Dolphins in Depth: Dolphins secondary undergoing a makeover

Dolphins in Depth: Dolphins secondary undergoing a makeover

We had our very first Miami Dolphins practice that was open to the public. I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade, but this might have been the lightest day one weekend crowd I have ever seen since covering the Dolphins in 2007. I am Omar Kelly, Miami Dolphins columnist for the Miami Herald. Joining me is Isaiah Smalls. Now, the action was pretty good. I thought it was the best day of practice. Definitely by far. By far the best day of practice. We had a very impressive interception from Ma Fitzpatrick. Um he was working in the nickel against the second team offense. Shot back downfield to cover Taj Washington on an overthrown ball. Gets back there. Hawks it down. If you want to see it, it’s on the Miami Dolphins website page. They clipped it up to kind of disclo hide some things, but you see the action. It’s live. Uh Mink is Balling. Uh for the record, for those who do not follow me on Twitter, Minkham Fitzpatrick has switched agents. He is signed to Drew Rosenhouse as of formerly Tuesday. And Minka’s silence has a lot to do with the fact that while he’s making $15.5 million this season, he has absolutely no guaranteed money. If he suffers an ACL injury tomorrow, the Dolphins can move off from his contract. Players of his caliber and of his stature, they want their guaranteed money in the following year. We’re talking about guaranteeds in 2026. We’re talking about an extension for Ma Fitzpatrick. I cannot say that that’s the reason why Minka has been silent. But I will tell you this, and this is something that I did not know, but Minka calls South Florida home. I had no idea. Oh, I I had no I know his family lives here. Okay. I know his brother lives here and plays for St. Thomas Aquatus, cornerback. Uh, oh yes, I think he’s a cornerback for commitment to Alabama. I mean, South Georgia. Slap my hand. Slap my hand. Um, but I did not know that Ma calls South Florida home. So, he is technically back home with the team that initially drafted him. That sounds like that sounds like something that I said the other day, but you know, who’s counting anymore? Hey, listen. You you made a valid point. I will give you this credit. You made a valid point. How am I going to tell you how I feel about being in an organization, being in returning to a franchise, the changes that I see when I haven’t been here for about four or five days exactly? What do I know? I might not even know all of my teammates names. And it definitely doesn’t help that he got three new teammates this week in the secondary. Isaiah, please tell us what the Dolphins have done with the secondary unit and the reason why we got a signing today. Yeah, they it looks totally revamped like this. If you would have told me that they would have done this really in one day, they’ve changed the entire outlook of that cornerback room. For starters, this morning, I believe it was Sheffy, Adam Sheper, first tweeted out that they signed somebody by the name of Jack Jones, right? a corner who started 16 out of the 17 games for the Las Vegas Raiders last year. Um, obviously the Dolphins were thrilled with some of what they saw against him, right? You know, when they the two teams battled last year and to my surprise, this to me this has to be the quickest signing and practice physical thing I’ve ever seen because he was on that field today. What I think Sheffy tweeted out around 7:30 in the morning. by 9:00 a.m. practice, he was out there. He didn’t have the name on the back of the jersey, but he did have a number, and that number was 23. Shout out Michael Jordan. Right. So, look, uh, what we saw today from him, very brief. I liked there was a play that I tweeted out, if you guys follow my my Twitter, that, you know, showed him like he got some speed to him. He got a little bit of speed. He had a nice little break on on a receiver. He’s it looked about three or four yards and kind of closed it like that. And so to me, that is a a good sign, especially for a guy that doesn’t know half of what he’s doing right now because he literally just got there. Uh, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Quarterback ain’t that hard to play. We man or we zone. Stop. I feel you. I feel you. I feel you. But again, this is first day. Not only remember this is your first day. Not just in front of the media, in front of the fans. The guy next to you, he he tell you, he turn around and tell you, man is old. That’s it. I want him. Cornerback is the one position I expect you day