Updates from Monday’s practice, the first of four straight days of organized team activities for the Dolphins:
* Related to our story about
Chad Ochocinco already working out for the Dolphins, coach
Joe Philbin said he and offensive coordinator
Mike Sherman are concerned about the number of dropped passes by the receivers, tight ends and running backs through the first seven OTA sessions.
The Dolphins have several unproven receivers vying for the final two or three roster spots, including
Marlon Moore, Clyde Gates, Roberto Wallace, Julius Pruitt, B.J. Cunningham, Rishard Matthews and
Chris Hogan. Journeyman veteran
Legedu Naanee, signed to a 1-year deal, also is in the mix for a roster spot.
The young players have not been consistent enough in catching the ball, Philbin said. Monday, running back
Daniel Thomas and tight end
Les Brown also had blatant drops.
“The consistency of catching the ball is something I know (the receivers coaches) are working on, and Mike’s a little bit concerned about, as am I,” Philbin said. “Today, there were a couple guys – not always a receiver. I think we have to catch the ball more consistently at every position on offense, because it’s not quite where it needs to be.”
* Not at Monday’s practice: Receiver
Brian Hartline, who a source said is dealing with a strained calf, and rookie LB
Josh Kaddu and OL
Dustin Waldron, who are finishing up school. CB
Richard Marshall, who strained a groin/hamstring two weeks ago, did agility drills off to the side, as did rookie RB
Jonas Gray, recovering from a torn ACL last November.
* Monday’s practice was
David Garrard’s turn to take a majority of the snaps with the first team offense, although
Matt Moore got plenty of reps, too.
Ryan Tannehill played mostly with the scout team, but Philbin said not to take too much stock into which quarterback is playing with which unit at this point. The three-way quarterback competition will be settled in training camp, not during the summer, when players aren’t even allowed to practice in pads.
“We want to give each quarterback a chance to work with each group, so we’re being totally fair, and getting guys a chance to work with different receivers, different offensive linemen, and against different competition from a defensive standpoint,” Philbin said.
* The same is likely true for the two unsettled offensive line spots. Monday,
Artis Hicks worked as the starting right guard for the first time (at least in open-media practices), while
John Jerry played with the backups.
Lydon Murtha continued to practice as the starting right tackle, but rookie second-round pick
Jonathan Martin wasn’t able to join the team’s workouts until today, because he had to finish up classes at Stanford.
“We’re not concerned with what group is with what group. My response today, and the place we are in this program, I don’t think it’s that critical at this point in time.”
Martin may ultimately win the starting job in training camp, but for now is well behind Murtha. He stayed in shape by working out with former Stanford teammate
David DeCastro the last few weeks, but hasn’t been able to practice with his teammates until today.
“I feel a little behind, (with) some of the adjustments that they’ve been making in pass protection, especially,” he said. But, he added, “I don’t think it will take very long. There are a lot of similarities between coach Philbin’s offense and our offense back at Stanford. It’s both west coast. Calls are a little different, but same basic ideas.”
* Martin stayed after practice to run wind sprints to get back in football shape, but Philbin, who is trying to run an up-tempo practice that will carry over to games, doesn’t imagine his players will have to run many sprints after practice.
“We’re not typically a team that’s going to go out there and do a lot of conditioning and a lot of sprints,” he said. “The pace of practice should be enough to get these guys in the condition that they can play in the game at the speed we want them to.”
* Jerry, meanwhile, may have to prove to the coaching staff that he belongs on the team. Jerry, listed at 6-foot-5 and 328 pounds, is much bigger than most of the guards Philbin has previously used in his scheme, which utilizes zone blocking and requires more speed and agility than raw power.
Jerry, entering his third season, is set to make just $540,000, and would cost the Dolphins just $429,250 in dead money if they cut him. The Dolphins also have Hicks,
Nate Garner and
Ryan Cook to play guard, among others.
“Obviously I’m not accustomed to that size of a man playing that position in the systems that I’ve been involved in, so I’m interested to see how his conditioning is and how he can respond to 12-play drives and those type of things,” Philbin said. “But I like what I’ve seen so far.”
Jerry, the team’s third-round pick in 2010, has struggled with his weight in each of his first two NFL seasons, but Philbin also called Jerry “a bright guy” and said he hasn’t made many mental mistakes in practice.
* Philbin said the team isn’t playing as fast as it needs to yet, but that’s understandable considering the start of the season is still three months away.
“Overall as a team our play speed on both sides of the ball, the decisiveness and the communication, all of those things need to be a little bit quicker, a little more automatic,” Philbin said. Right now there’s still too much thinking.”
* Play of the Day: Naanee out-jumping
Chris Clemons and
Jonathan Wade on a deep jump ball from David Garrard for a 30-yard touchdown. Wallace also had a beautiful touchdown catch away from his body on a ball from Garrard, with Wade in coverage. And
Sean Smith had an excellent pass breakup on a Matt Moore slant pass intended for Wallace.
* The practice ended on a beautiful touchdown pass from Tannehill to Marlon Moore in coverage. The two punctuated the touchdown with a jumping hip bump.
