DAVIE, Fla. — With only 20 days until the season opener at New England, intensity is rapidly rising at Dolphins training camp.
There are multiple position battles ongoing and the competition extends to the final spots across the depth chart. A handful of rookies have shined in practice, and others have taken longer to get adjusted. Meanwhile, there are a few more experienced players who already might be on their way out.
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The Dolphins, like all NFL teams, need to trim their roster to 53 players by Sept. 5. Let’s take a look at who’s rising and falling one week into padded practices.
Risers
CB Noah Igbinoghene — Perhaps no player has impressed more throughout the first week of camp than Igbinoghene, the rookie from Auburn. Igbinoghene (pronounced IG-bin-OG-gah-nee), has gotten plenty of run and could earn himself a prominent role in the secondary by the start of the season. The Dolphins’ secondary group has livened things up in camp with an established point system in which players earn a point on a scoreboard inside the locker room for each pass deflection and turnover caused during team periods. Only players know the exact point total since they are determining points themselves, but Igbinoghene is definitely near the top. Eventually, those points could turn into actual points for the defense if Igbinoghene keeps it up.
“It’s a very good way to inspire all of us just to get better and to push ourselves in practice, especially the point system, awards that come out of it, gifts that come out of it,” Igbinoghene said. “It just pushes all of us and makes it a competition, and we all love competition here. It just makes us better. To pit whatever it is — picks, PBUs, running to the ball, stuff like that — I feel like it just makes all of us do what we need to do in practice.”
WR Preston Williams – There were plenty of questions regarding the durability of Williams’ left knee after he tore his ACL during a punt return last season, which brought a halt to his breakout rookie campaign. Heading into camp, the Dolphins made it apparent they would be cautious with Williams’ workload — it’s not surprising whenever he’s assigned a scheduled days off — but so far, Williams has shown he’s ready to continue where he left off before the injury. At 6 foot 5, 218 pounds, Williams is the Dolphins’ biggest target and consistent a red zone threat. He has caught almost everything thrown his way from the three quarterbacks and has a tendency to out-jump his defenders for 50/50 balls.
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“Anyone who can return punts, we’re going to work them back there,” coach Brian Flores said. “Preston, obviously with the injury a year ago, he’s somebody who … we want to watch his reps and watch the amount of reps we’re putting on him. He’s working hard. He wants to be out there and he wants to return every punt and wants to go out there for really every snap. If we didn’t manage him, he’d be out there every play. Coming off the knee (injury), we’ve got to manage him, which we’ve done. The punt return is part of that management.”
RB Myles Gaskin — Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick jokingly said before camp he wouldn’t bet on him leading the team in rushing again this year (team-best 243 rushing yards in 2019) following the offseason additions of Jordan Howard and Matt Breida. With Howard and Breida set as the top two tailbacks, Gaskin, Kalen Ballage and Patrick Laird are fighting for roster spots. Gaskin has begun to separate himself from the rest of the backs with several impressive rushes. His opportunities are more limited with Howard and Bredia ahead of him, but he has made the most of his snaps and seems determined to clinch the third spot on the depth chart.
“Myles has done a great job, I think, so far in what we’ve done,” running backs coach Eric Studesville said. “I think he’s head and shoulders above where he was at this time last year. I think the work and the effort that he puts into the game and the passion that he has to want to work and to want to be good at this and to get everything, I think has started to really show. And he invested in himself last year, and it’s paying off for him now. He’s playing more confident, he’s playing faster, and I think we’re seeing some of the skill set that he’s had in the past. We’re starting to see now what really some of his potential is.”
OL Solomon Kindley – Though the Dolphins aren’t releasing any depth charts ahead of the season, it’s safe to say Kindley could earn himself a prominent role on the offensive line in 2020. The Dolphins have challenged him in camp, and he’s managed to not only survive the early pressure but also impress his peers and coaches. Kindley was actually the latest draft pick of the three rookie offensive linemen Miami selected in the 2020 NFL Draft (along with Austin Jackson and Robert Hunt), but he’s been one of the most pleasant surprises.
“Solomon is a guy that if you went back and looked at him at Georgia, he’s a big man,” offensive line coach Steve Marshall said. “He’s a smart guy. He loves to play the game, and that’s the one thing I think that for a 21-year-old kid that left college early to come to the NFL, he’s got to want to be a very good player; but obviously he has physical attributes and a skill set that — my grandmother can see that he’s a big man, but the thing about Solomon is he comes to work every day so far. We put a lot on him. We want to see where he is, and he has not backed down a bit.”
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LB Kyle Van Noy – Van Noy has lived up to expectations after signing a four-year, $51 million contract this offseason. He has been a vocal leader and is constantly motioning his teammates in the right direction before the ball is snapped. Van Noy has experience working under Flores dating back to their days together in New England, and he hasn’t been shy about passing along information to his defensive mates. He has shown quick-twitch bursts when meeting his opposition at the line of scrimmage and has recorded several sacks. The Dolphins will need to rely on Van Noy even more with Vince Biegel (torn achilles) out for the year. The defense is further ahead of the offense to this point in regards to flow and execution, and Van Noy is a big reason why.
