The Miami Dolphins thrive heavily under the watch of Brian Flores thanks to competition. Regardless of who you are, the Dolphins are attempting to breed an environment that you must compete for your role with the team — a process that accomplishes two key things. First and foremost, by adding talent to breed competition, the Dolphins’ roster gets deeper and can allow for more flexibility if injuries strike. But this approach also forces the players out of their comfort zone and prompts them to continue to improve, so Miami gets better by adding new players and the old players are forced to get better and develop as well.
A recent example can be found at the tight end position, where the Dolphins took a flier on former top-50 pick Adam Shaheen. Shaheen’s presence might not necessarily push TE Mike Gesicki (who is more wide receiver than true tight end anyway), but it will certainly push Durham Smythe for the TE2 role.
Dolphins tight end coach George Godsey spoke with the media over the weekend and was asked directly about the appeal of Shaheen and what prompted the Dolphins to roll the dice.
“Adam, we try to evaluate all the tight ends – or at least I have just throughout my career. I was in Detroit for a little bit, so I was able to see him, but also he’s got great range from a length standpoint and size. He’s had his issues trying to stay on the field. I think that’s part of the NFL, so he’s a young prospect that is ascending,” said Godsey.
“He’s very motivated in these meetings. We’ve had some extra time, too, to make sure that he’s getting caught up. Ideally with a new player, we’d go through the spring portion and then now we’re into the fall portion and it’s kind of just maybe the second or third time he’s heard things, so he’s got some work cut out for him mentally, but he’s up for the challenge. The guy’s been productive in the pass game and like I said, his length against NFL defensive ends or outside ‘backers that are on the line of scrimmage, that’s a valuable piece to have; so we can’t coach that part, but we can definitely catch him up to speed and then it’s up to him to get open in the passing game.”
The Dolphins have, at several positions this offseason, gravitated towards the uncoachable qualities like size and length — so hearing that tight end has qualifiers to influence at the line of scrimmage isn’t too shocking. Miami traded peanuts to acquire Shaheen, so there’s no way that a move like this could go wrong for Miami. Even if he flops, Miami paid a low enough cost that the risk was worth the reward. And, as Godsey points out, the reward could be plentiful if Shaheen is able to stay healthy and avoid injury in 2020.