Gaskin, Ahmed and how they survived the Dolphins’ bid to improve position. And Waddle news

Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed, buddies and former teammates at the University of Washington, didn’t have a “Survivors” watch party Tuesday night.

But they could have.

During an offseason when the Dolphins seemed determined to upgrade at running back, the team ultimately ended up keeping two members of last year’s backfield - along with two key newcomers.

The new additions, Chase Edmonds and Raheem Mostert, are expected to play ahead of Gaskin and Ahmed.

But the two incumbents justifiably feel a sense of accomplishment after seizing roster spots in a seven-man preseason running back competition. Both beat out veteran Sony Michel and two younger players for spots on the 53.

Gaskin also overcame a financial dynamic working against him; his entire $2.5 million salary is nonguaranteed unless he’s on the roster for Week 1.

Did Gaskin — last season’s starter — ever feel like the odds were against him after the Dolphins kept adding new running backs?

“I guess I got the pressure, my parents [asking], other people,” he said. “Obviously, it was a stacked room. I wanted to be here. I’m a pretty confident [person]. What got me here was working every single day, believing in myself.”

He said the fact the Dolphins signed three veteran backs added “motivation, but I was able to pick up a few things from these guys. Learning from Chase, him and I being the same type of back, smaller type.”

Mastering the team’s new wide zone blocking system also helped: “I’ve been studying like a kid again, like college, making flash cards, doing everything I can to pick it up as fast as I can.”

Gaskin — whose per-carry average dropped from 4.1 yards on 142 carries in 2020 to 3.5 on 173 carries last season — is no longer the starter, and his playing time conceivably could plummet. Nevertheless, “I’m excited to be on this team. I’m excited to see what we’re going to do this year.”

Ahmed, meanwhile, survived even though his rushing average — behind a poor offensive line — plunged from 4.3 on 75 carries in 2020 to 2.8 on 54 attempts in 2021. He seems a good fit in this new offensive system.

“It’s a fun offense to be a part of,” Ahmed said. “Mike McDaniel is a genius.”

Asked if he and Gaskin had a moment this week to celebrate — or at least acknowledge — they’ve survived another roster cut down day, Ahmed smiled. “Happy to have my dog here,” he said.

McDaniel called the running back competition “brutal. Sony did not make it easy. But to those guys’ credit, one of the things that I was so impressed with was whenever we were signing running backs in the offseason, Myles and SA [Ahmed] in particular, how they handled that was not sulking. It was like clockwork — they were outside on the field with weight vests on working.”

THIS AND THAT

▪ McDaniel said he’s “very, very, very confident” that receiver Jaylen Waddle will play in the opener, and that he would have played had there been a game last Sunday.

Waddle has missed two weeks of practice with an undisclosed lower body injury. He said Thursday that he feels fine.

▪ Safety Eric Rowe (pectoral injury) and linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel (appendix) were not seen at practice and their status for the opener remains in question.

▪ Xavien Howard, speaking about his appreciation for Jevon Holland, said Holland (even as a rookie last year) gets on him if he’s not doing something to Holland’s liking, such as “not being in the spot” he’s supposed to be.

Howard said he has no issue with that: “It’s about holding people accountable.”

But, as Howard recalled with a smile on his face, there was a moment during the joint practices in Tampa when “I was hot. When you mess up, you’re down on yourself. And Jevon got on me and I said, ‘If you say one more thing to me!’”

▪ Dolphins general manager Chris Grier, on the team’s roster: “We feel like we’ve got a good deep group. It’s a good mix, we’re still fairly young. Forty eight percent of them have never been in an open locker room before.”

NFL locker rooms closed to media after the 2019 season because of the pandemic, and in the case of the Dolphins and most NFL teams, reopened this week for the first time since then.

▪ Players aren’t separated by position in the locker-room, and that’s by design.

McDaniel said when he first met players after he got the Dolphins job, “I kept hearing this commonality that it’s offense vs. defense. This just in, the won/loss column is one team. I want players to be as close as possible, as invested in each other as possible. Why would I have guys who go to position meetings sit next to each other? They see each other all the time.

“This was the first action I could take to facilitate better team camaraderie. You spend a lot of time there. You should be sitting next to someone that you’re not spending time with all day. When I got the [facility] tour, I made a note. I didn’t tell [general manager Chris Grier] because I hadn’t gotten the job yet.”

▪ The Patriots will practice at Palm Beach Atlantic in West Palm Beach next week in an attempt to acclimate themselves to the South Florida weather before their Sept. 11 opener against the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium.

ROSTER MOVES

The Dolphins placed safety Clayton Fejedelem on injured reserve - meaning he will miss at least four games - and signed cornerback Justin Bethel, a former standout special teams player, most recently for the Patriots (2019-2021). Bethel, a former sixth-round pick of Arizona, has played in 159 NFL games with 14 starts over 11 seasons.

Miami also formally announced the signing of 11 players to the 16-player practice squad. Two of the 11 were not with the team in training camp: former BYU guard/center James Empey (cut by Dallas in the past week) and Carolina seventh-round rookie cornrback Kalon Barnes. Also on the practice squad: offensive players Larnel Coleman, River Cracraft, Braylon Sanders and ZaQuandre White and defensive players Ben Stille, Cameron Goode, Niles Scott, Porter Gustin and Verone McKinley.

The Dolphins also are expected to add former Seahawks receiver Freddie Swain to their practice squad. The former sixth round pick out of Florida, who was cut by Seattle this week, had 38 catches for 502 yards and six touchdowns in his first two seasons, which included 33 appearances and nine starts. He averaged 8.6 yards on 22 punt returns last season.