Dolphins 2023 preseason standouts

For Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier, it’s just business. After his team finished their preseason schedule this past Saturday with a road defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Grier begun the process of shaping the Dolphins roster into the 53 best players.

Apart from handing out a bunch of pink slips, Grier and his staff will keep close attention to the waiver wire and discuss trades to upgrade the Dolphins talent pool. He’s in Gordon Gekko transaction mode because the National Football League never sleeps.

This Dolphins team has top-end assets in stars Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Bradley Chubb and Terron Armstead. Those players need to stay healthy for Miami to be competitive this season, but the regular workers — the lunch-pail guys who do the necessary grunt work — need to be effective for the Dolphins to have meaningful success.

The problem is that the Dolphins are not a deep team, even though there were a few standouts this preseason.

Head coach Mike McDaniel has some options when it comes to role players. He runs the offense, which is set with Tagovailoa at quarterback throwing to receivers Hill and Waddle.

The running back room is a little less certain. Rumors continue to swirl of a trade involving Indianapolis Colts RB Jonathan Taylor. (Although, the Colts reportedly plan to retain the disgruntled star after they couldn't find a trade to their liking.) For now, the Dolphins have Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. returning, and the tandem should see most of the snaps. There is one player, though, who might push for some playing time.

Salvon Ahmed, RB

Every preseason, it seems that each team has one speedster at running back or in the kick-return game who flashes potential, but then disappears come regular season.

Yes, Ahmed could be the Dolphins' version of that this year, but maybe not. He has played so well this preseason that he beat out Myles Gaskin, who has led the Dolphins twice in rushing over the past three seasons. Gaskin was released Monday.

"It doesn't surprise me," McDaniel said as reported by The Palm Beach Post. "(Ahmed) has an abundance of talent. He's honed in on what he wasn't good at, and he's become good at it."

Ahmed broke off two long runs — a 42-yarder and a 56-yarder — in the preseason.

Channing Tindall, LB

At the linebacker position, the Dolphins brought in David Long Jr. as a free agent from the Tennessee Titans. Long will patrol the inside with defensive captain Jerome Baker — fellow incumbents Jaelan Phillips and Chubb rush from the outside in new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s 3-4 scheme.

Fangio loves to roll in fresh players, so the Dolphins will rely on a few key backups to spell the starters when called upon. Over their three tune-up games, no player had more snaps on defense than Tindall, who enters his second year with hopes of making more of an impact.

Tindall also raised his stock with a few stellar tackles on special teams, the phase he will be counted on to contribute the most.

Kader Kohou, CB

Kohou was sensational in 2022 and continued his strong play into this preseason. As an undrafted rookie last year, he gave up only one touchdown (Week 14) as the Dolphins starting nickel CB.

The Texas AM-Commerce grad was recently ranked in the top three by NFL.com NextGen Stats as a cover corner. Kohou should continue to provide the Dolphins with strong secondary depth.

“Last year, I felt like I made splash plays, but then kind of had down plays… So just staying more consistent and not letting a bad play affect the next one,” Kohou told reporters, via Dolphins Talk.

Grier will make more deals before the start of the season in search of a deeper supporting cast. He will also hope that Ahmed, Tindall and Kohou carry their solid preseason play into games that matter.