If it felt like the Miami Dolphins were playing a whole bunch of rookies in Week 1 — that’s because they were.
In fact, the Dolphins played their rookies at a historic rate in the season-opening 27-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Rookies were given 436 snaps by the Dolphins to open the season. That’s the most any team has had in Week 1 going back to the start of Sport Radar’s snap data in 2006, according to the Associated Press’ Josh Dubow:
The Dolphins had 436 snaps played by rookies in Week 1, the most for any team in Week 1 as far as snap data at @sportradar goes back to 2006
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) September 17, 2026
That’s a whole lot of NFL debuts all at once.
Dolphins Rookies Playing
The heaviest dose of rookies at once position came at wide receiver.
The Dolphins gave 51 snaps to Caleb Douglas, who had five catches for 94 yards. Chris Bell was on the field for 29 snaps, and Kevin Coleman got 16 snaps.
Offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor played all 56 offensive snaps in his NFL debut.
The tight end Will Kacmarek was on the field for 14 snaps in his debut.
Defensively, Jacob Rodriguez led the way. The rookie linebacker played all 68 defensive snaps.
The rookie cornerback Chris Johnson also was on the field for every defensive play.
Rookie safety Michael Taaffe was out there for 75% of the defensive snaps, as well.
Kyle Louis, who was injured, was in on 54% of special teams snaps and a few defensive snaps, too, before he had to leave the game.
The rookie tight end Seydou Traore didn’t play offense but did get 15 snaps on special teams.
An undrafted rookie, DJ Herman, got 15 offensive snaps as a fullback.
A handful of these rookies also got special teams snaps, too.
This breakdown certainly makes it clear that there’ll be plenty of learning curves to deal with on the Dolphins’ roster this season. In some ways, it raises excitement for the future, but things won’t be easy in Miami.
The Dolphins play in San Francisco against the strong 49ers in Week 2, so it’ll be a huge test in the early going for these youngsters.
Not Always a Rookie
One thing that coaches often enjoy saying earlier in athletic careers is that freshmen aren’t freshmen by the end of the year.
The same can be said for rookies.
Sure, the entire season will be their rookie season. But the expectation is that they learn and grow and have much more preparedness later in the year than they do right now.
Growing pains can come along with that, but if these Dolphins’ rookies can come out the other side of some struggles in a better place moving forward, the future can still be bright in Miami.
Dolphins Set NFL Rookie Record in Week 1