Most improved position groups from the 2022 NFL offseason:

New 49ers running back Raheem Mostert

Running backs – Miami Dolphins

Additions: Chase Edmonds, Raheem Mostert, Sony Michel & ZaQuandre White

Departures: Philip Lindsay, Malcolm Brown, Duke Johnson & Patrick Laird

The Dolphins are a candidate for the most improved offensive line as well and that will certainly be a part of an improvement we should see from this rushing attack altogether. Re-configuring the left side with Terron Armstead and Connor Williams. However, no other team in the league I believe added as many bodies this offseason in the backfield (at least in terms of veterans) as Miami.

Looking at their statistics from a year ago, they finished 30th in total rushing yards and 31st in yards per attempt. Their leading rusher in Myles Gaskin averaged 3.5 yards a pop – who by the way is still there – and all but one of the players who carried the ball at least five times last season, averaging less than four yards per touch. That one guy to cross that mark by the way was Duke Johnson, who was brought in for the latter stages of the season and didn’t step into a prominent role until the final four weeks. Johnson is already off the roster again. As for the other guys they lost this offseason – Philip Lindsay couldn’t even log 100 touches in 14 games between the Texans and Dolphins. Arguably the two worst backfields in the league, Malcolm Brown was knocked out after seven games with a quad injury, at which point he had 135 yards on 36 touches. Patrick Laird seemingly spent about half of 58 snaps last season in Pass-Pro.

Miami may be a year late in terms of the noise for the names they brought in via the free agent market, but if they are healthy, there’s a lot to like here. Chase Edmonds by far accounts for the biggest cap hit at 5.5-million this year. He's on basically a one-plus-one deal, where they could cut him next year for 600K of dead cap. You compare that to his backfield teammate in James Conner sticking around in Arizona at 21 million, with 13.5 million guaranteed at signing, that looks like a pretty good deal. They were also able to bring in Raheem Mostert and Sony Michel both at less than two million on one-year prove-it deals. Plus, they picked up UDFA ZaQuandre White, formerly of South Carolina, at just 700K this year.

These four guys all kind of bring a different skill-set to the table, while adding something to the offense that makes sense in relation to how Mike McDaniel wants to build up the unit. Edmonds is a very dynamic space player who can quickly eat up yardage on screen or draw plays, but also beat linebackers on angle routes and make people miss out in space. Mostert is a perfect wide zone back who can make one decisive cut and blow through the line of scrimmage, with the speed to take it the distance. Michel is more so an inside zone/power type of runner as they get into short-yardage situations and need to close out games as well as want to keep a back in protection. Finally, White has that blazing speed and ability to make dynamic moves on the fly. He will contribute in the return game as a rookie, while they figure out exactly how to distribute snaps and touches on offense. Overall, I’d say while they are very different, the guys they had there last season had much narrower skill-sets. They simply couldn’t consistently pick up positive yardage or contribute a whole lot of explosive plays. This, on paper at least, should be a much better group in a far more advanced scheme.

Also considered: Houston Texans