Mike McDaniel may need to look backward to drive the Dolphins' offense forward — and the answer breaks many of the stereotypes about Miami

22 personnel. Two backs and two tight ends on the field at the same time — Miami has entered into the top three of teams to use that player package after their Week 6 contest against the Los Angeles Chargers. And it's working.

Miami has run 28 plays out of 22 personnel thus far this season and scores six touchdowns from the grouping. They've logged another five plays that have gained at least 10 yards, marking about a 40% clip of chunk gains or touchdowns when deciding to feature two tight ends and two backs on the field.

Miami can go light for passing situations or heavy for short-yardage and red zone opportunities out of this package. We've seen Julian Hill, Darren Waller, De'Von Achane, Ollie Gordon, and Jaylen Waddle on the field — leaning into speed. We've seen Hill, Waller, Gordon, fullback Alec Ingold and a heavy wide receiver.

Miami Dolphins' 22-personnel success against the Chargers in Week 6

• 49-yard touchdown run by De'Von Achane
• 4-yard touchdown run by De'Von Achane
• 19-yard completion to Jaylen Waddle
• Averaged 7.86 yards per play

This package got four snaps on the season before Tyreek Hill went down with injury and we likely don't see it for more than a dozen snaps in a game, as we did against the Chargers, if Hill is healthy. There's too much gravitational pull to put Hill and Waddle on the field at the same time. Instead, Miami has been at their best leaning into multiple personnel packages and capitalizing on opposing team's conflict with how to match players.

Only the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks have now run more 22 personnel than the Dolphins in 2025. Those two teams rank 17th and 21st in EPA with two backs and two tight ends on the field. Relative to the league average (2.5% of all offensive snaps), Miami is running the personnel package at nearly four times that rate. And they are passing the ball on 54% of the reps out of that package. As aa point of reference, neither Buffalo or Seattle is passing on more than 20% of their snaps out of 22 personnel.

This is a De'Von Achane and Darren Waller statistic. And it's also Miami's ticket to not just surviving but thriving in the post-Tyreek Hill era. Teams are still mostly playing Miami's 22 personnel packages with five defensive backs — giving Miami a true opportunity to muscle up on smaller space players on the edges.

If Mike McDaniel wants to recapture his aura as an offensive mind, look to see how willing he is to wind the clocks back and go heavy with his personnel usage. You don't often think 'Miami' when you consider big personnel packages. This is a *speed* team, remember? But it is pushing the right buttons to allow Miami's remaining space weapons to thrive and create big plays despite not having an embarrassment of riches of them on the field at the same time — and doing more of anything that is working is the hallmark of any good offensive mind.

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