4 winners (and 3 losers) from Dolphins preseason win over Washington

The Miami Dolphins will play the Jacksonville Jaguars the next time they walk into Hard Rock Stadium and that will open the 2024 regular season. In preseason Week 2, Mike McDaniel and Co. were able to escape with a 13-6 win over the Commanders in front of the home fans.

With jobs on the line, some players took steps toward winning a roster spot, while a couple of others didn't do as much as they may have needed. In this piece, we have our winners and losers from the action. Starting us off is a wideout who opened the scoring thanks to a dime from Tua Tagovailoa.

River Cracraft - If there were any doubts about River Cracraft being on the fringe of the roster, he showed that isn't the case. Cracraft was barely used in preseason Week 1 and his night ended pretty quickly in his second preseason game. However, Cracraft was sharp with his routes and made an impressive touchdown grab in the end zone. Take a look at this clip and try to not be impressed. Yeah, it's nearly impossible:

Cam Smith - After a rather rough start to the game, Cam Smith tightened up on subsequent series, making several plays. He broke up a deep pass that may have turned into a touchdown and he made two nice open-field tackles. In his first series, the Commanders and Terry McLaurin picked on him quite a bit and Smith didn't look good. Once he settled down, he fared much better and his play gives hope that maybe he can develop into a quality corner on the boundary. Smith played in place of Jalen Ramsey who sat out. He would leave the game late in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a leg injury, but it didn't appear to be too serious.

Erik Ezukanma - If any player needed a good night, it might have been Erik Ezukanma. The Dolphins are faced with a tough decision that will come down to keeping Ezukanma or Willie Snead and given that both players didn't get any action until the second half, it was Ezukanma who stepped up and showed that he wants the job more. Ezukanma made several key catches, but it might have been his elusive avoidance of a tackle that won him a roster spot. Ezukanma got boxed in on the edge and wiggled free to cross the backfield and gain positive yards. Those are the types of plays coaches remember. He needed a good game and he delivered.

Mohamed Kamara - The Dolphins fifth-round rookie stood out in his first action of the preseason. Mohamed Kamara was all over the field and registered his first NFL sack, bull-rushing through an offensive tackle. Kamara was making plays up and down the line of scrimmage and gave Dolphins fans a hint of what will bring to the table in 2024. He showcased his speed off the snap, which was a highlight of his college career, and savvy discipline keeping his lanes and not overpursuing the ball carrier.

Multiple Dolphins players didn't look sharp vs. the Commanders

Mike White and Skylar Thompson - Take your pick. Last week, Skylar Thompson looked marginally better and this week Mike White looked as though he was the better of the two. The bad part, neither quarterback looked worthy of being anything more than a practice squad QB. Thompson finished with just over 60 yards going 8 of 15. White put up more respectable statistics going 11 for 20 for 116 yards, but he did lose a fumble.

Jake Bailey - The Dolphins punter didn't have a great night. Jake Bailey had plenty of opportunities, punting a total of six times. His final punt was a beautiful shank that went 29 yards and barely crossed the 50-yard line. He punted from the Dolphins 27. Prior to that kick, Bailey had averaged 44 yards per punt with a long of 66 that went through the end zone. He also placed one inside the 10, his only punt that was taken inside the 20-yard line. Overall, Bailey was average most of the night and a little inconsistent. He could have done better, but a 44-yard average is probably the best Miami can hope for.