The Miami Dolphins are learning plenty the hard way early in 2026, and rookie left guard Kadyn Proctor got a small but meaningful lesson after Sunday’s Week 2 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers.
Proctor, the 21-year-old first-round pick out of Alabama, had a chance to speak with 49ers star tackle Trent Williams, one of the game’s premier linemen. For a young player still sorting through the speed and punishment of the NFL, the conversation offered a little perspective.
“I kind of just went up to him and was just telling him, like, obviously I want some plays back. There’s just those two or three plays that linger in your mind,” Proctor said.
“But he was just telling me, like, he’s in Year 17 and he has some of those plays. So, just understanding how to push forward with that.
Everybody makes mistakes and that’s just the game of football. The guys that I’m going against are getting paid to do this, too.”
Williams is 38 and carries a résumé that includes 12 Pro Bowls and three All-Pro selections, so even a brief exchange carries weight for a rookie coming off his second regular-season game. Moments like that matter for a Dolphins team trying to grow up quickly while the losses and mistakes pile up.
That theme runs through the early-season conversation around Miami. The club is young, still rebuilding the roster, and trying to keep its footing while the learning curve steepens. Omar Kelly of the Miami Herald put it bluntly: “The standard for this Dolphins season needs to be avoiding blowouts.”
There’s also attention on other parts of the roster as the Dolphins work through the first stretch of the season. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald noted that inactive rookie DJ Campbell was a player Miami believed in enough to discuss using at guard, tackle and even center after taking him with the 200th overall pick in April’s NFL Draft. Campbell started 43 games at Texas.
Special teams has become another area under the microscope, with Marek Brave of The Phinsider reporting that the Dolphins brought in kickers for tryouts as Riley Patterson struggles. Lucas Havrisik was among the kickers brought in ahead of Week 3.
Elsewhere in the Dolphins chatter, Alain Poupart of Miami Dolphins on SI pointed to a Kansas City blueprint that could matter most to Miami, while The Phinsider also offered a look at the team’s slow start after its Week 2 stumble against the 49ers.
For now, Proctor’s takeaway is simple: the rookie is still adjusting, but he’s already picking up lessons from one of the best to ever do it.
In Other News...
Dolphins Suddenly Have A Kicking Problem Fans Cant Ignore
Riley Pattersons shaky start to the 2026 season has already forced the Dolphins into an uncomfortable place. After misses in both Week 1 and Week 2, Miami had to treat a position that is usually easy to overlook like a roster concern, and head coach Jeff Hafley did not hide his frustration as the errors piled up.
The response came quickly, with the Dolphins bringing in three kickers for tryouts in Chris Freeman, Tanner Brown and Lucas Havrisik. For now, though, Miami has not made a move to sign any of them, leaving the team with a live issue at a spot that can swing close games long before the bigger problems show up. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Already Face An Ugly AFC Problem After Two Weeks
Two weeks into the 2026 season, the early AFC landscape is already taking shape around the teams that can control games rather than merely survive them, and Miami is staring up at a troubling picture. The 49ers have opened with the leagues best point differential at plus-42, the Seahawks are right behind them at plus-27, and the Dolphins are already near the bottom at minus-36, a reminder that the margin for error has disappeared before September is even over.
For Miami, the number matters because it reflects more than just an early stumble. A point differential that ugly puts the Dolphins in the same conversation as the leagues worst teams and leaves them with little room to argue they have been more competitive than the standings suggest, even with a long season still ahead. The AFC has already begun to separate into teams building a cushion and teams scrambling to avoid an early hole, and Miami has work to do before the gap turns into something harder to dig out of. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins May Need Familiar Faces To Fix Two Growing Problems
The Dolphins rough start has left them with the kind of roster questions that tend to spread quickly when salary cap space is tight. Miami has already dipped into familiar territory this week by adding long snapper Luke Basso and edge rusher Andre Jones to the practice squad, a sign that the front office is looking for any useful help it can find while trying to patch holes across the roster.
One possible route is bringing back players who already know the building. Miami is reportedly considering veterans Emmanuel Ogbah and Kader Kohou from the Chiefs practice squad, with Ogbah offering a potential boost to a pass rush that needs one and Kohou giving the secondary another experienced option. For a team trying to stabilize two growing problems without much cap room to work with, those kinds of moves may be the most realistic ones left. [Read more 🡒]