Tag: 2023 OTAs

Dolphins open OTAs with two strong sessions

Back to work.

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The Miami Dolphins are on the field and football action is back… sort of. The pads aren’t on yet, and not all players are present in the early days of Organized Team Activities. The Dolphins will have a few more scattered OTAs before a mandatory minicamp from June 6-8.

Until then, some veterans like Tyreek Hill, Connor Williams, Zach Sieler and Terron Armstead, to name a few, haven’t been on the field on Monday or Tuesday, but these are voluntary workouts. Sure, it’s nice to see closer to the full team, but there’s no worry whatsoever when it comes to attendance here.

Before we get into what can be said from the on-field action, which was opened to the media for the first time on Tuesday, news hit early on a player’s expansion of his role. Outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who was re-signed to a one-year deal in the offseason, got a call from new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio a week or so before OTAs and was approached with the idea of adding the inside area of linebacking to his game.

As confirmed by head coach Mike McDaniel on Tuesday, the move is in addition to his current job and not in place of.

“Position flexibility allows you to have an extra human available on game day,” McDaniel said about the concept to add to Van Ginkel’s plate. “It’s advantageous for us, and tough on opponents.”

As for the consensus of McDaniel’s assistants, the move is welcomed.

“The entire defensive staff thought he’s at the position he can handle that,” he stated.

The flexibility that Van Ginkel can bring to both the outside and inside linebacker groups would allow a rotation on the outside with fellow pass-rushers Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips. On the interior, Van Ginkel could give breaks here and there to either Jerome Baker and/or new free agent David Long Jr.

Duke Riley will also help spell Long and Baker on the inside, but with the outside and inside ability, the goal will be to keep Van Ginkel on the field a whole lot more than last season. Unbelievably, at times, Van Ginkel’s 2022 seasonal usage was limited to just 29% of the year’s defensive snaps, which was a far cry from 2021’s 71%.

This plan should keep him more at that 70%-plus range, which would make him a key member of this linebacking group and could open up the potential Van Ginkel has shown in his role-playing thus far in Miami. It’s also to be noted, that Van Ginkel was the Dolphins’ leader in special team tackles last year with 12.

On the offensive side of things, penciled-in right tackle Austin Jackson showed up looking to be in phenomenal shape. How that translates on the field remains to be seen until pads come on in the summer, as well as hitting some opponents other than teammates.

Until then we can only go off history, which has been a lackluster start to his career since being drafted in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. Without the fifth year of his rookie deal picked up by Miami, this is a contract season for Jackson, and should he impress and improve, he could add to his time with the team or simply make himself marketable as a 2024 free agent.

However, a spike in production and ability is far from a certainty, and general manager Chris Grier has hedged his right tackle bet slightly, with some scrap-heap free agent signings of more former first-round picks in Cedric Ogbuehi and Isaiah Wynn, who could be said to be under-achievers so far in the NFL as well.

The Dolphins also drafted Michigan tackle Ryan Hayes, who could even work at guard, and still have undrafted rookie free agent tackle James Tunstall, who could all provide a little competition in camp for Jackson.

With other tackles fighting for spots like Robert Jones, Kion Smith, Kendall Lamm and Geron Christian, at least entering the process, Jackson is seemingly locked-in to work. Like the Van Ginkel experiment, the conclusion remains to be seen, but at the very least, positive encouragement and momentum on both fronts are good ways to start 2023’s offseason.

What has been seen the last two days, has been the blazing speed of rookie running back De’Von Achane. A third-round pick in this April’s draft, and one that was much to the immediate delight of McDaniel upon his selection, Achane could factor heavily in total yardage for the Dolphins right away.

With his speed and shiftiness, Achane will be utilized as a runner, receiver and return man, making him a candidate to potentially challenge a rookie record. That belongs to Ted Ginn Jr, who holds the Dolphins’ seasonal all-purpose yardage record for a rookie (2,086).

In 2007, Ginn returned kicks and punts for 1,663 yards and added 420 receiving yards and three rushing yards. With Achane’s speed and versatility, it’s becoming more likely with each OTA rep that he could challenge this record. The overall total yardage record for Miami is currently held by Ricky Williams, who recorded 2,216 yards in his epic 2002 season.

Achane turned heads and impressed the media Tuesday. As beat writer Omar Kelly reported, the rookie made a great sideline catch which was placed beautifully by quarterback Tua Tagovailoa just out of the reach of a linebacker. That’s music to the ears of Dolphins fans.

Another worthy bullet point was the on-field attendance of defensive backs Nik Needham and Brandon Jones. Injured in consecutive weeks last season, the pair were seen doing some light jogging, but each is progressing well with their individual rehabs and could even avoid significant missed time, if any.

The Dolphins aren’t working on-field for OTA’s today, as they’ll resume Thursday, the 25th.

