Football, fast cars and philosophy: A ride-along with Dolphins receiver Albert Wilson.
We’re riding shotgun with Albert Wilson through the back roads of Davie’s horse country, and the symbolism is so rich, it’s almost on the nose.
Wilson, the Dolphins’ speedy wide receiver, is in the driver’s seat of his Polaris Slingshot SL, a three-wheeled, open-air roadster his girlfriend got him for his 27th birthday. The half-car, half-motorcycle is light — it weighs less than a ton — and peppy. The four-cylinder, gasoline-powered Slingshot makes 173 horsepower and 166 pound-feet of torque.
“The sun’s always out in Florida, so it’s great to have a toy,” Wilson said. “It exactly fits me. Fast, I play really low. This things sits low to the ground. It moves really well.”
Polaris, as part of a promotional push, coordinated this ride-along with Wilson, and there were some pretty strict guidelines: Helmets were a must, and rules of the road abided by.
Wilson likes to go fast, but on this day, he keeps it under 50 the whole time.
But he is still relatively new to the whole manual transmission thing. And here’s where the metaphorical irony kicked in.
As he accelerates, the timing between the clutch and gear shift is sometimes off, and he stalls out a bit before the transmission would catch, right itself and then zoom off, smooth as ever.
So yes, the roadster does fit Wilson exactly. And after a full year of rehabbing from a major hip injury which sapped his speed and maneuverability, Wilson is ready to once again ready to kick into high gear.
Wilson has been a bit of a forgotten man on the Dolphins’ offense this year, catching 14 passes for 84 and a touchdown on 25 targets. He has been on the field for fewer than half of the team’s offensive snaps in all but two games this season.
But in a candid conversation with the Miami Herald before our recent test drive, he expressed confidence that his old magic — the long touchdown catches, the explosive jump cuts and the pure fun — will return during the game’s final month and a half.
“It’s been kind of roller coaster,” Wilson said. “Coming back off this hip, it’s been kind of up and down. I had the calf [strain] earlier in the year so it kind of knocked me off schedule. As of right now, I’m feeling great. I’m feeling like I’m getting back to my old self. Just excited for these last six games.”
Hip injuries are in the news again, after Tua Tagovailoa dislocated and fractured his in a game last weekend. And while Wilson’s injury was not as severe — he, unlike Tagovailoa, did not need surgery for a slight fracture and a torn labrum — it still grounded a skyrocketing career.
Before his Week 7 2018 injury, Wilson was perhaps the AFC East’s most dynamic playmaker. He had caught 26 passes for 391 yards and four scores and also threw for a touchdown. He also had infectious, unbridled confidence that made his game a joy to watch.
Then he got hurt, and the Fort Pierce native — who famously grew up in the foster care system — has had little joy since.
He sat out spring ball to rehab, and despite insisting he was back to 100 percent during the summer, did little during training camp.
Turns out, he was deceiving himself. He wasn’t close to 100 percent, and an ill-timed calf injury in the season opener just made things worse.
But the football season is really long and situations change. Many of his teammates, including rookie receiver Preston Williams, got hurt; Wilson’s health improved.
“I definitely think I’m physically back to where I need to be,” Wilson said. “It was getting out there and getting the repetitions I didn’t get during camp, didn’t get during OTAs. Just getting back into the rhythm and the flow and getting my feet under me. Getting my weight back to playing weight and things like that. Getting on the same page as the quarterbacks and letting everything flow together.
“I feel like since I’ve been back, I’ve kind of been getting those reps that I needed to get in training camp,” he added. “Now that I’m kind of catching up, I do feel like I’m ready and I’m back.”
And this time, he has the stats to back that big talk up. Dolphins players wear GPS devices during practice to measure performance.
Before his injury, Wilson topped out at 21.7 mph. During his rehab, he hadn’t come close to matching that speed — until recently.
“It feels great,” Wilson said. “I didn’t know I didn’t have it until I got it back. I thought I was where I was, moving and how I was feeling, but when it came, it was a whole other step, and I was like, ‘OK, now I’m back.’”
Will his opportunities will return with his explosiveness?
Most of his targets this season have been on short and intermediate routes, with the hope that his game-breaking ability will turn small gains into long ones. But the Dolphins would do well to get the ball to Wilson downfield, assuming he can create separation like he could pre-injury.
With Williams out for the season with a torn ACL, there’s a need for it.
“We talked about that,” said Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. “I missed him a couple times in this last game where had an opportunity to have a couple catch-and-runs. The great thing about this offense is the ball’s going to get spread around. Everybody’s going to get their opportunities. It’s just a matter of me doing a nice job picking and choosing who gets the opportunity and when and then those guys taking advantage of it; so not necessarily going to force it to one guy because he doesn’t have enough touches, but we’ll try to spread it out and just continue to be confident in all those guys.”
Wilson wants to win, but he also has financial incentive to make these next six weeks the best of his career. He’s finishing up Year 2 of a three-year, $24 million contract.
The Dolphins owe him $9.5 million next season — none of which is guaranteed. That puts him at risk of being cut. Between now and the new year, Wilson must prove he’s not only healthy, but dynamic enough to warrant bringing back at that high cost.
But as Wilson got back into his ride to head out, that was a worry for another day. The sun was out. The roads were clear. His body was right and his mind even better.
“You don’t want to get too tied up into work and overwhelm yourself and let it get too big for you,” Wilson said. “For off days, to get out and do things like this, get out and do things with my girl, is very relaxing and keeps me level for this profession. It’s definitely something you need.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 11:07 AM.
