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I've had dozens of Finheaven Brothers
make requests for today's TED talk... well... one guy, but he has been persistent. So with little further adieu, here are the Dolphins specialists.
Yeah, well there isn't much of a camp battle brewing here. The front office didn't bring in a second kicker, a second punter, or even a second long snapper. I don't remember a single year where we've done that before. Heck, I don't think we've even had any tryout players for these jobs. We may have someone on speed dial, but Grier won't let me look in his rolodex.
So... Your Kicker will be Jason Sanders... and he's pretty good. He bounced back from his down year in 2022, hitting 86% of his FG attempts and he was 5-7 from over 50 yards. There were rumblings that Jason was not happy with his previous holder, so our Punter switch last year may have had something to do with that. Who knows? Kickers are crazy.
Jake Bailey is our Punter and is the FG holder for Jason. His yards per punt average is a bit below the NFL mean, but he's known to be a plus directional Punter and only had 3 touchbacks all year long. We probably could do better here, but Sanders seems to like him. As a bonus, he works pretty cheaply. As long as he doesn't shank more than one or two punts per year, he'll go unchallenged.
Blake Ferguson is our Long Snapper. Yawn... He makes barely more than vet minimum and I can't remember a bad snap. What's not to like? I still remember the stunned reaction from the ESPN analyst when we drafted him, so there is that.
So... totally boring.. right?
Well, there is one area of drama coming up-- the return game. Let's start with what we know. Braxton Berrios is the incumbent Punt Returner, and despite much FH game day wailing about Braxton being unexciting, he actually had the 10th highest punt return average in the league, and more importantly, he just doesn't muff punts.
I know the game day thread crowd craves excitement, but God Almighty... I'm still traumatized by the Jakeem Grant years. He averaged one TD per year, but managed to muff punts all year long; worst hands that I have ever seen on a returner. Like Jake Bailey, Braxton makes you feel safe, VERY safe, and I suspect that the coaches value this way more than the fans do.
I do think that Braxton faces a camp battle however. I touched on this in the WR thread, but Tahj Washington returned Punts and Kicks in college... AND worked as a gunner on the Punting team. He's a guy who would play on all of the special team downs immediately. If Tahj looks good here, Braxton is in serious trouble. Tahj is younger and cheaper, and he might be better. Good luck Braxton, but the kid wants your job.
Lastly... there is the question of how we will handle the new kickoff rules. McDaniel has said that he may use our better players on returns. I think he'll eventually talk himself out of that, but taking him at his word... watch what we do in camp... you might see Waddle or Achane returning Kicks.
Yeah... not much here, but now those dozens of brothers will shut up about, "Hey Fever.. when are you gonna do Special Teams?
Next edition... Offensive Tackles.
make requests for today's TED talk... well... one guy, but he has been persistent. So with little further adieu, here are the Dolphins specialists.
Yeah, well there isn't much of a camp battle brewing here. The front office didn't bring in a second kicker, a second punter, or even a second long snapper. I don't remember a single year where we've done that before. Heck, I don't think we've even had any tryout players for these jobs. We may have someone on speed dial, but Grier won't let me look in his rolodex.
So... Your Kicker will be Jason Sanders... and he's pretty good. He bounced back from his down year in 2022, hitting 86% of his FG attempts and he was 5-7 from over 50 yards. There were rumblings that Jason was not happy with his previous holder, so our Punter switch last year may have had something to do with that. Who knows? Kickers are crazy.
Jake Bailey is our Punter and is the FG holder for Jason. His yards per punt average is a bit below the NFL mean, but he's known to be a plus directional Punter and only had 3 touchbacks all year long. We probably could do better here, but Sanders seems to like him. As a bonus, he works pretty cheaply. As long as he doesn't shank more than one or two punts per year, he'll go unchallenged.
Blake Ferguson is our Long Snapper. Yawn... He makes barely more than vet minimum and I can't remember a bad snap. What's not to like? I still remember the stunned reaction from the ESPN analyst when we drafted him, so there is that.
So... totally boring.. right?
Well, there is one area of drama coming up-- the return game. Let's start with what we know. Braxton Berrios is the incumbent Punt Returner, and despite much FH game day wailing about Braxton being unexciting, he actually had the 10th highest punt return average in the league, and more importantly, he just doesn't muff punts.
I know the game day thread crowd craves excitement, but God Almighty... I'm still traumatized by the Jakeem Grant years. He averaged one TD per year, but managed to muff punts all year long; worst hands that I have ever seen on a returner. Like Jake Bailey, Braxton makes you feel safe, VERY safe, and I suspect that the coaches value this way more than the fans do.
I do think that Braxton faces a camp battle however. I touched on this in the WR thread, but Tahj Washington returned Punts and Kicks in college... AND worked as a gunner on the Punting team. He's a guy who would play on all of the special team downs immediately. If Tahj looks good here, Braxton is in serious trouble. Tahj is younger and cheaper, and he might be better. Good luck Braxton, but the kid wants your job.
Lastly... there is the question of how we will handle the new kickoff rules. McDaniel has said that he may use our better players on returns. I think he'll eventually talk himself out of that, but taking him at his word... watch what we do in camp... you might see Waddle or Achane returning Kicks.
Yeah... not much here, but now those dozens of brothers will shut up about, "Hey Fever.. when are you gonna do Special Teams?
Next edition... Offensive Tackles.
