Dolphins reach out to players at position where they’re most improved. And more QB talk.

A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Tuesday night:

▪ The Dolphins addressed the edge rusher position in free agency with linebacker Kyle Van Noy and defensive ends Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah. They also have Vince Biegel for that role, and second-year player Andrew Van Ginkel has been trained in that spot, too.

But they’re still on the lookout for more defensive ends and linebackers with pass rush skills and the ability to set the edge in the running game.

Among second-day draft options: Boise State defensive end/linebacker Curtis Weaver, who has been booked for an interview with Miami.

The Dolphins typically like Boise State players — having drafted Jamar Taylor and Jay Ajayi — and they’ve also arranged a video-conference with Weaver’s teammate, guard/tackle Ezra Cleveland, a potential late-first or second-round pick.

Weaver, who’s 6-2 and 265 pounds, was a second-team Associated Press All-American, first-team All-Mountain West and the MWC Defensive Player of the Year last year after finishing among the national leaders with 18.5 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks, to go with 52 total tackles, one interception and three pass breakups.

“Weaver is a naturally instinctive counter-rusher who uses synchronized hands/feet to attack both inside and outside edges as a rusher, but his lack of explosiveness and athletic traits could dull his rush production against NFL offensive tackles,” NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein said. “He plays with football intelligence, but his level of NFL success could be determined by whether his skill can overcome below-average explosiveness.”

The Dolphins had wanted to have a private meeting with Penn State edge player Yetur Gross-Matos at his Pro Day, but the Nittany Lions canceled Pro Day because of coronavirus. He’s also in the mix if there at 39 and possibly at 26.

And the Dolphins have initiated contact with several other defensive ends, including Auburn’s Marlon Davidson, Charlotte’s Alex Highsmith and South Carolina’s DJ Wonnum.

Among other defensive ends they’ve reached out: Northwestern Joe Gaziano, a 6-4, 275-pound defensive end who had 49 tackles for loss and 30 sacks in four seasons, including 17 and 9 last season. He also forced eight fumbles and recovered four during his college career. He’s an under-the-radar prospect that Miami has been eyeing.

▪ So we now have the lead draft analysts at both ESPN (Mel Kiper Jr.) and NFL Network (Daniel Jeremiah) predicting the Dolphins will take Oregon’s Justin Herbert instead of Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa at No. 5, with both quarterbacks still on the board in their scenarios.

Kiper mocked Herbert to Miami on Tuesday, explaining it this way: “Here’s the first curveball of my new Mock Draft. As I wrote last week, there has been some buzz around Herbert to Miami, and it’s real. The 6-foot-6 signal-caller has a lot of supporters across the league, and they love his upside and traits. And Herbert doesn’t have the durability concerns that have a few teams worried about Tua Tagovailoa’s future. On my board, I have Tagovailoa higher, but this is about projecting what I believe teams will do. And two weeks from the start of Round 1, I’m leaning Herbert to Miami.”

Jeremiah said: “I hear reports out of Miami that they’re split on the two players. If you don’t have universal opinion in favor of one guy or the other, the health is what puts Justin Herbert in that slot at No. 5.”

▪ Kiper’s other Dolphins picks in his latest mock: South Carolina defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw at No. 18 ( “at 6-foot-5, 324 pounds, he could play some nose tackle or slide out to end in a 3-4 defense”); Minnesota safety/cornerback Antoine Winfield at No. 26 (“Winfield is one of my favorite prospects in this class, a Swiss Army knife in the secondary who could play deep safety or slot corner”); Louisiana guard Robert Hunt at No. 39 (“He just mauls defenders in the run game. He also has some versatility because he started games at left guard, left tackle and right tackle for the Ragin’ Cajuns”) and Southern California receiver Michael Pittman at No. 56 (“Pittman has great hands and a 6-foot-4 frame, and his 4.52 40 at the combine was a great time for his size. He’s a smooth route runner who knows how to get open”).

The problem with that mock: No left tackle, the one position where Miami needs immediate help. But Miami likes the guard Hunt, as we reported last week.

▪ NBC’s Mike Florio and Chris Simms conducted a draft of players they would select from the AFC East if they were starting a team or adding to an existing one. And it elicited an interesting debate about Dolphins receiver DeVante Parker.

Their top three picks were Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore, Jets safety Jamal Adams and then Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

Simms then took Parker fourth, adding he “was the best player in the division” last season and citing Parker’s “size, route-running ability. We saw what he did in week 17 against Gilmore and that great secondary of the Patriots. This is a top tier receiver in the NFL. Last year, he was healthy and showed you what he’s all about: 72 receptions for 1202 yards, 9 touchdowns, fifth in the NFL in total yards. His high end talent is better than [former Vikings and new Bills receiver Stefon Diggs]. There’s a reason he was a top 20 pick and did what he did without a Diggs or Adam Thielen” playing opposite him.

Florio quibbled with the pick, asserting that Parker has “never consistently done” what he did last year and “he can never stay healthy.”

To which Simms responded: “He was healthy 16 games last year. Maybe he’s out of the woods?”

Florio picked Bills cornerback Tre’Devious White as the fifth pick in the AFC East draft, and Florio and Simms stopped there, acknowledging that Dolphins cornerbacks Xavien Howard and Byron Jones were worthy of consideration.

And Simms asserted that the Dolphins’ Ryan Fitzpatrick is the best quarterback in the division at the moment.

▪ Quick stuff: Add Penn State defensive tackle Robert Windsor to the list of interior defensive linemen on Miami’s radar. He had 40 tackles, five for loss and 3.5 sacks last season. He’s a potential mid-round pick. “Undersized interior linemen without a great pass rush have a hard time sticking around for long so he’ll need to get bigger and better with his hands to have a shot at making a team,” NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein said….

The Dolphins contacted Arkansas tight end Cheyenne O’Grady, who had 29 catches for 383 yards (13.2 per) and six TDs last season before a mutual decision to leave the program early last November after three previous suspensions and a DUI arrest....

Add Kansas State’s Dalton Schoen (37-579-4 TDs)to the list of receivers contacted by the Dolphins.... Miami did a FaceTime session with Utah cornerback Javelin Guidry, one of the fastest players in the draft.... Guard Evan Boehm joined Buffalo on Tuesday night, becoming one of the first Dolphins’ unrestricted free agents to sign anywhere.

▪ New Dolphins center Ted Karras revealed on Joe Rose’s WQAM show that as a teenager, he put on enough weight to become an FBS offensive lineman (at Illinois) by drinking a gallon of milk and eating eight peanut and butter jelly sandwiches every day.

“I gained 100 pounds in a year and a half,” he said. “I wouldn’t recommend that to any young athlete.”

Couple other things from Karras: Asked by Rose and Zach Krantz what he knows about Ryan Fitzpatrick, he said: “He’s the only player in NFL history to get perfect score on his Wonderlic.”

And from being around Brian Flores in New England, what Karras determined was that he’s “prepared, detail oriented, intense, loves the games, has a pretty good time too. He’s not uptight. I really like his demeanor. We got along great.”

Here’s my Tuesday Dolphins-flavored piece on the draft’s top interior linemen.

Here’s my Tuesday UM piece on the player who would have been the Hurricanes’ top draft choice next week if not for a devastating injury.

Here’s my Tuesday Heat piece with nuggets on Bam Adebayo and Dwyane Wade.

Here’s my Monday Dolphins-flavored piece on the top cornerbacks in the draft.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top defensive tackles in the draft.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top offensive tackles in the draft.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top safeties available in the draft.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on some of the second-tier quarterbacks in the draft.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top running backs in the draft.