Dolphins face tough call with young corners: What’s at stake. And personnel notes
A six-pack of Dolphins notes on a Thursday:
▪ As Dolphins general manager Chris Grier likes to say, you can never have enough cornerbacks.
And when the cornerbacks are young, talented and cheap, there’s a particular temptation to keep them around.
The Dolphins kept former undrafted rookies Nik Needham and Kader Kohou on their 53-man roster, and they now face similar decisions with Storm Duck, Isaiah Johnson and Jason Maitre.
Though Maitre has had a good camp, Duck and Johnson present the most difficult decisions when Miami trims its roster to 53 by Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline.
Johnson has outstanding size (6-3) and an NFL body, and Duck was the highest-regarded pro prospect of the three back in April.
Both have made a compelling case during training camp.
Per Pro Football Focus, Duck and Johnson have limited opposing quarterbacks to a 39.6 passer rating in their coverage area, tied for sixth best among every NFL cornerback who has been targeted at least five times through two weeks of preseason.
Falcons and Commanders quarterbacks were 0 for 5 targeting Johnson, and 1 for 9 (for 16 yards) throwing against Duck.
The Dolphins valued Duck so highly in the draft process that they gave him a $20,000 signing bonus and $150,000 guaranteed, per a source. Multiple Dolphins staff members called him, and he picked Miami over a dozen other offers.
The Dolphins gave $32,500 guaranteed to Johnson, while Maitre was signed after impressing during a tryout and received no guaranteed money. Each of the three cornerbacks would make $795,000 by making the 53-man roster and staying on the team all season.
Should Duck have been drafted in his view?
“For sure,” he said this week. “I believe in the player I am. The fact I was undrafted gives me a lot more motivation. [But] I love football regardless of [whether I was drafted] early or late or not at all.”
Duck said his strengths as a corner are an “ability to see formations” and “be physical with receivers.”
He had five interceptions in four years at North Carolina before transferring to Louisville, where he had 32 tackles and seven passes defended and a sack in 13 games last season, his only one playing for the Cardinals.
His passer ratings against during the past two years were neither awful nor great: 96.7 in 2002 at North Carolina and 97.5 last season at Louisville, per PFF.
Asked the feedback he heard about why he wasn’t drafted, Duck said “probably the consistency. That might have been the reason. I tried to work on that and being a better player.”
How important is it to make the 53-man roster, as opposed to the practice squad? The 53 “is everybody’s goal,” he said. “It would be great for sure.”
But he said he won’t be disappointed if he ends up on the practice squad. “Any opportunity to keep playing football is what I love,” he said. “No matter if it’s [the practice squad], I’m happy. Being able to come out here every day is a blessing.”
▪ Johnson is more raw than Duck, but Johnson has made several notable plays the past two weeks, including consecutive passes defended in the end zone late in a practice last week.
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein said in the spring despite the “outstanding size, Johnson potentially has too many holes in his game to stay at cornerback. Johnson has definitely improved his technique, but a fundamental lack of coverage fluidity and deep speed will be hard to cover up as a pro.
“Johnson could be seen as a developmental prospect whose tackling talent and size give a team an opportunity to develop him as a Cover 2 cornerback or in a transition to safety if he can run with functional speed.”
But Johnson has been pretty good at cornerback during camp. He allowed a too high 108.7 passer rating in his coverage area at Syracuse last season: 34 catches in 51 targets for 405 yards (11.9 per catch), with four touchdowns relinquished and the one pick.
He was a starter in both of his seasons at Syracuse after three seasons at Dartmouth. He had three interceptions in five college seasons.
“Isaiah is big, tall and long,” Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said this week. “Storm is shorter, quick, has great long speed.”
▪ The final two weeks of August are particularly stressful for bubble players.
Duck finds peace in taking “a lot of time reading books. You learn to appreciate what’s around you — like a squirrel going up a tree.”
He prefers non-fiction and recently read a book on “mindfulness” and another on “not trying to be perfect all the time.”
But with cut down day looming, he admits that “it’s hard not to think ahead.”
The three undrafted rookie corners have built a friendship.
“We all support each other,” Duck said. “Before games, we always say a prayer. If someone makes a play, we’re ecstatic. We have a really good relationship.”
▪ Friday will be a big game for second-year defensive tackle Brandon Pili, who had a sack in the second preseason game and has made a strong case for a roster spot. He had another sack during Wednesday’s joint practice with Tampa Bay.
“He’s a much better athlete than you’d think,” Dolphins defensive lineman Calais Campbell said. “Looking at him you think he’s just going to be a strong, powerful guy and he turns around and does some athletic stuff, and [you’re] just like ‘wow.’
“He isn’t supposed to move like that as big as you are, but he’s a great athlete. Sometimes you’ve got to remind him to play with that strength a little bit too, because you are strong, too. But he does a good thing of both. Very talented guy.”
▪ Count Wisconsin tight end Hayden Rucci among those making a push for a roster spot. When Tanner Conner and Jody Fortson Jr. were sidelined with injuries for nine days, Rucci has seized on his chance.
“He’s a very mature rookie… has done a great job of absorbing a lot of stuff being thrown at him as a rookie,” Dolphins tight end Durham Smythe said. “And it’s funny, from the day I saw him in whenever it was, March or April, to this point, he’s come a really long way. I think what he’s been putting on tape the last two weeks in these last two preseason games, has been exciting. I think he’s an NFL football player.”
Conner and Fortson both returned to practice this week. Rucci is competing with them for the No. 4 tight end job.
▪ Tua Tagovailoa’s criticism of former coach Brian Flores for being incessantly critical with him drew no significant backlash from ESPN talking heads this week. Several ESPN studio shows spent more than hour discussing it over two days.
“Tua is feeling as good as he can possibly feel; he had a great season and got that money and he won,” ESPN’s Domonique Foxworth said. “Tua is reminding them that he’s the boss of all that.”
Foxworth and Booger McFarland noted that Flores’ harsh approach with Tagovailoa didn’t elicit the type of response that it might in some players, particularly defensive players.
“You [might be] expecting Tua to respond angrily like, ‘I’m going to show him.’ That’s not how Tua is built, which is fine,” Foxworth said.
“I had coaches do similar things to me. Like Tua, I don’t want to hear that nonsense. That doesn’t work with me.”
This story was originally published August 22, 2024 at 12:18 PM.
