What Miami’s final injury report reveals. And a former MVP assesses the Dolphins.
The Miami Dolphins will have all of their players — except for one of their best special teams players — available for Sunday’s opener at New England.
Both of the team’s Pro Bowl starting cornerbacks — Xavien Howard and Byron Jones — will play after being limited in practice earlier in the week.
Howard is coming off December knee surgery and Jones has been nursing an Achilles’ injury. Don’t be surprised if Howard doesn’t play every series; the team is easing him back from that knee operation.
Receivers DeVante Parker (hamstring) and Preston Williams (November ACL surgery) also will play.
And linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who had been wearing protection around a hand injury, also will play Sunday against his former team.
The only Dolphins player whose status for Sunday’s game is in question: backup safety Clayton Fejedelem, who is doubtful with a pectoral injury believed to have been sustained in practice this week.
Fejedelem, signed away from the Cincinnati Bengals during the offseason, is considered one of Miami’s top special teams players.
He was the only player who was limited in practice on Friday. Everyone else practiced fully.
GESICKI WEIGHS IN
Mike Gesicki said the Dolphins did not tell him in advance that he would be listed as the second-team tight end on the depth chart released Monday but he seemed untroubled by it.
Gesicki is close with Durham Smythe, who was listed as the starting tight end.
“Durham is really good player,” Gesicki said. “I don’t think he gets enough credit for his versatility. He’s made a ton of plays.”
Last season, Smythe actually started more games than Gesicki (14 to 5), though Gesicki played more snaps.
▪ Isaiah Ford, who has built on a strong December with a good training camp, said he has studied current or former NFL receivers such as Chad Johnson, Keenan Allen and DeVante Adams and tried to take “things I can add to my game.”
▪ Three Dolphins players who were made available to reporters on Friday seemed generally reluctant to discuss the players’ decision not to be on the field for the national anthem on Sunday - an effort to call attention to racial injustice - beyond what they stated in a video released Thursday. And coach Brian Flores discussed the matter with reporters on Friday.
Asked if he has heard people discussing the video, Gesicki said: “It’s obviously being talked about. It was a pretty powerful message.”
GANNON’S VIEWS
For perspective on the Dolphins’ new personnel, we’ve been checking in with some of the top analysts from CBS, including Tony Romo on Tuesday and Phil Simms on Thursday.
Some takeaways from my chat with the insightful Rich Gannon, the 2002 NFL MVP, two-time All Pro quarterback and one of CBS’ top four NFL game analysts:
▪ Gannon studied linebacker Kyle Van Noy and center Ted Karras from working Patriots games and really likes both signings.
“I love everything about Van Noy’s game,” he said. “He’s tough, physical, can play the run, can rush the passer, can play in space. Good speed off the edge and has a swagger to him. Good tackler, great communicator; he was brought up the right way in terms of discipline and accountability. You can’t get enough of those types of players in the building. He will be a great influence on the young players in the locker-room.
“I thought Karras did a nice job last year. Smart guy. Aggressive, good in the run game, good skills in the second level. When you build your offensive line, the center has to be your smartest guy.”
▪ On new edge rushers Emmanuel Ogbah and Shaq Lawson:
“Ogbah is a guy that has talent, bounced around a little bit. I think he can be an every down player. The big thing with him is looking for consistency, game in and game out. He has shown flashes of being a capable pass rusher; but that’s an area he has to continue to get better.
“With Lawson, I know Rex Ryan loved this guy coming out in the draft. He’s had his challenges; been a starter, lost his starting job. He’s learned to develop other pass rush moves. You’ve got to learn to use your hands better.
“[Bills coach] Sean McDermott doesn’t mince words. It was a culture shock for Lawson going from Rex Ryan to Sean McDermott, and maybe a good culture shock for him going to Miami now. It won’t be as loose as it was with Rex; will be a lot more structured.”
▪ On the new running back tandem of Jordan Howard and Matt Breida:
“I love Jordan Howard. I did an Eagles game last year where he had a pretty big day. He had an offensive line to run behind in Philadelphia. Good runner short yardage, good goal line runner; has got the size you like; some speed to get to the edge.
“Breida is a different type back. He’s going to bounce runs to the edge, has some toughness to him. Can make people miss and go the distance.”
▪ Gannon likes the addition of new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey.
“Gailey has a history with Fitzpatrick and Chan is hungry and motivated to finish off his career the right way. It hasn’t necessarily gone as planned the last couple turns for him. He’s a really good coach, an innovative guy to incorporate the new talent they have.”
▪ What’s realistic for this season?
“I would say this: It’s a more level playing field in the AFC East. You’ve got two young developing up and comers in New York and Buffalo [Sam Darnold and Josh Allen] and they’ve got a head start [on Tagovailoa and Miami]. They’ve got a chance to cut their teeth and learn the system. But the benefit the Dolphins have is they are not starting over. They addressed a lot of critical areas of need. I think they can build on last year’s momentum.
“I thought they had a good draft; they addressed offensive line, defensive line. And they got a quarterback that is going to be exciting.”
Gannon had some interesting things to say about Tua Tagovailoa and we’ll share that next week.
Here’s my Friday post with tons of UM notes, thoughts and takeaways from the Hurricanes’ season-opening win.
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 2:07 PM.
