Dolphins 2025 Week 7 Snap Count Observations

What stood out regarding play counts in the Miami Dolphins' 31-6 loss against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday:

We'll start with the list of inactives, where the biggest news involved rookie seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers supplanting Zach Wilson as the No. 2 quarterback. The other big news here was Matthew Judon being inactive and cornerback Storm Duck out for a fifth consecutive game since sustaining an ankle injury in the opener.

Wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. was a healthy scratch for a second consecutive game, while rookie seventh-round pick Zeek Biggers is inactive for a sixth time in seven games.

Because the outcome was decided by the middle of the third quarter, every Dolphins player wound up seeing action. The only Cleveland player who was active but didn't get any snaps was rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

Five players saw action only on special teams: Daniel Brunskill, Kendall Lamm, Kion Smith, Jordan Colbert and Dante Trader Jr. This represented a demotion of sorts for Trader, the rookie fifth-round pick from Maryland, after he played a season-high 34 defensive snaps in the loss against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 6.

DOLPHINS OFFENSE OBSERVATIONS

Despite the lopsided score, the play count was almost identical for the two offenses, with Miami actually running one more play than the Browns (58-57).

With the score out of control, the Dolphins gave RB De'Von Achane some rest in the second half and he ended up playing a season-low 32 snaps, one weeks after he tied his season high with 53 snaps against the Chargers.

Because of the blocking element he brings, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine again was the most used wide receiver outside of Jaylen Waddle, and the two actually tied with 44 snaps, seven more than Malik Washington.

After replacing Tua Tagovailoa, rookie seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers played 12 snaps in his NFL debut.

Again because of the blowout, second-year running back Jaylen Wright made his 2025 debut with nine garbage-time offensive snaps.

Rookie running back Ollie Gordon II had a slight uptick from his usual snap count of 14 or 15, this time with 18.

Lastly, for those keeping score, Darren Waller played 16 snaps before leaving the game with a pectoral injury in the second quarter. That was the same number of snaps he played in his Dolphins debut against the New York Jets in Week 4.

DOLPHINS DEFENSE OBSERVATIONS

For a second consecutive week, Ashtyn Davis played every defensive snap as he continues to be firmly entrenched as the starting safety next to Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Linebackers Jordyn Brooks and Tyrel Dodson, the latter back in the lineup after missing a game with a concussion, played all but one defensive snap.

The Dolphins again went with a bit of a rotation at the cornerback spot opposite Rasul Douglas, with Jack Jones getting 34 snaps and Ethan Bonner getting an additional 20.

JuJu Brents and Kendall Sheffield, the latter elevated from the practice squad, each got six snaps at cornerback in garbage time.

With Matthew Judon inactive, some suggested it was a way to get 2024 first-round pick Chop Robinson more playing time, but his snap count barely moved from the 21 or 22 of the previous four games to 25. As usual, Jaelan Phillips (46) and Bradley Chubb (39) dominated the snaps at outside linebacker.

After being limited to special teams after being elevated from the practice squad against the Chargers, Quinton Bell got six snaps on defense. And not all were in garbage time because he was on the field when Cleveland scored its first touchdown, the 46-yard run by Quinshon Judkins.

For those still interested in Willie Gay Jr., he played three defensive snaps in this game.

We close with special teams, where with Elijah Campbell again inactive it K.J. Britt who led the way with 23 snaps after he was relegated to special teams again with Dodson back in the lineup. Next were Bell with 19 snaps, followed by Cameron Goode and Ifeatu Melifonwu with 18 apiece. Tight ends Tanner Conner and Julian Hill led the way among offensive players with 13 special teams snaps each.

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