Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dolphins’ receiver needs assistance
Shorthanded from opt-outs, Miami might have to look into finding reinforcements
The Miami Dolphins are missing one top-level receiver, and it’s clear as the Davie days the Dolphins have been having for the first week of onfield practices during training camp that this could become an issue.
Maybe not now. Maybe not next week.
But problems at receiver will definitely surface during the season because that position generally does the most running, therefore they are usually plagued by the most soft-tissue injuries.
Just imagine what would happen to this unit if DeVante Parker gets injured like he has been every year but one during his NFL career. Or Preston Williams’ surgically repaired knee regresses despite the second-year receiver being on a load-maintenance schedule so far in camp.
Williams is just approaching nine months into recovering from an anterior cruciate injury he suffered to his knee last November.
Who starts and carries Miami’s passing game if something happens to Parker and Williams?
Jakeem Grant, Isaiah Ford and Mack Hollins?
“We got a room full of competitive guys,” said Ford on Wednesday.
“There is a ton of competitiveness and a ton of talent. We just have to get a little bit better each day, ” added Ford, who caught 23 passes for 244 yards in eight games last season.
All three receivers could take the next step and elevate their level of play if their roles are increased, but can any of them help projected starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick deliver victories?
My answer to that question is … maybe?
On top of that, the Dolphins’ receiver depth is so worrisome that Miami lists Malcolm Perry as a tailback, but the former Navy quarterback is been working as a receiver so far in camp despite last week’s signing of Ricardo Louis and Chester Rogers.
“It’s still somewhat early for those new guys, especially the young guys, getting used to the speed of the NFL … getting used to the physicality of corners in this league,” coach Brian Flores said. “That takes a little getting used to, and I think they’re all working through that. But I like the group. It’s a tough group.”
Maybe Perry, who was dynamic with the ball in his hand in college, becomes the next Wes Welker or Julian Edelman and evolves into a dangerous weapon in the slot. But that’s a lot of maybes, and very few books one can bank on if this were a game of Spades, the card game that makes players predict how many hands they’ll win each round.
Right now the Dolphins’ hand at receiver doesn’t look so good, which might explain why the passing game has somewhat struggled in the first week of the team’s on-field work during training camp. Especially when we go deeper into the team’s depth chart.
It’s super early, but this can’t be a unit the Dolphins are comfortable with as the Sept. 13 season opener against the New England Patriots nears.
That’s why the Dolphins should find an experienced veteran they might possibly be forced to lean on at some point this year via free agency or a trade because Allen Hurns and Albert Wilson’s decisions to sit out the 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns leaves this unit thin and unproven.
I wouldn’t be so concerned if a youngster made plays on a daily basis like Williams did last year as an undrafted rookie. Or if one of the waiver wire finds from last season — Gary Jennings or Mack Hollins — started to seize on this opportunity and take advantage of this opening Hurns and Wilson’s absences provide.
But outside of the one promising catch Hollins brought down from rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Tuesday that’s not happening, and it has to raise the team’s talent evaluators’ level of concern.
Grant seems to be the receiver in the best position to elevate his standing on the team, but his struggles with drops, and small frame have prevented him from being the consistent playmaker his speed indicates he can become.
If there was a time for him to evolve into the playmaker he has the talent to be, it’s now. But if the Dolphins don’t start to get more from this batch of receivers, the organization needs to get serious about bringing in reinforcements.