Dolphins’ Waddle handles tough season with grace: His thoughts. And Beckham, injury news
A six-pack of Dolphins notes on a Thursday afternoon:
▪ Here’s one thing we admire about how receiver Jaylen Waddle has handled a season in which his targets have dropped dramatically, from 104 in 14 games last season to 72 in 13 games this season:
He hasn’t complained, hasn’t sulked, hasn’t done or said anything that would be disruptive. (Tyreek Hill, to his credit, has been very professional when discussing his drop in targets with reporters).
I asked Waddle this week if he ever watches Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase (who was in Waddle’s rookie class and has 127 targets and 93 catches) and yearns for that volume of targets.
“Nah,” he said. “You never look at that. I’m blessed to be in the position I am. I want everyone to go crazy.”
Waddle said he has been able to handle the big reduction in targets and catches maturely because “you just stand down knowing the team is very talented and we’ve got a lot of playmakers and it’s hard for the quarterback and head coach and coordinators [to divvy] up the ball.
“I don’t want to be a distraction to anyone, where I’m trying to force them to give me the ball. I just like to keep my head down and work.”
Has this season tested him? “No. I’m trying to control what I can control. Any time the ball comes my way, try to make a play.”
He said he would never ask for the ball because coaches “know what I can do, the type of guy I am in the locker room and on the field.”
Was he pleased to be more involved last week (nine catches, 99 yards)? “I really look forward to winning, man. Having a good game with an L doesn’t mean too much.”
Here are Waddle’s receptions, targets and receiving yards every season:
2021 (before Dolphins traded for Tyreek Hill) 104, 140, 1,015 yards in 16 games.
2022 (with Hill): 75, 117, 1,356 in 17 games.
2023: 72, 104, 1,014 in 14 games.
2024: 54, 72, 700 in 13 games so far.
Waddle, who was born in Houston, said returning there this weekend “means a lot. I have a lot of family friends going to the game. There will be definitely more than 100 [people] there [in the stands] that I know.”
▪ Dolphins receiver Odell Beckham Jr. missed practice for a second consecutive day due to personal reasons, leaving his status in question for Sunday’s game at Houston.
Beckham has played between 11 and 17 offensive snaps in all nine of his games this season.
Left tackle Terron Armstead (knee), right tackle Kendall Lamm (back) and receiver Dee Eskridge (knee) also didn’t practice.
Linebacker Jordyn Brooks popped up on the injury report with an issue with his ribs; he was a limited participant Thursday.
Outside linebackers Bradley Chubb and Cameron Goode, both coming off late-season knee injuries, practiced on a limited basis for the fifth time over the past nine days. The Dolphins have 12 more days to activate them.
▪ There are four Dolphins who are practicing and eligible for activation before the Texans game: Chubb, Goode, long-snapper Blake Ferguson and receiver Grant DuBose, who might be needed with Beckham missing practice and Eskridge out this week with a knee injury.
DuBose practiced on a limited basis for the second time on Thursday after being designated to return from an early-season shoulder injury.
The Dolphins would need to remove four players from the active roster to activate those four players.
▪ After hitting a 52-yard field goal to tie the score with the Jets with seven seconds remaining in the fourth quarter on Sunday, Dolphins kicker Sanders is now 12 for 13 on field goals with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter or overtime.
Does he get nervous before late-game kicks?
“You’re always going to have nerves, but nerves aren’t always a bad thing,” he said Thursday. “It means it’s important to you. If you didn’t get nervous or feel something going into a game, you probably don’t really care.”
He said the “way I’ve treated it my whole career [is] if I miss or make a kick, I don’t want you to necessarily know if it went in or not. I want my body language to be the same. I treat them all the same. Some are more important than others.”
He said no Jets player said anything to him before the game. “That’s pretty rare,” he said. “Every once in awhile, you’ll hear ‘you’ll miss the next one!’ as you’re running by on a field goal. It means nothing.”
▪ Defensive passing game specialist Ryan Slowik was asked if the team views it as troubling that neither starting safety (Jevon Holland and Jordan Poyer) have an interception this season.
“It’s not something that troubles us at all,” he said. “I don’t want to say we’re disappointed in that. We want them to do their technique and assignment. If they start worrying about other things, that’s when the defense doesn’t function as well. Hopefully, they get more shots at it and are able to maximize it.”
Slowik maintained that Poyer “has played solid for us. I’m glad we have Jordan on our team. He provides that calming presence, understands how to get us lined up. He has been playing well.”
▪ Per PFF’s Ryan Smith, Chop Robinson leads the NFL with 26 pressures and a pass-rush win percentage of 26.7% since Week 10.
Are teams starting to block him differently or with more players?
“I feel I was getting chipped a lot in the Patriots game,” Robinson said. “Green Bay, I had a lot of tight ends on me. But other than that it’s just within the protection.”
Here’s my Thursday piece with news from Dolphins assistant coaches.
Here’s my Thursday piece with an update on what the league is considering with the Dolphins-49ers game.
This story was originally published December 12, 2024 at 5:57 PM.
