The Miami Dolphins’ 19-9 loss to Detroit came with a few notable shakeups in the snap counts, starting with a reworked secondary and ending with another quiet night for first-round defensive tackle Kenneth Grant.
On the availability front, wide receiver Jalen Tolbert was back on the inactive list, while running back Jaylen Wright sat out with a quad injury. Backup quarterback Kyle McCord was active but did not get on the field.
The Dolphins also went back to a starting lineup that featured seven rookies, with fourth-round pick Kyle Louis making his first NFL start. The other rookies in the opening group were left guard Kadyn Proctor, tight end Will Kacmarek, wide receiver Caleb Douglas, linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, cornerback Chris Johnson and safety Michael Taaffe. Louis technically started, but he logged only 11 defensive snaps, so the label came with a catch.
At receiver, Malik Washington reclaimed the team lead in snaps after Caleb Douglas topped the group against New England. Washington played 44 snaps, just ahead of Douglas at 42.
Chris Bell saw 36 snaps, while Kevin Coleman Jr. was limited to 11. Coleman was more noticeable than the workload suggests, but Bell was targeted only once on an incompletion in which he failed to create separation.
Jared Wayne, signed off waivers and filling in for Tolbert, got six offensive snaps and was flagged twice. That’s not the kind of efficiency the Dolphins wanted from that spot.
Tight end usage was another point of note. Kacmarek played 20 offensive snaps for the second straight game, even after leaving briefly when he took a hard shot to the side of the knee. The Dolphins used rookie free agent fullback DJ Herman more often than Kacmarek, which stands out even more on a day when the run game had little room to work.
At running back, Ollie Gordon II again handled the bulk of the action, though his 72 percent snap share was down from the New England game. Behind him, Kaytron Allen played six snaps and Carlos Washington Jr. had five, giving the backups 11 combined.
Defensively, five players were on the field for every one of the team’s 59 snaps: Jordyn Brooks, Jacob Rodriguez, Michael Taaffe, Chris Johnson and Dante Trader. Brooks, Rodriguez, Taaffe and Johnson have now hit that mark in each of the last three games.
One of the biggest shifts came off the edge, where Chop Robinson led the group with 39 snaps, edging Josh Uche at 35. That’s a change from the usual pattern, since Uche has typically been the top snap-getter there. Rodney McGraw was next with 12.
The defensive line rotation also tightened up. Zach Sieler played 42 snaps, Zeek Biggers 39 and Jordan Phillips 38, a much more even distribution than Sieler usually sees. Given how the defense performed, that balance looked like a positive.
Grant’s workload, though, was a different story. The 2025 first-round pick played just 21 snaps in his fourth game back, his lowest total since Week 5 against the Bengals, when he had 16 in his season debut. The Dolphins need more from Grant, period.
There was also a change at cornerback, where JuJu Brents and Jason Marshall Jr. ended up with nearly identical workloads after Brents had recently moved clearly ahead. And on the waiver-wire front, edge Jamree Kromah made his Miami debut with two defensive snaps and four on special teams after being claimed from the Bears two weeks ago.
Among the seven players who worked only on special teams, opening-day starter Zayne Anderson was joined by Shaka Heyward, Jackson Woodard, Julius Wood, Andrew Meyer, Jarrett Kingston and Caedan Wallace.
On special teams, rookie Seydou Traore again led the way with 20 snaps, though he shared the team lead this time with Woodard. Louis, Wood and Heyward followed with 15 each.
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