Miami Dolphins Quarter Grades: Wide-Receivers

We move along with our first quarter grades on each position of the Miami Dolphins. What else are we going to do on a bye week? It’s not like we take time off! Our next stop is on the outside and we will include the tight-ends with this review as well. It’s safe to say that both positions need to do a lot more on the field.

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The Dolphins wide-receivers have had issues with holding on to the ball. It’s a trend they need to work hard at stopping. Dropped balls are drive killers and will destroy a teams momentum. The more dropped ball the more receivers will try to over fix the problem…and that can lead to more dropped passes. Most of the time fixing this issue is as simple as a concentration issue. Those types of mental errors should get fixed on the practice field but it needs to translate to games.

Against the Oakland Raiders the Dolphins did a much better job holding on to the passes thrown their way but two drops were costly for the team although neither impacted the outcome. Both of those drops were by tight-end Dion Sims. Sims also dropped a touchdown pass against the Bills as well.

There is no question that there is a lack of use in regards to Charles Clay. The Dolphins are not targeting him often enough and his production is way off last years breakout performance. When he is involved he has done pretty well but with all players the more they are involved the better they get. Perhaps Clay’s issues are injury related as he missed time in training camp and has been on the injury report almost every week. The bye week should help him recover hopefully the Dolphins find a way to use him after they bye. Clay however has 14 catches on the season for 111 yards.

Brian Hartline has been his normal reliable self and he and Ryan Tannehill are on the same page almost every play. Hartline is still a first down machine but he needs to work on staying on his feet. More than any other receiver I an remember in Miami, Hartline seems to fall to the ground after every catch he makes. It’s nice to see him gain more than a couple of yards after catch on the stat sheet. He has caught 16 passes for 161 yards.

For the most part rookie Jarvis Landry has been more involved at least in terms of production than Brandon Gibson who was expected to have a greater role but he is not as Landry is getting more passes thrown his way. Through four weeks Gibson has caught seven passes to Landry’s 12.

If there is a surprise on the Dolphins WR unit it has to be the play of Mike Wallace. Last season Mike Wallace seemed to go through the motions. Despite catching more passes last season than any other in his career Wallace wasn’t happy about the offense under Mike Sherman. That is not the case under Bill Lazor. Wallace leads the team with 20 receptions and 246 yards but his play has been defined by the physical change in his gameplay.

Wallace has been impressive with fighting for balls as evidenced one on one with Darrell Revis against New England for a touchdown and his new desire to lower his shoulder and drive into defenders for a couple of extra yards. It’s for that reason that Wallace has been the most impressive player on the Dolphins wide-out unit this season.

Final Grade: C+ Despite the play of Wallace the Dolphins receivers are going to need to do more as a whole moving forward. Better route running will help give Ryan Tannehill larger passing lanes but the drops need to stop. There is a lot of room for improvement but the good news is they played very well in their last game and should be able to continue that play.