Miami Dolphins have managed the rough spots well to start their 2021 training camp
The NFL Players Association this week sent a letter to every player and agent, saying it would soon recommend to the league that all players and staff already vaccinated for COVID be tested every day they enter team facilities because in one week since training camps opened around the league two teams had already suffered an “outbreak” of the disease.
The two teams the NFLPA was referencing?
The Atlanta Falcons.
And the Miami Dolphins.
And these two teams saw these outbreaks the first week of camps (July 25-Aug. 1), “when we had no team facility transmission until Week 3 last year,” the NFLPA said.
It is true the Dolphins had a COVID episode the first week. Five players, three of them tight ends, were placed on the COVID-19 reserve list and co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach George Godsey has been absent from practice all week because of COVID.
So, yes, the Dolphins have had to do some scrambling.
This while they also managed a public trade request and contract dispute with their most accomplished player...
While one of the team’s first-round picks has been missing practice with an injury...
While one of the team’s presumed starting receivers has not practiced since the first day of camp because of a foot injury...
While another receiver who missed all of last year has surprised everyone with big plays practice after practice...
And while the starting quarterback has made a statement with his clearly improved play.
So a minor off-field crisis or two .... some disappointing injuries that threaten the timetable for having everyone ready to start the regular season ... Some pleasant surprises from unexpected parts ... and significantly good news at quarterback.
The first week of this Dolphins training camp has not been dull.
And while excitement and drama is not what the Dolphins are going for this training camp, the handful of twists and turns have so far not derailed any plans for the regular season. They haven’t even detoured anything that we know of.
Coach Brian Flores and general manager Chris Grier and their staffs seem to be managing pretty well so far.
Even without games and scores to serve as barometers for how this team is doing, everything seems to be fine. Good, even.
So far.
That’s an accomplishment because the first few weeks of training cap are often a time when NFL teams seemingly step into a darkened, unfamiliar room like John Wick. And all the bad guys in there suddenly start shooting, throwing daggers or lobbing grenades.
Stuff happens at the start of camp around the NFL. And it’s happening in Miami.
But so far John Wick is dodging all the bullets and firing back with good marksmanship.
Take the Xavien Howard drama as an example. It’s never good news when the team’s best player is so frustrated and so over months of contract negotiations that he publicly requests a trade.
And then, by the way, he has a minor injury early in camp, causing him to miss practices and raising eyebrows about whether he’s missing drills because he’s genuinely hurt or simply just angry.
That question came up Friday, and Flores handled it with aplomb.
“I think Xavien’s done a nice job, he’s dealing with an ankle,” the coach said, crushing the idea the player is faking injury. “He’s been very supportive of his teammates, I think he’s been attentive at meetings, I think you see him on the field coaching young guys up. I think he’s dealing with an injury like we have several other players dealing with injuries.”
It’s clear Flores is keeping his eyes on Howard, measuring Howard in multiple situations. Part of that has to be happening during the nearly daily conversations the coach has been having with the starting cornerback.
Those conversations have explained to Howard, in part, how the team wants to handle his contract dispute. How Howard’s actions might determine the timetable for this. And whether Howard has a future with the Dolphins.
“We don’t want to trade X,” Flores said. “You can write that down. He’s a very good player. He’s a big part of the team. We don’t want to trade him.”
That’s not necessarily a prediction the Dolphins definitely won’t trade Howard. But it’s a stitch to bind a wound that Howard obviously has felt for some time because he thinks he should be getting more money despite having four years left on his contract.
None of this says there have been no missteps or there won’t be in the future. Howard, the most consistent player on the team, is sometimes unsure how he feels about the organization.
But he so far hasn’t burned any bridge. He has been careful to keep his teammates from feeling ill about the organization. He has so far remained diplomatic.
The Dolphins have so far managed to make a potentially distasteful situation as palatable as possible.
Same with their key injuries to receiver Will Fuller, who hasn’t practiced since the first day of camp. Same with the left leg injury to linebacker Jaelan Phillips, the first-round pick in whom the club is expecting significant pass rush contributions. Same with receiver Preston Williams, who has been unable to practice as he continues to rehabilitate a foot injury and ensuing surgery that ended his 2020 season last November.
None of those injuries have come at convenient times. No injury comes at a convenient time. But the Dolphins have so far adapted, and seemingly overcome.
Fuller and Williams are hurt? Albert Wilson, who opted out last year, has stepped in and stepped up — providing some highlight-reel moments with explosive plays.
The Dolphins, in other words, are managing.
It helps that starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has so far looked like part of a solution rather than an added problem.
Tagovailoa’s training camp performance so far has been far superior to anything he showed at any time during last year’s camp.
He’s stronger, healthier, leaner and still has the rare accuracy the Dolphins valued when they selected him with the No. 5 overall selection in the 2020 draft. Accuracy is Tagovailoa’s elite trait.
And so far this camp he’s showing a willingness and ability to use that accuracy on a variety of throws, including deep throws, which were something of an endangered species during last year’s camp.
None of this guarantees the Dolphins are going to be good. I suppose a fan reads that and has to swallow hard because fans are eager for this team to end its four-season playoff drought and 20-year desert experience since its last playoff victory.
But consider that during those difficult decades there were training camps that began with drama and issues and it got the team sideways. There times in which a rough first week of camp set the tone for rough seasons.
This Dolphins training camp had potential to be like those others. Except this time the Dolphins have seemingly managed the rough spots.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 5:28 PM.
