Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
McMillan searching for identity in Year 3
DAVIE — In Raekwon McMillan’s first
NFL season, the Miami Dolphins middle linebacker sat and watched while he rehabbed a season-ending knee injury he suffered on his first-ever snap in the preseason.
In his second season, he started all 16 games, while learning on the fly, and had 105 tackles and two forced fumbles on a mediocre defense.
This year, the Dolphins’ 2017 second-round pick has fought back from a troublesome knee injury he suffered this summer — one that forced him to miss all of training camp and preseason — and begins his third season as a backup, a role player laboring to earn the trust of a new coaching staff.
This is the life of an NFL player caught in the middle of a transitioning franchise. The key is to avoid getting lost in the shuffle, and to not lose confidence in yourself and your ability.
That’s the mission for McMillan, who had four tackles in the 22 defensive snaps he played in the seasonopening 59-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
“I’m going with whatever the coaches say. They say I’m not starting the game, it is what it is,” McMillan said. “I’m going to go out there and do the best I can do when I’m out there. It’s a
team game. One person doesn’t dictate how the whole game goes.”
Collateral loss happens when new coaches and/or executives take over the reins of a struggling organization. The scheme changes and the vision for each player gets altered. As a result, an early draft pick like McMillan, or highsalary player like former linebacker Kiko Alonso, falls out of the team’s good graces.
They get stashed in the back of the closet or put in a bag headed to Goodwill like last year’s fashion trend.
They are no longer “my guy,” and one of three things typically happens in this instance.
The player either accepts his limited role, becoming a backup or parttime contributor.
He could get traded or released.
Or he performs when given the opportunity, removing himself from the discarded-player pile and eventually silencing his doubters — which in McMillan’s case happens to be his coaches.
Alonso, the veteran linebacker who was McMillan’s on-field partner, was traded two weeks ago as part of the franchise’s veteran purge. Miami unloaded Alonso, who had more than 100 tackles in each of his three seasons with the Dolphins, and his renegotiated contract to the New Orleans Saints for journeyman linebacker Vince Biegel.
Before Miami even began it’s Organized Team Activities this spring, Dolphins coaches decided to build the defense around Jerome Baker, a 2018 thirdround pick who McMillan mentored at Ohio State and last year during his rookie season with the Dolphins.
McMillan is happy for Baker, who is one of his closest friends on the team. But that doesn’t stop him from wondering where he fits in with the franchise’s new direction.
“He’s been doing a good job. He’s been working hard. Here’s the thing I would say — the vision that we have for who we’re going to be and who those guys are going to be — I think these guys have a clear vision in terms of how they want to grow as a football player, and they’re working towards that,” defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said this week when pressed about McMillan. “Whether a bump in the road is going to turn you from your vision, I’ve never been swayed like that. That’s how we’re going to approach it.”
Sam Eguavoen, a CFL import playing in his first NFL season, has replaced McMillan in Miami’s base defense — which is a nickel package that features just two linebackers — because he’s better in pass coverage.
Eguavoen worked well in space and excelled in pass coverage while playing in the CFL’s passhappy league,
McMillan has acknowledged he knows that’s an area of his game that needs improvement, and he’s been working on it.
For now, he’s focused on making the most of his opportunities when they come.
“It’s been a long process. I wasn’t able to get the get out in preseason. That was my first time playing out there in the first game of the season,” McMillan said of Sunday’s game, which included him handling 22 special-teams snaps. “I felt like I was ready. I’m not a rookie anymore. They expect me to go out there and be ready to play and I’m going to do that.”