After a devastating Week 7 loss to the Cleveland Browns in which Darren Waller suffered a pectoral injury that forced him onto Injured Reserve, the Miami Dolphins looked to be in dire straits. But they bounced back the following week with a 34-10 thrashing of the Michael Penix-less Atlanta Falcons.
Prior to the game against Atlanta, I took a look at which Dolphins receivers could step up with Waller on IR, and I specifically noted that Malik Washington’s low success rate suggested that he couldn’t be relied upon as a top target. He proved me somewhat wrong with an effective complementary effort against the Falcons: four catches for 36 yards and a touchdown.
Miami will once again need a solid performance from Washington tonight as it takes on the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night Football. The game will begin at 8:15 p.m. ET at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Dolphins are 7.5-point underdogs for tonight’s clash at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the point total set to 51.5. Below, I’ve detailed my favorite prop bets centered around Washington.
Best Malik Washington Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Malik Washington 5+ Receptions (+163)
Washington has only recorded five catches twice in his career, including in the game against the Browns, when he caught five of his eight targets for just 30 yards. If he only gets five targets like he did against Atlanta, he’s unlikely to get there, given that he’s only had one career game in which he received more than one target and caught all of them. Still, given Miami’s extremely depleted pass-catching corps, I like the value.
It should be an extremely offense-forward game now that Lamar Jackson is back in action for the Ravens. Prior to Jackson’s hamstring injury in Week 4, Baltimore had scored 111 points in the first three weeks, and Jackson was enjoying the best individual season of his Hall of Fame career, notching career highs in touchdown percentage, adjusted yards per attempt, passer rating, and rushing yards per attempt — categories in which he is already the active career leader. The Dolphins’ weak secondary stands no chance of slowing down Jackson as long as he’s healthy.
In turn, that’ll force Tua Tagovailoa to throw the ball to try and catch up. Tagovailoa should be pretty effective, given that the Ravens’ defense has been awful this season as well. Baltimore has given up the league’s 10th-most passing yards so far on the eighth-most adjusted yards per attempt. The Ravens also rank fourth-to-last by expected points added on passing plays. Jaylen Waddle and De’Von Achane seem to be prioritized ahead of Washington in the passing game, but Tagovailoa should throw enough passes that Washington, too, can eat.
Malik Washington – O1.5 1st Quarter Receiving Yards (-120)
I expect Washington to record most of his catches in the second half, once Miami has to enter catch-up mode. Still, two receiving yards in the first quarter is a low bar for a shallow team, especially since Washington is clearly important to the team, trailing only Waddle and Achane in snap counts among skill position players. In three of the four games since Tyreek Hill got injured, Washington has made at least one catch in the first quarter, and he’s had 14 or more first quarter yards in each of the last two games.
A catch won’t entirely guarantee that he crosses the two-yard threshold — in the Week 5 loss to the Carolina Panthers, his two first quarter catches resulted in negative-six yards, and he has the third-shortest average depth of target of any qualified wide receiver in football — but Baltimore isn’t great at defending screen passes. This season, four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey has allowed six yards per catch after the reception, and he’s missed a career-high 17.9% of his tackle opportunities. The Ravens’ other outside corner, Nate Wiggins, has also missed as many tackles in seven games as he did in 15 as a rookie.
