Six of the 83 running backs the Miami Dolphins have selected in the first round of the draft are from that class.
Now is an excellent time to review the Miami Dolphins’ draft history at each position as we approach the 2024 NFL Draft.
The amount of picks made at each position since the “common draft” began in 1967, first-round choices, hits and misses, and any relevant patterns will all be broken out for you in this draft series.
We move on to the position of running back:
83 selections in total
Larry Csonka (1968), David Overstreet (1981), Lorenzo Hampton (1985), Sammie Smith (1989), John Avery (1998), and Ronnie Brown (2005) were the six first-round selections.
The following five picks are listed in order of preference: Kenyan Drake (Round 3, 2016), De’Von Achane (Round 3, 2023), Gerrid Doaks (Round 7, 2021), Myles Gaskin (Round 7, 2019), and Kalen Ballage (Round 4, 2018).
Hits: Csonka, Mercury Morris (Round 3, 1969), Jim Kiick (Round 5, 1968), Tony Nathan (Round 3, 1979), Troy Stradford (Round 4, 1987), Lamar Miller (Round 4, 2012), Jay Ajayi (Round 5, 2016), Myles Gaskin (Round 7, 2019), (Round 3, 2023)
Missing: Daniel Thomas (Round 2, 2011), Sammie Smith, Avery, J.J. Johnson (Round 2, 1999), Steve Winfrey (Round 2, 1975), and Kalen Ballage
Trends: Prior to selecting De’Von Achane last year, the Dolphins had not chosen a running back in the first three rounds since 2016. Though they hadn’t chosen a running back in the first two rounds since 2011, when they selected Daniel Thomas from Kansas State, the Dolphins were ahead of the devaluation trend at the position.
The Dolphins established the standard for identifying running backs in the draft in their early days by selecting Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Mercury Morris in consecutive selections in the late 1960s, which was indicative of the team’s overall success.
Although Achane did not have the same level of success as a rookie and set an NFL record for the highest average per gain among backs with at least 100 running attempts, the Dolphins did seem to hit big with him last year.
However, free agents and players acquired through trades typically made up the Dolphins’ biggest running back corps; Lamar Miller did have a few successful seasons after joining as a fourth-round pick in 2012.
The Dolphins have only had three Pro Bowl seasons from a running back they drafted: Andra Franklin, Ronnie Brown, and Jay Ajayi. This is in contrast to the ten Pro Bowl invites that Csonka, Kiick, and Morris together received.
Additionally, the Dolphins’ first-round selections at the position haven’t had much of an impact; several of them have flat-out failed. Though Brown’s career with the Dolphins was good, it should have been expected to be even better given that he was the second overall pick and the Dolphins selected him instead of Aaron Rodgers, which isn’t helping either.
After spending a brief season in the Canadian Football League, Overstreet unfortunately died in a vehicle accident after his first season with the Dolphins, meaning that other first-round running backs simply didn’t work out.