Jeanpierre hopes to stabilize high-turnover position on Dolphins staff. And personnel notes
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Thursday, the only day that the team isn’t practicing this week:
▪ The new gatekeeper/mentor for the Miami Dolphins’ offensive line might have the most challenging job of any assistant:
Elevating the play of five young players who could be starters (Austin Jackson, Rob Hunt, Liam Eichenberg, Michael Deiter, Solomon Kindley), and making sure the current backup center (Matt Skura) doesn’t have a recurrence of his snapping issues that led to his benching in Baltimore last season.
But Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who has cycled through offensive line coaches like some cycle through paper towels, believes Lemuel Jeanpierre is up to the task.
“I think the world of Lem. He was here a year ago, and his energy in practice and his acumen about the game [stand out],” Flores said. “When you walk into his office and you ask a question, be ready for a dissertation and be ready to get educated on football.
“Oftentimes, if I’ve got somewhere to go, I’ll just put my head down and keep walking or else Lem will grab me and ask me about this defense or this front and what happens. ‘I’m going to do this, if you do this.’ It’s a back-and-forth, and he’s that way with the players. He’s got a great rapport with the players. We saw that last year, and I think he’s going to do a heck of a job.”
Flores has had four offensive line coaches in less than three seasons on the job. Pat Flaherty lasted only four days of training camp in 2019 before being dismissed.
Dave DeGuglielmo took over in August of 2019 but wasn’t retained after one season. Steve Marshall was hired, on the recommendation of Chan Gailey, and coached the group last season but was dismissed after one season, a few weeks after Gailey left the organization.
Jeanpierre has the best chance to be a long-term solution. He played in the league — primarily center — as a backup for the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 through 2015, then became a coach as an offensive assistant for Seahawks coach Pete Carroll in 2017.
Raiders coach Jon Gruden hired him as assistant offensive line coach in April 2018, and Flores hired him for that same job in February 2020.
Foremost, his players “know I look for the toughness, being disciplined, being detailed and nasty,” Jeanpierre said.
“I’ve got a good group. They will push each other in terms of quizzing each other and asking those questions and understanding — the terms of the O-line room in general.”
That’s a start. It’s impossible to know whether left tackle Jackson will take the jump from adequate to very good in year two; whether Hunt will become the Pro Bowl right guard that some Dolphins people expect; whether Eichenberg can become an effective left guard after moving over from right tackle last weekend; and whether Kindley — currently buried on the depth chart — can rise up it again.
Eichenberg has looked decent since his move to guard. Jackson has had a solid camp so far. Hunt’s transition from right tackle to right guard has gone smoothly. But we’re only two days into padded practices.
Jesse Davis, who has been working as the first-team right tackle since last weekend, is in the unique position of having played with Jeanpierre.
“I previously played with him in Seattle,” Davis said. “I played with him and sat next to him in the room. We’re good friends. Obviously he’s my boss so I treat him with that respect. He doesn’t want to yell at you. His individual drills are fast and competitive, and he wants to make it hard on you during that period. He’s a good coach.”
Jeanpierre has the chance for the long-term success and traction here that was elusive for the three men who preceded him.
▪ The Dolphins are listening when teams call them about Xavien Howard — and several have — but to this point, the Dolphins want far more than what teams are willing to offer for the Pro Bowl cornerback, who has requested a trade.
A team source called it unlikely that Howard would be traded. “Why would we?” the person said, noting the four years left on his contract.
But nobody can rule it out, because it’s impossible to say if 1) A playoff contender will lose a cornerback to injury and offer multiple high draft picks for Howard or 2) If Howard becomes disruptive, which hasn’t happened to this point.
Howard hasn’t caused any issues with teammates.
“We support him; he supports us,” linebacker Jerome Baker said. “That’s one thing you can never say about ‘X.’ He’s a great teammate. He’s a great guy and we all love him, so we’re going to be good.”
▪ Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who has had a very good first eight days of camp, has had only one problem so far: At times, he holds the ball too long in the face of pressure.
