{"id":120865,"date":"2025-06-11T08:10:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T08:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/120865\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T08:10:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T08:10:09","slug":"heres-why-dolphins-alec-ingold-is-called-the-hit-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/120865\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s why Dolphins’ Alec Ingold is called ‘The Hit Man’"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 Miami Dolphins<\/a> fullback Alec Ingold has the best nickname on the team. And he earned it the old-fashioned way \u2014 by knocking guys into the dirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we call him \u2018The Hit Man,\u2019 \u201d quarterback Tua Tagovailoa<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

Ingold, the physical, tough-as-nails, 28-year-old six-year veteran who was a Pro Bowl selection in 2023, is a big reason that the Dolphins<\/a> run game took a nosedive midway through last season.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins, who opened their three-day minicamp Tuesday<\/a>, need Ingold to stay healthy this year for the sake of their running game, which ranked 21st in the league at 105.6 yards per game last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people don\u2019t understand is, so Alec Ingold makes a block,\u201d coach Mike McDaniel began. \u201cWell, when he comes from the backfield and goes into the line of scrimmage and blocks whomever, half the team adjacent to him has better angles at their blocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo a fullback allows you to every play, not only is he executing his block, but he\u2019s made the angle better for the center on his target, which helps him execute his blocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, Ingold, who has 18 carries for 25 yards and two touchdowns in three seasons with the Dolphins, is essential for the run game\u2019s success, possibly as essential as running back De\u2019Von Achane or former running back Raheem Mostert (now with Las Vegas).<\/p>\n

It was the low-profile Ingold who cleared the way for Mostert in his Pro Bowl season of 2023, when Mostert had a franchise-record 18 rushing touchdowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply put, a fullback in the run game for offenses is the ultimate point guard for the offensive line, helping their angles and their leverage and their ability to block talented athletes,\u201d McDaniel said.<\/p>\n

Yes, part of the reason for the run game\u2019s nosedive last season was due to the season-ending knee injury to right tackle Austin Jackson after the Buffalo game in early November.<\/p>\n

But Ingold was injured in that same game. He missed the next two games, against the Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas, before returning to face his hometown Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n

Including the Buffalo game, the Dolphins had a streak of five consecutive 100-yard rushing games.<\/p>\n

After the Buffalo game the Dolphins had a streak of six consecutive games under 100 rushing yards. Their best showing in that stretch was 82 yards rushing against Las Vegas. Their six-game average was 59.4 yards per game.<\/p>\n

Ingold\u2019s physical presence and football intelligence were both definitely missed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think \u2018F\u2019 fullback in this offense, you could call it problem-solver a little bit,\u201d said Ingold, who battled calf and ankle injuries for the second half of the 2024 season. \u201cLike being able to fix things on the fly, to keep things clean for the running backs, to direct their eyes, to give them some calming presence so they get one extra revolution on cuts to kind of help everything ease out from the front line to the backfield and the wideout.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDaniel spoke earlier Tuesday about the running game\u2019s role in helping the Dolphins get more plays of 25 or more yards, a category in which they ranked near the bottom of the league in 2024 after ranking near the top of the league in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

McDaniel said teams will continue playing the Dolphins\u2019 pass game the same way until the run game can force them to change their strategy.<\/p>\n

Ingold, a physical presence in the offense, is a big part of that solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe physicality at the point of attack,\u201d McDaniel said, \u201cthe known match-ups going into a game where, hey, this dude is a physical thumper that compresses force. Alright well, \u2018Hey Alec, we\u2019re going to need a tone set at the beginning of the game.\u2019 Those things, in football, that\u2019s the end all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ingold is perhaps the kindest, most giving guy on the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His charity, the Ingold Family Foundation<\/a>, seeks to \u201cempower underserved youth\u201d through sports. He\u2019s highly intelligent. He\u2019s always available for the media and gives honest, thoughtful, insightful answers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u2019s genuinely a nice guy.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t get in his path on a running play. He\u2019ll clean your clock.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe sets it off,\u201d nose guard Benito Jones said. \u201cIf you really watch him when he\u2019s got pads on and everything, he\u2019ll come lay the wood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: June 10, 2025 at 3:46 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 Miami Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold has the best nickname on the team. And he earned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[1752,217,7,216,251,2087,3515,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-120865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-alec-ingold","9":"tag-dolphins","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-minicamp","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114663720850052803","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}