Major COVID-19 Developments for Dolphins-Saints Game
As the Miami Dolphins continued their preparations for their game against the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome, there were some major COVID-related developments Thursday.
One was the return of Dolphins rookie second-round pick Jevon Holland to practice, obviously great news for Miami after he missed the 31-24 victory against the New York Jets last weekend. Later Thursday, the Dolphins placed three more players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list: tight end Cethan Carter, offensive lineman Greg Mancz and linebacker Duke Riley.
This might affect the Dolphins in terms of depth, but we're looking at three players who combined for 10 non-special teams snaps in the 31-24 victory against the New York Jets last Sunday (Riley 9, Carter 1).
The other news actually was the most significant, the revelation that Saints starting quarterback Taysom Hill would be joining backup Trevor Siemian on the COVID-19 list, putting rookie fourth-round pick Ian Book in line to make his first NFL start Monday night.
Actually, it would be Book's first NFL action and he would become the Saints' fourth starting quarterback this season after Jameis Winston, Hill and Siemian.
Book will become the fourth rookie quarterback the Dolphins have faced this season, following Mac Jones in Week 1, Trevor Lawrence in Week 6 and Zach Wilson in Week 15 last Sunday.
It's also going to be the fourth time in five games the Dolphins will face a team starting a QB other than its opening-day starter (Joe Flacco, Cam Newton and Mike Glennon were the first three).
Ironically, Dolphins head coach Brian Flores coached Book at the 2021 Senior Bowl.
Book was the ninth of the 10 quarterbacks selected in the 2021 draft, one of four taken beyond the first round.
This was the NFL.com scouting report on Book from Lance Zierlein: "Notre Dame's winningest quarterback brings plenty of leadership and overall intangibles with him. He has big game experience in his background, too. However, his size and arm strength fall below NFL standards and there isn't anything in his game that he can really hang his hat on that counters those issues. He makes receivers work too hard for the catch and was dreadful throwing outside the numbers in 2020. He's effective in RPO calls. He also does a nice job of feeling pocket pressure and sliding around it or getting outside the pocket to make plays. He's a capable runner and a plus athlete but doesn't have the necessary play traits to make a splash in the NFL."
Hill's absence from the game eliminates an interesting sub-plots, the quarterback battle between he and Tua Tagovailoa in light of NBC analyst Chris Simms' much-debated comments that Hill was the better quarterback.
From a Dolphins defensive standpoint, the biggest change will involve not having to worry about Hill's running ability, which probably is what he does as a quarterback.
While the Saints offense doesn't figure to be as effective with a rookie making his first NFL start, it's the Saints defense that always figured to give the Dolphins its biggest challenge Monday night and that certainly hasn't changed.
