2020 Miami Dolphins players previews: Andrew Van Ginkel

Andrew Van Ginkel has a lot of work to do to show that he deserves playing time this season. Does he have a chance to see the field?

Andrew Van Ginkel’s rookie season was not what anyone expected. He spent a good amount of time on injured reserve and only played in 6 games for the team. In those 6 games, he finished with 1 sack and 15 tackles (all stats courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference).

Van Ginkel needs to really outperform expectations once training camp opens up in order to play any meaningful snaps on defense in 2020. Unfortunately, Miami has a number of linebackers with better-proven skill sets than him ahead of him on the depth chart. He has athleticism that excited this Dolphins front office last season, but he didn’t flash in a way that cements him as “the guy” on defense. Given the new additions to this defensive unit, I think it is unlikely that he uproots a more established guy.

Fortunately for Van Ginkel, I would say that he has a solid year to show that he can grow as a player before Miami entertains parting ways with their 2019 pick. His draft status should protect him from being cut this season, but in no ways guarantees him playing a ton of snaps.

In reality, I see Van Ginkel as a special teams guy. He could potentially compete with somebody like Sam Euguavoen for defensive snaps, but as of now, I’m not sure if that seems likely. He will need to show some vast improvement in training camp and unfortunately, with the restrictions that the NFL put in place due to COVID-19, I think it unlikely for him to make a huge impact on the coaching staff.