Dolphins running back Jaylen Wright got off to a strong start in his rookie season last year, but down the stretch he virtually disappeared, with just nine carries for six yards over the final five games of 2024. In 2025 he’s looking to be a productive part of the offense from the first game of the year to the last. With that in mind, Wright says he’s been dedicated this offseason to getting himself in shape to play well all year long. “Just working hard in off-season, working on my body,” Wright said. “I probably added about, probably six pounds. I lost a lot of body fat. I gained a lot of muscle. That’s why it might look like I’m a little bigger, but yeah, just off-season, working hard, focusing on my body, getting prepared for the season, so. Wright said he has told this year’s rookies that they have to be prepared for an NFL season. “It’s a long season,” he said. “Speaking for what I experienced, it’s a long season so take care of your body, because you never know when the opportunity is going to come.” Wright indicated that he didn’t get a full explanation from the coaching staff about why he started to get phased out of the offense down the stretch, but he’s committed to being available to the Dolphins this year. “I’m not going to say I got it,” Wright said. “Things happen, control what I can control. I’m not going to speak too far on that stuff. That’s last year, so that’s in the past. So control what I can control and just be ready for that opportunity.”
Wright was very young last season, and was a guy who only carried the ball a total of 368 times in college and wasn't used in the passing game at Tennessee, so its not too surprising that McDaniel didn't give him much work. I think that they also wanted to give Mostert as much of a chance to bounce back to his 2023 form as they could, although the fumble at Buffalo all but ended his time as a Dolphin. It felt like at that moment, McDaniel made the descesion that he just wasn't going to run the ball much the rest of the year, and they used the short passing game instead. And it basically worked, as even though the run game tanked, they won six of the next eight games and the offense was effective in all of the wins. My guess is that won't be the plan heading into this coming season, though, and Wright will be given every shot to split the load with Achane on the ground.
