The Miami Dolphins are currently on their way to Chicago to play the Bears in their first preseason game. There are still plenty of questions surrounding the Miami Dolphins about their offensive line, cornerbacks, linebackers, and even their kicker.
For most of the starters, the night will be over before the end of the first quarter.
“We haven’t finalized that. We certainly haven’t gotten them out of the first quarter I don’t think,” Coach Joe Philbin said. “I doubt they’ll go any longer than that. But we haven’t really finalized anything specific.”
Philbin had some interesting things to say about Miami’s offensive line, where most of the position battles are going to take place. Jamil Douglas and Dallas Thomas are both competing for the left guard spot and Philbin believes the competition is neck-and-neck.
“Yeah, it’s been close. It’s been close. I thought Jamil, for a rookie, the other night kind of again on his own and out there. I thought he handled himself pretty well out there, I really did..”
On the other hand, second-year guard Billy Turner, who didn’t get any playing time, is yet to gain the trust of Philbin.
“He’s done some good things. Consistency is something we’ve talked to him about. We want to see some consistency from him in both phases. But I think he’s certainly improving, without a doubt.”
During the offseason, Caleb Sturgis injured himself while playing kickball and has missed some time in OTAs and training camp. As a result, Andrew Franks was brought in and could possibly take the job from Strugis.
“We’ve been giving them a lot of equal things. Our plan is, certainly we want to see both of those guys kicking. How that all shakes out sometimes is a function of how the game unfolds, but we certainly want to get a look at both of them.”
Finally, Philbin touched on a couple of players trying to return from injury, Pro Bowl Tackle Branden Albert and Rookie running back Jay Ajayi.
“Whenever they say [Ajayi’s] ready. I would love to get everybody out there every single day,” Philbin explained. “Certainly young players, if you’re in your seventh year and you’re missing practice is that as big a deal as if you were a rookie? Probably not. We’d love to get him whenever he is ready.”
“I watched [Albert] a little bit today. I usually go back and watch the O-Line individual later and kind of get a sense of how he looks, Philbin said. “But I agree, I think he is making progress. We’re what, four and half weeks until the first game, something like that roughly. I think there is a lot of time, but at the same point in time he wants to get comfortable and confident in his fundamentals and his technique and how he is moving and his body. It’s a day-to-day thing.”
