Sunday Dolphins Mailbag: Tua, Bowden, Offensive Line, and More

Part 2 of the latest SI Fan Nation All Dolphins mailbag following the roster cuts to 53 and heading into the regular season opener:

From jorge boyd (@raga1922):

Hi Alain, does New England get an advantage over the Dolphins due to the Lynn Bowden signing?

From NemesisTom35 (@NTom35):

When the Pats pick up our ex-players before the season (ie Bowden), how much intel can they really glean?

Hey Jorge and Tom, that notion of newcomers being able to provide intel about their former team is massively overblown. First off, it’s not like Bill Belichick can’t just look at 49ers tape from the past five years to get an idea of what the Dolphins might run and it’s also not like the Dolphins coaches can't throw in some wrinkles to what they did with Bowden to throw off the Patriots. Look at it this way, if it was such an advantage, you’d see every team in the NFL pick up a guy from their upcoming Week 1 opponent after the cuts to 53. As a final word on this, I'll pass along what Mike McDaniel said about the topic this week: "I would assume that they were doing that (signing Bowden) because they had exposure to him, and not to get cryptic answers because if he has those answers, then I’m not that cryptic.”

From Mcdrip’s twin (@TheGreatPhinsby):

Hey Alain, it's been a while for me. How confident are you in Tua this year in comparison to last year??

Hey TGP, my confidence in Tua actually is pretty much the same in that I’ve always felt he’s somebody who will be able to maximize the talent around him more often than not, though he still has to show he can make things happen under less-than-ideal circumstances. With much better personnel around him on offense, I definitely would expect him to take a jump forward in 2022.

RELATED: Taking Stock of Tua Heading Into Year 3

From LiebsKB (@jliebs81):

Do the Hamilton Tiger Cats still hold Tua’s CFL rights?

Man, somebody is trying to stir up some stuff here! I'm pretty sure you're trying to be funny, but you better be prepared to make amends if Tua ends up having a great 2022 season, which is obviously way more likely than him ever ending up in the Canadian Football League. As an answer to your question, I believe the Tiger Cats do still have Tua's CFL rights after landing those in January 2018, not long after Tua led the second-half comeback that gave the Crimson Tide an overtime national championship win over Georgia.

From Sean Beachem (@beachbob1):

First, thanks for taking some many fan questions. Much appreciated. With the new OL blocking scheme, how much improvement can we expect throughout the year?

Hey Sean, I am deeply appreciative of anybody who reads what I write and as an extension will take the time to ask questions, so answering is the least I can do (plus I enjoy it). With that said, I would expect clear improvement from the offensive line from one of the weakest units in the NFL last season to maybe somewhere in the middle of the pack, if not a bit higher.

From Phinaholic (@dana_buice):

Hey my friend, what do you believe the Dolphins’ greatest strength & weakness are? Please let us know how big a strength & how big a weakness it really is because what you do best might not actually be good & what you most need improvement in doesn’t necessarily mean you’re bad at it.

Hey Dana, this would be a lot easier question to answer after we’ve seen a few regular season games, but since you’re asking now, I’ll go with the play-action passing as the strength and the run defense as the biggest concern (don’t want to say weakness at this time). I do think the Dolphins will be very good with their play-action passing game, but I don’t know that I’d say the run defense is a major weakness. Again, though, those answers easily could change because I’m not sure there’s anything the team will do exceptionally well or anything that’s a major weakness.

From David Boston (@BostonCov):

Should I introduce my 3-year-old to the Miami Dolphins and all the love/pain it entails?

Hey David, interesting that your name (or Twitter identity) is the same as a former Dolphins wide receiver. If you’re into sports and your 3-year-old is going to be into sports, I say you absolutely introduce him to the Dolphins and he and you will share that fan experience (good and bad) for a lifetime and that is priceless. This is a no-brainer.

From Eric (@kindsir):

What will you be looking for as a good/bad sign of what is to come for the rest of the season?

Hey Eric, I think we could go a lot of different directions with this, but it’s gotta start on offense, right? And I think maybe the biggest indicator to me would be how the running game can perform, overall and in specific situations. For example, if the Dolphins get stuffed on a few third-and-short or fourth-and-short situations early in the season, I’d definitely be alarmed.

From Rich Miller (@treetop70bg):

I am taking my son to our first Dolphins game ever. It is in Baltimore. Any tips to survive in enemy territory??

Hey Rich, to properly answer that question, I reached out to friend and colleague Todd Karpovich of SI Fan Nation sister site Raven Country and his feedback was that you’ll have no issue if you don’t antagonize Ravens fans, which would be good advice for any away stadium. As NFL fans go, Baltimore’s certainly wouldn’t rank among the most volatile.