Jenkins has knee surgery
DAVIE— The thinnest unit on the Miami Dolphins’ roster when it comes to talent will have to play without one of its three starters for a couple of weeks.
Jelani Jenkins, the Dolphins’ starting weakside linebacker for the past two seasons, had a knee he injured in Thursday night’s 17-6 win over the Atlanta Falcons surgically repaired over the weekend. The former Florida Gators standout will likely be sidelined a couple of weeks.
“It’s going to be about how quick he can get his strength back. Every person is different,” coach Adam Gase of Jenkins, who had 71 tackles and one forced fumble in the 13 games he played last season. “It’s really [about] the pain tolerance [and] how quick can the rehab go. I can say there’s a possibility that that first game he’s good. We have to see how his body reacts to everything.”
While Gase characterized the injury as week-to-week, the Dolphins’ coaches are preparing to play the first few games of the season with Spencer Paysinger or Neville Hewitt in Jenkins’ place as Miami’s coverage specialist in that linebacker unit.
Jenkins typically remains on the field for all three downs, but nowthat he’s sidelined it’s likely that Koa Misi, the team’s starting strong side linebacker, will move into that role in the nickel package with Kiko Alonso.
Paysinger and Hewitt are the only healthy, experienced options left for Miami, which only added Alonso and a few undrafted rookies this offseason to a unit that struggled last year.
Paysinger, a special teams contributor throughout his NFL career, is the second most experienced player in the linebacker unit, behind only Misi, who is entering his seventh season as a starter.
“The standard has been held up so everyone should know what’s going on, what calls to make. It’s not going to be like Jelani is up here and the next person is down there,” Misi said, raising his arm to the sky and then lowering it. “However long Jelani is out, I think we’ll be alright.”
It appears Miami’s coaches favor Paysinger as Jenkins’ replacement because of his experience — which includes 14 NFL starts during his career with the New York Giants — and his understanding of the new scheme.
“You just got to know your stuff,” said Paysinger, who had 25 tackles last season with the Dolphins, most of which came on special teams. “It comes down to duel learning. I take notes on both sides of my notebook. One for the [strongside linebacker] and one for the [weakside linebacker spot] so if need be, I’m ready.”
Gase said Paysinger has had a strong training camp, primarily because of his worth ethic.
“His ability to be able to plug into any spot— and us not really lose anything as far as a guy knowing what to do — is valuable,” Gase said. “When you have a player like that, especially that has some experience, that makes you feel better as a coach.”
Last year, Paysinger was bypassed for this exact role. Miami’s former coaches gave Hewitt and Zach Vigil, who were two promising undrafted rookies, the first crack at replacing Jenkins, whowas sidelined by a foot injury late in the 2015 season.
This year it appears Hewitt, a converted college safety, is struggling to grasp
Miami’s wide-nine scheme, which places a heavier burden on linebackers to fill gaps and defend the run.
Hewitt said Miami’s scheme this season is “pretty similar” to what the Dolphins were doing last season. His biggest challenge is learning what the people around him are doing
so he understands “what I can, and cannot do.”
“A lot of things started making sense when I actually started playing in games. Everything started clicking, like the why are we doing this. ... It all started making sense,” said Hewitt, who has five tackles in Miami’s three preseason
games. “I’m just staying ready and being prepared to do my part when my number is called.”
“It comes down to having the coaches’ trust,” said Paysinger, who has 10 tackles in three preseason games. “Now it’s onmy end to hold it up.”