Through 17 days of training camp and one preseason game, the early returns have on those young players have been somewhat mixed, but more favorable than unfavorable among those the team is particularly counting on.
Let’s start with guard. After uneven performances during camp practices, Billy Turner and Dallas Thomas “did a good job” against Chicago, coach Joe Philbin said Saturday. Turner, who played 33 snaps, and Thomas (24) performed well enough to keep the Dolphins from feeling any compunction to offer free agent Evan Mathis the $5.5 million he’s seeking.
“They both competed hard, both had some really good plays on tape. Obviously, it wasn’t perfect,” Philbin said, with Turner called for a holding penalty deep in Bears territory.
After a week of sometimes being thrown aside by Suh, Turner said “it was fun” to compete against somebody else.
“But it’s fun going against him everyday, too, because going against the best makes it that much easier in the game when you’re going against other guys,” Turner said. Against Chicago, “the thing I saw on film personally that I liked was I was finishing stuff.”
But Philbin said this week will be particularly telling for the young guards when the Dolphins and Panthers hold joint practices on Wednesday and Thursday in South Carolina before playing Saturday in Charlotte.
“It will be really good for them to go to Carolina and practice more against a four-man line,” Philbin said. “At times, they were uncovered. Again, they are going be uncovered some in the Carolina game. But we are going to get a lot more even defense where both guards are covered… in the two days of practice and the ball game. That’s going to be a really good next step for them."
