Miami Dolphins fourth week preseason special teams update
The Miami Dolphins have made recent player cuts that directly affect special teams. Both of the challenger players for the kicker and long snapper positions have been cut.
Kicker Marshall Koehn and long snapper Ryan DiSalvo have recently been cut. This means that K Andrew Franks and LS John Denney will likely be holding onto their respective positions barring the unlikely event that a high tier kicker gets cut off some other team or the Dolphins look to switch one of their own players with long snapper experience into that role in a cost cutting move.
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John Denney will most likely be heading into his 12th NFL season as the longest tenured player on the team. In his 11 year tenure he has been selected to two pro bowls (2010 & 2012) only responsible for two fumbles (2005 & 2008) but also recovered two fumbles (2013 & 2014) he also made two tackles in both of the for-mentioned seasons and two assisted tackles in 2013. This makes him as close to a mistake free player as it gets so it seems fitting to keep him around although he is getting up in age turning 38 this season and he may decide to retire at some point.
Kicker Andrew Franks misses a 37 yard field goal as time runs out during the first half of the last preseason game Vs Falcons.
Andrew Franks has missed 3 field goals and 3 extra points last season, this seems good on the surface but this is where it gets convoluted. Last season the Dolphins only averaged 19 points a game and Franks attempted 16 field goals missing 2 in the 40-50 yards range and one over 50 along with the 3 missed extra points.
Franks looked good all training camp in practice missing only a handful of field goal attempts at most, even closing practice proceedings making one of 55 yards (he wanted it even longer)
The preseason games have played out much differently New head coach Adam Gase has gone for it on fourth down quite frequently perhaps as a drill concerning last years lackluster scoring of just 19 points a game. So where does this put Franks? See the above video, it might play a part in the miss as he gets less in-game playing time with field goal attempts.
This upcoming game Vs the Tennessee Titans could provide more field goal attempts for Franks considering the miss but it is up to coach Gase if he wants to continue to go for it a lot on fourth downs
One other thing to watch this next game is the play of Kenyan Drake who will see his first preseason game action as he should be a key part of special teams play. He got injured early on in training camp practice on a special teams drill and needs to catch up fast.