Miami Dolphins Training Camp Week 5 Review: Three Yards Per Carry

No practice today, as they changed the schedule for a walk-through not open to media.  Instead, we have Mike McDaniel do his press conference, where he revealed that WR River Cracraft will miss “some time” with an upper body injury.

Others nursing injuries include Cam Smith who is “week to week” and RB Chris Brooks who is in the concussion protocol.  David Long jr. was available to return in the game so he is fine.  On Odell Beckham Jr., Coach McDaniel revealed that Beckham will not participate this week, but is “progressing” as expected.  The Dolphins signed RB Anthony McFarland and LB Dequan Jackson to fill out the roster for the final week of training camp.

3YPC Player of the Practice: N/A *walk-through*

No orange today as yesterday was a walk-through.  I will also not witness practice as a short practice is planned with a trip to Tampa this afternoon.  I will also take advantage of this to get a head start on the road.  This morning we were met with an assistant coach availability featuring Special teams Coordinator Danny Crossman, Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith, and Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver.

Danny Crossman hypothesized that it will take at least 4 games into the regular season to “settle” strategy around the NFL for the new kickoff.  Crossman also revealed that the Kickoff duty battle is ongoing between punter Jake Bailey and place kicker Jason Sanders.

Frank Smith expanded on what fullback Alec Ingold said last week about “testing the limits of the offense”.  Smith said that sometimes it’s about small variations and additions to what you did before. That’s a fancy way of saying that they will augment the disguise of their offense.

Last up was Anthony Weaver who had a very positive and sunny disposition on everything from his interior defensive line, to Channing Tindall, to the UDFA corner backs, Isaiah Johnson, Storm Duck, and Jason Maitre.  The money quote came when he said: “I would not rule out one of those guys helping us out before the season is over.”

The Dolphins placed WR Willie Snead, OG Sean Harlow on IR, and released RB Savon Ahmed.  They added RB Zander Horvath who is 6′-3″, 230 lbs and WR Jadon Janke, who is 6′-3″, 210 lbs to help them with snaps in preseason game versus the Tampa Bay Bucs.

3YPC Player of the Practice: N/A *walk-through*

Mike McDaniel kicks off practice with a pre-practice press conference, and he reveals that “some” starters will play in the game versus the Tampa Bay Bucs.  Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle will be suite dup and “can” practice, but won’t so as to not aggravate any lingering injuries.  He also made note of some ongoing camp battles that are yet to be settled.

Practice begins with Jevon Holland, and Anthony Walker out.  Benito Jones returns after a long absence, and just in time to be faced with real competition for his job from Brandon Pili.  If Pili does not play in the game against the Bucs, I would worry if I were Benito Jones.  The 1v1 turkey shoot features a Jonnu Smith mossing of a defender, and another deep throw completed for a TD to Jody Fortson.

After an extended install period, we get to 11v11 and we are treated to very short series work by both 1st teams.  The Dolphins defense stands tall in one series allowing only one plus play of 12 yards on a screen, after registering three QB sacks.  Two by Zach Sieler, and one by Calais Campbell.  The Dolphins offense seemed to concentrate on rolling out their new diversified run game, and had one eye catching 25 yard TD run by Raheem Mostert.

Practice concludes with a 2 minute offense session that saw both offenses go nowhere and then ended with a situational red zone period.  The ball was placed on the 8 yard line, and Tua and company complete a screen for a TD.  Baker Mayfield and his group, stall a bit and then we have a situational series.  In this series, the Dolphins force a 4th down play, where Calais Campbell batted down a Baker Mayfield pass to “win” the session.  The Dolphins then stormed the field to celebrate. Practice ends.  It was a tough call between Sieler and Campbell for the practice player of the game, but I went with Calais Campbell who was a tough guy to block all day.

3YPC Player of the Practice:  Calais Campbell

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