Breaking Down the Dolphins Tryout List Featuring One Big Name and One (Massively) Intriguing Prospect

The Miami Dolphins had a tryout for eight players on the day before their first training camp practice

Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire shrugs as he walks into the end zone untouched for a score against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Miami Dolphins' roster transformation is mostly complete but it's also far from done, and so it was that the team had tryouts for eight players on the day before the first practice of training camp.

A day after signing former first-round pick Clelin Ferrell, the Dolphins entertained another former first-round selection, with running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire highlighted the group of entirely offensive players.

The entire list consisted of QB Jack Plummer, QB Austin Reed, Edwards-Helaire, WRs Elijhah Badger, Elijah Cooks, Jakobie Keeney-James and Tyler Vaughns, along with tackle Ben Te Kura.

EDWARDS-HELAIRE WORTH A SHOT?

Edwards-Helaire is a veteran of six NFL seasons after he joined the Chiefs as the final pick in the first round of the 2020 draft after Miami had selected Tua Tagovailoa, Austin Jackson and Noah Igbinoghene with their three first-round selections that year.

CEH was the first running back taken in a draft that featured D'Andre Swift, Jonathan Taylor, J.K. Dobbins and A.J. Dillon. He got off to a good start in the NFL, rushing for 803 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie, but his rushing total has decreased every year since, to 517 in 2021 and then to 302, 223, 46 and only 13 last season.

Edwards-Helaire, who was part of that record-setting LSU offense in 2019, played in only two games each of the past two seasons. He could be brought in to challenge Jaylen Wright and Ollie Gordon II for the chance to back up De'Von Achane, but only if the Dolphins feel he's still got something left.

TE KURA A FASCINATING PROSPECT

If Edwards-Helaire was the biggest name among the players who tried out, then Ben Te Kura by far is the most intriguing.

Te Kura didn't play college football; in fact, has never played football. He's a former Australian Rules Football player who has the distinction, at 6-9, 268 pounds, of being the tallest player in the history of that sport.

He was released this year from his contract with the Brisbane Broncos to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Philadelphia Eagles tackle Jordan Mailata. Another former Australian Rules player, Mailata was drafted in the seventh round as a project and now has become one of the top left tackles in the NFL.

It's unfair to expect Te Kura to become that kind of NFL player, but his size alone and Mailata's success made him something worth examining.

The two quarterbacks — Plummer and Reed — share a similar background in having first signed into the NFL as undrafted rookie free agents and having no NFL game experience.

FORMER DOLPHINS NEWS

Also on the NFL list of tryouts Tuesday were four former Dolphins players all working out for the Washington Commanders, one of them getting a contract.

That would be punter Matt Haack, one of the authors of the famous "Mountaineer Shot" play of 2019.

Also trying out for Washington were former Dolphins wide receivers River Cracraft and Dee Eskridge, as well as punter Thomas Morstead.