One of the more closely watched developments of the first few weeks of Miami Dolphins’ training camp has been the developments among the team’s wide receiver room. Miami has brought in slew of new targets for second year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa; but their availability has steadily waned due to injury issues as Miami works towards the start of the season. And with a number of the top players on the depth chart missing time, Dolphins fans can’t help but wonder if the lack of reps is going to have a detrimental impact on the passing game.
Count Tagovailoa himself among those who are unconcerned. Because, according to him, minor injuries in August aren’t as troublesome as minor (or worse) injuries in September.
“I don’t think it is a concern. For me, I think the most important thing for them is their health and making sure that they’re right because if they’re not healthy then that’s going to be a concern. We won’t have any of those guys to come out and play with. It gives a lot of opportunity to the other guys,” said Tagovailoa.
“For me to get work with them and for them to also experience the different looks, the coverages. Whereas a lot of the veterans who are injured, they’ve seen a lot of that. We’re all still in the same room, we’re all still in the same meetings communicating and talking through that. I don’t think it’s a concern at all.”
It is worth remembering that Tagovailoa was fairly consistent throughout the course of the offseason to hold throwing sessions with his receivers — so the players have gotten more reps with timing and throwing than just what we’ve seen since the start of camp. The player most negatively impacted by the injury bug is likely Will Fuller, who remained in Houston to finish training and treatment for a while after signing with Miami before transitioning to South Florida.
Fuller still has time, but he is the one who would benefit most from the volume of routes now. In the meantime, he’ll need to trust the meeting room communications with Tagovailoa are enough to keep them on the same page and ready to produce.