Miami Dolphins Friday Mailbag: When Might Rookie Chris Bell Be Able to Make an Impact?

Part 1 of a pre-Chiefs game Miami Dolphins On SI mailbag;

From Jorge Francisco boyd:

Hi Alain, do you think Chris Bell will become a good receiver at some point this season and if so when do you expected to happen?

Hey Jorge, I would be very careful in putting a timetable on Bell because we simply can’t forget the fact that he’s coming off a major knee injury and now he’s dealing with some aftereffects on top of that, even though he is expected to play Sunday. My guess is that, yes, Bell will become a good receiver, but I’m not sure I’d expect that to happen before the second half of the season at the earliest.

From Matt Pryor:

Hey Alain, I know you're not a fan of predictions or hypotheticals, so I apologize in advance for what is coming. Let’s say the Dolphins go 0-17, as it seems to be the latest trend for people to predict. If that were to happen, but the 49ers game ends up as being our biggest deficit in a loss, and we start getting some games a bit closer. If the players don't turn or lose respect for the head coach, but instead build up a new culture under him of being tougher and meaner, and it starts to show more so towards the back end of the season, whilst still unfortunately in defeat. As we have such a young and inexperienced team, and would end up with a very high draft pick for next year, do you think the experience gained by the 1st and 2nd year players this year, with the new head coach and the new setup would be valuable for a bright future for them and Miami, or does this instead build a culture of losing into these players, that then turns into another re-build with a different coach, etc., etc. Hope that makes sense to you. My hope is we do the best we can this year, and we see what happens in 2027, and hopefully the likes of Proctor, Johnson, J-Rod, Douglas and Bell can show they were steals and become the real backbone of this team for the future. Appreciate all your hard work and honesty about this team, and don't tell the others but you're the best on the Dolphins Collective.

Hey Matt, I do get your point, but it’s tougher to answer without knowing the particulars of how those 15 remaining losses would occur, not that I expect at all that the Dolphins actually will be going 0-17. Things change too much over the course of a season to make that kind of prediction, and as I’ve mentioned before the Dolphins are way ahead of the game from 2019, and that team won five games after looking as overmatched as any team had ever been in the first two games.

From KelliX:

If the Dolphins keep the Chiefs to 50, would Hafley call it a win?

That’s cute, except the Dolphins couldn’t stop the 49ers at all last Sunday and they gave up 35 points. But I get that we’re going for shock effect here.

From Dave Campbell:

Greetings Alain ! After taking a few breaths, ready to ask questions rather than rant after a UGLY loss. Would lining up Malik Willis in shotgun & pistol formations give him a little more time to throw ? He doesn't look comfortable under center to me. With Austin Jackson flat out struggling in pass protection (ain't great in run blocking IMHO) is the plan to keep Will Kacmarek ( or someone ) on his side to help block or keep an RB/FB in to pass pro ? Final question. No question that Da'Von Achane is RB1. But on short yardage/goal line it positively drives me nuts (family plugs ears) to see him in there. I just can't wrap my head around a 5'9 195 RB vs Ollie Gordon or Jaylen Wright in there; on that note Gordon seems to be on the outs. What's your thoughts ? Outstanding coverage on Miami Dolphins on SI.Com & All Dolphins and Dolphins Collective podcasts help me simmer down (see what I did there ?) !

Hey Dave, love the “simmah down” reference. I’ll work backward and start with Gordon, who actually is looking at a bigger role Sunday with Wright described by Jeff Hafley before practice Friday as doubtful for the Kansas City game. Yes, I expect the Dolphins to start giving Austin Jackson some help if they see him struggling with a particular pass rusher, and Bobby Slowik expressed some regret this week they didn’t do it more against the 49ers. I’m kind of with you on the idea of using a bigger back near the goal line. As for Willis, I would expect the offense to keep changing throughout the season, though it looks to me the Dolphins are trying to establish a more traditional look for the time being.

From Tejeda:

Is Malik really an upgrade over Ewers? Even before adjusting for salary.

Yes, and it’s not close. Particularly after what we saw this summer when Quinn Ewers struggled — and not just a little bit.

From John Doucette:

Hi Alain, what can be done to reduce Austin Jackson's liability at RT? Move to guard? Bench him?

Hey John, the Dolphins have been quick to point out they remain very confident in Jackson and what happened in the first two games had a lot to do with the fact he went up against two elite pass rushers, Maxx Crosby and Nick Bosa. That said, Jackson has to play better, but I do not see him (at all) moving to guard. A few more bad performances, though, and I could see the Dolphins turning to maybe Caedan Wallace at right tackle (don’t see Miami moving Kadyn Procto in his rookie year).

From rwd300hp:

Hi Alain, thx for everything you do for us fans. We kind of look like an NFL team in the first half, then the wheels fall off in the second half in both games. Is it bad adjustment at halftime? Or fatigue because of the lack of depth? Thx again.

Thanks … said it before and will say it again, but the whole concept of halftime adjustments is overblown. The snap counts don’t really reflect anything abnormal that would lead to second-half issues. It’s probably something much simpler like the talent gap shows up the longer the game goes on. And let’s remember that in the Raiders game, the scores by half were 17-6 and 10-7, so Miami actually did better in the second half. And against the 49ers, the Dolphins didn’t stop them in the first half, but the offense stopped being effective in the second half while the defense still couldn’t stop them.

From T:

Will Kenneth Walker rush for 300+ yards? Haha

We have another comedian in our midst. How about if Kenneth Walker doesn’t rush for even 100 yards?

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