Dolphins Notebook: Roster Move, Hootie Talks Dolphins, Tua and Flores Odds
For the fifth time this season and the third time as a COVID-19 replacement, defensive tackle Benito Jones has been elevated from the Miami Dolphins practice squad for their game against the New York Jets on Sunday.
The Dolphins currently have two members of their 53-man roster on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins and guard/tackle Jesse Davis.
Wilkins has missed the past two games after being put on the list days before the Dolphins faced the Chargers at Hard Rock Stadium,
Per new rules in place for 2020 involving the COVID-19 list, the Dolphins (as well as all other teams) are not permitted to discuss details regarding players on the list. But Jones being elevated again certainly wouldn't appear to bode well for Wilkins being able to return against the Jets.
PRACTICE SQUAD MOVES
The Dolphins' list of players protected from being poached off the practice squad this week includes tight end Chris Myarick, quarterback Reid Sinnett and long-snapper Rex Sunahara.
Myarick has appeared in each of the Dolphins' past two games, while Sinnett and Sunahara have yet to play in a regular season game.
HOOTIE TALKS DOLPHINS
Recording artist Darius Rucker, of Hootie and the Blowfish and "The Dolphins made me cry" fame, was the first guest for a new Sirius XM podcast series featuring entertainers talking about their fandom for their favorite team.
Rucker, of course, is a big Dolphins fan and he talked on the premiere episode of "Huuuuge Fan" about his friendship with Dan Marino, how he become a Dolphins fan and his thoughts on Tua Tagovailoa and the 2020 team.
About Marino, Rucker said: “This is crazy to say and people laugh when I say it but the last three years of his career I spent pretty much every home game at his house. I slept in his guest house every home game. I mean, I would show up on Wednesday and leave on Monday. (Marino’s wife) Claire was just awesome. She was really awesome. She never kicked me out, she picked me up at the airport. But pretty much every home game, I stayed at Dan's house.”
On the team and its future, Rucker said: "I like watching where we're going. Even last season watching when everybody said the Dolphins were tanking to get the first pick. Guys would come and teams were coming in and thinking it was going to be a pushover. Not one week were the Dolphins a pushover. Not one week. Then, to watch them win the games and win the way they did, I was so proud to be a fan of that team last year.”
FEEDING SOUTH FLORIDA
Keeping with an annual tradition, the Dolphins will be participating in a Thanksgiving mean distribution Wednesday.
The Miami Dolphins Foundation Food Relief Program will team up with local restaurants to distribute more than 10,000 meals to the South Florida community. there will be several distribution sites in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
This initiative is part of the Dolphins winning the NFL Huddle for 100 club competition, a league-wide effort to encourage volunteerism and meaningful contributions throughout the country. In 2019, the Dolphins led the NFL with 75,623,500 volunteer minutes. As a result, the organization received a $100,000 grand prize that was allocated to the Miami Dolphins Foundation Food Relief Program.
DOLPHINS PROJECTIONS
The Dolphins' playoff hopes, going by the website FiveThirtyEight, took a big hit with their loss at Denver. The Dolphins went from having a predicted 58 percent chance of making the playoffs to 33 after their record fell to 6-4.
Likewise, the betting odds for the Dolphins got longer, and that includes odds involving Brian Flores and Tua Tagovailoa for individual awards.
According to BetOnline (www.BetOnline.ag), the Dolphins' odds of winning Super Bowl LV went from 40/1 to 60/1 and from 9/4 to 7/2 to win the AFC East title, with Buffalo at 2/11 to win the division.
Tagovailoa went from the third-favorite for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year at 5/2 to fourth-favorite at 10/1. He's now behind clear favorite Justin Herbert (2/15), Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool (9/1) and Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (9/1).
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who was a close second behind Herbert last week, is off the board after he sustained a season-ending knee injury against Washington on Sunday.
As for Flores, he remains the second-favorite to win NFL Coach of the Year honors behind Mike Tomlin of the Steelers, but he went from 2/1 to 5/1 after the loss at Denver. Tomlin went from 7/5 to even money (1/1) after the Steelers improved to 10-0 with a 27-3 victory against Jacksonville.
