{"id":108446,"date":"2025-06-06T11:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T11:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/108446\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T11:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T11:38:12","slug":"five-things-to-watch-for-in-week-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/108446\/","title":{"rendered":"Five things to watch for in Week 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Miami Dolphins<\/a> take the field beginning for a three-day round of organized team activities that began Monday, there are two primary thoughts to keep in mind.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Let\u2019s not overreact to things that the Dolphins<\/a> do in June;<\/p>\n

\u2014 Everything means something.<\/p>\n

How do you strike a healthy balance between those two ideas?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what we\u2019re here to tell you.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re giving you \u201cFive Things to Watch\u201d in this week\u2019s OTAs.<\/p>\n

As you know, during OTAs players are wearing helmets, shorts and jerseys, but no pads, and there\u2019s no real contact.<\/p>\n

Regardless, there are always lessons to be learned and things to watch, whether it\u2019s what position a certain player is playing, injury recoveries, a player\u2019s knowledge of the offensive or defensive system, veterans, youngsters, special teams personnel, coaching techniques, leadership, depth chart, etc.<\/p>\n

By the way, no, OTAs aren\u2019t open to the public, and the media is only allowed to watch Tuesday\u2019s session this week, so give us some wiggle room on \u201cThings to Watch\u201d label. You know what we mean.<\/p>\n

OK, on with the show \u2026<\/p>\n

Backup QB Zach Wilson<\/p>\n

What to watch for: Knowledge of offense and confidence\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has sustained a September injury that\u2019s caused him to miss multiple games in three of the past four seasons (ribs in 2021, concussion in 2022, concussion in 2024).The backup quarterback, we assume that will be Wilson and not Quinn Ewers, the rookie seventh-round pick, must be ready in Week 1. No compromise.<\/p>\n

Wilson, of course, doesn\u2019t have to be game-ready during OTAs, so we don\u2019t judge harshly.<\/p>\n

But you need to see swift progress.<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s throws were so-so during the OTA session the media was allowed to watch last week, but he seemed to be comfortable in the offense and seemed to have reasonable command. That\u2019s admirable considering it\u2019s Wilson\u2019s first year with the Dolphins and first year with coach Mike McDaniel, offensive coordinator Frank Smith, senior pass game coordinator Bobby Slowik and quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

CB emergence\/awareness<\/p>\n

What to watch for: A cornerback making plays against wide receiver Jaylen Waddle aside from nickel\/slot Kader Kohou. That means primarily Cam Smith, Storm Duck and Ethan Bonner, the most likely candidates, at this point, for a starting job on the boundary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We assume the Dolphins will sign a veteran free agent to start at one boundary spot. The Dolphins hope the other starter is currently on the roster.<\/p>\n

As expected, Waddle, one of the league\u2019s best No. 2 wide receivers, torched the cornerbacks in the OTA session the media was allowed to watch last week.<\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s a small sample size. And, yes, Waddle, considering he has multiple 1,000-yard seasons, should torch these guys.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But you want to see the cornerbacks, aside from Kohou, compete better and more consistently.<\/p>\n

OL versatility<\/p>\n

What to watch for: Quality depth, especially among returnees. You know the likely starting offensive line is center Aaron Brewer, guards James Daniels and Jonah Savaiinaea, and tackles Austin Jackson and Patrick Paul.<\/p>\n

At this point, the Dolphins probably hope the primary backups are center Andrew Meyer, guard Liam Eichenberg and tackle Larry Borom. Or they could hope tackles Kion Smith and Ryan Hayes figure into the mix at backup, or that Eichenberg, Borom and Jackson Carman could all be swingmen, Eichenberg between guard\/center and Borom and Carman between guard\/tackle, as they\u2019ve all done in the past.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t judge physicality when offensive linemen aren\u2019t wearing pads, so you look at where the Dolphins are lining these guys up, and whether the linemen are effective during drills.<\/p>\n

Rookies Kenneth Grant and Savaiinaea<\/p>\n

What to watch for: Both are comfortable in the spotlight because expectations are huge, and everybody is watching. The Dolphins drafted defensive tackle Kenneth Grant with the No. 13 pick in the first round, and traded up to select Savaiinaea at No. 37 in the second round.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re a big deal.<\/p>\n

Consequently, players who go against Grant and Savaiinaea in practice will be trying to earn a roster spot by beating the team\u2019s top draftees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coaches will scrutinize Grant and Savaiinaea more than others because those two, due to their draft status, must play immediately. If they don\u2019t it\u2019ll reflect poorly on that coach.<\/p>\n

The media will be watching both players, and fans will be checking to see what the media says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot of pressure for early June.<\/p>\n

Edge rushers Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips<\/p>\n

What to watch for: Continued health and progress from two of the Dolphins\u2019 most important players, veteran edge rushers Bradley Chubb (knee) and Jaelan Phillips (knee)<\/a>.
Both looked good during last week\u2019s OTAs. Both did individual drills, and Chubb did team drills while Phillips stayed on the sideline. It\u2019s not known how much either will do this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But as long as there are no setbacks, everything is good.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: June 2, 2025 at 11:08 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Miami Dolphins take the field beginning for a three-day round of organized team activities that began…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,216,251,2087,6,1733],"class_list":{"0":"post-108446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-dolphins","12":"tag-miamidolphins","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-zach-wilson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114636226921900365","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}