One thing that is eerily evident is that the Dolphins are being plagued by calf injuries. I am not a doctor so I do not know what that means, but when three different players have calf injuries, I think the sports medicine department needs to step in and see if ther may be something causing this. Usually calf injuries come from cramps or improper stretching, but whatever it is from, Miami definitely needs to find a way to prevent this, because now Stills, Misi and Miller are all hobbling around with calf injuries.
Recently I had mentioned that the Dolphins offense has looked ahead of the defense, well now that the pads are on that has quickly changed. The Dolphins defensive line, which most football gambling fans are betting is going to be one of the best D-Line’s in the NFL, is now utterly dominating the offensive line. It is like the perfect storm, with our worst unit on the team going against the best unit on the team so its a double whammy. Hopefully the D-line can make the offensive line better.
On a side note Evan Mathis is still out there and the Dolphins are definitely a team that is still in the mix for him. However, according to sources within the organization the two sides are very far apart in terms of money. The Dolphins are looking for more of a stop gap player that they can pay around $2-$3 million, and Mathis who turned down a $5.5 million dollar deal from the Eagles is looking to at least make that much. It also appears that neither side is in any rush to make a deal happen any time soon. The Dolphins would like to evaluate their Guard play after a few pre-season games, and Mathis’ camp is hoping that a team has an injury at one of the Guard positions which would raise his market value.
A player that is continuing to turn heads at camp is Terence Fede. Fede is entering his second year, and was very raw coming out of Marist college, but it appears he is already making a huge leap in improvement going into his second season in the league. The coaches and higher ups in the organization have been openly praising his improvement, and some are even saying he is the most improved player on the entire roster. What is ironic is that Fede plays defensive end, a position that the Dolphins are extremely stacked at, so it just reinforces the fact that Miami is going to have a very special defensive line. Not only do they have studs like Suh, Wake, and Vernon, but they have high quality depth in Fede, Mosley, Phillips, Shelby and Francis, who are all players that would have a very good chance of starting for other teams in the league.
If the Dolphins D-line can truly play up to expectations for a full 16 games, than they have the chance to be elite. And if they can be elite than this will spread to the rest of the defense, which means the entire defense has the chance to be elite. As we have said in the past offense wins games, but defense wins championships, so if Miami’s defense can be elite, then the sky will be the limit for this team. What does the rest of the Miami Dolphins news fans think about the Dolphins training camp so far, and whether or not their defense can be great?
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