The Miami Dolphins have a busy, crowded, competitive wide receiver room at their disposal for the upcoming 2021 NFL season — a group that has plenty of players with a lot to prove. Even the players at the top of the perceived depth chart, such as Will Fuller, are going to need a strong season to establish their rooting as essential pieces of what the Dolphins’ overhauled passing game will look like this season.
There’s going to be a lot of mouths to feed and some difficult personnel decisions ahead before the season even starts. But one player who will certainly be entering the 2021 season with a chip on his shoulder is Lynn Bowden Jr., who was profiled yesterday by Tyler Dunne in a very enlightening look at Bowden Jr.’s unceremonious departure from the Las Vegas Raiders program just months after being drafted in the 3rd round.
What should we expect from the Dolphins receiver in Year 2?
The best thing Bowden Jr. has going for him as compared to some of the other talents in the Dolphins’ wide receiver room is the working reps with Tua Tagovailoa that the duo got last season. Bowden Jr., unlike Albert Wilson and Robert Foster and Allen Hurns and others, was working with Tagovailoa at a very high clip last year between practice and games combined. That familiarity should help Bowden Jr. start faster than he may otherwise in training camp and, by extension, win a spot higher on the depth chart.
Add in Bowden Jr.’s versatility as a former option quarterback and the Dolphins have two very clear pathways for success for Bowden Jr. on this year’s team. He’ll have a chance to beat out Albert Wilson (who is a much more expensive contract, too) for the multi-tool, jack of all trades, tough and powerful slot receiver type — as expectations are that Miami’s top-3 receivers will be Fuller, DeVante Parker and 1st-round pick Jaylen Waddle with health pending.
The best case scenario for Bowden Jr. entering this season is to make the Dolphins feel that Wilson is expendable as a player. That can be accomplished with a strong showing in camp and the preseason via more polished routes and a continuation of the tenacity and toughness Bowden Jr. showed on the field last year to play physical. Whatever stats come after that is secondary: beating out Albert Wilson is Bowden Jr.’s most likely ticket to a productive role in Miami’s 2021 offense.