Preston Williams missed the second day of padded practices by the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday and the visual was jarring. It’s not that Williams has already crafted an amazing reputation as a top tier receiver around the league. Not yet, at least. It’s not that the Dolphins cannot win without Williams. They proved last season they can after Williams blew out a knee.It’s just that the Dolphins wide receiver corps has already been dealt a couple of staggering blows this training camp with the opt out decisions of Allen Hurns and Albert Wilson, and losing just one more starting-quality pass catcher would feel like a knockout punch.
Now, stop. Breathe.
You can relax for now because Williams is fine. He missed practiced because trainers gave him a day to rehabilitate the knee rather than put more load on it. He returned to practice Wednesday.
Crisis averted.
Except that’s not completely right. Because if even one setback to, say, Williams, DeVante Parker, Jakeem Grant or Isaiah Ford happens this season, then the Dolphins go from a precarious situation to critical mode.
And guess what? Williams, Parker, Grant and Ford all have well-chronicled injury histories.
So this is a cruise with icebergs ahead.
Because the guys behind the four players named up there, two paragraphs ago, aren’t good enough to succeed in the NFL right now. Some aren’t good enough to even succeed in practice.
The game is still too fast, the defenders are still too strong, they’re still too inexperienced and the new offense still comes in deep, measured thoughts rather than instant reactions.
This is obviously an opinion based on, you know, what Miami’s depth receivers have done in the past and what they’ve shown the first three days of padded practices.
Coach Brian Flores doesn’t share this opinion. He likes the Dolphins receiver corps top to bottom.
“I’ve been pleased with that group,” Flores said. “Obviously working through some – like we talked about with Preston earlier -- we’re working through some guys who we are trying to manage. But from DeVante to Jakeem to even some of our younger players – Matt Cole and Ricardo Louis, we got him back – I think these guys are all working hard.
“For those new guys, especially the young guys, getting used to the speed of the NFL -- Kirk Merritt, Malcolm Perry, Matt Cole getting used to the speed, getting used to the physicality of corners in this league, that takes a little getting used to and I think they’re all working through that. But I like the group. It’s a tough group.”
So ... they’re tough. But also raw and green and generally unproven.
They’re also all undrafted or battling the journeyman label.
“I think [wide receivers coach Josh Grizzard) has done a good job as far as working the techniques, the fundamentals and getting them up to speed on what we’re trying to do offensively,” Flores said. “I like the group. I think they understand the importance of blocking in the run game and getting open and catching the football consistently.
“We just need to continue to keep working on those things. We had the two opt-outs and, again, we were very supportive of both Albert (Wilson) and Allen (Hurns). Then we brought Chester (Rogers) on and we brought Ricardo (Louis) on and I think those guys have done solid so far, but we still have a long way to go. It’s still somewhat early.”
It is early. But with the shortened training camp caused by the pandemic and the regular-season scheduled to begin Sept. 13, it won’t be early very much longer.
And at least one of these guys not named Parker, Grant, Williams or Ford will get a spot on the 53-man roster. Maybe two will, depending on whether the Dolphins count rookie Malcolm Perry as a running back, a slot receiver or both.
So what does inexperience and back of the depth chart talent look like tangibly in an NFL practice?
This: First-round pick Tua Tagovailoa, who was a star at the University of Alabama and is Miami’s franchise quarterback hopes of the future, found himself throwing mostly to Patrick Laird during Wednesday’s practice. Laird, a running back, was the only guy really open.
Tagovailoa looked to connect with a receiver on his first snap of team drills. No one was open. So he scrambled out of the pocket and had to perform an awkward slide-kneel down after a two-yard gain.
Josh Rosen, also working primarily with subs, also found no one open in the secondary on his first snap of team repetitions. His solution was the same at Tagovailoa’s. He dumped off a throw to Laird.
Next play, Rosen held the ball, waiting for someone to come open. No one did. Rosen would have had to throw the ball away or it would have been a coverage sack in a real game.
Granted, not everything was cause for concern. Perry caught a pass on a slant. And Rogers and Merritt both caught passes after getting open on post patterns.
But eye-opening? Impressive? Consistent?
No.
It must be said a strong candidate to win that last roster spot among the receivers seems to be Ricardo Lewis. He’s starting his fifth NFL season but hasn’t played since 2018. His 45 career catches for 562 yards are modest.
Louis was a fourth-round pick of the Cleveland Browns but his most notable moment there, outside of a neck injury in 2018, was when he gave up his No. 80 jersey so former Dolphins receiver Jarvis Landry could take it when he was traded from Miami.
Louis was with the Dolphins last year but only from April to May and then he was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. He was cut and re-signed twice this offseason, with the latest being a release on July 25 and a re-signing on Aug. 8.
That’s a lot of transactions but not a lot of, you know, production.
And yet he’s the guy who so far looks like he’s most comfortable being the Dolphins fifth receiver or higher if anyone gets hurt.
