Ex-Patriots Quickly Take Charge for Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins season opener against the New England Patriots will represent a homecoming for several players and coaches, including three 2020 newcomers who have been selected team captains

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores clearly has a vision for how he wants to build his team, and it's only natural that a lot of the principles he wants to instill came from what he learned during his time with the New England Patriots.

So much was made of the talent the Dolphins acquired during the offseason, but they also brought in players who understand Flores' vision and can help spread it throughout the team.

Three of those players happened to be with Flores in New England, and now those three — center Ted Karras and linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Elandon Roberts — are among the eight team captains the Dolphins will have when they begin the 2020 season at Gillette Stadium.

“I think they’re all good players," Flores said Thursday morning. "They’re smart. They’re tough. They care about the game. They’re team-first. I think they’ve tried to build relationships throughout the locker room and on defense, on offense, on special teams. They are guys who care about those relationships, but there’s also a number of other guys who are very similar, guys who aren’t former Patriots like Bobby (McCain), like ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick), like (Davon) Godchaux. So it’s always good to have those types of players on your team and I’m happy to have the three former Patriots, but also the other guys that we have as captains as well.”

That Van Noy was selected as a team captain by a vote of his teammate was almost a given, given his experience and the fact he's the second-oldest player on the Dolphins roster behind only Ryan Fitzpatrick.

But for Roberts and Karras, it was a little more unexpected. After all, Roberts played only 20 percent of the defensive snaps for New England last year, and Karras has just one year of starting experience.

“It was a distinct honor and I’m very honored that my peers thought of me that way and it puts even more pressure on I want to do everything right," Karras said. "Obviously I was trying to do that anyway, but I want to do my very best for this team so that we can put our best season out there. As an elected leader I’m very excited about this upcoming campaign.”

Of course, the opener Sunday will give Karras, Roberts and Van Noy the chance to face their former team in their first game with their new team.

“Yeah, going against them, they’re familiar with me, I’m familiar with them," Van Noy said. "I’m excited for this task. They’ve been talking trash the four years I’ve been there, so I’m excited to see if we both can back it up. (laughter)”

Van Noy then started laughing when he was asked if there was a former teammate he was most looking forward to hitting: “Nah, he’s not there anymore. (laughter) And that would be ‘Gronk’ (Rob Gronkowski) by the way, not Tom (Brady). (laughter) That’s my guy.”