one. And running back, you got seven runs. Seven. They tell you seven runs. Like I I would I would have to I’d have to disagree with you at running back in this offense specifically because you’re right. You might only have like, you know, a few places to go, right? But at the same time, you don’t know if you motion to the left, you motion to the right. You don’t know if you’re doing like a cheap motion. Like look, hold on. This that’s the complicated stuff for Han. Everybody else, you just get you just get you you get they tell you one of seven gaps. Like um protection. Okay, maybe this a little bit more complicated. Yeah. Like cut him some slack. But you know, Jack is not the only one signed. Now Cornell. Yes. Yes. Cornell Armstrong was signed earlier this week. Yes. Cornell Armstrong uh I believe the sixth round pick for the Dolphins in 20 2018. He’s in the same draft as M Fitzpatrick. Yes. 2018. So he was they brought him back today. He actually when Kater Co unfortunately who went down today during one-on- ones versus Tyreek Hill looked like a leg injury the extent of which we do not know. But after he went down, Corner Armstrong got a got a chance or two in the nickel. didn’t really, you know, see much, right? Didn’t don’t necessarily even remember. It wasn’t bad. And and I remember Cornell Armstrong I he was not a nickel previously and I asked him when have you worked as a nickel. He said, “I did nickel in training camp with the Houston Texans.” And then he said, “I did nickel and no, he started games at nickel for the Houston Texans.” And he did nickel in training camp for the Raiders where he was a teammate of Jack Jones. Yes. And he actually had some high praise for Jack Jones, right? He called him jack boy because he gonna get that ball. That’s a direct quote. I mean, he has, I think, seven interceptions since he got in the league over three seasons, four of which he’s returned for touchdowns. That to me is nothing to sneeze at. That in fact is quite impressive. I looked up where that ranks in the in the Nate in like the NFL for most interceptions over the last uh since 2022, and it was 25th. He was tied for 25th with a bunch of players. But to me, you know, considering the lack of interceptions that this secondary uh in general really had last year, to me, bringing in a ball hawk is a good look, right? Just someone that can go go and grab the ball. Unfortunately, he did give up like eight touchdowns last year according to Pro Football Reference. That’s kind of a lot, but but you know with we’ll we’ll see what happens. Obviously with with Minka kind of on the back end could help you know some things. Here’s my point. Here’s my point about everybody. And that wasn’t the only one signed. Uh yeah, we got one more. Mike Mike Hilton. Mike Hilton. I got My bad. My bad. I’m just so excited about Jack Jones. Mike go signed as as as we were practicing because as we were practicing. Yes. Uh yes. Um so you got three quarterbacks in one week. Uh my only concern about all three, not that they’re bad players, I’ll judge them, evaluate them when they got on the field. I didn’t have any issue with what I’ve seen so far. I haven’t had any issues with anybody any anybody at the quarterback unit except for Cam Smith. I do have issues with him. It’s not good. Um, why were they unemployed at this point? Yeah. Where every team is thirsty and needs about 12 quarterbacks. Uh, not not 12. Nine quarterbacks to make it through camp. nine quarterbacks, 32 teams. Why are they unemployed at this late a late a stage? So, that’s a great question. We we we will figure we’ll figure that out. We’ll we’ll talk about it a little bit um with with those players in particular. Um but clearly the Dolphins got a little queasy when they saw Kater Kohu go down and we do not know the nature and extent of his injury. I do not want to speculate. Um but Cornell is Cornell uh uh uh um uh Kater Kohu is the Dolphins best cornerback at to up to this point. He was the orange jersey player yesterday which means he was the top performer that they slapped Tyreek Hill’s ball down. Um he is the leader of that room. They absolutely need him. And before the new signing today, he was the only nickel quarterback on the roster, which is why you have Fitzpatrick probably playing in the nickel. And then you also had um Ify Melofanu, he has experience playing in nickel, but he’s on PUP right now. So yes, if Ma if if Kater does not come back within the next two weeks, we could be looking at a nickel crisis during the exhibition season. So, if you’re a nickel quarterback or if you’re an agent representing