Dolphins bring back Chosen. McDaniel addresses Ezukanma, DuBose, injuries, more
The Dolphins, decimated by injuries at receiver, brought back a familiar face on Thursday, when Robbie Chosen joined the team’s practice squad.
Chosen, who was cut by San Francisco earlier this week, caught four passes for 126 yards and a touchdown for the Dolphins last season, his only year with the team. He played 135 offensive snaps for Miami in 2023.
He visited Dolphins headquarters as a free agent this offseason but never signed. But he was back on the practice field Thursday.
Chosen has spent most of his eight-year career with the Jets and Carolina, catching 379 passes for 5082 yards and 30 touchdowns.
The Dolphins have five receivers on their 53-man roster: Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Braxton Berrios, Malik Washington and Grant DuBose, who was claimed off waivers from Green Bay on Wednesday.
But Waddle is wearing a red non-contact jersey with an undisclosed injury, and Hill (who has a finger injury) wasn’t spotted at practice. The expectation is that both will be available for the opener.
It’s possible that Chosen could be elevated and used as the Dolphins’ fourth or fifth receiver for the Sept. 8 opener against Jacksonville.
MORE INJURY NEWS
For those hoping for substantive updates on injured veteran Dolphins, don’t expect much until the league requires teams to reveal them beginning next Wednesday, when thrice-a-week injury reports are required.
Citing competitive advantage reasons, Mike McDaniel declined to say if center Aaron Brewer will be available for the Sept. 8 opener against Jacksonville at Hard Rock Stadium. He appears to have a laceration on his hand.
“He’s doing well and I’m comfortable with his projection,” McDaniel said, adding that he didn’t want to share that projection because the league doesn’t require that this week.
Asked if the release of guard Jack Driscoll suggests that Brewer is close to returning, McDaniel declined to correlate the two but said it was a “tough decision to let go of Jack.”
Driscoll, who was arguably the Dolphins’ top backup interior lineman, was released to make room for Green Bay receiver Grant DuBose, who has never played in an NFL game but spent last season on the Packers’ practice squad.
“I knew of him coming out,” McDaniel said of DuBose, who went undrafted out of North Carolina Charlotte in 2022. “When you are high on specific players you are targeting in different areas of the draft, and another team takes him, you pay attention.
“I’ve been paying attention to his game. It didn’t hurt I have a strong relationship, very communicative, with their head coach Matt LaFleur, so I know what Grant is like, day in and day out. For what we’re trying to do, roles we have on our team, I thought he was very good fit for what we’re looking for and what we’re trying to add to our receiver room. Very, very happy we got that claim.”
Meanwhile, McDaniel suggested that linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. is expected to play at some point. Moments later, Walker returned to practice for the first time in weeks.
“He’s working his way back; he has been a part of walk throughs, making sure we don’t have any setbacks as he gets himself more involved in full speed stuff,” McDaniel said. “He’s one of my favorite individuals on the team... I can’t wait for him to play. He hasn’t had any setbacks.”
The Dolphins made one roster move on Thursday: They re-signed long snapper Blake Ferguson and placed rookie safety Patrick McMorris on injured reserve with a lower body injury.
McMorris is eligible to return after four games. But the Dolphins can bring only eight players off injured reserve during the regular season; two of them are expected to be receiver River Cracraft and cornerback Cam Smith.
McDaniel addressed other issues:
▪ On Calais Campbell: “He’s doing his job over a crazy amount of time at a high level from the one technique all the way down to the five technique. I didn’t necessarily really think through the natural evolution” that he would have on teammates.
▪ McDaniel, on raising the bar for Tua Tagovailoa in a question about players who get paid big money: “No days off when you’re in the situation where you are the highest paid employee.”
▪ McDaniel appears to have moved most every player’s position in the locker-room. Tua Tagovailoa is now sitting next to new safety Jordan Poyer.
McDaniel likes to put players at different positions together, noting “it would be interesting if they connected [because] they’re not spending three quarters of their day with them in their position groups. If someone has a low key personality but is pretty funny and has some subtle dry humor, it has value to the team.... If in training camp two guys have a [fight], they’ll be sitting next to each other in a year.”
▪ On tight end Tanner Conner, who made the initial 53-man roster in year three: “Cool year, offseason for him. He had a position switch. A receiver we moved to tight end and now owns the entire playbook.
“One of the rare players in my whole career that knows fullback and can line up at slot receiver and can run two minute [drills], which is all memorized and involves word association. There is no one who knows the rules of our offense and knows how to execute more at every level more than Tanner Conner does. I’m excited what he has in store for the Dolphins both on offense or special teams.”
▪ On receiver Erik Ezukanma, who was released but re-signed to the practice squad: “I like where’s at it, because he’s on our team. I look at it as a 70-man roster, and how you’re able to get the best version of that. Sometimes you’re a practice squad player. I like where he’s at. Still have very high expectations for him and the group.”
NOTABLE FROM PRACTICE
Defensive tackle Benito Jones returned to practice after missing three weeks.... New practice squad quarterback Tim Boyle hasn’t yet joined the team... Jalen Ramsey was not participating during the media viewing session of practice... Running back Jaylen Wright appeared to be re-habbing an injury and wasn’t participating... Calais Campbell and Quinton Bell were not spotted.
This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 11:45 AM.
