Thursday Dolphins Notebook: Schedule Details, Morstead, Parker Talks, More
Even though everybody already knows every opponent for every team for the 2022 regular season, the announcement of the full schedule is a big deal.
It always is.
So much so that the NFL sends out a press release to announce the date of the full regular season schedule unveiling, and this year that will take place Thursday, May 12.
The full unveiling will take place at 8 p.m. ET and will be televised live by NFL Network.
Some games will be announced before that, including every team's first home game opponent, which will released at 6 p.m. on that day. The Miami Dolphins will learn then whether they'll face the Buffalo Bills in their home opener for a third consecutive season.
Before then, the NFL will announce Thursday, April 28 — during the first round of the NFL draft — the first Thursday Night Football game on Prime Week that will take place in Week 2 (Sept. 15, to be precise). The Dolphins game at San Francisco might be an attractive prime-time matchup given that it will match head coach Mike McDaniel against his former team.
On Wednesday, May 4, the NFL will announce the 2022 international games, and the Dolphins won't be involved in any of them because they're not scheduled to have a road game against any of the five designated home teams — Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Arizona, Jacksonville and New Orleans.
Finally, during the week leading up to the full release of the schedule, the NFL will announce select games.
As a reminder, the Dolphins' 2022 opponents will be:
2022 Dolphins Home Opponents
Buffalo Bills
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers
Houston Texans
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
2022 Dolphins Road Opponents
Buffalo Bills
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Los Angeles Chargers
Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
San Francisco 49ers
Parker Pleased With New Situation
Wide receiver DeVante Parker addressed the New England media Thursday for the first time since the Dolphins traded him along with a 2022 fifth-round pick for a 2023 third-round selection.
Parker confirmed what Dolphins GM Chris Grier said during his pre-draft press conference that he wanted to play with New England all along once it became clear he might get traded.
"That was true because I know the Patriots have a great, great organization," Parker said. "And I know the fans as the fans here is outstanding, and I know from experience coming in here, and how the fans work that was something I wanted to be a part of."
New England opened its offseason program this week — the Dolphins got a two-week head start because they have a new head coach — but Parker spent time earlier in Florida catching passes from Mac Jones along with a small group of Patriots wide receivers.
"The workouts were great," Parker said. "And my impression of Mac, he's got a nice arm, was zipping it. It was just a great, great workout for all of us. It was good for me to come down and start throwing with them early as soon as I can to get the timing down."
Morstead and His Number
Veteran punter Thomas Morstead ended up with number 4 after signing with the Dolphins after wearing 6 for more than a decade during his time with the New Orleans Saints.
Morstead will become the sixth player to wear number 4 for the Dolphins in a regular season, and the previous five also were punters.
Two of them were among the best punters in team history, if not the top two. Reggie Roby wore the number from 1983-92 and Brandon Fields wore it as a rookie in 2007 before switching to 2 for his final seven years in Miami.
Morstead paid tribute to Roby, who died in 2005, on social media.
This and That
-- A happy 25th birthday to Dolphins long-snapper Blake Ferguson.
-- Defensive end Cam Malveaux, who played nine games for the Dolphins in 2017-18, announced his retirement on Twitter. He played three games for the Philadelphia Eagles last season. Malveaux's agent, David Canter, later tweeted that Malveaux was headed to law school.