a nickel quarterback, give Kersky a call because uh he looking for some help. Nickel is a very specific huh get Chris on the phone. Get Chris on the phone. Nickel is a very specific position because the action happens very fast. You have to play with a little bit of physicality. You have to be intelligent. Um, I’m thinking of the sideline, right? Don’t have the benefit of the sideline. It’s option routes for the wide receivers. Two-way goes. Um, you got to have quick initial speed. You got to have some toughness to you. Uh, I’m thinking now that maybe the only person on the roster outside of Cornell Armstrong that might be capable of filling that nickel void might be um might be Ethan Bonner. Um, we also had BJ Adams suffer an injury rookie undrafted rookie. Um, he looked a little bit wobbly. I don’t know if it was heat exhaustion or possibly the C word. I don’t want to say it cuz that means, you know, we don’t know what it was. If it was the C-word, we know he’ll be sidelineed for for a little while, for a hot minute. Um, but hopefully everything is fine from that standpoint. Um, but yeah, as I’ve always said, cornerbacks run so much. They are they are the guys that them and wide receivers, they are the guys that are constantly going. So, they suffer more injuries than most during training camp. And unfortunately for the Dolphins, it happens to be one of their weaker positions, one of the positions where they’re less proven. But as I said last yesterday, and I continue to stand on it, I am far more concerned with the offensive line than I am with the quarterback unit. Um, it’s not good. Not good so far. And I will say this about the starters, especially the tackles, they were okay today. They weren’t getting abused. Um, even the backup tackles, I think they did a better job today than yesterday. But now with Aon Brewer sidelined and Liamenberg on the PUP, you got Aon, you got um Andrew Meyers working, the third team center working as your starting center and Jonah Sabanayiah. Close. No, I didn’t I didn’t hear the second one. Go ahead. One more time. I said Jonah. Savia. No. Sav. No. Savaniah. Jonah. There you go. Good lord. He’s playing a level of anxiety. Uh Jonah, I can tell. I can tell um he he he’s doing okay. He’s adjusting to left to left guard, which is a position that he has not played on a consistent basis. It’s something that he’s got to get used to. I saw him one particular play standing up Zack Cer, which I think, you know, props to you. Zach is, you know, Zach’s a very good player. Um, but then there were a lot of tackles in the back field. Again, Jordan Jordan Brooks is one of my top performers of training camp so far. Um, Jordan Brooks might be in the back field making tackles probably two, three times a day. Uh, and I and you know what? One player that I want to I want to mention who did not make my stock up or did not make my top performers, but Shannon Tindle, he has flashed every single day. And I listen, I have I have been critical of Channon Tindle his entire career, but young man, you show you’re starting to show up. You starting to act like you you belong here, and I’m very proud of it. I’m very proud of you. In particular to in particular today, what I liked about the the play he made in the backfield, I might add, was it looked like it was instinctual, right? I think a lot of times with young players, they might get sometimes too far in their head and it’s it’s clunky, but at the end of the day, this is football. It’s a game you’ve been playing since you was a kid, right? Yep. And so it looked like the play that he made today which was essentially look he’s inside linebacker just sitting there saw the hole open up shot the gap met the guy right at the line of scrimmage instinctual very basic play but it wasn’t something that we’ve seen a lot of from Channing Tindle and that’s why you kind of got to give credit where credit’s due absolutely not he looked like a missile he it was one of those things he looks like he looks like an NFL player right now and I’m like okay all right it’s only taken you three years to figure it out. But we we we we getting here. We getting rather late than never than never. Rather late than never. Um Ma was clearly We also had an interception from BJ I mean Jason Marshall Jr. uh rookie quarterback from University of Florida, Dolphins fifth round pick. Uh I forgot who he was covering, but it was just too it was a great pick. It was on Quinn yours. Um, who is, you know, I I can never give you uh props. I got rules, Isaiah. I don’t know if you know the rules, but an in a a quarterback cannot ever