Stock Up, Stock Down After Preseason Opener

Several Miami Dolphins players helped their cause during the 20-13 loss against the Chicago Bears

There were several players who appeared to help their cause in the preseason opener against the Chicago Bears, while for others, well, it didn't go so well.

Here's the weekly Stock Up, Stock Down report:

STOCK UP

-- QB Tua Tagovaila: We detailed his performance in an earlier story, but we'll just say again he was really impressive against the Bears — yes, even with the disappointing interception on his final play.

-- QB Reid Sinnett: This was the first game action for Sinnett and he absolutely didn't look out of place. We saw some mobility from him, as well as the strong arm he has displayed in practice.

-- RB Salvon Ahmed: Sure, he benefited from better blocking up front than the other Dolphins running backs, but he also was very quick through the hole and then, of course, he had that touchdown reception against Bears linebacker Caleb Johnson.

-- WR Lynn Bowden Jr.: Bowden really needed a good outing to help his cause in making the 53-man roster and he was very effective as a receiver, particularly in the two-minute touchdown drive.

-- PR Jakeem Grant: Yes, he was the beneficiary of Bears punter Pat O'Donnell outkicking his coverage, but Grant still had himself a couple of impressive punt returns.

-- CB Nik Needham: Needham got the start with the Dolphins resting Byron Jones and Xavien Howard and he broke up passes on each of the Bears' first two drives, including their first third-down situation of the game.

-- CB Noah Igbinoghene: He started opposite Needham and was good in coverage, even when he gave up a 15-yard completion (because he didn't turn around to play the ball). He also made a nice tackle short of the marker on a third-down completion on the play where he was injured.

-- DT Christian Wilkins: Wilkins played only 12 snaps, but made three significant plays: forcing a holding penalty, upending a Bears running back at the line of scrimmage, and batting down a pass. That's good work.

STOCK DOWN

-- T Austin Jackson: This is the obvious one. In addition to being called for holding once, Jackson had a really hard time in pass protection. Even on the touchdown pass from Jacoby Brissett to Ahmed, Jackson got beat around the edge and Brissett almost got nailed before he could release the ball.

-- T Adam Pankey: The backup offensive line had its problems keeping the Bears pass rush off Sinnett and Pankey appeared to be the one having the most issues.

-- FB Carl Tucker: It was Tucker who was leading the way on Malcolm Brown's ill-fated run from the 1-yard line when linebacker Alec Ogletree shot through a gap to drop Brown for a 2-yard loss. Brian Flores said Sunday it was a missed assignment but not on the offensive line, which would lead one to believe it was Tucker's responsibility to pick up Ogletree.

-- TE Adam Shaheen: While it was Tua who was to blame for the interception when he tried to hit Shaheen just inside the goal line, Shaheen maybe could have made more of an effort to come back to the ball to at least try to break up the play. And then there was the first pass of the game, which was slightly overthrown but certainly catchable.

-- TE Chris Myarick: The other turnover by the Dolphins came when Myarick fumbled when he was hit after catching a pass from Sinnett. Myarick does not have much margin for error to make the 53-man roster, and this won't help.

-- DE Tyshun Render: The Dolphins defense had a lot of problems dealing with the scrambling ability of rookie QB Justin Fields, and it didn't help that Render got himself caught inside on a couple of occasions after rushing from the edge.