Seventeen takeaways from watching 17 Miami Dolphins practices at their practice facility
The Miami Dolphins, on Friday, hold their final practice in front of reporters and remarkably, they were able to complete every one of them outside without any weather disruption.
After Friday, no practice — aside from a few minutes at the start — will be seen by the media for the remainder of the calendar year. Fans cannot attend Friday’s session or any others for the rest of 2021.
Seventeen takeaways from watching the 17 practices held at the team’s sparkling new training facility:
▪ The Tua Tagovailoa on display during the Falcons’ preseason game has been the one we have seen most of camp.
No, he has not been perfect, but the velocity, the pocket presence and the quickness in making decisions have been clearly better than a year ago.
Including red zone drills, Tagovailoa has thrown at least 25 touchdowns in camp, compared with just six interceptions on 11-on-11 drills.
▪ Jacoby Brissett looks like he could enter the season as the Dolphins best backup QB in a decade.
Though he was off target on several throws this week, Brissett has been generally sharp in practices and games, displaying impressive accuracy on intermediate and deep routes. He’s just 12-20 as an NFL starter, but the Dolphins probably have one of the five best backup quarterbacks in the league.
▪ Center Michael Deiter and right guard Robert Hunt look very competent in their new positions.
What’s reassuring with Deiter is the lack of egregious errors; there was one high snap earlier in camp and one errant one Wednesday, but the job doesn’t seem too big for him. He’s very hard on himself and eager to correct mistakes, and coaches believe that — plus his toughness and intelligence — are assets that will help him thrive in a thinking man’s position.
Hunt has made some punishing blocks in the run game, and the Dolphins might have been on to something when they told people this past summer that that they believe he has Pro Bowl potential at guard.
▪ The young offensive line has had some hiccups but deserves time to grow.
Aside from Austin Jackson’s difficulties in the Chicago game (against strong competition), this first-team line has been generally competent. The question is whether it can become a strength.
We need to see over a full season whether Deiter can be a slightly better version of Ted Karras or Daniel Kilgore; whether Jackson can grow into an average (or better) NFL left tackle; whether Solomon Kindley can become the type of dominant run game mauler that Troy Aikman expects; and whether Hunt can achieve the team’s aforementioned lofty goals.
In time, though perhaps not immediately, we will see whether Liam Eichenberg’s streak of going 2.5 seasons at Notre Dame without permitting a sack was a harbinger of what he can become as a pro. At the very least, he’s a skilled technician. But he might come off the bench initially.
But overall, the backup offensive line remains a concern; expect the Dolphins to closely evaluate waiver-wire options.
▪ Albert Wilson’s first 10 days of camp were the best I’ve seen from a Dolphins skill position player in the past decade.
Wilson was a veritable reincarnation of Tyreek Hill, darting past defenders to catch bombs and slithering through the secondary for yards after catch. The Dolphins hope that type of production resumes in the opener after he is fully healed from a minor injury that has kept him sidelined recently.
▪ Rookie wide receiver Jaylen Waddle is more than just a weapon on screens and deep throws.
Waddle’s ability to make difficult catches — whether rising in the air or diving to the ground — has been one of the revelations of camp, though not surprising to Alabama fans. Coaches have marveled at his ability to stop on a dime and change directions, leaving defenders flummoxed.
▪ Salvon Ahmed has joined Zach Sieler and Nik Needham as the best young scrap heap pickups of this regime.
Even beyond Ahmed’s potential as a runner (4.3 yards per carry last season), this team is going to get a handful of big passing plays this season when Ahmed is defended by a linebacker. The most successful ones in camp and games have been sideline routes.
▪ Receiver Lynn Bowden Jr. didn’t do enough to incentivize the Dolphins to keep him available this season.
Though an MRI on his hamstring revealed no tear, the Dolphins ended hopes of him playing this season by placing him on injured reserve. To play this season, he would need to be subjected to waivers — which the Dolphins implied they won’t do.
