MIAMI GARDENS — As soon as Miami Dolphins rookie running back Ollie Gordon II’s name came up in Mike McDaniel’s Wednesday news conference, the Dolphins’ coach immediately went into deflection mode.
“This smells like a fantasy football question,” McDaniel quipped, to laughter in the room.
“I’m not against fantasy football and I apologize to anybody out there who I’m not helping their team, but Ollie Gordon II is a rookie who’s doing a great job, and who knows how much he’ll get used?
“I know he’ll have zero plays or all the plays, zero yards or all the yards, or somewhere in between.”
Gordon is a hot topic of conversation ahead of the Dolphins’ 1 p.m. kickoff to open the 2025 season Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium against the Indianapolis Colts for a number of reasons.
For one, the sixth-round pick is thrust into at least No. 2 running back duties after starting camp as the team’s fourth tailback on the depth chart. Veteran free agent signing Alexander Mattison was lost for the season after suffering a neck injury in the preseason opener in Chicago, and second-year running back Jaylen Wright is expected to miss weeks recovering from a knee injury sustained at the end of camp.
It’s not even entirely out of the question Gordon could start if Miami wants to limit the workload third-year speedster and top tailback De’Von Achane is put through as he comes back from a calf injury — or if the Dolphins prefer to begin Sunday’s game pounding Gordon’s 225-pound frame into the line before utilizing the acceleration and burst of Achane.
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Secondly, the Dolphins enter 2025 with an offseason focus on the run game and presenting physicality at the line of scrimmage. This goes in hand with the decision to draft Gordon, to sign Mattison, another power rusher, before he was lost for the year, and to bring in guards Jonah Savaiinaea and James Daniels through the draft and free agency.
The emphasis on the ground game leads to a third point, which is that it could pay dividends in opening things up in the pass game, as Miami could use help in to get the vertical passing game going.
Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith appreciates the complement that Gordon’s power presents alongside Achane’s speed.
“The uniqueness of, obviously, their skill sets is awesome for us,” Smith said Thursday. “It’s what, in (Gordon’s) college tape, what was really intriguing about him was that he had a physical running style, and he also had speed once he put his foot down for the cut.”
For Gordon, he has tried not to get too far ahead of himself with his standing on the rise early in his career.
“You always got to be present, be where your feet are,” Gordon said. “If you get caught up in the outside noise, that’s when you get caught up, (feeling like) everything’s good and you don’t have to work anymore.”
Smith noted Gordon is attentive, asks questions and has embraced his role.
Achane, who had 281 touches in 2024, said Wednesday he feels back to 100 percent and that missing practices toward the end of camp was more about not wanting to aggravate the tweak in the calf.
If the Achane-Gordon combination is effective Sunday in Indianapolis, it can help the Dolphins offense get the looks it needs to reignite the downfield passing game with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa finding wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
“It felt like, at the very least, there was a spike in two-shell across the entire NFL that I think everyone’s going through the process of deciphering,” new Miami senior passing game coordinator Bobby Slowik said.
“That’s huge. Anytime you can run the ball well, and what we have done play-pass and movement and things like that, just being able to keep defenses on their heels and get them out of things that they want to play or they want to do and make them feel like they have to get in this uncomfortable area in the pass game.
“Anytime you get both phases of the game clicking, that’s when offense is really fun. But the reality in the NFL is that doesn’t happen an awful lot.”
The Colts were 24th against the run last season, but they do have formidable players up the middle in the defensive front in defensive tackles DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart and middle linebacker Zaire Franklin.
