Monday Dolphins Notebook: X Honor, Rodgers Odds, Tua and More

We've now reached the time on the NFL calendar when the best of the season are being honored, and the Pro Football Writers of America released its All-NFL, All-AFC and All-NFC teams Monday.

As one could have predicted, the Dolphins did not have great representation on the All-NFL and All-AFC teams, one player to be precise. And that player was the same guy who was the team's lone Pro Bowl selection, cornerback Xavien Howard.

This goes in line with our contention that it was Howard who deserved to be named team MVP after finishing with five interceptions and two fumble recoveries and two touchdowns (fumble return against Baltimore, pick-six against New England).

Howard was selected to the All-AFC team along with New England's J.C. Jackson, though neither was selected to the All-NFL teams as the two cornerback nods went to Jalen Ramsey and Trevon Diggs.

Keeping tabs on former Dolphins players, outside linebacker Robert Quinn and punt returner Jakeem Grant (both with the Chicago Bears) were selected to the All-NFC team.

RODGERS ODDS

One of the big storylines in the NFL this offseason, as it was last offseason, will be the status of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who might or might not retire and might or might not play for Green Bay in 2022 if he continues playing.

To that end, odds already are out on his status and BetOnline.ag is suggesting he will not retire (1/20 odds) and not be with the Packers next season (4/9 odds).

When it comes to what team will employ Rodgers at the start of the 2022 season if it's not Green Bay, the Dolphins were given the third-best odds at 9/2, behind only the Denver Broncos at 5/2 and the Pittsburgh Steelers at 9.2.

A total of 13 teams were given odds in a Rodgers sweepstakes and the two most interesting are Tennessee (14/1) and Baltimore (20/1).

DOLPHINS AND PLAYOFF OVERTIME

There was a lot of debate on social media Monday as to the NFL overtime rules and whether it's fair that a team can win the game with a touchdown without the opponent ever getting the ball on offense.

For the record, we highly dislike the OT rules and would suggest either playing a full quarter or ensuring that each team gets at least one possession, after which time it would become sudden death if the game was still tied.

Regardless, this got us to revisiting the Dolphins' playoff history and look at their overtime games to see if they ever were involved in games where the touchdown walk-off rule was in effect.

The answer was not only no, it actually was quite the opposite.

The Dolphins have played three overtime playoff games and all of those have gone deep into overtime, with Miami winning two of the three.

There was, of course, the 1971 Christmas Day Classic that went into double overtime and still stands as the longest game in NFL history (in terms of actual playing time).

There was the 1981 playoff classic against San Diego that ended with 1:08 left in overtime after a combined seven offensive possessions.

Finally, there was the Dolphins' playoff victory, the 2000 thriller against Indianapolis that ended with 3:34 left in overtime after the teams had had a combined three possessions.

BUSY WEEKEND FOR TUA

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was back in his native Hawaii this weekend and he took some time to take part in various community initiatives as he continues to give to folks from his home state.

It was a busy weekend for @Tua & @TuaFoundation in Hawaii!

-2⃣ scholarships presented to @StLouisHawaii students
-@Tua helped donate 3⃣0⃣ @surface to @HIDOE808 students
-Sponsored 1⃣0⃣0⃣ @polynesiabowl players to attend the @PolynesianFBHOF dinner
-honored by Senator @KFevella pic.twitter.com/0SDjs2tRt9
— Miami Dolphins Foundation & Community Relations (@FinsOffTheField) January 24, 2022

MERRITT ON THE MOVE

The NFL transactions list Monday made official what wide receiver Kirk Merritt previously announced on Twitter: He has signed a reserve/future contract with the New Orleans Saints.

Merritt became free to sign with any team at any time once the Dolphins let his practice squad contract expire last week.

Merritt spent the past two seasons on the Dolphins practice squad but was elevated for three games, including two this past season. He made his first and only career reception against the Houston Texans when he picked up 13 yards.

While he showed promise during training camp and the preseason, the fact the Dolphins didn't bother signing him to a future contract themselves suggests they didn't necessarily view him as a future contributor or there was some behind-the-scenes issue that made them decide to move on from him.