Dolphins players getting approached anywhere and everywhere about fantasy leagues. And notes
Turns out, receiver Tyreek Hill is hardly the only Dolphins player who is routinely approached by fans in fantasy football leagues. The message is always the same: Please do more, because you’re on my fantasy team.
Running back Raheem Mostert said he was once approached in a bathroom by a particularly ardent fantasy player.
“I was washing my hands and someone is next to me saying, ‘I need you this week.’ I said, ‘OK. I got ya. I’ll try my best.’ I asked what their name is.”
Mostert said some of the people who approach have very specific requests: One man told him “I just need two catches from you.”
None of this bothers him: “It’s a hoot,” Mostert said.
Dolphins running back De’Von Achane said he’s being approached by fans “at the mall or gas station. It’s straight fantasy questions. It’s a common thing now. That’s all I hear from fans, ‘fantasy this, fantasy this.’ They say ‘you help me win this.’ I guess that’s all I’m good for.”
Running back Jaylen Wright said fans have been sending him direct messages on Instagram, telling him he’s on their fantasy team and what they specifically need from him. “I don’t care” what fans ask him to do, he said.
Tight end Jonnu Smith also is routinely approached. “Fantasy football, that’s what the fan base is now, fantasy participants,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with that since I got in the league.”
Has any fan been particularly aggressive or loud with him? “On social media, you’ve got people going crazy,” he said. “I’ve seen some wild stuff, not with me, but fans going at players because you couldn’t get me five points, or whatever it may be.”
If you missed it, Hill said recently: “I can’t even enjoy a day off with my wife and my kids without somebody always walking up to me and, ‘I drafted you No. 1 and you’ve been having the worst fantasy season of your career!’
“And it’s like, ‘Bro, I do not really care. I’m with my family.’ Only thing I care about is the Miami Dolphins winning games.”
Hill has 65 receptions for 769 yards and five touchdowns in 13 games, well off last year’s 16-game stats — 119 catches, 1,799 yards and 13 TDs.
FULLER UPDATE
Cornerback Kendall Fuller, who returned against the Jets after three games sidelined, said Monday that he had “very mild” symptoms after sustaining a concussion Nov. 11 against the Rams.
He was held out three games in part because all parties were being cautious after two concussions in one season. His other concussion was in Week 3 at Seattle.
During his time in concussion protocol, he discussed the matter with Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who missed four games earlier this season after his third confirmed (and likely fourth) concussion during his NFL career.
“I just kind of just seeing different thoughts that he had, the process that he went through and things like that,” Fuller said. “I definitely talked to a number of guys that I’ve played with who had concussions and things like that, so definitely just reach out to everybody.”
During his time away, he said he sought “all the information you can to make the best of the decision for you. The team, training staff did a great job of just giving me all the information I could to make a smart decision, safe decision, and I was happy to get back out on the field.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ Jaylen Waddle, who had 99 receiving yards Sunday, now had 4,085 receiving yards, the most by a player in their first four seasons in Dolphins history, topping Jarvis Landry’s 4,038 and Mark Clayton’s 3649.
▪ Waddle is the first Dolphins player to convert two-point conversions on back-to-back weeks since at least 2000.
▪ Hill has caught at least five touchdowns in all nine seasons of his career, tying Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans for the longest active streak.
▪ Since the Dolphins acquired him months before the 2022 season, Hill has 13 games with 100 yards receiving and at least one touchdown. That’s the most such games during that time — more than Davante Adams (12), Justin Jefferson (11) and Ja’Marr Chase (12).
▪ Zach Sieler’s 16 sacks since the start of last season are the second most by an NFL interior lineman, behind only Baltimore’s Nnamdi Madubuike.
▪ CBS assigned Kevin Harlan and Trent Green to Sunday’s 1 p.m. game in Houston. During the Mike McDaniel era, Miami is 9-1 when Tagovailoa starts and Harlan is calling the game on CBS. Tagovailoa has averaged 322 yards passing with 27 touchdowns with Harlan calling his games on TV in the McDaniel era.
This story was originally published December 10, 2024 at 3:20 PM.
