Dolphins rookies find themselves in unusual spot. And oddness of cut day is revealed
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Tuesday:
▪ We’re going to see a lot of unusual things as the NFL attempts to play a season amid a worldwide health crisis.
And here’s one of them: With preseason games canceled, this will be the first time in modern NFL history in which all rookies step on the field for the first time — against an actual opponent — in a regular-season game.
For the Dolphins, at least three rookies are expected to see significant playing time Sunday: starting left tackle Austin Jackson, starting right guard Solomon Kindley and Noah Igbinoghene, who’s one of Miami’s top backup cornerbacks.
Imposing rookie Raekwon Davis should get at least 10 snaps, potentially more, in the defensive tackle rotation. The Dolphins have said they want fresh bodies at that position. Davon Godchaux — who had just four tackles for loss last season — was 20th in interior defensive linemen in snaps last season with 718, and it’s fair to wonder if he would make more plays behind the line of scrimmage if he didn’t need to play quite as much.
“Raekwon seems to be doing really well,” right tackle Jesse Davis said.
Jason Strowbridge flashed throughout camp and could get some snaps off the bench at defensive end; defensive line coach Marion Hobby assured that he will have a role this season.
Malcolm Perry — Miami’s fifth or sixth receiver — could conceivably get a few snaps. Either way, New England will need to prepare for the handful of things he can do.
Blake Ferguson will be the long snapper. Brandon Jones will be the fifth safety unless that changes in practice this week but could have a role on special teams. Rob Hunt will be the backup right tackle if Davis has an injury.
And, of course, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is one injury to Ryan Fitzpatrick away from playing.
So the question becomes: How prepared are these rookies to make their NFL debut in a regular-season game against a team (New England) that has been an NFL power for years?
In the case of Jackson, Kindley and Hunt, “I haven’t seen any uneasiness or anxiety out of them,” Davis said.
Davis said the veteran offensive linemen (himself, Ereck Flowers, Ted Karras) have taken “them aside with Rob (Hunt) or with Austin (Jackson) and Solomon (Kindley), just kind of telling them how they’re going to play and what to expect.”
▪ One question this season is whether Jerome Baker takes the step from pretty good starting linebacker to something more. He made clear Tuesday that his coaches expect more.
New linebackers coach Anthony Campanile “gets on me about getting off blocks clean. That’s one thing we’re working on nonstop.”
He said the staff does “a great job of pushing me every day. I could make a good play, interception, they still get on me about that [saying], ‘You caught that interception; that’s cool but you could have had a pick six.’ They want to me to get better in all phases.”
Baker played 1,083 snaps in 2019 — third-most among NFL linebackers — but Pro Football Focus rated him just 76th of 88 qualifying linebackers. Baker said former Patriots Kyle Van Noy and Elandon Roberts have helped him.
▪ How crazy was Dolphins cut-down day?
Per sources, cornerback Tae Hayes was going to make the team and was in a defensive backs Zoom meeting on Saturday afternoon when Miami traded for Lynn Bowden Jr.
The defensive backs Zoom meeting was stopped minutes before the roster cutdown deadline, Hayes was told he was being released, and the meeting restarted without him. Hayes rejoined the Dolphins on their practice squad on Sunday.
▪ Besides Bowden and suspended Antonio Callaway, the only players totally new to the Dolphins who were added during the weekend were practice squaders Nick Coe (the rookie Auburn defensive end cut by New England this summer) and Mississippi State safety Brian Cole (the Vikings’ seventh-rounder in April).
Here’s a bit of information on both:
Coe had no sacks and 15 tackles in nine games last season and was held out of a few games because of a coach’s decision that was never explained. But he had seven sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss in 2018. He spent a few months with the Patriots this summer and auditioned twice for Miami in the past month.
Cole is an interesting prospect who filled the boxscore last season with 67 tackles (7.5 for loss), two sacks, one interception, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. The Vikings drafted him in the seventh round, but he missed time in camp while on the COVID-19 list and was cut two weeks ago. Miami worked him out during the weekend.
▪ The Dolphins, who struggled for years against tight ends in the passing game, might have finally fixed that with Eric Rowe, who did excellent work in that area after his transition to safety last October.
“Eric has done a great job this entire training camp [on tight ends],” tight end Mike Gesicki said. “He’s done a good job playing physical, using his hands. I think that’s helped me as well moving forward, just being aware of different moves at the line of scrimmage that I have to be aware of, being ready to use my hands, getting off press coverage. I think that entire room, the safeties have done a good job on the tight ends.”
After moving to safety last season, Rowe allowed 22 of 42 passes in his coverage area to be caught for 200 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. No tight end killed the Dolphins in the second half of the season.
▪ There was a touching moment on the Dolphins’ Zoom call with media today when Ryan Fitzpatrick spoke about the recent passing of his mother and how the team comforted him.
“I definitely feel the love. With a personal tragedy, with my mom passing away, I think you feel it extra. It was a lot of teammates and people in the building, but it was a lot of people I’d been in contact with almost in a past life, on different teams and different cities. There are a lot of people that have reached out. I’ve been feeling a lot of love lately in that regard, just people knowing they want to let me know that they care about me and they’re thinking about me and my family. That’s been good.”
Brian Flores, who lost his mother last year, offered emotional support.
“I think, just being a head coach and a leader of this team, he’s meant a lot to me and to all of us. The situation that I’m currently in or was going through and him going through something very similar within the past year or two, just being able to sit and have somebody to talk to about it is great. I feel like Coach Flores has really grown, just as this team has really grown over the last year. Hopefully, that continues and hopefully we start to start some results on the field.”
▪ Quick stuff: There’s considerable optimism about new edge players Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah. Not only are they established pass rushers, but both graded out very highly in Pro Football Focus’ run-stop metrics last season.
“Ogbah is really good; Lawson proven he’s a good player,” Davis said….
Per a league source, the Dolphins plan to work out yet another Auburn player this week: rookie guard Marquel Harrell, a three-year starter for the Tigers. He reportedly performed well at Auburn’s March 5 Pro Day, which was attended by a bunch of Dolphins officials…
Also summoned by the Dolphins for workouts this week: veteran centers James Ferentz (38 NFL games) and Adam Redmond (14 NFL games) and Sam Jones (five NFL games), plus center Javon Patterson (a 2019 seventh-rounder of the Colts).
Bowden got a trademark on his catchphrase “Come See About It,” with the help of prominent South Florida attorney and UF law professor Darren Heitner...
Without preseason games, Baker warned it’s “going to be sloppy around the league. We haven’t tackled in so long. We’re working on it every day. Still got to go and perform.”
Here’s our Tuesday post with news from Brian Flores’ Tuesday press briefing and a practice report.
Here’s my Tuesday post with Bell Belichick’s comments about the Dolphins.
This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 2:59 PM.
