Myles Gaskin begins defense of his Dolphins starting RB job. He must beat this challenge

Myles Gaskin did a good job last season overcoming things he knew were going to be issues. In that regard, Gaskin showed something in his second NFL season that all the great running backs always have — great vision.

He knew he had to rise from the bottom of the depth chart to win a starting job. And he did that.

He knew he had to improve significantly from a rookie season in 2019 in which he wasn’t really a factor, and he did that, too.

But it was the things Gaskin didn’t see coming that were problems.

“He missed a number of games last year due to injury,” coach Brian Flores said, “but when he was in there, he was productive in the run game and the pass game and the protection game.”

It wasn’t just injuries. Gaskin had a bout with COVID-19 as well. And the health issues combined to keep him out of six games.

“I was proud of how I handled my recovery of my injury, just missing a couple of games,” Gaskin said Monday after participating in a walk-through practice at the Dolphins Davie facility on the first day of on-field voluntary workouts.

“...Just missing those games kind of hurt myself, just kind of hurt the team and hurt myself in my own eyes, so just trying to work on staying healthy, trying to take care of my body, trying to work on a lot of things so things don’t come up during the season.”

Gaskin now sees the injury possibility as well as he does any linebacker. And that’s good because durability is his biggest challenger if he’s going to keep the team’s starting running back job in 2021.

Gaskin obviously understands he can’t start if he’s not healthy so he’s been doing everything necessary this offseason to make sure he stays healthy.

“I work on knee health, ankle health, things like that,” Gaskin said. “Work on stability, just being more like sure — just work on those small muscles. I did a lot of Pilates when I went back home to Seattle, and I think that helped my body just working on those small muscles, working on awkward movements.

“And moving your body like I said, moving your body awkwardly — just new things I haven’t done in the past, I think that’ll take my game to the next step.”

Gaskin has done much of his work with Tracy Ford, the owner of Ford Sports Performance in the Pacific Northwest.

“He knows a lot guys at the Seahawks like Bobby [Wagner] and K.J. [Wright], so he’s been around a lot of top shelf players to Hall of Famers, in my eyes, just being from Seattle and watching Bobby and K.J. play,” Gaskin said. “And he just kind of coached me up on how I need to work when it’s the offseason like what you should be doing right after the season, what you should be doing like right before OTAs.”

There have been other potential challenges for Gaskin this offseason. And it seems as if he’s beaten them without having to sweat the circumstances too much.

After the club did little other than sign free agents Malcolm Brown and Jordan Scarlett and draft Gerrid Doaks in the seventh round, Gaskin seems like he’’ll be the likely starter when the training camp competition begins.

“Above my pay grade,” Gaskin said with a smile. “To be honest with you, obviously whatever they do upstairs is what they do upstairs. Whoever we bring in, I know it’s going to be the best for the team.

“I don’t think drafting a back or bringing in a back is going to change anything for me. I’m trying to compete with myself, compete with others obviously, but definitely compete with myself, make sure I’m the best running back I can be come the end of July whenever camp starts, and then leading up into the season.”

The Dolphins have multiple new offensive coordinators in 2021. Eric Studesville and George Godsey are succeeding the retired Chan Gailey. They are officially Miami’s co-coordinators for the offense as well as in charge of running backs (Studesville) and tight ends (Godsey).

The fact one of the new coordinators has been his position coach for two years might be an advantage for Gaskin.

“I feel like for the running backs that were here — myself, Pat [Laird], Salvon [Ahmed] — just kind of seeing the playbook, it has changed,” Gaskin said. “It’s much different than last year’s but us being around [Studesville], we kind of see his offensive mind sitting in the room with him. You see his offensive mind kind of clicking, kind of moving, so I feel like me, Pat, Salv kind of have a good — not that we understood what it was going to be, but what it was going to look like, if that makes sense.”

The new offense is based on Gailey’s offense, with some changes. It’s Godsey’s and Studesville’s interpretation of last year’s offense.

“A lot of coaches call the same thing or have the same thing but just call it different wording around it especially when you’re watching film,” Gaskin said. “But it’s definitely different. It’s a whole new playbook. It’s not the same as last year’s, but it’s not — like I said, it’s still early, still picking it up.”