Week 2 of OTA’s

Jimmy Bourbon

9 years ago

The Dolphins completed their first OTA of their second week of practice, and it was another productive day. Sure there are no pads yet, and it is hard to get a true judgement of players, but we all bleed aqua and orange on phinsnews.com, so any info about our boys is better than nothing.

The defense continues to out play the offense, but that is very typical for this time of year, where a lot of new players are learning the new offensive play book and developing chemistry with a new QB. Whereas even if some defensive players are new, they are playing on instinct, and just trying to be in the right position.

Parker is yet again proving to be a force, by pretty much getting the best of our stud corner Brent Grimes on most plays. He is going to be playing a lot this season, because he is just too good for the coaches to keep him on the bench. I would like to say it now, that if I were the pay per head services sites like AcePerHead.com I would bet on Parker to have better stats than any of the three receivers we released or traded from last season. (Wallace, Hartline, and Gibson, what does the rest of the Miami Dolphins news fans think about that?)

Two other young players that are continuing to make plays at OTA’s are CB Tony Lippett and TE Tom Semisch. Lippett had 3 interceptions today and continues to show off his ball hawking ability. Lippett is an interesting player, considering he played mainly as a wide receiver for Michigan State. He was an All Big 10 receiver, which is quite an achievement, considering that is one of the better divisions in college football. However, he will mainly be used as a cornerback, a position he played sparingly at college, but he has intriguing height at 6’3” and excellent ball skills, which is something that is continuing to shine on the defensive side of the ball. Lippett reminds me of the former “jack of all trades” Patriot Troy Brown, who was a wide receiver, but also helped out by playing cornerback and punt returner. If he continues to make plays the coaching staff is going to have to find a way to get him on the field. He is still very raw, but there is no doubting that there is a lot of upside potential for him.

The second player is Tom Semisch, who is a giant of a man standing at 6’8”, 267 pounds. He was a TE for Northern Illinois, but was barely ever involved in the passing game. He caught some eyes during the rookie camp, and today he continued to make plays by catching 2 TD’s in the Dolphins red zone work. He could be a player that challenges Arthur Lynch for the third TE position on the roster.

One last observation is that Caleb Sturgis will be sidelined for the remainder of OTA’s with an undisclosed leg injury. Frankly I am losing patience quickly with Sturgis, he always seems to be hurt during this time of year, tell me if I am wrong but I believe this is his 3^rd OTA with the team and each time he has had some sort of groin or leg injury. Also he started out his career on fire, but after he finally had his first missed field goal of his career he has proved to be an average kicker at best. His career field goal percentage is 77.5%, and it would be wise to get a veteran kicker to challenge him for the starting spot.

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