Dolphins coordinators dish on young players. And full draft class now signed
New Dolphins offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and new defensive coordinator Sean Duggan sized up a few players on Thursday:
▪ Slowik, on left guard/first-round pick Kadyn Proctor: “He really wants to be a great player. He doesn’t just want to be good, he wants to be great. And that hunger you can see in him when he’s out on the field right now, he practices like he’s hungry.
“We got a lot to clean up — long way to go with all these guys with footwork, with hand placement, with scheme. But you can see when the fundamentals, the hands are right; he has it in him. Like, I mean, it is stout. It is powerful.”
▪ Duggan, on what stands out about cornerback Juju Brents: “He’s a big man that’s long but has small man feet. He can move, man. He’s physical. If you watch his tape, he plays the run. He’ll show up, he’ll hit you. He’ll play like a big man out there, but he can move like a smaller guy.”
▪ Slowik, on guard Jonah Savaiinaea switching back to his college position of right guard after playing left guard last season: “I think you can see, he’s just confident. I do think there’s a little bit of riding a bike. He did the right side for so long, got used to the left. Now going back to the right, he was excited about it, but there was a little bit of, ‘Okay, is this going to be right away? How long is this going to take?’
“And he picked up the feel for it really quickly, which has been fun to see, and he’s dedicated a lot of time. I think right or left, regardless of that right now for him, he’s put in so much time to what he needs to improve upon. I would like to think it would have gotten better anyway, so I really like where he’s at right now.”
▪ Slowik, on running back Ollie Gordon II: “The biggest thing with Ollie is not only is he big, he runs big. You know when he’s in the game and right now we don’t have pads on, but when we have pads on like you’re going to hear him run.
“It’s not one where he’s just going to silently kind of sneak through the line of scrimmage. Everybody’s going to feel. It’s going to sound like trash cans are banging back there. The o-line gets energy from that when they feel the physicality from a runner.”
And…
“I really like with Ollie, like he’s trying hard to take steps in the pass game and in pass pro [protection],” Slowik said. “He’s trying not to be just a run only back.
“That’s a physical part of the game and it’s a really important part of the game and it’s a mental challenge. He’s owning that part where now we can use him in a lot of different ways, where every time he’s on the field, we’re not just running downhill.”
▪ Slowik, on running back Jaylen Wright: “You can see the difference when he’s comfortable, like my man has some speed. He’s got juice. It shows up more and more, the more confident he is in what exactly is going on around him.”
Draft class signed
▪ The Dolphins signed tight end Keydou Traore, a fifth-round draft pick, meaning the entire draft class is now signed. (First-round cornerback Chris Johnson’s signing also was formally announced on Thursday.)
That leaves the Dolphins with about $10 million in cap space.
▪ Zeek Biggers has dropped 15 pounds to 315, which should help him if the Dolphins use him some at defensive end, in addition to defensive tackle.
“I wanted to get down for myself; I feel better just moving, more twitch,” he said. “It’s going to help me in the pass rush. Slimming down, I have the body type where I can play all over.”
The previous regime said he started playing more last November because he improved in practice.
“Consistency in run defense was my biggest uptick,” he said. “Moving people back.”
▪ Safety Zayne Anderson, who played with new Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis in Green Bay, said Willis “is not only going to rip it, but he’s going to put it in the right spot.”
▪ Right tackle Austin Jackson -- who said his timeline to return from a second foot procedure is “even better” than he expected – was asked about the differences between Slowik’s offense and Mike McDaniel’s offense.
“Our run game is a little similar to our previous offense, not exactly similar,” he said. “We still have motions out of the backfield. It still allows us to space and play fast, kind of what we’ve been doing last couple of years.”
▪ Only two Dolphins position or assistant position coaches have lasted through the last three coaching regimes (Brian Flores, McDaniel, Jeff Hafley): defensive line coach Austin Clark (who’s also now coaching the edge players) and Lemuel Jeanpierre, who started as an offensive line coach and is now assistant tight ends coach.
Asked how Jeanpierre has survived three regimes, Jackson said: “Lem is a very smart guy. He’s helped me a lot.”
▪ Biggers, on Hafley’s approach with players: “He’s going to shoot it to you straight. He’s not going to sugarcoat anything. Whether you like it or not, he’s going to tell you.”
Here’s our Thursday piece with insight from Hafley on several issues.
This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 4:48 PM.