be considered a top performer on a day that he throws an interception. Um, so Quinn yours goes from a good day to a bad day. Zack Zach Wilson threw an interception as well to a tongue of Alo has not thrown an interception in camp so far. I want I want to I want to go back to what you said about Quinn because I think he was able to make up for that with that bomb he had at the you know at the end of practice. Now now don’t get me wrong, I agree with you. I I don’t think you can be called a top performer when you throw an interception. However, I think the interception that was made, I think he flashed a little bit of athleticism that I don’t think we’d seen before. It was him. It was him literally tracking the ball in the air and him jumping perfectly timing it, high pointing the ball and just bringing it down, right? Like that is it’s a textbook play that when you look up how to intercept the ball as a quarterback. You want to have that in there. So, I’m sure his coaches were extremely happy um at that. However, I you know I he had good a good day outside of that. A solid day outside of that. I don’t say good a solid day outside of that. specifically highlighted um specifically I’m talking about Quinn specifically highlighted by that that deep bomb at the towards the end of practice that you know got some some big cheers from the crowd. Believe it was Drich. Yes, it was who is I’m I’m a I’ve been a Drich fan for You have been for quite a while. Um I I I I would I would struggle to tell you he’s not the fourth best receiver on this team. Um we he’s clearly more active than um uh um what’s his name? The guy. Yeah, NWI guy. I forgot his name. I was like saying so I’m guessing I So he’s behind Malik. Uh D in your opinion. I’m gonna mount that. I like I I think we haven’t talked a lot about Malik Washington, but I think if we’re talking biggest point of growth from like last year to this year, I remember when I was watching him. Oh, okay. From last year this time to this year. Yes. Yes. It’s it’s it’s night and day because I remember last year watching him being like, “This is the guy that they did to it.” Yeah. He was he was horrible. was dropping everything last year and you could tell it was it looked like I wasn’t sure if it was nerves or what, but like he just looked he did not look like an NFL player. He looked like he he barely looked like a college player last year at at at this point of the season, right? Yeah. No, no, no, no. He came on strong at the end of training camp, but yes, I would agree with you. I didn’t think he deserved a spot on the 53man roster. They gave it to him anyway. And then he actually blossomed as the season progressed and unseated Odell Beckham as as a third wide receiver. exactly being the primary punt returner when when um Braxton Bars went down and he’s got a lot of potential on upside. Now for me, I can’t not ignore what Drich does. This is a former second round pick who fell on some hard times, got himself into a little bit of trouble. Dolphins picked him up off the waiver wire, elevated him up from the practice squad. Uh but he could play. He could play. Yeah. Um some of the young young receivers we we h we have not seen much from um what was his name? Uh see I forget I forget their names once they once they stop making plays. Eric Uzukama. Uh he he he shine day one. Yeah. And then disappeared. And I think Storm Duck said it today because Storm Duck I would say is your starter right now because he’s just the most cons he’s one of the most consistent quarterbacks and he said it. Coaches want to see consistency from me. Yeah. And that’s when I watch practice and I watch watch the action. Consistency is how I evaluate you. I know two is going to give you consistent practices every day. I know Jordan Brooks is going to give you consistent practices every day. I know Willie Gay Jr. gonna give you consistent practice every day. I know Migga is gonna give you consistent practice every day. Um, Zach. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I would honestly tell you I don’t I don’t know if Zach is giving me his best right now. No disrespect, Zach. Pass come on on Tuesday. That That’s when we really going to evaluate the trench guys. I’m not I’m not I’m not I’m not obsessing about it right now, but I will tell you the O linem not for me. Not good. Not yet. Maybe things change when pad come on. I don’t know. I’m very interested to see when when pads come on because I because I’m I’m wondering if the guys are feeling itchy now because I’m feeling itchy. Like I’m like I want to see some contact. Like it’s all good. But like cuz I I think also to that to that point, you can’t really evaluate some of the the the catches that are being made, right? Because there’s a few Yeah. that were like that were made for sure, but you know once them pads come on Yeah. you’re looking at a few hospitals. I Yeah, I think I think there was Jason Marshall Jr. There was one catch where Jason Marshall Jr. was like steamrolling into it. Had to stop to let the receiver catch the ball because you can’t run through them and you definitely don’t want to hurt him. Exactly. Um with Elijah Campbell yesterday to on a deep ball to the first one to NWI that you’re like that that don’t count. That don’t count. I know he caught it. He definitely caught it. Elijah would have l he would have suffered the consequences for catching that one cuz um yeah, it’s it’s interesting. Uh I will say I I noticed Ashton Davis a little bit more today. Not for good things. Yeah. Um yeah. Uh just got to move a little bit better. He’s a big body safety. um you you got to move a little bit better or otherwise you’re just holding that spot down for iffy me. Um and and we’ll we’ll we’ll see we’ll see as the season progresses. Um what else do we need to talk about? We’ve addressed Minka Pad. We’ve addressed the three signings of quarterbacks. Pads come on on Tuesday. Um fan of the day. Okay, we could go for it. Let’s go. Fan of the day. But yeah, the Dolphins are doing a new initiative where they’re giving out the fan of the day honors. Um, it’s an orange jersey and I believe it’s signed by the player who is the orange jersey player of the day. Today’s orange jersey was Devon Achan. Um, Achan, I could expect consistency from Achan every single day. Um, it it was Big E. Big E. And as for those who don’t know, Big E is a former Dolphins fan of the year. Um, he’s battling some medical issues right now. Uh, I believe he just discovered that it was cancer related. Um, so we want we want to wish Big E a um uh a speedy recovery and hopefully uh I don’t even know what to say, but it it was I saw him and love and respect Big E. He does he does podcasts as well. Um, so to see him today was was a good thing. He got honored as a fan of the day. I don’t know how legitimate this fan of the day voting is. And I think it’s it’s it’s it, you know, we we we we know there are popular fans. Like we know they’re popular fans and and I always love seeing everybody um out at training camp. Um, I will say this. I did make a comment early in this podcast and on Twitter about the attendance, um, that this was the most lightly attended training camp practice that I think I’ve ever seen. And I was informed that there is a ticket capacity limit that’s out there right now. And because tickets are free, there are people who are signing up for tickets that are not showing up. Mhm. And so I always tell people, and I I’m sure this is breaking all the rules, but I’m a rule breaker. I’m a habitual line stepper. I know who I am. I apologize for my nature. You the type that would rather ask for forgiveness than permission. I am. Even if you don’t have a ticket, show up. The ticket taker is not going to turn you away because the seats were empty. There was a lot of empty seats in the sense for sure. And they sell things in the concession stands. They like to make money. And I will say this about the Big A fans, which we’ve talked about and highlighted on this podcast. All of them were blowing. And it was a nice little breeze. I I’m now covered. There’s a nice little breeze. It’s not muggy and humid. And so it’s not a bad experience. Now, I always hydrate and I always tell people, wear white or wear light colors. Um, wear breathable clothing. Uh, protect yourself from the sun. But I I love seeing people out there for training camp and I think the players get up for it. I I was I’m not going to hide the fact that I was disappointed in the attendance today because I’ve never been there on a day one where people aren’t struggling to find their seats. Never. Yeah. And Baron. Yeah, that that was a little bit surprising for me. So, if you do have and I always say this, if you have the opportunity to go to a Dolphins training camp practice, even if you want to just take the morning off or show up late for work, I would encourage you to do it, especially during the week. Um, best practices to go are the end of the week. Worst practices to go are the days after a day off. That’s a special teams day. That’s nap time. Um, and at the end of the week they generally do simulated scrimmage situations. Um, I’m surprised this week we did not get any red zone work. Um, clearly