“I think some guys are obviously ready on Day 1, and some guys it might take them a little while,” Van Noy said. “But I think collectively, we are ready as a group. We’re hungry. We want to get better. We want to get up to speed with all of the new guys, including myself. Older guys want to get back up to playing at a high level. It’s just coming together as a team. During this training camp, this grind period, you get to see (what) people are all about.”
OL Ereck Flowers – The current offensive line features eight newcomers, including six rookies. There’s bound to be a lot of questions from the group, and similar to Van Noy, Flowers has been an excellent mentor to his younger, inexperienced teammates. After every practice, several of the rookie linemen gather around Flowers near the end zone, and he gives them pointers on body movement and positioning. The small group also works on extra conditioning drills that extend up to 20 to 30 minutes post-practice. That type of dedication is what a revamped offensive line could benefit from as the group does its best to eliminate early mistakes and build chemistry.
“Teaching me how to be a pro,” Kindley said of Flowers. “Eating right, studying the film, writing down all the notes that need to be done when the coach is talking to me in a meeting, making sure I’m 30, 45 minutes to meetings early or if I’ve got to lift, getting up early, getting my day started … Not only that – teaching me the game of football, like stuff that most people won’t see that I’ve got to see. Me and Ereck stay after practice every day, just working hard and getting better on every aspect of the game.”
Fallers
CB Nik Needham – Needham will probably make the team considering his familiarity with personnel (he played a team-most 742 snaps in 2019), but even that isn’t a guarantee. He hasn’t done much at all throughout camp and has been beaten several times by a receivers group that doesn’t have a lot of overall experience.
OL Julien Davenport — Davenport is 6 foot 7, 324 pounds. Aside from his massive frame, he hasn’t had much going his way so far. He was one of the worst offensive lineman on the team last year, and Jackson is poised to take over sooner rather than later.
RB Kalen Ballage – Similar to Gaskin, Ballage won’t have as many reps this camp with Howard and Breida in front of him, so it’s ultra-important for him to maximize each handoff. Ballage, instead, fumbled at least twice last week. He also had several rushes near the goal line during Saturday’s practice, but Ballage failed to score each time. Coaches have been complimentary of his willingness to learn in the film room, but heading into his third year in the league, it’s going to take more than that to crack the roster.
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LB Raekwon McMillan – He has spent more time on the sideline than on the field during team periods.
Odds and ends
• Rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa enjoyed his best day of camp Monday. It was a positive sign from Tagovailoa following his dismal performance Friday, when he received extended reps with Fitzpatrick out. The Dolphins’ top draft pick threw three touchdowns Monday, including a beautiful 65-yard passing TD to follow rookie Malcolm Perry. The ball traveled for about 50 yards, amid strong 20 mph winds, and fell perfectly into Perry’s arms. “He’s doing a great job,” Fitzpatrick said of Tagovailoa. “I know it’s your guys’ job to look at and evaluate every single day and every throw, but it’s something for us as quarterbacks and for me, I just like to see progress and sometimes it’s not necessarily a completion, but it’s the thought process and making sure the ball is going to the right spot at the right time. … I just like to see, first of all, confidence. And if you make a mistake, get out there, put it behind you and go play the next play. I like that a lot about him.”
• Despite the NFLPA listing Miami as the NFL’s highest-risk market, the Dolphins announced on Monday they will be allowing up to 13,000 fans (20 percent capacity) into Hard Rock Stadium for the regular season home opener, scheduled for Sept. 20 vs. Buffalo. The Dolphins say season ticket members will have first priority to purchase tickets based on their tenure.“When we started the process back in March of exploring what a socially distanced stadium could look like, we made the health and safety of everyone the first priority, knowing that if we felt that we couldn’t make it safe, we simply wouldn’t have fans,” said Dolphins vice chairman and CEO Tom Garfinkel. “We’re happy that our elected officials recognize the attention to detail and diligence that we’ve put into creating a safe environment and that they made the decision to move forward with a 13,000-capacity stadium at this time.”
• Van Noy left Monday’s practice with an apparent upper-body injury and did not return. Igbinoghene and Laird both also left practice.
• As a bonus, we’re keeping track of tunes played at Dolphins camp.
Here’s Monday’s playlist:
“I’m on One” — DJ Khaled featuring Drake
“Mula” — Big Sean
“The Scotts” — Travis Scott featuring Kid Cudi
“Tip Toe” — YSN Flow
“What’s Poppin'” — Jack Harlow
“Psycho” — Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign
“Push It” — O.T. Genasis
“Dior” — Pop Smoke
“Bodak Yellow” — Cardi B
(Photo of Preston Williams: Gregory Fisher / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)