Training moving to Hard Rock grounds
DAVIE — The “Davie” datelines attached to stories about the Miami Dolphins soon will disappear.
The Dolphins confirmed Tuesday they’re moving their training facility from Nova Southeastern University to the grounds of Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, possibly as soon as the 2020 season.
Tom Garfinkel, vice chairman and CEO of the Dolphins, confirmed the project, which has long been speculated upon. He said the initial cost projection is $50 million but added that a more realistic bottom line probably is closer to $75 million to $80 million.
That’s in addition to more than a half-billion that owner Stephen Ross recently pumped into the stadium itself to bring it up to today’s standards.
“Facilities don’t win football games,” Garfinkel said. “People do. But I will say that having a great facility is indicative of the best-in-class organization that Steve Ross wants to have. And so this is the next step forward in that evolution and I think is important to creating the best environment we can for our players and our staff.”
The facility is ticketed for the northwest edges of the stadium grounds, off Northwest 27th Avenue. The Dolphins’ business operations already are at the stadium, so Garfinkel said bringing the football operations to the same location “creates communication opportunities” that currently don’t exist with the football players and coaches 11 miles north of the stadium on University Drive.
Garfinkel said the Dolphins are not dissatisfied with their current facility.
“They’ve been great partners to us, so this is in no way a reflection of anything negative there whatsoever,” he said.
Langford signed for RB depth: It wouldn’t seem that Kenyan Drake or Frank Gore are going to get a ton of carries in the preseason, so why not add another running back?
That seemed to the message from coach Adam Gase when asked about the addition of former Bears running back Jeremy Langford, who played for offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains the last two seasons.
“Really, we had an extra spot,” Gase said Tuesday. “We felt like we needed a little bit more depth there really for the preseason games. It’s somebody that can come in here and he’s familiar with the terminology. He’s able to jump right back in.”
Langford is guaranteed nothing. There is an outside chance he could compete with Senorise Perry for the team’s fourth running back spot.
But Perry is a key special teams contributor. At worst, Langford will have a chance to put some decent film on tape, as he tries to prove he’s completely over an ankle issue.
“He’s healthy,” Gase said. “He was coming off some injuries in the past. Last year when we brought him in (for a visit), I think we were still a couple of weeks away. And then he ended up going somewhere else. We felt like we needed another body at that position to come in and compete and we thought he was a good guy for us to sign.”
Langford was at practice on Tuesday, wearing No. 42. He even participated in a few individual drills.
Sanders endures ups, downs: Jason Sanders is the first-string kicker at the moment, so it figures he’ll get first shot to win the job Thursday night in the preseason opener against the Bucs.
“Show up. Be confident. Make all my kicks,” Sanders said of his goal for the preseason.
With two rookie kickers in camp — Sanders is battling Greg Joseph of FAU at the moment — the Dolphins view the situation as a work in progress.
“I think I’ve done good so far,” said Sanders, a seventh-round pick from New Mexico. I’ve missed a lot of easy ones. But I’ve been kicking really good.”