Some players who flashed during Dolphins camp. And study reveals something notable on Tua
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Monday:
▪ Very few conclusions can be drawn from an offseason program that featured no tackling, limited 11-on-11 work and no contact between the offensive and defensive lines.
But if you’re looking for Dolphins players that flashed (quarterbacks aside), several should be on the list, a group including — but not limited to — cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, receiver Robert Foster and tight end Hunter Long.
Igbinoghene, the 30th overall pick in the April 2020 draft, made a terrific play in coverage during a red zone drill, forcing DeVante Parker to catch a pass out of bounds.
“He’s an incredible talent,” cornerback Byron Jones said of Igbinoghene. “I think the way he’s approaching the game this year is going to be special. I think, to be honest as a rookie, he balled out in camp. I was really impressed with the way he performed and approached the game.
“Chuck [cornerbacks coach Charles Burks] is not easy on anybody. He’s certainly not easy on the guys he knows that expectations are very high for. Noah did an incredible job of just being there, being attentive every single day and learning and trying to put forth what Coach Chuck was wanting out of him. He’s doing the same thing this year. He’s comfortable, he understands the defense, he understands what it’s like to be in the National Football League.”
Foster, meanwhile, made several nice catches in the two minicamp sessions, including one difficult contested catch for a 25-plus-yard gain in the middle of the field. Foster, the former Buffalo and Washington receiver, has speed and size (6-2) and has added value because he’s a gunner on special teams - a job that Mack Hollins handled last season.
Hollins, the only Dolphins player who appears to be wearing a mask during practice, had a TD catch during the minicamp.
Long, the rookie tight end, made several nice catches and received more opportunities during minicamp, with Mike Gesicki wearing a red noncontact jersey and limited somewhat because of a shoulder injury sustained late last season.
Other non-QBs who impressed include running back Myles Gaskin, receiver Will Fuller (teammates have raved about him), receiver Jaylen Waddle (50-yard touchdown catch) and receiver Albert Wilson (appears to have regained his speed and shiftiness after his 2018 hip injury).
Though it’s difficult to make any conclusions on offensive linemen or defensive front seven players because of the lack of contact and the limited number of 11 on 11 drills, rookie linebacker Jaelan Phillips generated some pressure on the quarterback and made a nice play in the run game.
And second-year defensive end Jason Strowbridge and former Patriots free agent addition Adam Butler also applied pressure on the quarterback.
And credit cornerbacks Nik Needham, Trill Williams, Justin Coleman and Jamal Perry; safeties Jevon Holland and Nate Holley; and linebacker Brennan Scarlett for interceptions during the two-day minicamp.
▪ OLGB, a sports betting platform in the United Kingdom, surveyed 759 NFL fans and gathered Twitter data to determine which NFL athletes receive the most love and hate on Twitter.
Notably, 49.5 percent of the tweets about Tua Tagovailoa are positive, making him the NFL’s “seventh-most most beloved player on the platform overall, and the AFC East’s most popular player,” according to the study.
Using positive tweets as a gauge in this study, Tagovailoa finished as the fourth “most beloved” quarterback in the NFL, ahead of Patrick Mahomes (11th), Josh Allen (12th), Tom Brady (14th), and Joe Burrow (19th), among others.
A majority of fans surveyed called Brady the NFL’s most hated player.
Here’s the full study.
▪ Don’t be surprised if Jesse Davis starts at left guard, though Solomon Kindley is formidable competition.
Davis said he’s fine playing there or anywhere. “The left side I haven’t really gotten too many reps at but that’s how we get better is by doing it,” Davis said.
▪ Pro Football Focus, assessing the best and worst contracts for every team, called Fuller’s one-year, $10 million contract the best on the Dolphins and Benardrick McKinney’s the worst. McKinney has three years and $26.937 million remaining on his deal, but none of it is guaranteed.
PFF said: “Miami traded edge defender Shaq Lawson to the Houston Texans for linebacker Benardrick McKinney and doesn’t don’t look like the winners in that transaction. The Dolphins addressed a positional need at off-ball linebacker but now have two of the top 15 contracts among off-ball linebackers on their books following the extension for Jerome Baker. Neither player ranked inside the top 50 in PFF grade among off-ball linebackers with at least 100 snaps in 2020.”
On the flip side, PFF said of Fuller: “Miami gets him on a very modest one-year flier, in turn going from one of the league’s weaker wide receiver groups to one that now boasts Fuller and No. 6 overall pick Jaylen Waddle wreaking havoc on opposing defenses with their elite speed.”
▪ Overthecap’s Jason Fitzgerald made an interesting point about Xavien Howard’s unhappiness with his contract:
“Should the Dolphins open things back up now? I don’t see how that makes much sense for them. They could shift some money up or add a few incentives like the Patriots have done in the past but those things sometimes set a bad precedent when you have other players who also don’t sign the best contract in the world and then quickly look for more.
“They could make his $7 millionish injury guarantee for 2022 fully guaranteed. Maybe more creatively they could give him a chance to earn the right to buy out his contract for $2.8 million [the cost of his remaining signing bonus] and give them the right to buy it back or use the more expensive tag. Add a few options at the end of the deal such that if they are exercised a part of the salary is fully guaranteed. That last option or the 2022 guarantee are probably the only ones that don’t impact Miami at all though I don’t know if that makes Howard happy either.
“Regardless of what people externally think about the number in a contract the fact is the team takes on all the risk once an extension is signed. The injury risk shifts from the player to team which is highly beneficial to the player. Miami got 5 games in 2019 and then a fantastic year in 2020. That is probably a fair tradeoff for both sides all things considered and one that should not require opening a potential can of worms with a bunch of other players one or two years from now.”
Check out Fitzgerald’s full piece — and there’s a lot more in it — here.
On the flip side, a case could be made that Howard deserves more money and setting a precedent for reworking a contract after an historically great season — not a good one, but a great one — isn’t a bad precedent to set.
▪ The final question of Brian Flores’ final offseason media availability was outside the box: Flores was asked how he keeps in shape.
“I’m a 5 a.m. start guy,” he said. “Health and wellness is important. I try to stay fit for myself, for my own mental health. I think it’s important to be fit, not necessarily [to make an impression on] the players. It’s just personally something that’s always been important to me. It’s running, it’s biking, it’s lifting, it’s boxing. Anything you can do to get a sweat.”
This story was originally published June 21, 2021 at 5:51 PM.
