First-year players likely will factor in regular-season debut against Patriots

When it comes to rookies making their NFL debuts in the Miami Dolphins at New England Patriots’ regular-season opener, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones will easily be the one most under a microscope.

But the Dolphins have a slew of rookies of their own that could become major factors in the outcome to Sunday’s Week 1 AFC East divisional showdown that kicks off at 4:25 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Really, the Dolphins’ rookie class will be needed all season if this 2021 team will fulfill its playoff aspirations in coach Brian Flores’ third season at the helm. Jaylen Waddle is needed to give quarterback Tua Tagovailoa another playmaker. Jaelan Phillips is needed to provide a pass rush. Liam Eichenberg is needed to boost this young offensive line. Safety Jevon Holland is needed to keep the Dolphins’ turnover-forcing momentum from 2020 going this season.

“It’s hard for rookies,” said Flores, who will have to manage how much he counts on each one in such a pivotal early-season game. “It’s their first kind of time out, and we take that into account,

so we’ll see how it goes.”

But there’s no time for a learning curve for some of those. Not when a meeting with the Patriots, even in Week 1, carries playoff implications — and especially when different factors are pushing them into critical roles right away.

Eichenberg, the second-round pick out of Notre Dame that Miami traded up for, could be thrust into a start at left tackle with secondyear lineman Austin Jackson on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Waddle already figures to play an intricate role in the Dolphins’ run-pass option offense. That will only be amplified in a receiving corps that will play without free-agent acquisition Will Fuller, serving the final game of last year’s suspension he received while with the Houston Texans.

Phillips will be a key defender in creating confusion against Jones, even if he’s not listed as a starter on Miami’s depth chart. When he’s in the game, he lines up at different spots — standing up or with his hand in the ground and coming from either side.

Even tight end Hunter Long, a third-round pick out of Boston College making a homecoming of sorts, could see some action in a deep tight end unit that will likely be without Adam Shaheen (COVID list).

Holland isn’t listed on the Dolphins depth chart as a starter at free safety with 34-year-old veteran Jason McCourty, a former Patriot who will face his twin brother Sunday, leading the team there, but Holland figures to be involved in certain packages and could work his way into a bigger role as the season progresses.

Eichenberg proved more than capable at left tackle in college, but the Dolphins only worked him out at right tackle and left guard in training camp. He also missed a week with a shoulder injury and another, more recently, due to his thigh. He participated fully on Friday after being limited on Wednesday and Thursday.

“It’s just different technique,” said Eichenberg, who had a 33-game sackless streak mostly at left tackle in college. “I think playing tackle compared to guard is completely different. Center to tackle is different, so at the end of the day, you have to go back to your fundamentals, technique and your coaching.”

Phillips, whom the Dolphins selected with the No. 18 pick in the first round, has had a lot on his plate throughout training camp while also working back from an undisclosed lower-body injury that sidelined him multiple weeks.

“NFL is humbling,” said the hybrid outside linebacker/defensive end that played end rather exclusively in his breakout 2020 campaign with the Miami Hurricanes.

“You come out of college and you kind of think you know a lot and you know it all, and it really turns out that you don’t know too much at all. So for me, it’s just been a constant battle to learn as much as I can and really try to develop all different parts of my game because I don’t ever want to be only able to do one thing. I’ve always wanted to be multifaceted.”

Others are feeling a range of emotions from excitement to maybe a little bit of nerves.

“I think it’ll be exhilarating, honestly,” said Holland, the second-rounder out of Oregon. “It’s a lifelong dream, playing on an NFL team, making a roster and things like that. The first game is going to be awesome, especially with the fans back. I’m really excited.”

Waddle, the No. 6 pick in this year’s draft, said the nerves hadn’t hit him yet when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday, but he was anticipating they’d arrive by Sunday.

“I think I’ll get more nervous the closer the game gets, but right now, I’m just trying to get everything down, really,” he said. “You handle [the nerves] just like any other thing. It comes with it. I think if you don’t get nervous anymore, you really shouldn’t be playing. Of course, I’ll get nervous and all of that good stuff, but it’s time to go.”

The regular-season opener will also serve as the first measuring stick for where Waddle’s two college quarterbacks at Alabama — Tagovailoa, going into Year 2, and Jones as a rookie starter — stand at the NFL level. They will likely be compared for years to come as long as the two remain on their current professional teams.