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Notes from Day 2 of Dolphins’ 2023 OTAs

A quick look at what happened.

After free agency, the NFL draft and rookie minicamp, the Miami Dolphins, along with their 31 counterparts, have flipped the calendar to their organized team activities.

Miami began hosting their OTAs, which are voluntarily attended by players, on Monday, but Tuesday was the first day that the session was open for media viewing.

Let’s take some time to look quickly at what happen during the second day of Dolphins’ OTAs at their Baptist Health Training Complex.

OTAs start for Miami Dolphins with at least one player expanding his role

One linebacker could be getting a new role in 2023.

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We’re entering the back end of May, and from a football standpoint, that means that the pads aren’t necessarily on yet, but cleats and really awesome practice jerseys certainly are.

Monday morning officially started the Miami Dolphins organized team activity schedule for the 2023 offseason.

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday kick off OTAs, how they’re mainly referred to across football. They continue next week on the 30th and 31st and there’s one last session on June 2.

June 1 is a rather significant date for the Dolphins, as well as the brain trust of general manager Chris Grier and his partner in salary cap crime, er, construction, Brandon Shore. They’ll get $13.6 million dollars back on their side of the felt when cornerback Byron Jones officially comes off the books.

In addition, and potentially interestingly enough, there just may be a new participant or two for the last session in South Florida, before the entire team checks in for a mandatory minicamp from June 6-8. So, if Miami releases a pair of players or more this week or next, additions are all but a certainty post-June 1.

Shifting to the on-field activities, the Dolphins were back at it Monday morning and inside their Baptist Health Training Complex. As captured on social media and in continuation from last season, the orange practice jersey returned. Used to reward a player from the previous day’s work, wide receiver Jaylen Waddle repped the marvelous mesh in the opening OTA, which indicates nothing other than the third-year wideout is locked in and focused on 2023.

Before the Dolphins hit the field, the news of the day was tweeted by NFL Network reporter, and bonafide Dolphins insider, Cameron Wolfe.

Building on Wolfe’s Tweet, new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio in fact did bring the idea to Andrew Van Ginkel in the days leading into camp.

The specifics of the usage and whether it’s a full move to the inside or more a hybrid role with his outside duties remain to be seen. What’s for sure is that Van Ginkel needs a path to more than 29% of the defensive snaps, which was his rate last season under then-coordinator Josh Boyer.

A testament to the player he is, he supplemented this with top-end special teams play, participating in 68% of the snaps in the third phase of the game, even leading the team in special team tackles with 12.

Adding to this thread of preseason intrigue, Van Ginkel was literally inches from other opportunities, at least five, until a conversation was had when Fangio reached out to the fifth-year linebacker from Wisconsin.

One of the main reasons why Van Ginkel is still in Miami, Fangio could unlock his full potential, and a hybrid usage of inside and outside play could spike that snap count back up to over 70%, as it was in 2021. Should the inside experiment with Van Ginkel progress, it’d indicate a depth role behind ready-made inside linebackers, Jerome Baker and the newly signed free agent David Long.

Van Ginkel could, of course, also be within an outside linebacker rotation as well, that won’t feature a veteran from last season in Melvin Ingram. Playing in his 11th season, Ingram had a solid campaign for Miami as a one-year signed player, but he’s no longer with the team. Ingram played 512 snaps last season for 45% of the plays, and these downs could shift back to Van Ginkel.

Miami also said goodbye to inside linebacker Elandon Roberts, and with those 680 snaps at 59% of the defensive plays, you’d imagine Long is all but owning those downs on the interior of this unit. While Long and Baker could be the stalwarts, Van Ginkel and Duke Riley will add the ability to spell those “starters,” and each could see ample time on the inside of the second unit of the defense.

As for that snap count for Van Ginkel, in his career, it’s a statistically proven fact that when he plays often and is utilized right, Miami simply wins. When Van Ginkel blitzes eight or more times in a game the Dolphins are remarkably 10-1. He did this twice in 2022, and Miami was 1-1 with the loss coming against the Green Bay Packers game in Week 16.

When he blitzes nine or more times, Miami is 7-0 in his career. He was credited with a quarterback hit in six of those games, including 3.5 sacks. Furthermore, of those 10 wins, just one of them came last year when he was criminally under-utilized at under 30% of the defensive snaps on the season.

When Van Ginkel plays more than 70% of the snaps in a professional game, the Dolphins are 13-5. In those 18 games with that usage, his basic full season plus one game would read 74 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 14 tackles for loss and a whopping 23 quarterback hits.

If given the time on the field, the proof is in the production with Van Ginkel. With the coaching and faith clearly heading in his direction from Fangio, the former Badger could be one of, if not the most benefited from the addition of the veteran defensive mastermind.

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