Tindall, Ezukanma explain meager roles as rookies
As the Dolphins consider how to use their three second-day picks in April’s NFL draft (one second-rounder, two thirdrounders), they still cannot be sure what they have with their top two 2022 selections.
Third-round linebacker Channing Tindall and fourth-round receiver Erik Ezukanma played a combined 19 non-special teams snaps last season, partly because there were productive veterans ahead of them (and a star, Tyreek Hill, in Ezukanma’s case), and partly because the two rookies needed considerable time learning the playbook.
Tindall’s rookie season featured only nine snaps on defense, 167 on special teams and three tackles in 16 games. There could be turnover in the inside linebacker room, with Elandon Roberts, Duke Riley and Sam Eguavoen set to be free agents. But the Dolphins cannot necessarily project a major role for Tindall.
“The NFL playbook is very different from a college playbook,” Tindall said. “It took me a while to grasp it. I feel I’m in a good spot now. [But] even to this day, there’s stuff that’s confusing to me. Around midseason that’s when I started picking it up.”
He said Roberts “helps me with little tips from a playbook standpoint. Our coach will explain it a certain way. But going to him, he will explain it in a dummy way so I’ll be able to understand it.”
Tindall said he sometimes moved too quickly in games or practice without giving himself enough time to process what the offense was doing. And linebackers coach Anthony Campanile has implored him to “use my hands more” often and more effectively.
Listed at 6-2 and 232 pounds, Tindall said he needs to get stronger this offseason because “these linemen are big and fast.”
When the Dolphins drafted him, the hope was that he would become an effective pass-rusher with the potential for a more expanded role. But coaches decided against creating a special pass-rush package for him, something that likely will be revisited this offseason with a new defensive coordinator (Vic Fangio).
“His measurables are just stupid: 4.47 [in the 40-yard dash] , 42 vertical, 11 broad,” ESPN analyst and former Eagles personnel executive Louis Riddick said after the draft. “This guy can absolutely fly. I don’t understand [why he fell to the 102nd overall pick].”
The Dolphins had Tindall spy Bears quarterback Justin Fields early in their Nov. 6 game, but abandoned that after five snaps, and Tindall never played another defensive snap the rest of the season.
“We kind of expected that this year he would be more of a special teams guy,” Dolphins general manager Chris Grier
said after the season. “We’re excited for his future.”
Tindall said: “I’m positive whatever I need to do, I’m going to do. I can be just as good as any linebacker out there.”
As for Ezukanma, he looked like a revelation in August, with 10 catches for 156 yards in preseason. Then he was never seen again until the regular season finale in January. Besides the fact he was backing up an AllPro in Hill, coaches — in the first couple of months of the season — weren’t certain if they could fully trust him in a complicated offense.
“We have very long play calls,” receivers coach Wes Welker said. “If they are not on point with the quarterback, there’s too much of a pass rush to be off point even a little bit. There was a time it was hard
[for Ezukanma] to even line up.”
Welker trusted him enough to play him 10 offensive snaps in the Jets finale — his only appearance of the season. He caught
the only pass thrown to him, for three yards. “He did some really nice things in the run game,” Welker said. “I was happy with Erik, and he’s progressing very well. He’s got a long offseason ahead of him.”
Ezukanma — who plays the Z and F receiver positions — vows to “make sure I know what I need to know to get things done. In college, you’re told to learn one position and know routes for that one position. That’s what I was expecting” in Miami.
Instead, he was asked to learn two positions. Welker said the learning curve from Texas Tech’s spread offense — one that Welker also played in — to the Dolphins’ offense is significant.
“In college, you’re trying to go as fast as possible and all you’re doing is learning a signal and lining up and knowing the route based off a signal,” Ezukanma said.
“Most of the formations were spread, so I was always on the right side. In the NFL, there are a bunch of different packages, where you have to sit in the huddle and listen to each call and know what you’re doing with each call the second” the QB “says it.”
Welker isn’t about to give up on him. “He has the strength, the size, the hands, the speed we really like in our receivers,” he said. “He’s going to be a great player for us.”
CHATTER
Heat forward Jimmy Butler said he isn’t upset about being bypassed for the All Star Game. “Me no All-Star? Please,” Butler said when asked if he was disappointed. “I’ll see you’all when I see you’all. But Bam [Adebayo] does deserve that [AllStar invite]. He’s been carrying the load a lot this year. I’m happy for him. As for me? I’m happy I get a vacation.”
UM has tried to lure Toledo coach Jason Candle for its offensive coordinator job. And while it’s not unprecedented for an FBS head coach to take a step down for a job as a Power 5 coordinator, it’s unusual. He’s making $1.1 million at Toledo.
UM, which dramatically increased its budget for football coaches and staff last season, increased season ticket prices by an average of 7 percent after a 5-7 season.
Media note: Tom Brady said he won’t begin working for Fox until 2024. Greg Olsen, the former UM tight end, will remain Fox’s lead game analyst until Brady replaces him. Kevin Burkhardt and Olsen call Sunday’s Super Bowl.