This falls into the category of “things you never want to hear.” Miami Dolphins running back Alexander Mattison was injured in Sunday’s preseason game against the Chicago Bears and had to exit the game. Mattison was brought in to help with the team’s short-yardage woes, but that might not be the case now.
Initially, Dolphins’ head coach Mike McDaniel made it sound like things were a-okay.
“He’s doing well. He had some neck and shoulder soreness, but we’ll find out more in the next couple of days,” McDaniel said of Mattison.
Yeah, that’s not true. Mattison banged his neck up so well that he needed surgery in Chicago yesterday. That’s not a situation where he’d been having soreness for several weeks and finally decided to get an operation so he didn’t have discomfort at night while trying to sleep. He hurt his neck to the point where it needed to be handled before getting back to Miami.
It goes without saying that Mattison’s season is over because it is. He was with the Las Vegas Raiders last season after five seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.
Miami Dolphins working out running back Jamaal Williams
Mattison was third on the depth chart behind De’Von Achane and Jaylen Wright, so while this is a blow to the Dolphins’ running game, it’s not the end of the world. That said, the Dolphins are bringing in Jamaal Williams for a workout, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
“Dolphins are working out free-agent running back Jamaal Williams today,” Schefter posted on X (saying “tweets” is so much easier from a writer’s perspective. “Posted on X” is so clunky).
A rookie in 2017, Williams spent the last two seasons with the New Orleans Saints and the two before that with the Detroit Lions. For what it’s worth, Williams had a Brady Anderson-like season in 2022 with 1,066 yards and 17 (!) touchdowns.
The Dolphins need short-yardage help…now
Williams would not only be good for depth, but he also might help in short-yardage situations. The Dolphins stunk again in short yardage against the Bears on Sunday and they’ve been so bad at it lately that Tyreek Hill even piped up about it (let’s be honest, it doesn’t take much to get him to chime in on stuff).
“Take De‘Von [Achane] out on third down — what?” Hill said. “That’s my honest opinion. If it’s third-and-short, he’s not a power back. I keep telling him that in the locker room, but he swears he’s a power back. I love De’Von, but if I’m being honest like that’s why you got Jaylen Wright, that’s why you got Ollie Gordon II, for those kind of situations.”
Josh Houtz of SB Nation pointed out the Dolphins’ systemic short-yardage problems on Sunday.
“One of the most frustrating things from Sunday’s 24-24 tie to the Chicago Bears — besides the tie itself — was the Miami Dolphins’ inability to run the football in short-yardage situations,” Houtz writes. “The truth is, this has been an ongoing problem for Mike McDaniel’s offense throughout his entire tenure with Miami, and sadly, it doesn’t appear that much has changed.
“The first example of this came in the first quarter when second-year running back Jaylen Wright got stuffed not once, not twice, but three times from inside the two-yard line. It was pitiful. He’d later score from 7 yards out, but the fact still remained — Miami was still #notgood in short-yard situations.”
It remains to be seen if Williams signs with the Dolphins, but in the meantime it would probably be wise to start practicing the Tush Push.
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