Miami running back Myles Gaskin turned out to be “the guy” for the Miami Dolphins last year. He appeared in 10 games for the Fins, toting the rock 142 times for 584 yards with three touchdowns, and catching 41 of his 47 targets for 388 yards and two touchdowns. He was very consistent for fantasy owners, posting a top 24 finish at the position in eight of those 10 games, good for an 80 percent mark. In 2020, Miami told us again and again that he was their guy, that even after missing multiple games at a time, when he returned to the lineup, it was his job, and clearly his. Miami added Malcolm Brown to the backfield this offseason, but that was it, so are we staring at another season where Gaskin dominates touches out of the backfield? Let’s discuss.

Let me reiterate this. Miami told us time and time again that Gaskin was their guy in 2020. In each of the first seven games of the year, Gaskin had 13 or more touches. He then missed the next four games due to injury. In his first game back, he played in 71 percent of the offensive snaps, per Pro Football Reference, and handled 21 carries and two receptions. Unfortunately, he went on the COVID-19 list, and upon his return from that, he played at least 61 percent of the snaps in the final two games, handling 19 and 11 touches in the final two games respectively.

In other words..

  • Weeks 1-8: 53% of team’s rushing attempts, 16% target share
  • Week 13: 75% of team’s rushing attempts, 5% target share
  • Weeks 16-17: 48% of team’s rushing attempts, 11% target share

Gaskin handled 54 percent of the team’s rushing attempts and had a 13 percent target share, despite missing six games last year. That’s quite impressive. Looking back at some of his numbers, from a usage perspective, he was essentially Ezekiel Elliott.

 Snap%Target Share% of Team’s Rushing Att.% of Team Opportunity
Ezekiel Elliott72%13%60%32%
Myles Gaskin69%13%54%31%

Courtesy of RotoViz

He was really effective in the passing attack, giving him a nice boost in PPR formats. Of running backs with at least 30 receptions in 2020, he was tied with Houston’s David Johnson for the position lead with 9.5 yards per reception, per RotoViz. However, in yards per target, his 8.3 mark was the best at the position. Additionally, if you look at Pro Football Focus’ yards per route run metric, Gaskin’s 1.87 yards mark trailed just Alvin Kamara (2.19) and James White (2.04).

Can Gaskin get better in 2021? There’s reason to believe so. It would be great to see him be a bit more effective per touch (just 4.1 YPC in 2020) on the ground but the hope is that the Miami offensive line can continue to develop and be even better in 2021. From a fantasy perspective, he can be more productive in the red zone, that would catapult him up rankings. He was one of just 14 running backs with at least 36 red zone carries last year, per Pro Football Focus. However, 13 of those 14 running backs had at least six red zone touchdowns. Gaskins was the lone back to not do so, as he scored just three. He should progress to the mean in red zone touchdowns this season, which would be huge.

He does more than enough to make up for any deficiencies or shortcomings on the ground thanks to his involvement in the passing game. I mean, he averaged over four receptions per game last year, and with good health, he’s catching over 50 passes this season with ease, even with the added weapons in Miami’s offense.

All Miami really did in the backfield this offseason was bring in Malcolm Brown, but he shouldn’t be considered a serious threat to poach significant work from Gaskin. Per NFFC data, Gaskin is the 26th running back off the board, and it’s not often that you see a dual-threat back with his presumed volume going outside of the top 25 at the position.

Gaskin isn’t the flashy pick and you may not be overcome with jitters and butterflies when selecting him. However, he’s poised for consistent volume and volume is key in fantasy football. He’s priced as a RB3 but health willing, I just don’t see how he finishes outside of the RB2 range, especially in PPR formats.

 

Statistical Credits:

Profootballfocus.com

Pro-football-reference.com

Rotoviz.com

Nfc.shgn.com/adp/football