The Dolphins could have waited until Sept. 2 to place him on injured reserve, making him eligible to return in Week 4, but obviously weren’t interested in doing that.
▪ One of these young receivers that won’t fit on the Dolphins’ 53 will have NFL success elsewhere.
That’s no fault of the Dolphins, who simply can’t keep more than six or seven. But Kirk Merritt looks like a different player in Year 2 — he could develop into a No. 4 or 5 NFL receiver — and Robert Foster (who was released injured) has caught the deep ball as well as anyone in camp (along with Wilson and released receiver Isaiah Ford).
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Dolphins call Foster or Ford if they have injuries at receiver later this season. And while odds are against Merritt making the 53, the Dolphins must hope they can sneak him onto the practice squad.
▪ Myles Gaskin deserves some respect.
Metrics sites that rank the Dolphins’ running backs consistently place them among the NFL’s bottom three. But Gaskin has built on a breakout season with an impressive training camp, showing burst and toughness as a runner and elusiveness as a receiver.
Nobody expects him to be a top-third of the league running back, but maybe he shouldn’t be considered a bottom-third back, either.
▪ The 2020 breakout of Andrew Van Ginkel was not an aberration.
This is an ascending, disruptive player who can help in a lot of ways — against the run, as a pass rusher, in coverage, forcing turnovers, knocking down passes. The decision to release Kyle Van Noy makes more sense after seeing more of Van Ginkel.
▪ Jevon Holland has the type of Pro Bowl ceiling that the Dolphins haven’t had at the safety position beyond Reshad Jones.
Creating turnovers is a coveted gift, and Holland’s four interceptions in camp reinforced a skill he flashed at Oregon, where he had nine interceptions in two seasons.
Once the coaches are confident enough in his knowledge of the defense and ability to make presnap calls, he will surpass Jason McCourty and join underrated Eric Rowe to form a safety combo that could rank among the league’s top 10. For now, Holland remains out with an injury that doesn’t appear serious.
▪ If Byron Jones or Xavien Howard is injured, Needham looks like the best option at boundary cornerback.
Needham has been largely effective on the boundary and in the slot throughout August. He made a bunch of plays this week and seems a better option than Noah Igbinoghene (uneven camp) and McCourty, whose advanced age (34) makes him a better fit at safety.
▪ The Dolphins’ best free agent move on defense was signing former Patriots defensive lineman Adam Butler.
Miami badly needed another skilled rotational pass rusher in its front seven, and Butler has a proven track record of that. What’s more, he’s the quintessential team guy, eager to help teammates and comfortable with being a backup.
▪ Stopping the run remains the biggest concern.
Linebacker Benardrick McKinney’s addition will help, and behemoth defensive tackle Raekwon Davis should be better in his first full season as a starter. But it’s unclear if the Dolphins will be anything more than mediocre against the run.
If the Dolphins could become a top 10 team against the run, their strong secondary could further feast on teams on second or third and long.
And the pass rush, on paper, seems good enough with Emmanuel Ogbah, Van Ginkel, Butler, Jerome Baker (seven sacks last season) and Jaelan Phillips, if he’s as good as everyone expects him to be.
▪ Ogbah has made a case to get the contract extension that agent Drew Rosenhaus covets.
Ogbah — due to make $7.5 million this season — has consistently generated pass rush in camp, including three would-be sacks of Matt Ryan during a 10-minute stretch of a Falcons-Dolphins practice. The sense is that the Dolphins are interested in an extension; the question is whether the parties can agree to terms.
▪ If I’m in a fantasy league (and I’m not), I would be eyeing Mike Gesicki.
Gesicki has now thoroughly justified Adam Gase’s suggestion that the Dolphins select him ahead of Dallas Goedert, and aside from Travis Kelce and George Kittle and Darren Waller, there’s no tight end in the league who’s clearly better than Gesicki as a receiver.
Adam Shaheen’s ability to get open in the red zone suggests he will match or exceed last season’s three touchdown catches, and Hunter Long made two catches for sizable gains on Thursday.
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 4:08 PM.
