Football—real football—is quickly approaching. Not this training camp nonsense where people are clinging to the tiniest glimmer of hope for the upcoming season. 

Miami’s first preseason game is this weekend. Still, until the regular season, we’ll have to settle for evaluating the little nuggets we’ve gotten from the coaches, players, and reporters immersed in the Dolphins and NFL landscape. 

The Dolphins dropped their first depth chart, are shopping two wide receivers, and there is some change brewing at the tight end position. 

Let’s dive into it. 

Depth Chart Takes

Here’s the first depth chart of the year, and there aren’t really any surprises. The offensive is chalk at the skill positions, and the offensive line features all of the position changes we’ll have to accept begrudgingly. 

On defense, it’s all the same cast of characters minus Bryon Jones, who is on the PUP list. There is one new starter—Melvin Ingram. The veteran edge rusher appears to have usurped the spot from Andrew Van Ginkel. 

This makes sense only if Ingram can replicate the run defense he showed while with the Chiefs last season. 

He finished with the second-highest Points Above Replacement against the run for the Chiefs in 2021, per Sports Info Solutions. Miami’s defense requires its defensive lineman to be stout, disciplined run defenders, so Ingram’s skills will translate perfectly. 

Although historically, Ingram was better at pass rushing than run defending, in his old age, it seems he’s gotten better with his run game technique making him a quintessential Dolphins starter.

The other point worth mentioning on the defensive side of things is the placement of Channing Tindall. He’s behind both Duke Riley and Sam Eguavoen in the linebacker pecking order.  

It’s important to note that Tindall is a rookie and was selected in the third round for a reason. He feels like a first-round pick because Miami didn’t have one, but he’s not. This was his first exposure to the NFL, and he was a raw prospect at Georgia. 

Don’t panic with Tindall or read that much into his placement; he was always going to need some time. 

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Preston Williams and Lynn Bowden Trade Rumors

This was a long time coming. Miami’s receiver room got extremely crowded extremely quickly this offseason meaning several players would be on the outside looking in. 

On Monday, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reported both Bowden and Williams were on the trading block. This comes off the heels of Williams Tweeting that he wasn’t getting enough opportunities last week. 

Williams impressed as a UDFA in 2019, but injuries have kept him off the field in recent seasons. Bowden was drafted in the third round, but the Raiders jettisoned him to Miami before the season started. 

He’s shown some potential to be a dynamic playmaker, but he’s also struggled with injuries. 

The simple truth is there just aren’t enough spots on the roster for everyone. Four receiver spots are locked down by Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill, Cedrick Wilson, and Erik Ezukanma. Then there are the often forgotten but still critical special teams receivers like Trent Sherfield and River Cracraft. 

That doesn’t even include UDFA Braylon Sanders, who has generated more buzz than Bowden and Williams combined during camp. 

It makes sense to shop both Bowden and Williams; however, it would be surprising to see Miami net anything other than a seventh-round pick or a player of equal value in a swap. 

Bowden and Williams have struggled to stay on the field, and their skill sets are easy to duplicate in today’s NFL. 

The more likely scenario is Miami cuts both players when they start trimming down the roster. 

Reading Between The Lines

One of the more enjoyable parts of training camp is trying to take little bread crumbs dropped by the coaching staff and decipher what they mean for the team at large. 

The nice thing about Mike McDaniel is he will leave much bigger bread crumbs than, say, Brian Flores. 

This week, McDaniel made some interesting comments about the tight end position and how the group is progressing during training camp. 

“The tight end position, in general, is a work in progress because we’re undoing a bunch of techniques that they’ve used throughout their football lives,” McDaniel said when asked about Hunter Long.

After a follow-up question, McDaniel continued about the group’s technique. 

“From a starting point, typically tight ends are coached – it’s not bad or good but it’s just a commitment to – typically they’re coached to not get beat as opposed to attacking with known help,” McDaniel said. “So for us, a lot of it starts with running off the ball. We’re not playing it safe at that position. If you talk about a nine-technique, especially in this league, whether that’s a standup ‘backer or a defensive end, that can be an imposing situation that you want to make sure your guy doesn’t immediately tackle somebody.” 

The immediate reaction—mine included—to these comments was to analyze what they mean for Mike Gesicki’s future in Miami. Gesicki is not a good blocker, and that’s almost definitely not going to change this season. So this doesn’t cast a good light on his future with the team.

Gesicki’s lack of a long-term deal and quiet training camp are also good reasons to be skeptical about him being a part of Miami’s future. 

However, these comments were spurred from a conversation about the tight end room as a whole. Someone asked McDaniel about Long, and he basically responded by saying the whole room doesn’t block the way they want. 

That includes Gesicki, Long, and Durham Smythe. Smythe has been dubbed Miami’s blocking tight end, but that is less because of his ability and more because of Gesicki’s inability. 

Smythe’s blocking on film defines “trying not to get beat.” That isn’t what McDaniel wants at the position. 

These comments aren’t complimentary of Gesicki, but they aren’t exactly complimentary of Smythe either. McDaniel played it off, but tight ends are not coached just to try and get in the way because it’s beneficial to the offense. 

They are taught that because they’re incapable of making impact blocks. McDaniel’s not talking about man vs. zone technique. He’s talking about blocking technique, in general. If these comments are to be taken at face value, none of the Dolphins’ tight ends are impact blockers.

These comments make it seem like the tight end McDaniel really wants isn’t on the roster just yet. Take training camp comments with a grain of salt, but this one is at least worth monitoring as the season unfolds.