Why Dolphins are open to trading Rosen. And why Collinsworth likes rebuild approach.
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Thursday:
▪ Just 17 months after acquiring quarterback Josh Rosen, the Dolphins are now very much open to trading him, a league source confirmed.
Amid a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the Dolphins have been fielding trade calls on Rosen, a league source said the Dolphins appear willing to trade Rosen for a draft pick, even if it’s a third-day pick.
That source said the Dolphins know it’s unlikely there would be a longterm role for Rosen here, with Tua Tagovailoa the quarterback of the future and the possibility of Ryan Fitzpatrick re-signing with the team next spring, in a potential backup role to Tagovailoa in 2021.
There’s also a comfort level inside the Dolphins that Tagovailoa is fully healthy after his major hip injury and surgery last November. His work in practice has been good enough for the Dolphins to feel comfortable with Tagovailoa as the backup to Fitzpatrick to start the season, though coach Brian Flores has stopped short of naming Fitzpatrick the starter for the Sept. 13 opener at New England.
Tagovailoa confirmed that he played with the starters during last Saturday’s scrimmage, which Fitzpatrick missed after the death of his mother. The Alabama rookie also received much more work than Rosen in several practices last week; reporters have not been permitted to watch the team portion of practice beginning this week.
The Dolphins traded second and fifth-round picks to Arizona for Rosen before the 2019 NFL Draft, but his first season here was a disappointment.
He appeared in six games and started three and had one touchdown pass and five interceptions while completing just 53.2 percent of his passes and producing a 52 passer rating, one of the worst in the league. He was sacked 16 times.
Rosen, in his career, has thrown 502 passes and has a poor 63.5 passer rating. Only four other quarterbacks this century have thrown at least 500 passes and had a passer rating that low — or worse.
Those four were: Mike McMahon (515 pass attempts, 55.1 rating), John Skelton (602 pass attempts, 63.0 rating), Chris Weinke (709 pass attempts, 62.2 rating) and DeShon Kizer (519, 58.9).
Rosen could be a cheap backup in 2021, when he would make $920,000, with a $3 million cap hit. But even if he sticks around this season, it’s highly doubtful the Dolphins will pick up the 2022 fifth-year option for Rosen, a number that has not yet been set.
For perspective, quarterbacks taken in the top 10 of the 2017 draft had a $24.8 million fifth-year option.
“I was drafted in the first round, and I think people around the league still think I can play to a certain extent,” Rosen said. “Whenever that opportunity comes, wherever it comes, I just want to be prepared for it. Because they’re few and far between. I didn’t do great with the two I already had. Not many people get third chances. I’m definitely going to seize the opportunity when it comes.”
▪ More evidence of how well Tagovailoa has healed from his injury: “He’s moving around well,” running back Jordan Howard said. “I can’t tell he was injured before. He will be ready when his time is called. The next part is getting hit.”
▪ Count NBC’s Cris Collinsworth among those impressed by how the Dolphins have handled their rebuilding project.
“For my money, if I was starting a football team, I can tell you what I would do,” Collinsworth told me Thursday on a conference call promoting NBC’s Sunday Night Football. “A, you’ve got to have the quarterback….
“But 1A and 1B for me would be build a secondary with Xavien Howard and Byron Jones and the guys they have back there in the secondary. I just think this team is being built the right way. I really do. I don’t don’t think there’s any huge rush on Tua. Fitzpatrick can handle that thing fine.
“You know it will start with defense as it has to with Brian [Flores] as your head coach and what he’s been able to do. Those guys bring a little juice as well. Kyle Van Noy and Elandon Roberts and some of those guys, knowing what the culture was in New England. And Byron Jones [coming over from Dallas]. I’m kind of excited to see where they’re going. A defense first approach worked pretty well for the Dolphins in the early 1970s. We’ll see whether it works again.”
And Collinsworth, who will be paired with Al Michaels for most Sunday night games and Mike Tirico for a few, said: “Man, I’m so ready to do games in Miami and Tampa and Jacksonville again. It’s been unbelievable. This streak - the entirety of my career - I think we did one Thursday night game in Tampa. But I don’t think we’ve done a Sunday night game in the state of Florida since I’ve been a part of this in 10 years.”
▪ Dolphins offensive line coach Steve Marshall said Michael Deiter — who started 15 games at guard last season — has seamlessly handled his transition to center.
“I’ve been very pleased with what he’s done at center, and he’s multi-position learning,” Marshall said. “He played center at the University of Wisconsin when he was a sophomore, so it wasn’t unfamiliar to him. Every day’s a new adventure for them, but Mike has competed extremely hard and I’ve been very happy with his development.”
▪ Tight ends Mike Gesicki and Durham Smythe have made it a priority to address skills that are considered areas for improvement for each — blocking in Gesicki’s case and receiving in Smythe’s case. And here’s what well-regarded tight ends coach George Godsey has been doing to facilitate that over the past month:
“I know we put Durham in a couple of two-minute situations where last year we didn’t necessarily put him in those situations.. I could’ve done a better job at that, just preparing for maybe the what-ifs that occur.
“And the same thing with Michael, putting him in some situations where he does have to cut out [Dolphins defensive ends] Shaq Lawson, Emmanuel Ogbah. These are some good players that they are facing on the defensive end – Kyle Van Noy. They are getting good work and they are kind of learning different roles. I appreciate them kind of leaning on each other.”
▪ I asked Dolphins rookie cornerback Noah Igbinoghene what he was thinking when he left that meeting that he and Auburn defensive draft prospects had with Flores and Josh Boyer on March 5, the one I wrote about here.
Auburn players learned the Dolphins defensive install and were quizzed on it. As he left the room, Igbinoghene said Thursday that he was thinking this: “I really did want to play for Miami. Everything we’re trying to do here, [Brian Flores’] mentality as far as the team. I feel we relate mentality wise. I really enjoyed that meeting. Crazy how stuff works out.”
Igbinoghene played limited snaps in the slot at Auburn but said he’s comfortable playing both inside and on the boundary; he has worked in both roles in camp.
When playing cornerback in the slot, “the receiver can go many different ways,” he said. “On the outside, you can use the sideline to your help. I feel like slot is harder mentally. Physically, boundary is harder. Inside you have to learn a lot of things.”
The rookie cornerback, who was around the ball a lot in 10 practices open to reporters, said: “I approach the game like I’m going to dominate every single game.”
He said he grew up looking up to Xavien Howard and said “it’s crazy to see him on the field and be right next to me. A dream come true. Happy to see him healthy.”
Here’s our Thursday piece with Brian Flores’ comments today and news from practice.
Here’s my Wednesday exclusive on Jason Taylor joining the Dolphins’ radio announcing team and a ton of NFL, NBA, and NCAA football media notes.
Here’s my Wednesday piece on several Dolphins very much on the bubble, and notes.
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 1:36 PM.
