It was first-and-10 from the Miami Dolphins' 22-yard line when Robert Henry took a handoff from Sam Hartman on an outside run. He stuttered for a split second in the backfield, but that was all he needed to do for the defense to take the bait.

The stutter step worked on a couple of different levels. It drew the Dolphins' defenders upfield, but it also gave guard Tanoa Taiai and center Matt Gulbin time to pull around to seal off the edge. It created a gaping hole on the right side of the Dolphins' formation, and there were no players to stop Henry from running into the end zone and giving the Washington Commanders the lead.

"I feel like I'm twitchy," Henry said following the Commanders' 20-7 win over the Dolphins. "I got speed."

Henry, who finished the night with 75 yards on 12 carries, showed that and more during his preseason debut. Much of the attention surrounding the Commanders' backfield has been on the more established players and draft picks. There are high expectations for the room, and the players justified that hype on Friday with 174 yards on 41 carries, despite Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Rachaad White and Jeremy McNichols all sitting out. It's a crowded room, which has created debates over who the Commanders should keep, and Henry showed why he deserves to be part of that discussion.

"There's much more to improve, but overall, I feel great," Henry said.

It's understandable for Henry to get lost among the rest of the Commanders' running back room. Croskey-Merritt was a seventh-round pick who received almost immediate praise from the fan base, and he mostly lived up to their expectations with 805 yards and eight rushing touchdowns; White, the Commanders' big acquisition at the position, is a pass-catching threat and a solid route runner; Kaytron Allen, a sixth-round pick, is Penn State's all-time leading rusher and has an immediate role on the team; and McNichols and Jerome Ford are veterans who can do a bit of everything.

Henry, an undrafted free agent out of UTSA, doesn't have the same level of pedigree, but he does bring a noteworthy college resume to the position group. He became the third UTSA player in program history to rush for 1,000 yards during his final season, despite missing two games. He recorded 2,339 yards and 27 rushing touchdowns in three seasons with the Roadrunners, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. His highlight performance came against Texas A&M, when he rushed for 177 yards and two touchdowns on just 16 carries.

"Henry is a slasher with a wiggly lower half, allowing him to make sudden cuts and elude tacklers in tight quarters," NFL.com's Lance Zierlein wrote in his pre-draft evaluation of Henry.

Henry showed those traits prior to the Commanders' preseason opener, but his reps were limited with Croskey-Merritt, White, Allen and McNichols taking the majority of the snaps in 11-on-11 drills. McNichols' quad injury created more opportunities for him, though, and the slashing as well as the wiggle were on display against the Dolphins. Those traits were most apparent between the tackles; he ran with burst through running lanes, made cuts behind the line of scrimmage to create more space and showed patience to allow his blocks to develop before accelerating upfield.

"I'd say after the first play, I definitely felt comfortable, because I got my first hit off," Henry said. "I just felt like I was supposed to be there."

Henry's first three runs went for 11, four and two yards. He helped the Commanders get into field goal range and later accounted for 40 of the offense's 68 yards on their first touchdown drive of the night. In just two possessions, Henry had 57 rushing yards on six carries, which helped galvanize Allen as well as the rest of the Commanders' running backs.

"I feel like when Rob started getting all around, I feel like he got me going," Allen said. "I see him score, I know I had to score just because he scored and he just got me going. Rob had a great game. Proud of him."

Quinn was just as pleased to see Henry's success, but it wasn't what he did with the ball that stood out to the head coach the most; it was everything else that Henry did on the field. In addition to his rushing yards, Henry had a 30-yard kick return and caught a punt. He also stood out in pass protection -- an important skill set for running backs to have if they want to get on the field and stay there.

"Sometimes as a running back, that can be a difficult thing to get down early," Quinn said. "And so, on one of the long passes, he had a good protection of the player off the edge, and so I thought those were good flashes."

In that area, it appears that Henry is slightly ahead in his development, and he has the right mindset as he tries to earn a roster spot. If the coaches want him on the field, he's going to do whatever they ask of him.

"I've been doing returns since I was in high school," Henry said. "But when I got to college, I did it, too. But I was actually playing, so they would never put me back there. But I've been working there, I'd say, my whole football career. So, when my name's called out to go, I'm ready."

And Henry was ready against the Dolphins. He received the highest offensive grade among the Commanders' running backs, according to Pro Football Focus, and had the third-most breakaway yards of any running back in the first week of the preseason. He also had the fourth-most rushing yards in the NFL and the highest rushing average among all running backs with at least 10 carries.

Henry still has more to do to earn a spot on the roster. The math is still murky at the position, although it's almost impossible to see how the Commanders keep more than four running backs. Henry knows this, and he admitted after the game that he could have had some bigger runs and blocks a bit better at times. He also knows that he's still making progress, so he's going to keep living by the advice the veteran running backs gave him before the game: "Just keep on running."

"I took their words and I just kept running," Henry said. "The holes were definitely opening it up."