Ten Things on the Agenda for Dolphins OTAs
In this story:
The Miami Dolphins graduate next week from the weightlifting, conditioning drills and field work portion of the offseason program to scaled-down practices that feature helmets and cleats.
It’s football in pajamas, with contact strictly prohibited, but this is the closest thing we’ll get to a full-scale practice until training camp opens in late July.
This is the point where players are taking what they learned in the classroom to the field and coaches are there to instruct them.
That means we can begin putting context clues together about what the 2023 Dolphins team might look like.
Here’s a list of 10 things we’ll be keeping an eye on during the open OTA practice next week:
1. What does Vic Fangio’s Dolphins defense look like?
What the Dolphins show the media will be extremely vanilla. But what does Vic Fangio’s style of a 3-4 defense look like in comparison to what the Dolphins have run since 2019 under Brian Flores and his underlings, which included fired defensive coordinator Josh Boyer? Are there more 4-3 looks? How are the outside linebackers and defensive linemen utilized differently? Fangio has transformed every defense he's led the past two decades, but we'll get an indicator if this year's unit can be a top 5 defense.
2. How much is Terron Armstead doing?
Armstead’s fragility — or, better yet, his durability — has been an issue throughout his entire 10-year career. But when healthy, he’s a force. If I were the Dolphins, Armstead would be participating in these football in pajama sessions, but when training camp starts up he'd be placed in bubble wrap, and only worked for a series or two of 11-on-11s per day in the final three weeks of camp. The top priority of the entire offseason should be to keep Miami’s Pro Bowl left tackle healthy, and to do that he might need to watch more than participate.
3. Is there a legitimate challenger to Austin Jackson?
The Dolphins signed Isaiah Wynn and Cedric Ogbuehi last week, and that pair has 75 NFL starts between them. If the competition were fair, they possibly could unseat Jackson for the starting right tackle spot, but we all know Jackson’s status as one of General Manager Chris Grier’s first-round picks will stack the deck in his favor. Without pads, it would be hard to tell if Jackson has made progress in his fourth NFL season, but we should pay attention to who his primary backup is, and how that player performs because he could be the break-in-case-of-emergency option.
4. Who wants to become Tua Tagovailoa’s secondary weapons?
With Mike Gesicki and Trent Sherfield departing via free agency the Dolphins need to find new third- and fourth-most targeted weapons. There’s a plethora of newcomers competing to replace them. Robbie Chosen is the most accomplished and experienced receiver on the roster not named Tyreek Hill. But the seven-year veteran formerly known as Robbie Anderson, a talent who has started 87 NFL games, must prove he’s not washed up and has what it takes to learn a new offense quickly. Then there’s Braxton Berrios, an emerging slot weapon, and newly added tight ends Eric Saubert and Tyler Kroft. And that doesn’t even include holdovers like Durham Smythe, Erik Ezukanma, Cedrick Wilson Jr. and River Cracraft, who could push their way up Tagovailoa's target list. These practices will show us who Tagovailoa is developing chemistry with outside of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
5. Are the 2022 draftees progressing?
Outside of Skylar Thompson helping seal Miami’s playoff berth by winning the regular season finale against the New York Jets, the Dolphins got very little from the 2022 draft class. In fact, an undrafted player — cornerback Kader Kohou — contributed more than all four draftees combined. The Dolphins need to see major progress from linebacker Channing Tindall, Ezukanma, pass rusher Cameron Goode, who spent last season on the practice squad, and Thompson, who likely will find himself on the depth chart behind Mike White, a free agent addition.
6. Which player is pushing for the second tight end role?
Smythe is known for his in-line play and prowess as a blocker, so the Dolphins likely will be looking for a pass-catching weapon who threatens the seams to join Smythe in the two-tight-end sets, and replaces him when Miami is taking a pass-happy, hurry-up approach when trailing or time is running out. Saubert came into the NFL as a pass-catching specialist, but has never caught more than 15 passes a season, and that was last year in Denver. Kroft has been targeted more than 25 times once in his eight-year career. That seam threat weapon could be the receiver converts Tanner Conner and Elijah Higgins, a 2023 draftee, but that depends on how quickly they can grasp the offense and build chemistry with Tagovailoa.
7. Is Robert Jones or Dan Feeney realistic competition for Liam Eichenberg?
Like Jackson, Eichenberg’s status as one of Grier’s former second-round picks keeps him in the driver’s seat for the starting left guard role. But Feeney, who likely will serve as Miami’s backup center, has started 41 games at left guard during his NFL career, and Jones has shown upside the past two years. If either were given a legitimate chance to unseat Eichenberg, would they seize it? Only time and opportunity will tell.
8. Where are Brandon Jones and Nik Needham in their rehab process?
The Dolphins secondary was held together with scotch tape last season because of all the injuries that unit endured. The return of Jones, who tore his ACL in late October, and Needham, who suffered an Achilles injury a week earlier, will be significant. They’ll more than likely just be doing rehab work at this point (eight months into a recovery), but if they’re doing more, that’s a good sign. We’ll learn who is filling in for them as the starting strong safety and starting nickel cornerback, respectively, and might get a realistic timetable for Jones and Needham to be cleared for contact work.
9. Does Trill Williams still look promising?
Williams can look at the opportunity Kohou got last season, the success he had as an undrafted rookie elevated into a starting role, and say to himself, "That should have been me." Williams, an undrafted player who spent all of 2021 on the 53-man roster after being claimed off waivers from New Orleans, was working his way up the depth chart with a strong training camp showing last year before tearing his ACL. He’s spent the past 10 months getting his body right so he could put himself in position to pick up where he left off, pushing for playing time. These practices will show us where this former Syracuse standout is.
10. Would a move to safety benefit Noah Igbinoghene?
Igbinoghene’s struggles with playing the ball when it is in the air as a cornerback has kept him from living up to his first-round pedigree, and the drafting of Cam Smith in the second round likely makes him the fifth or sixth cornerback on the depth chart. At this point, the Dolphins should consider exploring a Jason Allen-like transition to safety for Igbinoghene because it could resurrect his disappointing career. Allen, a University of Tennessee product the Dolphins selected in the first round of the 2006 draft, had a couple decent seasons at safety after he was moved from cornerback.
