The Miami Dolphins aren’t easing into this season. They’re being forced to learn on the fly, and the numbers from Week 1 made that painfully clear.
According to SportRadar research, via the Associated Press, Miami’s 436 rookie snaps in last week’s loss to the Las Vegas Raiders were the most by any NFL team in Week 1 for at least the last 20 recorded seasons. The Dolphins also led the league with 27 percent of snaps taken by rookies in Week 1, according to the data site sfdata9ers, with the Browns next at 16 percent.
That kind of youth comes with a price. Miami is the NFL’s youngest team, and it’s about to run into the NFL’s oldest when it faces the 49ers in Santa Clara on Sunday, Sept.
- The Dolphins are nearly two-touchdown underdogs, which only adds to the challenge for a roster still figuring itself out.
“We know the urgency we need to have to get better and for our young guys to grow and grow fast,” Dolphins offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said.
The rookie class is large enough that it’s impossible to miss. Miami’s first-year players who debuted in the season-opening loss at Las Vegas were G/T Kadyn Proctor, CB Chris Johnson, ILB Jacob Rodriguez, WR Caleb Douglas, TE Will Kacmarek, WR Chris Bell, S Kyle Louis, S Michael Taaffe, WR Kevin Coleman Jr., TE Seydou Traore and FB DJ Herman. Trey Moore is on injured reserve, and safety Louis joined him this week.
The Dolphins have spent the past two weeks on the road in Nevada and California, giving those rookies a chance to be around the veterans and settle in a little. But nobody inside the building is pretending the growing pains will disappear overnight.
“I understand who we're playing and I understand all these players that we're about to play against,” Dolphins' first-year coach Jeff Hafley said. “This game is going to be about us taking a step forward.”
That step forward can mean cleaner football, even if the result doesn’t flip right away.
“I try not to be too hard on them, but at the same time, you do want to hold them accountable because they're out there playing ball and whoever's out there playing ball, you want them to do their one-eleventh,” Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis said of the numerous youngsters.
There were flashes in Week 1. Caleb Douglas and Jacob Rodriguez stood out at times, and Rodriguez finished with 14 tackles at Las Vegas.
Michael Taaffe also came away with an interception. But the mistakes piled up too, many of them the kind fans and media might not even catch in real time.
Chris Bell said Willis helped him get lined up a few times. Kadyn Proctor said he missed a few times on his “aiming points” of blocks. Douglas said he missed a few blocks and wants to clean that up in Week 2.
Slowik said the breakdowns were part of the process with so many new faces trying to absorb the scheme.
“I mean, we just had a lot of mistakes through the course of the game,” Slowik said. “Now, we have a lot of young guys playing.
We got a lot of new guys to the scheme and the system and what we're trying to do. I think we're all trying to learn and figure each other out through this process.”
Even the rookie defenders had to own some of the damage. Taaffe blamed himself for one of the two touchdowns that occured in the coverage area of rookie cornerback Johnson.
“There’s a lot scheme wise that was out of (Johnson's) control, that he could have had help in certain situations,” Dolphins second-year safety Dante Trader said. “He's always going to be hard on himself. And again, I've been there, so I was like, listen, let this be your worst game and if this is going to be your worst game, shoot, you're going to have a great career.”
Trader, at 23, is practically a veteran in this room.
Hafley said rookies won’t get a softer grading scale just because of their age. He may pull one into his office during the season to check on his mental state, but the standard stays the standard.
“I mean, there's a standard and we can't deviate from that,” Hafley said.
“We're never going to use youth as an excuse,” Dolphins defensive coordinator Sean Duggan added. “We've got to continue to coach these guys and they got to continue to prepare and grow.”
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