Why this years Miami Dolphins training camp is important

The Miami Dolphins won’t open training camp until late July but this year’s camp is going to be an important one. Perhaps more important than any others.

In recent years a lot of attention has been put on how Miami Dolphins coaches approached the camp practices and this year will not be any different but can they yield a different result?

In 2008 the Miami Dolphins began training camp with all eyes on Bill Parcells more than Tony Sparano. While Sparano ran his own camp Parcells presence was more the focus. When Parcells pulled a player over to talk to him, it seemed to be the headlines.

In 2012 Joe Philbin arrived and many in the media and fan base were impressed with his two-sided approach to practices. Philbin ran his first team on one side of the field and the 2nd team on the other. After one would run a play, the coaches turned around and the other unit ran a play. It was uptempo but the results didn’t translate to the field.

Under Adam Gase there was no defined flow to the practice sessions. It seemed as though Gase ran the practices based on his feelings for that day. As Gase worked towards building a culture, he failed to coach the team appropriately or get them conditioned properly.

Now it’s Brian Flores’ turn.

How Flores approaches his first camp will set the tone for the players this year and set the tone for future training camps. It is not easy to get a feel for how this camp will go. While Flores ran the OTA and mini-camp practice sessions, training camp is a lot different.

The focus has to be on fundamentals and conditioning early and of course the integration on technique and system. The system part will come in the classroom work where the Dolphins coaches will break down a lot of film or the players to study.

Finding success especially sustained success, starts with how players develop in training camp and how well that transfers to game days during the season.