Caleb Douglas Says He’s Looked Up to These Three WRs During Football Journey
From the outside looking in, it appears wide receiver Caleb Douglas is in a position to have a hugely impactful rookie season in 2026. The Miami Dolphins are bone-dry in terms of depth at wideout after trading Jaylen Waddle and releasing Tyreek Hill earlier this offseason, and there will be pressure on Douglas — the first of three wideouts the Dolphins drafted in April — to contribute out of the gate.
It’s very possible that he becomes the Dolphins’ WR1 as soon as the 2026 season, so fans of the team should he happy to hear that the neophyte has molded his game after some all-time great wide receivers during his football journey. On a recent episode of a Dolphins-centric podcast, the Dive Bar Podcast, Douglas cited former Detroit Lions superstar Calvin Johnson, Minnesota Vikings standout Justin Jefferson, and Jaxson Smith-Njigba as three guys he’s idolized over the years.
“When I started playing receiver for real, I’ll say Calvin Johnson, a big guy, who can go up and get it,” Douglas said (h/t Dolphins Wire’s Mike Masala for the transcription). “I like the smaller guys, for real. I love Justin Jefferson. I love how he sells the vertical, sells the nine every time until he’s not. I really try to model my game after him for real. Then, just being smooth, I like Jaxson Smith-Njigba. He’s a really smooth guy. He never looks like he’s running fast at all, but he runs by and gets open. For sure, those guys.”
If Douglas can ever put up even a fraction of the numbers Johnson, Jefferson, and Smith-Njigba did/do, he would mark a home run of a third-round draft pick to say the least.
After all, Johnson (though now retired) is a Hall of Famer who posted quadruple digits in yards receiving in seven of his nine NFL seasons. As for Smith-Njigba and Jefferson, they’re still tearing it up in the league, with the former on the heels of a season in which he won the Offensive Player of the Year award along with a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks, and the latter having yet to go a pro season without accumulating 1,000-plus yards receiving.
Hopefully, Douglas can take all he’s learned from watching the greats like Jefferson, Smith-Njigba, and Johnson over the years and apply it on the field. He’s set to make his regular-season Dolphins debut against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 13.
