Some bad news and tons of good news about Dolphins draft class after first week in pads
The bad news first: Rookie quarterbacks often struggle early in training camp.
Justin Herbert struggled with the Los Angeles Chargers their first week in pads. Tua Tagovailoa struggled his first week in pads with the Miami Dolphins. Joe Burrow ... never mind.
Burrow isn’t struggling.
Burrow, the 2020 draft’s first overall selection, roasted the Cincinnati Bengals starting defense in a scrimmage on Friday, completing 6 of 6 throws on his first drive in leading the starting offense to a touchdown on the opening possession. He came back on the second possession and completed both his throws in leading the offense to another touchdown.
Burrow threw 2 TD passes and was 9 of 10 at one point.
And this: Burrow did this without starting receiver A.J. Green participating.
Herbert, meanwhile, did not look good a couple of days in a row last week and then Chargers coach Anthony Lynn threw him in with the starters against the starting defense on Friday. Again, Herbert struggled.
“I think this is going to help him take the next step,” Lynn said afterward. “It’s good for him to be uncomfortable. As long as he’s uncomfortable and we don’t break his spirit, I think that’s an opportunity for great growth.”
So what does this all mean? It means Tagovailoa is somewhere between Burrow and Herbert in his early development.
So now the good news?
After the first week of padded practices (the Dolphins start the second week on Monday) it’s already clear the team has added players in this draft that will factor for them in the 2020 season.
The fact this is already apparent after only one week of padded drills suggests the Dolphins added some immediate help in the draft.
Let’s look at that Miami draft’s 11 rookies and see where they currently stack up in their development and what their chances to help the team are in 2020. We’ll do this in reverse order because Casey Kasem said so:
10 (tie): DE Jason Strowbridge, DE Curtis Weaver: Both have been working with backups and neither has stood out with any consistency. The Dolphins would really like Weaver to be a factor with Vince Biegel out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon. I wouldn’t expect that early on, however.
9: S Brandon Jones: Jones is a backup who is still figuring out what to do and exactly where to be, especially once the offense shows motion. The mental part of the game has probably kept Jones from showing some of his athleticism. He’s going to make the team but if he’s going to play, it’ll be on special teams.
8: Slot WR Malcolm Perry: Coaches are intrigued with his quickness in short space. So, yeah, he has slot receiver written all over him. Perry is a project. He’s a guy to look at late this season and more likely in 2021. But if Isaiah Ford, who is Miam’s best answer at slot receiver now, is unavailable for whatever reason, Perry may be next man up.
7. QB Tua Tagovailoa: You’re not going to see him early in the season. That’s clear by now. The Dolphins have a quarterback competition going on but the truth is it’s a competition for the No. 2 job between Tagovailoa and Josh Rosen. And right now, I’d say the chances are greater that Rosen will take that one unless Tagovailoa suddenly starts doing some magical things he hasn’t shown yet.
6. RT Robert Hunt: The Dolphins also have a competition for the starting right tackle job. And Hunt is chasing incumbent starter Jesse Davis. But it’s not close right now. Hunt, who played at Louisiana-Lafayette has to become a better technician and must get better used to the speed of the game. Davis is likely your starting right tackle to start the season.
5. CB Noah Igbinoghene: The story here is that Xavien Howard started the season on the Physically unable to perform (PUP) list and then went to the reserve Covid-19 list. Contrary to a published report, Howard remains on the Covid list and was not removed from that list on Saturday. He is, however, advancing through the protocols and close to coming off the Covid list, which he’s been on since Aug. 11. Howard, also needing to pass a physical because of a troublesome knee, is your starter if he can get back to practice this week or early next week.
Igbinoghene would be the guy if that doesn’t happen. Here’s the issue with that, Igbinoghene still does rookie things like getting caught staring at the quarterback’s eyes. He is often around the football, however. The athletic gifts are there. It’s consistency he’s searching for.
4. LS Blake Ferguson: So he’s your starting long snapper. Simple as that. When your sixth-round pick is a starter, cha-ching, you’ve done something right.
3. DT Raekwon Davis: He’s not a starter. And may not be a starter for a while. But one can already see he’s going to get a lot of playing time in the regular season right from the jump. He will factor in the defensive line rotation. How he plays, obviously, has yet to be seen.
2. RG Solomon Kindley: The Dolphins have thrown a lot at this fourth-round pick, and as one of the offensive coaches said, he’s handled everything so far. I suppose he’s still in a competition with Danny Isidora for the starting right guard job and there are still a couple of weeks before that has to be completely decided. But Kindley has a higher ceiling than Isidora and it’s clear the team wants him to win the job because he is bigger and stronger than Isidora. My guess is he’ll be a starter early this season if not in the regular-season opener.
1. LT Austin Jackson: Meet Miami’s most impressive draft pick and starting left tackle. He just turned 21 only two weeks ago but already he is the most athletic and most promising tackle on the team. Yes, he needs to hone his technique and he needs to get stronger. But the reason he’s going to be the starter is because he comes as advertised and the player he’s competing against, veteran Julie’n Davenport, is too inconsistent in both the run game and pass protection.
