The 2020 Miami Dolphins might have trouble repeating past success in this one area
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Monday:
▪ Several Dolphins regimes, over the past 12 years, have done good work unearthing undrafted rookie contributors — from Davone Bess to Dan Carpenter to Preston Williams and a bunch of others.
This could be the year that those efforts fall short.
Faced with roster limitations, the Dolphins signed a smaller group of undrafted players than usual immediately after the draft — 10 players in all at the time.
Only six of those 10 are still on the roster. Defensive tackle Ray Lima retired on the eve of training camp, and offensive tackle Nick Kaltameyer, tight end Bryce Sterk and center Donell Stanley were released earlier this month.
Of those six remaining undrafted rookies from April, there’s no clear path for any to make the 53, though defensive tackle Benito Jones cannot be ruled out. Even if any sneaks on the 53, it seems doubtful any will make the impact that Williams did last season when he became Miami’s second-best receiver.
Miami, in the past month, added four other undrafted rookies: running back Salvon Ahmed (had his first practice on Monday after being claimed off waivers from the 49ers), Auburn cornerback Demarius Davis (waived after two weeks here), as well as Iowa tight end Nate Weiting and Auburn rookie safety Jeremiah Dinson (both long shots to make the 53).
Circumstances related to COVID-19 made it more difficult for any undrafted rookie this summer, with no offseason program and no preseason games to impress coaches and management.
Impressions must be made quickly.
And none of the remaining 12 undrafted rookies on the Dolphins has seemingly surpassed any of the veterans on the bubble, though Ahmed will be given a chance this week.
At receiver, Matt Cole — the Division 2 project — has flashed tantalizing speed, but he’s more likely to be stashed on the practice squad, which has been expanded from 10 to 16.
Receiver Kirk Merritt, who arrived here with higher expectations after putting up big numbers at Arkansas State, didn’t do much of note early in camp and has missed the last week with a hamstring injury.
Offensive tackle Jonathan Hubbard appears behind Adam Pankey, among others, in the battle for a spot on the bottom-of-the-roster, though that’s unsettled, and the Dolphins really like Hubbard’s upside.
Defensive end Tyshun Render - the player that Bill Belichick skipped the Saturday of the NFL Combine to work out in Murefreesboro, Tennessee — likely hasn’t done enough to stick on the 53, unless Miami is motivated by fear that somebody could claim him or believes it needs a fifth defensive end on the roster.
Defensive tackle Benito Jones, to the naked eye, hasn’t made as many plays as veteran Zach Sieler in the competition for a final defensive tackle job.
Linebacker Kylan Johnson is a long shot for the 53.
Most of the aforementioned could end up on the practice squad if they clear waivers.
Back in late April, Collegefootballnews.com rated the top 30 players who went undrafted and the Dolphins brought in three of them since then: Benito Jones (who was rated second on that list), Auburn defensive end Nick Coe (rated fourth on the list; cut by New England and worked out here recently but didn’t sign with Miami or anyone) and Ahmed (20th on the list).
I was disappointed when the Patriots — and not the Dolphins — signed speedy UM receiver Jeff Thomas in April. Thomas awaits word on his fate this week.
▪ As was the case for years here with safety Walt Aikens, the Dolphins are bringing in a special teams leader/anchor who might not end up having a significant role on defense. (That remains to be seen.)
I asked Clayton Fejedelem if it was important to him to have a role on defense, and he didn’t answer directly.
He played some defensive snaps for the Bengals — and had an interception off Josh Rosen in Saturday’s scrimmage — but it’s difficult to envision a major defensive role, with Bobby McCain and Eric Rowe ahead of him at safety, and Brandon Jones and Kavon Frazier also competing for snaps.
On special teams, Fejedelem should emerge as one of Miami’s most important players. He said special teams coordinator Danny Crossman runs a system “similar to what I ran the last four years [in Cincinnati] and it was a good transition.”
Fejedelem has an interesting story. He weighed less than 100 pounds when he entered high school “but by the time that second semester came around for wrestling, I was 5’2, 103 pounds. So it was a little bit of a transition....
“That was a factor in why I didn’t get many looks going into D-I college. I started at NAIA. We won a national championship there at St. Xavier, which is in Chicago and then if I wanted to play on Sundays, I knew that I had to get to the bigger screen. I played in the Big Ten [Illinois]. It was a great transition and I was lucky enough to get drafted and here we are today.”
He’s now six feet and 205 pounds.
▪ Defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, on how Brian Flores has changed in year two: “It’s weird. You can see growth with players and you can see growth with a coach going from Year 1 to Year 2. I’m not saying he was a bad coach or anything last year or had many flaws or anything, but you could see growth and it’s good to see that, and just his confidence and everything. He’s a great leader for us to follow.”
Count Wilkins among players impressed by how Flores has handled social justice issues with his team, including an on-field discussion on Friday.
“You can tell he really wants the best for us as men, on and off the field, so that’s great,” Wilkins said. “I feel like we all have more respect for him ultimately as a man, person and as a coach.”
▪ The competition for one open starting spot on the right side of the offensive line — Solomon Kindley against Robert Hunt — remains unresolved.
“We did pretty well getting the right guys in here, and those guys have been competing,” Wilkins said of Hunt and Kindley. “They both have great potential and if they keep their head on the straight and narrow, they’ll be pretty good in this league.”
▪ Veteran free agent Logan Ryan, a cornerback who wants to move to safety, agreed to a one-year, $7.5 million deal with the Giants on Monday, ending any slim chance of Miami signing him.
The Dolphins and Ryan’s camp have had contact in recent months but Miami didn’t want to invest big money in the defensive backfield, an area where the team already has invested huge money.
Keep in mind that because of the pandemic, the NFL salary cap for 2021 is expected to be much less than originally projected, and Miami needs to carry over much of its unused cap space this season. At the moment, with that carryover space, the Dolphins project to have about $30 million in cap space next offseason if the 2021 cap settles in at $175 million. The NFL says the ‘21 cap will be at least $175 million.
▪ Ryan Fitzpatrick, back to practice on Monday after mourning the death of his mother, is scheduled to do a question and answer session with select season-ticket holders this week. Fitzpatrick truly is a man of the people.
Here’s our Monday piece with comments from Brian Flores, an injury update, a roster addition today and a practice report.
Here’s my UM 6-pack from Monday.
This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 5:24 PM.
