The football season is seemingly more-fleeting each year. In a blink, its mid-November and the majority of the Dolphins games are in the rearview mirror. With Game 10 on deck, and in primetime, we'll evaluate the season so far by the numbers.
Approaching the Top of the Leaderboard
Christian Wilkins is enjoying his most productive season in his third year as a professional. Capable of playing any position on the defensive line, and as durable as they come, Wilkins' has flashed the versatility, strength at the point of attack and sterling run defense his entire career. This offseason, Wilkins worked on his hands, which has helped contribute to topping or matching career bests in sacks, tackles-for-loss, QB hits, forced fumbles and just four solo tackles from besting that high-water mark (26 in 2021, 30 in 2019).
"All offseason, just countless reps of shooting my hands, inside hands, doing grip things to make my hands stronger because that's important as a d-lineman," he said. "Really, hands and eyes go together so seeing my hands in, shooting at my target and being strong at the point of attack."
Wilkins ranks first in Pro Football Focus' run-stop metric (running play tackles within two yards of the line of scrimmage) among interior defense lineman with 24. He's also ninth in ESPN's run-stop win rate metric (42 percent), which tracks the player's efficiency of impacting the opposition's running game on a down-by-down basis.
On the same defensive line, Emmanuel Ogbah is enjoying another productive season with Miami. Through nine games, Ogbah ranks tied for 10th among edge defenders with 35 QB pressures and 14th with 18 run stops. His 15 QB hits are 10th regardless of position in the NFL.
Ogbah's rookie counterpart -- Jaelan Phillips -- is second among rookie edge defenders with 21 QB pressures (Odafe Oweh, 24).
In the defensive backfield, Brandon Jones' 10 QB pressures are the most among all safeties. Rookie Jevon Holland is right behind Jones with eight pressures, tied for second at the position. Holland has the most passes defensed by all rookie safeties and only eight safeties (rookie or otherwise) have more passes defensed than Holland.
Xavien Howard's 10 passes defensed are tied for fifth in the NFL regardless of position. Byron Jones is tied for 18th with seven.
On offense, Jaylen Waddle is just 29 catches away from breaking the Dolphins rookie record for receptions in a single season. With 388 more receiving yards, Waddle will eclipse Chris Chambers' rookie franchise mark (833). He's also earned Pro Football Focus' highest grade of all rookie wideouts since Week 6.
Mike Gesicki is on track to shatter his career highs in receptions (44 in 2021, 53 in 2020) and receiving yards (529 in 2021, 703 in 2020). He currently holds the best catch percentage (69.8) and yards per target (8.4) marks in his career, and he's done it with the best stretch of games in his career. Since Week 3, Gesicki's 41 receptions and 488 yards are tops among all tight ends.
Kicking inside to the trenches, guard Robert Hunt is tied for second in ESPN's run-block win rate among guards (78 percent).
The Dolphins will look to improve upon these numbers Thursday night in prime time at Hard Rock Stadium. Dolphins-Ravens kicks off at 8:20 p.m. ET from Hard Rock Stadium.
Injury Report and Roster Moves
The Dolphins signed offensive lineman Evan Boehm to the practice squad on Tuesday. It's Boehm's second stint with Miami; he started eight games and played in 13 for the Dolphins in 2019.
Miami also placed center Greg Mancz on injured reserve; he will miss at least three games. Taking Mancz place on the 53-man roster is center Cameron Tom, who was signed to the active roster Wednesday.
The final injury report for Dolphins-Ravens is as follows:
