed to getting back on track. The team understands this is a make-or-break year, and that’s why the veterans are ready to step up and take care of business. While the offense will need all the traditional stars like Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle to return to form, Miami could also see a ton of production from a young player poised for a breakout season.
In a recent CBS Sports piece, Chris Trapasso named six second-year players likely to break out in 2025. One of the players named was Dolphins wide receiver Malik Washington.
Dolphins receiver Malik Washington named a breakout candidate for 2025
Miami has been looking for a consistent No. 3 receiver to help Waddle and Hill in the passing game, and Trapasso thinks they found one in Washington, who the team selected in the sixth round of the 2024 Draft.
"Washington stands just under 5-foot-9 but weighed 191 pounds at the combine last year. It was there he ran 4.47 and had a springy 42.5-inch vertical. He can serve as the proverbial extension of the run game for Mike McDaniel's intricate passing attack led by Tua Tagovailoa who led the NFL in completion percentage in 2024.Chris Trapasso (CBS Sports)
The rugged, YAC-specialist at the University of Virginia garnered 20 of his 36 targets as a rookie in the final four games of the regular season, and turned those into 16 catches for 169 yards. He has the post-catch talent to be highlighted in the Dolphins offense this upcoming season."
Washington fits the mold of the Dolphins’ receiver room: fast and good with the ball in his hands. He flashed that a bit as a rookie, catching 26 passes for 223 yards. He also carried the ball five times for 25 yards and a touchdown. As Trapasso pointed out, the majority of that production came in the final four games of the season.
The expectation is that Washington will pick up where he left off and continue to build on those impressive flashes. If he can do that, and the rest of the Dolphins stars return to form, Miami will be back to running up the scoreboard every week.