Dolphins Notebook: OTA Observations, Roster Rules, Tua Ranking, and More
The South Florida media got the chance to watch the Miami Dolphins for the first time this offseason with an Organized Team Activity on Wednesday.
But it frankly wasn't much of a look because this looked more like a walk-through or installation session than an actual practice.
While teams are allowed to do 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 drills during OTAs, this "practice" featured only the defense and offense working on the two different fields at the Baptist Health Training Facility at Nova Southeastern University, except for a brief field goal session toward the end.
-- A total of 15 players were not spotted at the OTA session, most notably cornerback Xavien Howard and defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah.
Others not spotted were newly acquired defensive back Jason McCourty, linebacker Jerome Baker, newly acquired tackle D.J. Fluker and defensive tackle Raekwon Davis.
-- Rookie running back Gerrid Doaks worked on the side.
-- Maybe the best news of all coming out of this OTA was seeing linebacker Elandon Roberts fully participate (regardless of the practice tempo) some five months after he sustained what had appeared to be a significant knee injury in the Week 16 victory at Las Vegas.
NEW ROSTER RULES
There will be some significant changes to the way things look in training camp and heading into the regular season this summer.
For one thing, teams will be back to being able to bring 90 players to training camp after the number was cut to 80 last year because of COVID-19 and the roster cuts also will look different.
There will be three different cuts this year — from 90 to 85 by Aug. 17; from 85 to 80 by Aug. 24; and from 80 to 53 by Aug. 31.
The final round of cuts will come two days after the Dolphins finish their preseason schedule against the Cincinnati Bengals and 12 days before the start of the regular season.
In years past, the final set of cuts took place on the Saturday the weekend before the start of the regular season. Also remember that every team will have a bye this year between the end of the preseason and the start of the regular season.
RANKING TUA
There was a lot of Tua Tagovailoa news Wednesday, and we can add this one to the list: NBC analyst Chris Simms is in the process of unveiling his ranking of the top 40 quarterbacks in the NFL and he put Tagovailoa at number 34.
While it's certainly not flattering, it does represent at least some improvement for Tua, who Simms put at number 40 at this time last year.
"He grew as a player, he got to play in the NFL," Simms said. "He did some good things. He played in some big moments, made some big throws in some big moments, had some big runs in some big moments…He got better as a football player, but I still have my questions…I like his talent, I don’t love it…There is a charisma aspect that he brings to the field and of course he does have a presence on the field. He knows how to play the game. Even as a rookie, he didn’t mess up many situations…But he’s got to get more aggressive.”
BURKE UPDATE
Former Dolphins defensive coordinator Matt Burke has resurfaced in the NFL.
The New York Jets are hiring him in a game-management role to work for new head coach Robert Saleh, according to NFL Network reporter Mike Garafolo.
Burke served as defensive coordinator for the Dolphins in 2017-18 before spending the last two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, first as defensive special assistant and last year as run game coordinator/defensive line coach.
