Updating status of a Dolphins first-rounder. And ex-coach suggests change with Tua
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Thursday:
▪ Of the eight Dolphins players selected in the first four rounds of last year’s draft, all except cornerback Noah Igbinoghene played at least 300 offensive or defensive snaps as rookies — and all except Lynn Bowden (originally drafted by Las Vegas) played far more than 300.
That makes Igbinoghene — who played 286 defensive snaps — perhaps the biggest remaining mystery of the eight.
The Dolphins have an idea what they have with the other seven. At the very least, the three offensive linemen (Austin Jackson, Rob Hunt, Solomon Kindley), plus Tua Tagovailoa and Raekwon Davis all look like they have the ability to be NFL starters. Whether they will be top-half-of-the-league starters won’t be known for another year or two.
Brandon Jones looks like he could be, at worst, a No. 3 safety and potentially a starter. Bowden looks he could be part of team’s slot receiver rotation and a Wildcat option.
With Igbinoghene, it’s less clear because the body of work simply wasn’t large enough. The Dolphins know he’s athletic, has good ball skills and good study habits. They saw him struggle badly against Buffalo and Seattle but play well against Jacksonville and for much of a half against Cincinnati (holding AJ Green without a catch, with one throw against him).
But nobody will know for sure what they have until they see him in a full training camp, a full preseason and in a decent sample size of regular season games.
Here’s the good news: The Dolphins saw clear improvement in practice. He spent much of the year as Miami’s No. 3 boundary corner behind Xavien Howard and Byron Jones.
“Obviously you don’t get to see practice, but his coverage skills have gotten a lot better from whenever we played the Bills early on,” safety Eric Rowe told reporters. “We’ve all seen him in practice. He’ll go against DeVante Parker and when Preston Williams was here and Jakeem Grant and he had some really good coverage plays out there against them with ‘Fitz’ [Ryan Fitzpatrick] and Tua throwing the ball at him, even though a lot of people don’t get to see that.
“Obviously he’ll take that into the offseason, keep working on it and for next year he’ll make that jump so when his name is called, his number is called again, it’s not going to be like how it was against whenever we played the Bills. So for him in the future, I know a lot of people think you’ve got to go based off that game, but his future is looking great.”
Look for the Dolphins to finally give Igbinoghene a chance to compete in the slot with Nik Needham next season. Miami wanted Igbinoghene to focus only on boundary cornerback as a rookie but coaches are now open to expanding his assignments.
▪ Rowe, who finished 66th of 92 qualifying safeties in Pro Football Focus rankings, was thorough in a recent self-analysis of his game.
“I feel like I made a lot of improvements in the run game, something I had trouble with last year obviously coming from corner,” he said, though PFF rated him 87th in that category.
“And then working on that in the offseason, obviously always working on coverage stuff. You can never get enough work at that. I think for me to make that next jump is to make those few plays that I left out there on the field against All-Pro-type of players that I’ve got to be able to cover those type of guys if I want to be considered one of the best covering safeties. So that’s something I’ve got to take in the offseason, work on it, improve and then I don’t know next year’s schedule, but hopefully we get that opportunity again.”
Rowe was beaten badly by only two players all year: Raiders tight end Darren Waller and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Both Pro Bowlers had five receptions and more than 100 receiving yards with Rowe in coverage. The Raiders will be on Miami’s 2021 schedule; the Chiefs won’t be.
Rowe played well in the Buffalo finale, allowing 3 completions in 11 targets for 32 yards.
▪ Former 49ers coach Steve Mariucci said the Dolphins need to get Tagovailoa on the move more.
“I had a guy like him named Steve Young, left-handed guy, similar size,” Mariucci said in an NFL Network Super Bowl conference call this week. “In mobility, Steve was probably a little faster. I think they can move Tua around so he can see a little bit better. I wouldn’t play him from the pocket so much, I’d move him more, change the launch point. I think he can be a good quarterback in this league.”
Mariucci said Tagovailoa has “shown, at times, to be a very, very promising young good quarterback. And at times, he showed us he was a rookie. If anyone gets a chance to grab a Deshaun Watson, you have to think about that, because he’s special special. But if chances are, they’re going to be with Tua next year, I think he can be developed into a heck of a player.”
▪ NFL Network’s Michael Irvin explained his view of the “dilemma” with the Dolphins:
“We haven’t seen a whole bunch of Tua. We’re seeing closer to Tua’s floor than his ceiling. Do you see where his ceiling can go even though we’re looking at his floor? You have to say, ‘What would I have to give up [for Watson]?’ Can I give something up and still keep my team where it is and then bring over Deshaun Watson?’ That puts them right in the thick of everything, with the rest of that team that they have around Tua right now. If that team was around Deshaun Watson? That would be a difference maker.
“If I have to give up those guys that I have on defense, all of those guys, then that’s going to be a hard decision. If I have to give up to Tua and all these draft picks I’ve got, then I may be more willing to do that. Instead of being ready in another year or two, we’re ready right now with Deshaun Watson.”
▪ Couple Tagovailoa items: On Thursday, he announced the launch of a charitable foundation in South Florida, Alabama and Hawaii. He said it’s “my deepest hope that the foundation will make a meaningful impact in support of those in need. Helping others is a tenet of my faith and who I am.”...
Asked on NFL Network on Thursday if he’s the team’s franchise QB now and going forward, Tagovailoa said: “I would say yes. What I can do is control what I can control. My focus is being the best person I can be.” The Herald’s Armando Salguero has more here on Tagovailoa’s media tour this week and some takeaways from it.
▪ The Dolphins signed Cameron Tom to a futures contract, giving Miami a young center who played in 11 games with one start for the Saints in 2018. Undrafted in 2017 out of Southern Mississippi, the 6-4, 300-pound Tom spent most of last season on the Saints’ practice squad. New Orleans had kept him around for four seasons.
Here’s my Thursday Super Bowl media column, including a devious Dolphins/Deshaun Watson plot that ESPN analysts are advocating.
Here’s part 1 of my 4-part series on the reeling Miami Heat and where the franchise goes from here.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 5:08 PM.
