Second day of training camp: Tanny still having trouble with the longball

Well officially on Wednesday the Dolphins had a walk through practice, but on Thursday they were finally on the field running around in shorts and helmets. The NFL prohibits teams from putting pads on for their first three practices of training camp, which means after Friday’s practice the Dolphins will finally be putting on the pads. That is when some of the real action begins, especially for lineman and running backs, because then you can really start to pick out contenders from pretenders on the roster.

Albert was on the field doing some light work in team drills, but he clearly still has a limp, but is not on the PUP list, and his health progress will be worth monitoring. In addition Parker attended practice, and was not wearing a protective boot, but he is on the PUP list and was watching the practice from the sideline.

Philbin mentioned one very interesting comment, that Suh convinced Jordan Phillips to train with him this off-season. That is terrific for multiple reasons. One that Suh is showing leadership skills, and that he is taking a young pup under his wing. The other great thing is that even though many of the boys at the sportsbook were weary of Phillips, because he had a reputation for taking plays off, and not always putting 100% effort into his play, but teaming up with a work horse like Suh can only be positive in terms of Phillips’ work ethic.

In regards to the actual practice, Ryan Tannehill was consistently good all day, but he was still having his same old issues with connecting with his receivers on the long ball. When practice officially ended he did stay late and was actually spending the extra time throwing the deep ball to some receivers. He also did thread the needle perfectly on a couple of passes in the middle of the field.

All the running backs looked very good, however again this is deceptive because the pads are not on yet. Once the pads come on the competition for the running back positions on the roster will be truly underway.

The corner back position opposite of Brent Grimes looks to have Jamar Taylor as the front runner, however he still has a ways to go. He was beat on a couple of plays and so was Will Davis. We knew this was going to be a weak spot coming into the season, and at the moment there has been no evidence to dispel that fear. On a side note Bobby McCain had a decent practice in the secondary getting his hands on some balls; intercepting 1 pass and dropping 2 other potential interceptions.

On the offensive line the phins still have Jason Fox working as the starting left tackle in replace of Albert. The coaching staff also seems intent on giving Jamil Douglas every opportunity to compete to earn one of the starting Guard positions. In addition Jeff Linkenbach was putting in work as the starting Right Guard, which officially makes this a 4 man race for the two starting Guard positions. (Douglas, Linkenbach, Turner and Thomas) Lastly with the extra reps for Douglas and Linkenbach, this signifies that the coaching staff is not exactly comfortable with Thomas and Turner, who were initially penciled in as the two starting Guards during OTA’s.

Lastly at the Linebacking position McCain has been getting work at the starting strong side linebacker spot and he has been making plays. With a full season of first team reps, he has the chance to make a very big leap in production this season. In addition Kelvin Sheppard has been seeing some reps as the starting middle linebacker position, so there is the chance that Miami may put Kelvin in the middle, Misi back at the strong side linebacker and Jenkins as the weakside linebacker.

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