Dolphins being cautious with Pouncey
Center’s work eased to protect his hip from further injury.
The majority of the Miami Dolphins’ roster is healthy as the team heads toward a four-week stretch of OTA workouts and minicamp, but the coaches are being cautious with center Mike Pouncey.
Pouncey underwent multiple hip operations over the past few years and made it through just five games last season before Miami shut him down. The organization’s uncertainty about his future was evident when it asked offensive-line prospects whether they could play center, which would provide a contingency in case Pouncey is out. During the offseason program, the Dolphins are limiting his work.
“He’s going to be brought along slowly,” coach Adam Gase said Friday. “I know we kind of joked about this in the past about how I’m going to handle him this coming season, but our goal is to make sure that he plays every game — plus more. So if that means that he doesn’t practice as much, I have no issues with that.”
In the meantime, when the Dolphins work on their offense, they’ll be rotating four players who can play center: Ted Larsen, Anthony Steen, Kraig Urbik and fifthround pick Isaac Asiat a. Steen made seven starts at center last year before losing the job to Urbik, who handled it the final three regular-season games and in the playoffs.
“I g uess we’re ki nd of in the boat of, we did it so much last year that nobody’s really affected by it,” Gase said. “We just move around and whoever pops in there, the quarterback has been re ally comfor t able. He’s d o n e a go o d j o b. We’ re able to kind of do a couple things where we work some — really everything’s on air, but the mechanics of running plays and protections and things like that. It has been a smooth transition.”
Pouncey, who turns 28 this summer, has fought through several hip issues, but hasn’t missed that much time. He’s played 77 of a possible 96 games in his first six seasons with Miami.
No concern about Tannehill’s knee: The Dolphins have moved past the waitand-see phase with quarterback Ryan Tannehill, and Gase said there is zero concern within the organization about Tannehill’s return from the major knee sprain that prematurely ended last season for him.
Tannehill has been rehabbing and training at the facility with the intent to be fully ready for the start of training camp. In Gase’s opinion, he’s already there.
“He looks normal to me,” he said. “He looks like he did last year. ... He moves around fine. He’s got a good edge to him that I like. You can tell he wasn’t real happy about getting hurt last year.
“I like the way he’s working right now. We’ll keep d o i n g wha t we ’ v e b e e n doing, and I know he’s really trying to make sure that he’s one of the reasons we’re taking the next step. He’s really been pushing himself.”
W h e n p r e s s e d a s t o whether he has any trepidation about seeing how Tannehill’s knee holds up in full-contact situations this fall, Gase replied, “No. Nope. I’m good.”
Tannehill, who turns 29 this summer, was putting up one of the best seasons of his career before Arizona’s Calais Campbell hit him in the knees last December. Tannehill suffered a Grade II sprain in his left knee and was out the rest of the year.
That ended a stretch of eight games in which he completed 69.1 percent of his passes, threw for 1,723 yards and had 13 touchdowns against five interceptions. For the year, he set career-highs in completion percentage (67.1) and passer rating (93.5).
Asiata inks rookie deal: Fifth-round draft pick Isaac Asiata announced Thursday night that he had signed with the Dolphins.
Asiata t weeted a photo of himself, wearing a Dolphins cap and shirt while signing. “Officially A Miami Dolphin,” he wrote.
Asiata is a 6-foot-3, 323pound guard from Utah who can also play center, where he would provide insurance if Pouncey has additional health setbacks.
Since Pouncey still is on crutches following a stemcell procedure, there’s a chance Asiata will see action in the preseason at center. At the same time, though, coaches will be interested to see what he c an do at guard. Of all the picks, Asiata might have the best shot at starting if he can beat out veterans Jermon Bushrod (last year’s starter) and Ted Larsen.
Regardless of where he lines up, Asiata hopes to bring a dose of aggressiveness to the line.
“An offensive lineman needs to play with intellectuality and brutality,” Asiata said.
Gase offers support for Cutler: Gase is two years removed from coaching Jay Cutler, but he’s still in Cutler’s corner.
That was obvious Friday when Gase, the Chic ago Bears’ offensive coordinator before coming to the Dolphins, was asked for his reaction to Cutler retiring and signing to become a game analyst for Fox.
F i r s t , G a s e s a i d h e wouldn’t have been surprised even in their days together if he’d been told Cutler’s path would lead into TV. Then Gase went on the offensive to shatter the public perception of Cutler as aloof, especially for a quarterback.
“I guess I know a different guy than what everybody portrays,” Gase said. “A lot of things that have been said about him in the past has been (B.S.).”
Cutler joined the media after failing to catch on with another team, but Gase said he couldn’t speak to why that was because “I don’t really know all the situations” that led to Cutler’s retirement.