Miami Dolphins pre-season 1: what to watch

The Miami Dolphins will travel to Chicago this week for their first pre-season game of the season. Sunday night kicked off the exhibition season with the Vikings beating the Steelers 14-3 in the annual Hall of Fame game. The Dolphins have a new look defensive front and many changes around the offense.

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What should you expect? The first game is hard to say exactly as it’s more about reps and getting actual game hits but there are some areas if not single players that are worth keeping an eye on.

Number 5

The young wide-receivers are battling for a roster spot. We can expect not to see much of Greg Jennings, Jarvis Landry, and we won’t see DeVante Parker or Kenny Stills. We will however get to see plenty of Rishard Matthews, Michael Preston, Matt Hazell and the rest of the squad. Most of the receivers are not likely to make the roster but the trio listed above are fighting for one and maybe two positions. All three should see plenty of time in game one.

Number 4

LaMichael James has looked very good thus far in camp and there is a lot of talk that he is pushing not just for a roster spot but the number two job behind Lamar Miller. A former 2nd round pick, James is showing a lot of solid running. The Dolphins will likely sit Miller most of the game but James, Damien Williams, Jay Ajayi, and Mike Gillislee will see a good three quarters of play. This could give the Dolphins coaches their first big look at what they have behind Miller.

Number 3

Forget about the defensive lines Ndamukong Suh and Earl Mitchell, this game will feature a lot of Jordan Phillips, Terence Fede, A.J. Francics, Anthony Johnson, C.J. Mosley and the rest of the tackles and ends. The Dolphins are supposed to have great depth along the line and this will be the first chance to see it. Many believe that the Dolphins’ depth is so good that many of the players could start on other teams. If that is the case then we should see a dominant front all game. More importantly we need to see how well this unit can defend the run. Something they did not do well with last year.

Number 2

Aside from Brent Grimes the cornerbacks are a myriad of players looking to make a statement. Will Davis has recovered well from a shaky start to camp and Brice McCain has looked very good through camp. For now it’s Jamar Taylor’s job opposite Grimes. Grimes will take an early exit on Thursday night but the others will see a lot of action and this will be the start of players making the good impressions and the bad ones.

Number 1

If anything other than offensive line was mentioned here I would be blind. The Dolphins have so many questions right now and no way to know until after this game if they have pieces that can start the season. Both guard spots are question marks and the back-up left tackle spot is a question as well. All four quarters of this game will be interesting at this position because any number of players could find themselves packing with a poor performance even this early in camp.