Before Myles Gaskin was a seventh-round NFL pick, he was a Lynnwood kid riding the bus to O’Dea with his older brother Ivan and their mother, Robbie, praying that they would both get a scholarship. Ivan eventually received an academic one from Morehouse. Myles received a football scholarship to Washington– one that he didn’t want to take given its proximity to home, but his parents pushed him to. 

He got his first chance to leave when Miami took him in the seventh round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and the next few years took him farther from home, with stops in Florida, Los Angeles, and Minnesota. But with time, he came to appreciate what his parents had convinced him not to leave behind. “I’m happier that they made me stay,” he said. That made his eventual return to Seattle more than just another NFL stop. It was only fitting, then, that his final NFL snaps came back home, too.

“Thank you, God; you have allowed me to live my childhood’s greatest dream, which was to play the game I loved at the highest level,” Gaskin wrote on his social media. “To the Miami Dolphins, boy, was that fun. To the Seattle Seahawks, thank you for letting me play my last snaps back at the crib.

“To the fans, you make this game special every Friday, Saturday, Sunday… Monday, Thursday -really, every day, eight months out of the year.
To the staff, the organizations, my teammates, and coaches at every level, there are too many laughs, stories, and lessons to name, but every snap helped me grow into the man always wanted to become.”
Gaskin did not announce his retirement after a final season as a regular contributor. His NFL career had gradually moved in the other direction after his best stretch in Miami, with his opportunities becoming increasingly sporadic.

He spent time with six organizations over his seven NFL seasons, the Dolphins, Rams, Vikings, Jaguars, Ravens and Seahawks, and much of his later career was spent moving between active rosters and practice squads.

That makes his retirement at 29 easier to put into context, although Gaskin has not publicly attributed the decision to one specific injury, failed comeback or other circumstance. Instead, his announcement reads like a decision to close the playing chapter after seven seasons and turn what he learned toward younger players.

“What I will do is give all the game you gave me to the next generation of young players who dare to be great,” he wrote.

His final opportunity had also been something of a surprise. Seattle did not have Gaskin on its initial 2025 roster; the Seahawks signed him to their practice squad on October 1 after Khalil Herbert terminated his practice-squad contract. Gaskin was back home in Lynnwood when the call came, and he told Seattle he was “busy burping” his 11-week-old daughter when he found out his hometown team wanted him.

Even then, getting onto the field was far from guaranteed. Gaskin was released and re-signed by Seattle several times during the season. His chance finally came when the Seahawks placed George Holani on injured reserve on November 29 and signed Gaskin from the practice squad to the 53-man roster for their game against Minnesota.

The next day, the Lynnwood native made his Seahawks debut against the Vikings. He carried three times for six yards, all on Seattle’s final possession. The Seahawks waived him two days later, then re-signed him to the practice squad after he cleared waivers. They released him again on December 13. Those three carries against Minnesota remained his final NFL snaps.

There is something almost understated about how that final opportunity unfolded. Gaskin had spent years trying to stay in the league, but the only NFL game he ultimately played in 2025 came for the team he had wanted to play for since he was a child. He had told Seattle after signing that he had hoped for the opportunity “since draft day” and, more simply, “probably since I was a little kid, honestly.”

Gaskin finishes his NFL career with 1,360 rushing yards, 712 receiving yards, and 13 total touchdowns. After Miami, he cycled through the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams before returning home to Seattle for his final NFL snaps in 2025.

His path was a little more winding than that. After leaving Miami, Gaskin spent time with both the Vikings and Rams in 2023, returned to Minnesota in 2024 and later joined the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice squad that December. In 2025, he signed with the Baltimore Ravens before eventually getting the call from Seattle. The movement tells part of the story of his later NFL years: he was still finding ways back onto rosters, but he was no longer holding the kind of stable offensive role he had enjoyed in Miami.

Gaskin was born in Lynnwood, Washington, and prepped at O’Dea High School in Seattle before heading to the University of Washington. Getting to finish his NFL career with the Seahawks was a full circle for him.

That homecoming had a particularly personal beginning. When Seattle called in October, Gaskin was not waiting around for a ceremonial final stop. He was still trying to find his next NFL opportunity, and the Seahawks happened to be the team that opened the door. That distinction matters because his final Seahawks appearance was not planned as a farewell; it became one only in hindsight.

At Washington, Gaskin became one of the most decorated running backs in Pac-12 history. He was the first player in conference history to rush for 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons and finished his college career with 5,323 rushing yards, which remains third in Pac-12 history. He scored 57 rushing touchdowns as a Husky and was a First Team All-Pac-12 selection in 2016.

His consistency was almost as striking as his total. Gaskin crossed 1,200 rushing yards in each of his four seasons at Washington, becoming only the second FBS player to do so in four straight years after Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne. He finished with 62 total touchdowns and 5,788 all-purpose yards, while his 5,323 rushing yards remain a Washington record.

The Miami Dolphins came calling in the seventh round of the 2019 draft, and Gaskin made sure they didn’t regret it. His two best seasons in the league came with the Dolphins in 2020 and 2021. Gaskin put up 1,196 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground, adding 622 receiving yards and six more touchdowns.

Those two seasons accounted for nearly 90% of his career rushing yards and receiving yards. In 2020, despite missing four games after suffering an MCL sprain, he finished with 972 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns. His most memorable performance came late that year against the Raiders, when he produced 87 rushing yards, 82 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns, including a 59-yard catch from Ryan Fitzpatrick in Miami’s 26-25 comeback win.

In 2021, he played all 17 games and finished with 846 scrimmage yards and seven touchdowns. But his role changed dramatically the following year. He appeared in only four games for Miami, rushing 10 times for 26 yards, and was placed on injured reserve in December. From there, the regular opportunities largely disappeared.

That does not mean injuries can be identified as the reason for his retirement. Gaskin dealt with several during his career, including the 2020 MCL sprain and a shoulder issue that ended his 2022 season, but there is no public statement from him tying his 2026 retirement to a particular injury. His final seasons were defined more clearly by limited opportunities and roster movement than by one career-ending medical event.

Financially, too, his career was built incrementally rather than around one major payday. Miami’s four-year rookie contract was worth about $2.61 million after he was selected 234th overall, and he later moved onto a series of shorter veteran deals. His recorded NFL earnings are roughly $7 million, according to Spotrac.

Gaskin also made it clear that retirement does not mean walking away from football. He wants to take what he learned throughout his career and pass it on to players who are still trying to reach the level he once dreamed about.

“What I will do is give all the game you gave me to the next generation of young players who dare to be great,” Gaskin wrote.

That idea is not entirely new for Gaskin. He has already been involved in youth football through Gaskin Gives and his football camp in the Seattle area, making his retirement promise less about starting an entirely new life away from the sport and more about changing his role within it.

In his retirement post, Gaskin also thanked trainer Tracy Ford, college teammate Salvon Ahmed, his brother Ivan Gaskin for being the first person to believe in him, and his parents, Scott and Robbie Gaskin, for instilling in him the work ethic to chase his dream. He signed off with his personal motto: Faith, Family, Football.