The X Factor in the Passing Game
Remember all that talk after the 2020 season about the Miami Dolphins and how big a need they had at wide receiver?
We're almost six months removed from that season finale at Buffalo and we now can make the argument that wide receiver now is the strongest position on the team when it comes to personnel. Yes, even ahead of cornerback, a position that features two of the highest-paid and best cover corners in the NFL in Xavien Howard and Byron Jones.
You can argue that the Dolphins don't have a tandem at wide receiver as good as the Howard-Jones duo, but there's absolutely no question that the Dolphins have better depth there.
In fact, is it possible that the Dolphins actually have too much at wide receiver?
Yes, too much.
Run down the list of wide receivers currently on the roster, and start with DeVante Parker, Preston Williams, free agent pick-up Will Fuller V and first-round pick Jaylen Waddle, and then add 2020 opt-outs Albert Wilson and Allen Hurns, along with Jakeem Grant and Lynn Bowden Jr., not to mention kicking game specialists Mack Hollins and newcomer Robert Foster.
There's not only depth in this group, but top-end talent as well, with the speedy Fuller and Waddle and the big-bodied playmakers Parker and Williams.
And that's just to start.
It's almost easy to forget about Bowden, the absolutely electrifying talent from the University of Kentucky who the Dolphins stole from the Las Vegas Raiders in a trade last September.
While everybody is talking about the big Year 1 to Year 2 jump expected by the three offensive lineman but even more so Tua Tagovailoa, then about expecting that kind of jump from Bowden?
Remember that unlike Tua, Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt and Solomon Kindley, Bowden didn't even get the benefit of training camp with the Dolphins, instead arriving in a trade on the day of the "final" roster cuts.
In a brilliant profile on Bowden at Go Long With Tyler Dunne that covers his time with the Raiders and the trade, Bowden expressed his confidence at a big 2021 season for himself.
Based on what he did at Kentucky, where he won the Paul Hornung Award in 2019 as the nation's most versatile player, and based on the flashes of magic we saw from Bowden in the open field last year, it would be foolish to dismiss the idea.
No doubt, the Dolphins offensive coaches are going to have to find a way to get everybody involved, which won't be easy given the talent that's been assembled at wide receiver.
Yep, you read that right.
The Dolphins now have all kinds of possibilities and options when it comes to the passing game.
And don't forget about Bowden being part of it.