But I’ve been reluctant to read much into that because you don’t know how Tagovailoa would react in the same situation if he was facing an opposing defense that was about to devour him.
Tagovailoa doesn’t face that exact situation in practice, because he isn’t being tackled. So that might be motivating him to hold onto the ball a bit longer than he should at times.
Asked this week about not getting the ball out quickly enough at times, the 6-1 Tagovailoa said: “I’m not as tall, so I got to get back and try to maneuver my way throughout the pocket to see where guys are going to be, but for me, it’s really spots on the field.”
▪ The Dolphins made six roster moves Thursday, removing receiver Preston Williams and tight ends Cethan Carter and Adam Shaheen from the COVID-19 list — five days after being placed on the list. Tight end Mike Gesicki remained on the COVID-19 list.
The Dolphins also released three tight ends who joined the team recently: Gabe Holmes, Sal Cannella and Kalif Jackson.
Durham Smythe and Hunter Long have received much of the first-team work at tight end in recent practices. Carson Meier and Chris Myarick are also on the roster.
As for Williams, he remains on the physically unable to perform list as he works his way back from foot surgery last November. The team hasn’t offered a timetable for his return.
▪ Michael Deiter, the first-team center for all seven practices so far, has impressed teammates.
“Mike is a good guy, a leader, a damn good football player,” Hunt said. “Physical. Smart. Right now, the center in our offense is a vocal point, a main centerpiece for us and I think he’s doing a fantastic job.”
▪ In trying to predict which undrafted rookies have the best chance to stick, you always start with the ones given the most guaranteed money after the draft.
And for the Dolphins, two stand well above everyone else: guard Robert Jones (given $130,000 guaranteed) and cornerback Trill Williams (who is guaranteed $100,000 by the Dolphins after being claimed off waivers from the Saints).
And Williams has impressed in the first week of camp, making a few good plays on the ball and forcing two fumbles, after making an interception in mandatory minicamp. He has been beaten some too in the past week, but there’s potential there.
Williams was considered a fourth-to-sixth-round talent before an ankle injury at Syracuse.
The Dolphins offered Williams more money than the Saints did immediately after the draft, but Williams opted for New Orleans partly because he thought he had a better chance to make the Saints. But he ended up with the Dolphins anyway because the Saints — after signing him — wanted him to sign a waiver regarding his surgically repaired ankle.
New Orleans thought it would sneak him through waivers and re-sign him, not expecting any team to claim him and inherit his $100,000 guarantee. But the Dolphins pounced.
The 6-2 rookie had four interceptions in 28 college games and opted out after five games last season, because he thought it wasn’t advisable to continue playing with a torn ligament in his ankle. That ankle injury was affecting his hamstring and his ability to play to his level of expectation, his father told The Syracuse Post Standard last fall.
He had surgery in December but is fine now.
During the past three seasons, he had passer ratings against of 54.7 (2018), 98.7 (2019) and 80.1 (2020), with 92 tackles and three forced fumbles. Pro Football Focus rated him a fourth-rounder before the draft. NFL.com rated him a sixth-rounder.
Making the Dolphins as an undrafted corner will be difficult with Xavien Howard, Byron Jones, Noah Igbinoghene, Jason McCourty (more of a safety now), Nik Needham and Justin Coleman having jobs secured. But Williams has a chance if Miami keeps six corners.
“With Trill, what he brings on his tape coming out of Syracuse is he was a run-and-hit guy,” cornerbacks coach Charles Burks said. “He was a guy that was very physical on his tape. He played some corner and he played some safety, so again in our system, we like guys who are versatile and can do a lot of things.”
Jones has a chance too, if Miami keeps 10 linemen (unlikely) or if the Dolphins keep nine but release a veteran backup such as Jermaine Eluemunor.
But the fact the Dolphins might not keep a single undrafted rookie on the final 53 speaks to how the roster has been upgraded. And there’s definitely room for Jones and Willliams on the practice squad, and perhaps a couple of the other undrafted rookies such as Indiana defensive tackle Jerome Johnson.
This story was originally published August 5, 2021 at 5:16 PM.
