After taking a long puff from the joint, I set it down in the ash tray and melted back into the couch. Gazing past the foggy haze, I transfixed my eyes to the ceiling , let the mushrooms kick in, and began contemplating the concept of fate. If I was meant to have something, then I could just chill in my room and it would magically appear. That’s how it works, right? Knock Knock. Who is it? Your Grubhub driver. Ok, thanks and leave it by the door. As I appeased my munchies, I realized that if you wanted something, you had to work for it. Now, that by itself doesn’t guarantee anything. Opportunites need to be presented. And that is the factor that many in the NFL have to deal with. The players are the top 1% of the 1% of athletes in the world, but many vanish into the ether because they never got that opportunity. On the flip side, many have made a name for themselves due to opportunity. Salvon Ahmed of the Miami Dolphins got his opportunity on Sunday and made the most of it, as he received the start and rushed 21 times for 85 yards and a touchdown while catching one pass for 5 yards. Should you go Ahmed and add him?
Ahmed is 5′ 11″, 197 pounds, and played his college ball at the University of Washington, where in three years, Ahmed rushed 353 times for 2,016 yards, scored 21 rushing touchdowns, and caught 50 passes for 331 yards. Despite that, he went undrafted in the 2020 NFL Draft. Running backs don’t matter! Looking at the measurables, I get it: 4.62 40-yard dash with below average speed and burst scores.Â
Measurables schemurables. Everyone that’s in the NFL can ball. Sure, some can ball out harder than others, but being a scrub is a relative term. Ahmed is no scrub.
Watching the highlights from Sunday, Ahmed impressed. He runs between the tackles and doesn’t dance. He hits the hole and goes north and south, while also being able to stick his foot and change direction on a dime. There were some gaping holes, so that helped, but here’s the thing. With Tua at quarterback and the offense spreading out the defense, rarely will there be stacked boxes.Â
Now, why did Ahmed get the opportunity in the first place? Leading rusher, Myles Gaskin was put on the injured reserve due to a knee injury. Matt Breida is dealing with a hamstring injury. When isn’t he? Jordan Howard sucks. DeAndre Washington just returned from Covid protocol but only carried two times for two yards and Patrick Laird is Patrick Laird. Gaskin is out for at least three games, so Ahmed could be THE guy.
The upcoming schedule has DEN, NYJ, CIN, KC, NE, and LVR on the docket. According to Football Outsiders, the rush defense rank of those teams are 13, 11, 25, 30, 31, and 32. Denver did just get gashed by the Raiders on the ground, but that should be a tough matchup. So will the Jets game. The rest are juicy from a matchup perspective, though. But, but, but….Gaskin could be back and there’s Breida as well.Â
Due to the apocalyptic running back landscape, you’re picking up Ahmed from the waiver wire, but I wouldn’t blow the budget and expectations should be kept in check. As quickly as the opportunity arrived for Ahmed, it could disappear just as fast.
