■ Dolphins DB gives up fight to “FitzMagic” patent,

DAVIE — This wasn’t worth all the trouble.

What began as a mostly trivial story about two NFL players sharing the same nickname — and last name — turned ugly for Dolphins rookie Minkah Fitzpatrick. After he and his family were badgered on Twitter for filing a trademark on “FitzMagic,” a moniker also used by Buccaneers quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, Minkah has decided it was an unnecessary headache.

“He can take it if he wants,” Minkah said after practice Wednesday. “He’s a certified vet. He’s a great football player. If he wants it, he can contact me and my people and he could have it.

“If he wants it, he can take it. He just has to talk to me or whatever. I really don’t think it was as big of a deal as people made it out to be. Like I said earlier, if he wanted it, I’m sure he could have make it up at some point or use it at some point. It is what it is.”

As is often the case with nicknames, the origins are murky for both players.

Ryan’s fame has soared recently as he’s filled in for suspended starter Jameis Winston, earning NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors twice already. He was referenced as “Fitzmagic” in a 2010 column by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier that ran in that paper and The Buffalo News. Minkah said he’s been called “FitzMagic” since high school and was planning to sell merchandise bearing that name.

Minkah said his intent to trademark the name was genuine and not deliberately to keep it away from Ryan. Minkah’s camp filed the application Sept. 12.

Minkah’s mother, Melissa, tweeted multiple images Tuesday of him being referred to as FitzMagic in an article and in T-shirts the family had printed while he was at Alabama. She wrote, “Stop the nonsense.”

Minkah wanted to trademark FitzMagic while he was in college, but he was concerned that doing so would violate NCAA rules.

Any interest he has in marketing the name or putting it on clothing is secondary to alleviating the stress this situation has caused his parents.

“It kind of upset me a whole lot because that’s my mom,” Minkah said. “I really don’t want her to be involved in anything that is directed towards me. Everybody is protective over their mother, but she’s very protective over myself and she sees some of the stuff that’s coming my way.

“I’ve dealt with that before. I played on a big stage in college and I had my fair share of mistakes and had all of that type of backlash, so I kind of knew how to handle it. She’s never really been through something like that, so she’s being a protective mother and doing what every mother would do and just trying to protect her son.”

Practice notes: Slot receiver Danny Amendola was not on the field for Wednesday’s practice and is expected to miss every Wednesday this season as part of a maintenance program. Amendola leads the team with eight catches for 58 yards.

Long snapper John Denney did not appear to be practicing. Denney had a shoulder injury last week but was able to play against the Jets. The Dolphins will use rookie tight end Durham Smythe as their long snapper if Denney is unable to play. They also have undrafted rookie Lucas Gravelle on the practice squad in case they need to activate him late in the week.