the Dolphins are working on a couple of things before they get to the red zone specific stuff. So, I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished. I don’t think they had a bad week at all. I learned a lot of things this week about this team a lot. And that’s what I’m covering in in a Miami Herald column. Um, I’ve learned I’ve learned a lot and I can’t tell you that I know what to expect from this Dolphins team in 2025. But I can tell you that I I’m enjoying seeing them formulate who they are and I’m enjoying seeing them create an identity for themselves. Even Tua today on NFL Network again calling out Tyreek, you know, and it’s about holding each other accountable. And I’ve heard people say, “Well, Tua shouldn’t be calling out Tyreek.” Well, who should call out Tyreek? Yeah, I was going to say I’ I’ve heard that, too. And I think there’s a short list of people that not only have the ability to do it, but also that Tyreek respects, right? Because that’s the thing, like you can call We We’ve heard some stories of of Tyreek getting called out and him laughing it off. There’s a a specific person that you mentioned during this podcast. I’ll let the slleoose figure it out that that has called out Tyreek and got laughed off. And so I say all that to say that like look like there’s nothing wrong as Mike told us there’s nothing wrong with having open conversations, right? Because these open conversations are how transparency happens, right? And the only way that teams can really be successful is if everyone’s on the same page and everyone’s playing for the same goal and you and that goal is open and clear and very much so realized. Right. And so if it takes because as you’ve talked about many times, Tyreek likes the attention, right? Yeah. And so if it takes his name being brought up consistently to be like, dang, maybe I really did hurt some people, you know? Yeah. was talking about his maturity and he’s maturing, he’s growing, he’s trying to learn the man that he wants to be, the father he wants to be, the NFL player he wants to be. And I I agree, Tyreek is on a Hall of Fame trajectory. Tyreek is Tyreek is one of the greatest players that I’ve ever covered in my life. Now, maturity-wise, Tyreek has the maturity of a 12-year-old. It’s it’s like it’s it’s bad. And you you got you know, you got to grow up at and at some point somebody’s going to have to say something to you. Yeah. Now, unfortunately, we know it’s not going to be Mike. Um, or it hasn’t been Mike. Uh, well, Tua has taken it upon himself to basically say, “Hey, like, cut it out. Let’s stop all the foolishness, all the” And that’s not the f- word that I that I I I wanted to say. Um, and I I would love to see a a grown-up Tyreek. Like, I’m Yeah. Like, I have no problems with the player. I have problems with the look at me behavior like um he’s had a relatively quiet camp. I think he’s performing better as as as the weeks progress. And to be honest with you, I’m not trying to run Tyreek into the ground. He’s 30 years old. They know better. Yeah. Good lord now. Yeah. Tyreek, you know, but I have I will say this. If you’re going to ask me who who does two have more of a chemistry and connection with, it’s it’s Jaylen Wadd right now. That’s who he worked with all off seasonason because Tariq had only had one hand. Yeah. So, you’re seeing a lot of that work with Jaylen Wadd. A lot of it being starting to pay off right now. For sure. For sure. Interesting. Um, on that note, Dolphins in Depth, we do not have practice tomorrow. So, we will be back on Monday. Looking forward to you. Uh, like, subscribe, continue to follow Dolphins in Depth. And as you know, the Miami Herald, we’ve got a three month special. three months for $2 um on the website. So you can make sure you get our stock reports, our daily reports, our practices, our columns, our stories, um everything that we can provide you, the Dolphin fan base. On that note, we are out and we will see you on Monday.

The Miami Dolphins secondary is undergoing a first week makeover considering the franchise signed three veteran cornerbacks in camp’s first week. Miami added Cornell Armstrong earlier this week, and signed Jack Jones and Mike Hilton on Saturday, which happens to be the day Kader Kohou suffered a leg injury early in practice. How much of a difference will those three newcomers make to Miami’s secondary, which also features two new safeties? Allow the Dolphins in Depth podcast to discuss this and other issues on the podcast wrapping up Day 4 of training camp practice.

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