Facing the Rookie Reality

Given Bill Belichick's tremendous success over the past two decades, his comments tend to carry a lot of weight.

And the New England Patriots had a sobering message Friday morning when it comes to rookies and the 2020 season, something that clearly can relate to the Miami Dolphins.

As a reminder, only the Minnesota Vikings (15) and Jacksonville Jaguars (12) ended up with more 2020 draft picks than the Dolphins, who had 11. But no team had five picks in the first two rounds like the Dolphins did.

With that kind of draft capital, the hope obviously is for a major and immediate impact. But this is where Belichick kind of threw some cold water on this notion.

"Well, I think all of our rookies have worked extremely hard," Belichick said during a Zoom conference call. "I mean, they’re in deep water and turbulent water and it’s going to get rougher, just in terms of the volume and the level of competition and becoming a professional athlete and the full day and the consecutive days that get strung together with very high demands, both physically, mentally and rest and recovery and all that.

"We’re still a long way from anything close to real football, but we’re doing more now than we did before, so each day is an acclimation day and an adjustment day for them. I think they’re just trying to keep their head above water and try to swim or paddle in the right direction knowing that they’re not really able to keep up, but they’re doing the best they can and they’re way, way ahead of where they were a week ago, two weeks ago, a month ago, two months ago. So, a lot of progress there, but a long, long way to go."

Belichick may have been talking about his own rookies, but it obviously applies to rookies all around the NFL.

His comments also mirrored those of Dolphins coach Brian Flores when he talked about the learning curve for rookies, a process made more difficult in 2020 because of all the adjustments necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I think every rep is going to be important," Flores said. "Every walk-through rep, every practice rep. We won’t have preseason games. That’s all we’ve got. There’s no point in dwelling on or being upset about the circumstances. We’ve just got to make the most of the opportunities that we’re going to be given here. Yeah, every rep is going to be important. Every rep in individual, those evaluations, those are the evaluations. The improvements the players make in practice, in walkthroughs, it either keeps them on the team or doesn’t keep them on the team.”

The Dolphins' draft class, as a refresher consisted of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, tackle Austin Jackson and cornerback Noah Igbinoghene in the first round; tackle Robert Hunt and defensive lineman Raekwon Davis in the second round; safety Brandon Jones in the third round; guard Solomon Kindley in the fourth round; defensive lineman Jason Strowbridge and edge defender Curtis Weaver in the fifth round; long-snapper Blake Ferguson in the sixth round; and former Navy quarterback Malcolm Perry in the seventh round.

The Dophins are set to begin practices in pads Monday as they continue their preparation for the start of the regular season against Belichick's Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sept. 13.

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