Thus far, there have been only a handful of real surprises coming out of Davie. Some have been good, as in the play progression of John Beck, whereas others have been bad, like Oline starters. Well, here we are only a few days from the Miami Dolphins first pre-season game and more changes and some rather surprising shake ups have greeted Dolphins fans at todays’ camp, as reported by Edgar Thompson of the Palm Beach Post.
For starters, Anthony Alabi is back working with the first team unit and Chris Liwienski is not. Vernon Carey has yet to move from the LT spot. Rex Hadnot is back on the line at RG and Drew Mormino is back into the starting LG spot after being yanked for a false start earlier in camp. LJ Shelton is not in this mix further leading to some speculation that he could be traded, according to Thompson, both Shelton and Liwienski are now solely on the 2nd unit.
Speaking of traded, Marty Booker was the hot rumor leading into the days prior to the draft not named Green. A trade for Booker was never consummated but the rumors never did quite die away. Today, Booker was riding on a stationary bike while rookie Ted Ginn lined up opposite of Chambers. This could be a huge development if it does not change. The fact that the Fins started practice today with Ginn on the first unit and not Hagan is somewhat surprising.
Justin Peele is also the lining up opposite David Martin in two TE formations. Aaron Halterman who has been having a decent camp is not making the jump.
The Fins are lining up in more of a nickel package than before, leading Thompson to speculate that the Fins may even use this as their base defense in the absence of Porter. Lehan had been in and Spragan was nowhere to be seen.
All in all, the oline is the biggest question mark thus far. As many figured it would be again this year, the surprises are that Mormino has managed to spend quite a bit of time on the first unit, IF he becomes a starter this season and actually works out, Mueller and Cameron would have found 2 gems in he and Satele. The biggest surprise thus far for me is the lack of physicality in these practices.
In the past, there seemed to be more going on with the team in terms of contact. Not so much this year. There have been a couple of good solid hitting sessions, but none like the past where you were hearing of “ooohhhss” and “ahhhhs”. Seems to be more of a focus on fundamentals, technique, and basics. That is not a necessarily a bad thing, but it will be interesting to see how it translates into a game. We find that out on Saturday.