New Dolphins coaches take new approach with challenges and even some mind games

Josh Rosen was the better Miami Dolphins quarterback Saturday and that was the first time he seemed to have a better practice than Ryan Fitzpatrick. But when the team came back for another session Sunday, Fitzpatrick was again working with the starters and Rosen was still taking mostly backup snaps because, well, nobody really knows why.

Fans watching don’t know.

The media doesn’t know.

Even the players don’t know.

Coach Brian Flores and his assistants are the only ones who know the plan for the quarterbacks and everyone else on the roster. And just when somebody starts to get a handle on what they’re thinking and planning, they’re doing something else.

Flores and his guys throw curve balls. They change things. Sometimes they say something publicly meant for player consumption even though they’re not talking to a player at the time.

Its kind of a mind game, folks. And, yes, Miami’s new coach admits he employs those.

So when you see Rosen with the second-team, it might have something to do with him not being as good in practice as Fitzpatrick. Or perhaps it has to do with pairing certain players together. Or perhaps it’s Flores merely making a point that a player who had a better practice the previous day needs to be taught a lesson. The coach’s general approach applies to all players regardless of position:

“I guess the thought process behind that is, maybe we want to keep that guy hungry,” Flores said with a guileful smile. “Maybe we want to make sure that guy knows that you could have a great day, and we’re always competing. There’s a lot of levels here, a lot of things that go into it.”

Flores pauses, measuring whether to share what’s on his mind, before continuing.

“Maybe some people think they’re better than they are, and we don’t,” he said. “It could be a few different things. Only a few people know that, though. Only a few people know what’s really going on, and then you find out on Sundays.”

This 38-year-old head coach and his relatively inexperienced staff are not rewriting the NFL coaching manual. But they’re apparently comfortable applying lessons from all its pages.

That includes motivating players any way they can -- sometimes with praise, sometimes with challenges to the ego. Anything is in bounds.

Offensive line coach Pat Flaherty, for example, took pains on Sunday to make sure everyone understands Daniel Kilgore, a nine-year veteran, should not be overly comfortable with the idea he’s got the starting center job locked down.

“We have competition at every position, even at the center position,” Flaherty said. “The one guy that’s probably getting the most reps is maybe [Laremy] Tunsil. Everybody else, we’re going to find it’s an open competition.

“Obviously Daniel Kilgore is a veteran, but we need Chris Reed and Kyle Fuller to get in there and get some snaps along with Tony Adams.”

Message sent.

Kilgore is not in a unique place under the proverbial coaching staff microscope. What we’ve seen the first week of this training camp is starters from past years taking snaps with reserves on certain days or during certain practice periods with little regard to their salaries or past accomplishments.

That has applied to Minkah Fitzpatrick, Reshad Jones, T.J. McDonald, Raekwon McMillan, Kiko Alonso and others who have all spent some practice periods as reserves.

McDonald agrees that’s a challenge to the ego.

“I’d be lying if I said everybody doesn’t want to play every snap,” he said. “But you always talk about every day is an interview.”

The way the new staff relates to and manages its players will help or hinder some players. Wide receiver DeVante Parker, for example, came to the Dolphins in 2015 as a collegiate star and first-round pick. He played up to those expectations late in his rookie year when he averaged 21 yards or more per catch in five of his final six games.

The next year, under a new coaching staff, Parker didn’t progress. He actually seemed to lose some of his confidence as questions about his preparation and ability to play while injured dogged him. Everyone blamed Parker for the regression.

But is it possible the coaching change was part of the issue? We’ll see this season if new receivers coach Karl Dorrell can bring back December 2015 Parker.

“I believe the best way to draw that out is to point out that he’s done it before,” Dorrell said Sunday. “He has that in him. And now it’s about raising his level of how he prepares and how he works and continues to develop his skill set.

“When I came here, he and I had a chance to have a discussion before we even got started. I said, ‘You know what? Right now you don’t me. I don’t know you. I’m not going by the information that was said about you prior to me being here. It’s about you and me right now.’

Dorrell outlined a plan for Parker meant to get him “back to playing great football.”

“It’s a clean slate on both our parts,” he said. “I don’t want the skeletons in the closet of what he’s done in the past haunting him. I don’t even mention those things. It’s all about moving forward and what he’s going to do in 2019 ... I see there’s a lot of potential for him to be a very good player. “

This story was originally published July 28, 2019 at 2:48 PM.