If there’s one Dolphins assistant coach who’s on pins and needles going into tonight’s preseason opener, its special teams coach John Bonamego.
Coach Tony Sparano has dedicated extra practice time to special teams almost daily since training camp began, and Bonamego, who called these exhibitions “huge” for his units, knows Sparano will be expecting improvement from last year, when Miami finished 30th in an annual ranking compiled by the Dallas Morning News.
“You’re trying to accomplish a lot,” Bonamego said. “You’re trying to evaluate the guys you have, to see where they’re at, but you also want to look at younger guys.
“The preseason you play a lot of checkers. There are guys who get ‘hey-you’d.’ But hopefully you come away with something you can build on. I’d like to have a better start than we did last year, starting with the preseason. That’s what our objective is. Our objective is not to be second-best, but to be the best.”
Davone Bess performed well on punt returns last year and will be counted on in that role again this year. (Getty Images)
At least this year Bonamego already knows who some of his special teams studs will be. Last year Ted Ginn Jr. started the season returning punts, but Davone Bess replaced him and finished sixth in the AFC with an 11-yard average. Ginn still returns kicks, but Bonamego figures to give Patrick Cobbs a shot at that job after Cobbs averaged 23.6 yards on eight returns; Ginn averaged only 20.2 on his 35. Dan Carpenter’s short kickoffs contributed to opponents starting their average drive at the 29.8, putting Miami 30th in that ranking. Connor Barth’s hopes of beating out Carpenter will be bolstered if he gets some of his kicks into the end zone.
