Miami Dolphins Training Camp: Day 2

Hey guys, today was day 2 of Miami Dolphins Training camp. Unlike yesterday, where I was going off of what others said, today I was actually at training camp, so you will get what I saw with my own eyes, not what a reporter said. Ryan Tannehill has still not been sign by the phins, so the reps were mostly split between Garrard and Moore, with Devlin running the 3^rd team offense. In addition, both WR Brian Hartline and S Chris Clemons were sitting out practice. Hartline had a compression sleeve on his calf, indicating the injury he had there earlier in the summer has not fully healed. I was not able to spot Clemons on the sidelines, but I assume he is rehabbing the injury he obtained yesterday. WR Chad Johnson replaced Hartline as the starter, while Jimmy Wilson was the replacement for Chris Clemons. More information and analysis will be after the jump.

On the QB front, Garrard had his turn to run the 1^st team offense today after playing incredibly well yesterday with the 2^nd team. Matt Moore was given the 2^nd team snaps, while Devlin, who played well yesterday, continued with the 3^rd team. Neither of the 3 quarterbacks played very well today, with Devlin playing inconsistently and Garrard throwing almost-picks. Out of the 3, however, Matt Moore got my vote for QB of the day. He was putting nice zip on his passes, and getting them into tight spaces, but he did have some “what were you thinking” moments. One example was when he was under almost no pressure, but decided to scramble, right into big Paul Soliai. Speaking of Soliai, more on him later. Another example was when Moore overthrew a wide open Clyde Gates by 5 yards. But, overall, I was happy with how well Moore performed, and how he didn’t have any turnovers. Garrard, on the other hand, also didn’t turn the ball over, but only due to luck. I counted 3 dropped INTs off of his throws. One that really stuck out at me, Chad Johnson was deep in the end zone, running horizontally, beating CB Richard Marshall by a solid 4 or 5 yards. Garrard recognized this and threw it to him, but made the classic “threw it to where he was, not where he was going to be” mistake, meaning it went right into the hands of Richard Marshall, who dropped it. Sean Smith and Gary Guyton both also dropped Garrard INTs. Garrard did have some nice plays though, with a 25 yd pass to Julius Pruitt and a deep sideline pass to Chad Johnson. Devlin was wildly inconsistent, having some moments where he drew cheers from the crowd, and some terrible moments. One great pass for him was on a slant to Chris Hogan, who caught the perfect pass and would’ve turned it around for a TD in a real game. One terrible pass was an INT to Jason Trusnik, when there were no other players around. This play also happened to be the only INT of the day.

As for the other offensive players, the offensive line was the same as yesterday, playing well for the most part and holding off the pressure. On the WR side, Legedu Naanee, Davone Bess and Chad Johnson were the starters with Hartline staying to the side. Naanee’s speed and size really stood out, as he made some nice plays. Bess was the same old Bess, catching everything thrown at him, and Johnson played ok, but did have a few drops and wasn’t open on most of the plays. On the 2^nd unit, Roberto Wallace REALLY stood out, making play after play and using his unique combination of speed and size to dominate defenders. Another standout was UDFA Chris Hogan, who made 2 very nice catches from Devlin and Moore off of slants. The final 2^nd team standout was Marlon Moore, who showed great hustle and leaping ability to pull down an overthrown Matt Moore pass. As for the TEs, I was pleased with Charles Clay’s ability to get open. He was mostly working out of the backfield, but I spotted him all over the place, as a WR, TE, FB, you name it. Anthony Fasano was sort of invisible, as he didn’t make any standout plays. Micheal Egnew made two very nice catches, one from Moore and one from Garrard, getting 25 yds off of a screen pass from Moore. Jeron Mastrud and Les Brown also had 2 catches each, but both also made key drops. For the runningbacks, Reggie was playing well as usual, but Daniel Thomas really stood out, showing great ability to make just the right cut from the hip to break free for a big gain. Miller also had some great plays, using his speed and strength to get into the open field. I didn’t notice Steve Slaton out there, but Jerome Messam made some nice runs and got a catch from Devlin.

Moving on to the defensive side of the ball, there were many different types of rotations out there, including Vontae Davis and Sean Smith covering the slot while slot corner Richard Marshall bounced outside.  Both Vontae and Sean did a good job out there, but Marshall had some bad plays where he let the WRs get open. As for the safeties, Jimmy Wilson replaced Chris Clemons as the starter, and did a pretty good job with it, not making any mistakes, but not standing out either. One very nice play was by Reshad Jones, who broke into the backfield for a ferocious swatdown of a Garrard pass. Moving to the LB corps, Koa Misi did a very good job defending the run, while Gary Guyton covered TEs with ease. Jason Trusnik pulled down the only INT of the day, from Pat Devlin, who had a shocked look on his face afterward. As for the D-line, Paul Soliai was definitely my standout there. You can tell the big guy lost some weight, as he seemed much thinner and more mobile, looking the part of a 4-3 DT. Another surprising note, Olivier Vernon seemed to be spending a lot of time with the 1^st team defense, and was looking very good rushing the passer, Even getting past Jake Long once. As for special teams, I finally found out why Brandon Fields’ nickname is “boom,” because boy, can that man kick! He was routinely sending it a solid 50-60 yds and getting great hang time. And trust me, his punts looked much further and higher in person that they do on TV. As for returns, Reggie Bush, Lamar Miller, Clyde Gates and Marcus Thigpen handled those duties.

That’s about it for today. Unfortunately, I do not know if I will be able to go to training camp again this year, but be sure to check back daily for my reports.