Classroom first hurdle for Dolphins rookies
Battle for No. 2 QB role is between Fales, Osweiler, coach says.
Learning the playbook will be the focus today as first-year players, including this year’s draft class, report for minicamp.
DAVIE — If the unthinkable were to happen to the Miami Dolphins at the quarterback position again, and we’re not even going to say here what that would be, coach Adam Gase does not feel his club would need to sign another quarterback.
“No,” Gase said Thursday. “Nope.”
Ryan Tannehill has had his last two seasons ended by knee injuries, but Gase passionately expressed his confidence in David Fales and Brock Osweiler, two players currently slated to battle it out for the backup role.
“It depends on which one of those guys wins the No. 2 job,” Gase said. “But those guys wouldn’t be on the roster if I wasn’t. I am comfortable. I am comfortable with the two guys. Between David and Brock, I am comfortable. And if I wasn’t, then I would have somebody else here.”
Fales, 27, is a former fourthrounder who played for Gase in
Chicago.
“I loved the fact that we were able to give him that last game of the season,” Gase said of Fales in the season finale. “People can look at that as a throwaway game. But I know the team we were playing. That was not a throwaway game for them. That game was ‘We get in the playoffs, or we don’t.’ And when you’re playing a game like that, you’re going to get their best.
“I was impressed with some of the things that (Fales) did in that game,” Gase continued. “It’s a lot of the stuff you see in practice. But you don’t know, unless you get them in the game. And the way that his anticipation is, the way that his pocket presence is, he’s one of those guys who sometimes makes plays that you’re not really sure how he did that. But the game is a little slower for him. And it’s fun to call plays when you have a guy like that to where you just know that ball’s coming out and you just better be in the right spot.”
Fales has three career games played, but no starts. Osweiler, also 27, has started 25 career games, with a 13-12 record.
Osweiler was a second-round draft choice of the Denver Broncos, coached there by Gase. On Thursday, Gase conceded he needed to be convinced a bit by some in the organization that Osweiler was worth the long look.
“I probably took longer than everybody else,” Gase said. “When we started the free agency process, guys were talking about the fact that he’s 27 years old. He’s played for you before. You were part of the guys that drafted him. You know him well. He wants to be here. They were almost selling me. I really had to go through things and make sure that he was good getting back with me and understanding the situation we were in and what he was going to be competing for . ... But just hearing him and where he was mentally and what he wanted to accomplish and how he wanted to get his career rolling again .... After we had that conversation and got him in the building and everybody really liked him.”
It is no secret that Gase adored former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield. And Gase also liked ex-Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen. But those two quarterbacks were selected by Cleveland and Buffalo. So how did Gase feel about leaving the draft with no quarterback selection?
“There is a lot of confidence as far as the guys that we have here right now,” he said. “We did a good job as far as lining up what we thought were the quarterback rankings. We felt that those guys were going to go before 11. And we knew that was probably going to be the case. And we felt good about what we have with Ryan starting and then Brock and David competing for that No. 2 spot. And now adding (ex-Jets QB) Bryce (Petty), that’s going to be an interesting competition because really we’ll see how it all works out for us.”
Apparently Jay Cutler can leave his cell phone uncharged.