Dolphin Digest – August 2019

AUGUST 6, 2019 Dolphin Digest 23

We’ve now seen this new coaching staff navigate through all of the offseason work-

outs, including the minicamp in early June, and here are five things that already seem

evident.

1. There will be no shortcuts. Players sprint from one drill to the next. Push-ups are
   the penalty for an entire unit falling short. Practices are long — yes, even OTAs — and
   each player understands what is expected of him every day.


2. Silly mistakes will not be tolerated. There is a big “TNT” sign in the corner of the
   end zone, which stands for “Takes No Talent.” Whenever there is a mental mistake —
   someone jumps offside, a false start, maybe a poor snap from the center — the guilty
   parties need to run to that sign and touch it. A little corny? Probably. But there is a mes-
   sage being delivered here and it’s an important message.


3. Don’t look for any great revelations from Coach Brian Flores, who comes from
   the Bill Belichick school of disclosure. Ask Flores about an injured player and his re-
   sponse is always: “The first injury report doesn’t come out until September.” It’s not
   that he doesn’t want to be cooperative, it’s just that he prefers keeping things in house.
   If that’s one of the tradeoffs for success, then we’ll gladly accept it.


4. Flores means it when he says there is competition at every position. No doubt
   there are a few obvious exceptions, but the message is nonetheless clear. Doesn’t matter
   what you did last season or how you got here. It’s all about today and the future for this
   staff.


5. They are looking for smart, versatile players fueled by a desire from this staff to
   potentially change things up on a weekly basis. They want players who can play multi-
   ple positions and who have a variety of skill sets. They want to be interchangeable,
   maybe going from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 to some kind of hybrid in a matter of just a
   few plays. If a player has outside-the-box ability — like rookie fullback Chandler Cox
   having played quarterback in high school — you may just see this staff call upon that at
   some point in the season.

By ANDY COHEN

What we learned about new staff

They both had their 2018 season cut short by injuries — in retrospect

a pair setbacks this offense could not overcome — but now both Albert

Wilson and Jakeem Grant have had an entire offseason to rehabilitate and

they both will be needed once again to play an important role in this of-

fense.

Who knows, maybe even a defining role.

While it’s too early to project what this offense will look like next sea-

son — we don’t even know who’s going to start at quarterback — we do

know that if big plays are going to be on the menu, more than likely Wil-

son and/or Grant are going to be in the middle of it.

Before their injuries last season, they were both dynamic and produc-

tive, Grant returning both a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown and Wil-

son scoring on reverses and big catches and even throwing a touchdown

pass to Grant against the Raiders. Who will ever forget them running

down the field together, high-fiving on their way to the end zone.

As offseason practices ended, Grant clearly was further along, having

taken part in most of the workouts. Wilson still was working off to the

side, trying to rehab his hip, and hoping that the six-week break before

training camp would be enough to help facilitate his return.

Among the many things the Dolphins need this season, a healthy

Grant and Wilson certainly is near the top of the list. We saw what hap-

pened to this offense last season without them. Just getting them back on

the practice field together in training camp would be an important first

step.

Wilson/Grant status so important

This very well may not end until deep

into the summer. Through offseason work-

outs concluding with the minicamp in

early June, second-year player Josh Rosen

and veteran Ryan Fitzpatrickwere still

in a tight battle for the team’s starting quar-

terback job.

Sure, common sense seems to lean to-

ward Rosen since the Dolphins need to

find out whether he is a long-term solution

or whether they need to look elsewhere in

the 2020 draft. But nothing is being given

to Rosen. Coach Brian Flores has made it

clear that this competition will be decided

by on-the-field performance and in OTAs

and minicamp Fitzpatrick was the more

impressive of the two.

Each had their moments. Each made

mistakes. Each left for the long break

knowing they needed to show more.

“The real competition starts in training

camp,” Rosen said.

The best guess here is that Flores wants

to have a starter in place after the third of

four preseason games. It may very well

take that long. Right now, though, the Dol-

phins have two pretty good alternatives,

which you can argue is the best position

they’ve been in for quite a while.

Fitzpatrick/Rosen too close to call

Digest photo/JOEL AUERBACH

Digest photo/JOEL AUERBACH