Mike McDaniel praises Ollie Gordon II amidst injuries to Dolphins RB room

The Miami Dolphins’ depth at the running back position is really lacking at this juncture thanks to some bad injury luck.

First, De’Von Achane — who led the team in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns in the 2024 season — is dealing with a calf injury. Plus, second-year running back Jaylen Wright is considered to be week to week with an injury that has yet to be disclosed.

With Achane and Wright currently down for the count, rookie sixth-round pick Ollie Gordon II got the start for Miami at running back in the team’s preseason victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday and looked solid out there.

In light of Gordon’s outing versus Jacksonville, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel had plenty of praise for the neophyte.

“I think Ollie did a very good job today of mastering the non-on-ball assignments,” McDaniel said. “I thought he did a better job with that. I thought he competed. For the most part, I think his tracks were good and his assignments were 100 percent. So it was a good day for a rookie back in terms of getting his feet wet. It didn’t look too big for him.”

No player on the Dolphins finished with more rushing yards against the Jaguars than Gordon with 43 on eight carries.

The Dolphins used the No. 179 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Gordon after he was maybe the most productive running back in the nation with Oklahoma State University in the 2023 season. He led all of college football with 1,732 rushing yards across 14 games played with the Cowboys in his sophomore campaign.

However, he was noticeably less effective in his swan song at the collegiate level, and that perhaps played a part in him falling to the sixth round of the draft. He totaled just 880 rushing yards in the 2024 campaign and averaged just 73.3 rushing yards per game compared to 123.7 the season prior.

It’s unclear as to whether Gordon will see the field at all for the Dolphins in their Week 1 bout against the Indianapolis Colts, but that seems to be within the realm of possibility.

It’s unknown when Achane and Wright will be feeling up to playing again, though it’s worth mentioning that the Miami Herald‘s Barry Jackson reported that Miami is optimistic about Achane’s chances of playing in Week 1.

The Dolphins’ first game of the 2025 season is coming up on the horizon, too. Miami will do battle against the Colts on Sept. 7, and it’s possible fans of the team will get to see Gordon play in that contest.