Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that Dolphins’ running back Jeff Wilson Jr has restructured his contract to lower his salary cap number from $3.67 million to $2.357 million in 2024, but he got $400,000 of new guaranteed money.
Wilson joined Miami midway through the 2022 season and has played in 18 games for the Dolphins with one start. In 2023, he played in 10 games, started zero, and had 41 rushes for 188 yards and no touchdowns. For his career, he has played in 63 games, started 16, and had 515 rushing attempts for 2,313 yards and 18 touchdowns.
With this move, it is likely Wilson will be a part of Miami’s 2024 running back room with Raheem Mostert, DeVon Achane, and Chris Brooks, and it appears that the Dolphins will run it back with the same running back group as last season. In 2023, Wilson was a healthy scratch for multiple weeks and was not active. He will start the season as RB3 for Miami behind Moster and Achane.
There had been rumblings that Miami may look to upgrade the running back room this offseason as the Dolphins got production out of Mostert and Achane in 2023, but Mostert missed key games down the stretch vs Baltimore and Buffalo in late December, much like he missed the playoff game in 2022 vs Buffalo. And Achane had injuries starting in training camp that kept him out for multiple weeks on and off throughout the season.
The Dolphins struggled in short-yardage situations last year, mainly because Mike McDaniel’s play calling was suspect during those times, but also because Achane and Mostert aren’t necessarily power-backs who you want to run between the tackles. They are more speed guys. You want to get to the outside and hit the corner where they can maximize their speed.
It seems unlikely that Miami would add a running back in this draft with limited picks and especially using a third-round pick last year on Achane. So, Mostert, Achane, and Wilson will most likely be Miami’s running back room in 2024 barring any surprises.
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