Kelly: Da’Shawn Hand resurrects his once-promising career in Miami | Opinion
One player on the Miami Dolphins’ roster was the most highly praised, and coveted Nick Saban recruit in one of the University of Alabama’s highly touted draft classes.
Guess who it was?
Here’s a hint, it’s not Tua Tagovailoa, the Miami Dolphins’ starting quarterback.
Back in 2014, Da’Shawn Hand was considered the No. 1 high school recruit in the country, ahead of elite-prospects-turned-NFL-standouts like Myles Garrett, Leonard Fournette, Dalvin Cook and Deshaun Watson.
The two-time first-team USA Today All-American from Philadelphia was also a state high school wrestling champion, and considered a can’t miss football prospect.
“I had to scratch and claw to get it all back,” Hand said when reminded of his No. 1 ranking on Thursday.
“I know my value personally,” said Hand, who was drafted in the fourth round by the Detroit Lions after having a productive four-year career with the Crimson Tide. “My confidence never swayed.”
These days Hand is being called on to patch a Dolphins defensive line, which will be forced to play without Zach Sieler for at least one more game because of the broken orbital bone Sieler sustained in last Thursday’s practice.
“I like Da’Shawn. He plays hard,” pass rusher Emmanuel Ogbah said about Hand’s four-tackle performance against the Arizona Cardinals as Sieler’s replacement. “It was his time to step up and he did that. We appreciate him for that.”
Even before being called up to the starting role, Hand became a rotational player the Dolphins weren’t scared to lean on.
In fact, this seven-year veteran, who joined the Dolphins as a practice squad player after training camp last season, has become one of general manager Chris Grier’s biggest nondraft finds, right up there with Sieler, who was claimed off waivers in 2019.
In 14 months Hand has gone from Dolphins practice squad player to a reliable veteran called on to play 19 percent of the defensive snaps in 2023, to a key contributor on defense in 2024. And now he has become a spot starter at one of the defense’s thinnest spots.
But you might be wondering how a top-rated high school prospect goes from being a 2018 fourth-round pick to being on a practice squad?
Injuries have been the story of Hand’s professional career.
Before joining the Dolphins, Hand played in 18 of 66 regular-season games he was capable of dressing for because of various injuries.
He has been placed on injured reserve six times.
“Unfortunate situations. I can’t help that I got hurt the years I got hurt,” Hand said, referring to elbow, ankle, and a torn quadriceps muscle he sustained throughout his NFL career. “ I kept a strong mind-set and I’m here now, still. A lot of people that had my injuries don’t come back, or don’t come back the same. Can’t play, can’t walk. My mind-set got me through it. I kept my head down and had a positive attitude.”
And that attitude allowed Hand to fight off the self-doubt and motivated him to keep pushing forward while he jumped around from practice squad to practice squad. While recovering from his quadriceps injury he struggled to find work for five months before Miami signed him to the practice squad after training camp in 2023.
From that point he lasted one week on Miami’s developmental before the Dolphins elevated him to the 53-man roster.
“He might be the strongest guy in our room,” Dolphins defensive line coach Austin Clark said of Hand, who quickly won the coaches over with his work ethic. “He just works his tail off every day, and that’s who that guy is. He’s tough, tough as nails.”
He played sparingly last season, and then re-signed this past offseason hoping to take advantage of Christian Wilkins’ and Raekwon Davis’ free agent defections, and the fact Miami didn’t sign any veteran defensive linemen to big money contracts, or drafted them.
And this summer it only took Hand a couple of training camp practices to cement himself as Sieler and Calais Campbell’s top backup.
“The production he’s had at this point has not been a surprise.” defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said when asked about Hand, who has contributed 19 tackles and one sack in 234 defensive snaps. “He was out there every day. He’s put in the work and typically when that happens, you reap the rewards for it.
“You know each and every day exactly what you’re going to get out of him.”
And that’s apparently a talented 28-year-old defensive lineman interested in maximizing every opportunity with the goal of turning potential into production.
“You keep asking why. I just had to stop asking why,” Hand said when discussing his NFL journey. “If you keep on going eventually the light will show. I had to learn how to walk again. Learned how to run again.
“Last year was a good bridge year for me to get my body back into the swing of things with football,” he continued. “This year is about showing people what I can do.”
