When rookie minicamps begin next weekend, the Miami Dolphins will be the only ones that aren't getting a look at the newest additions to the roster making their debut on the practice fields. Instead, new head coach Adam Gase thinks the time with rookies can be better spent inside classrooms, and he's implementing a different way of thinking about rookie camps in his first coaching job.
Dolphins testing innovative idea of tossing out rookie minicamp practices
Dolphins rookies won’t go through any rookie minicamp practices and will instead stay in the classroom, learning how to be professional football players.
Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
According to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, the Dolphins will hold sessions that teach rookies about the “schemes they’re playing, their assignments, and everything football that involves the brain.”
Rookies won’t just learn about football, either. Nutrition, financial planning, sports science and handling the media will also reportedly be covered during the rookie minicamp classroom sessions.
There are a couple big advantages of the idea:
1) The Dolphins will avoid injuries to players who have spent the last few months training for the 2016 NFL Draft. Last year, Jacksonville Jaguars first-round pick Dante Fowler, Jr. and Denver Broncos third-round pick Jeff Heuerman both missed their entire rookie seasons after suffering ACL tears in rookie minicamp. Miami's new strategy should make sure new players like Laremy Tunsil, Xavien Howard and Kenyan Drake at least get to training camp healthy.
2) Gase wants to make sure that the rookies don’t hit “the wall” near the end of the 2016 season. Via Salguero:
Gase wants to combat the rookie wall syndrome that seems to stop some rookies dead in their tracks come late November or December. There is a theory these young men hit that wall because they’re playing four preseason and 16 regular-season games in the NFL and usually play 12 games -- maybe three more if they’re the best teams -- in college.
By keeping the rookies fresh and away from the grind of practice for a bit, the Dolphins believe that the first-year players will be just a little more ready for the end of the season.
But there a couple disadvantages too:
1) Other teams will have rookies attending minicamp on a tryout basis and the Dolphins will not. While Miami added 10 undrafted free agents immediately after the 2016 NFL Draft, they won’t have players battling it out for the last spots on the roster.
Salguero points out that’s not really a disaster, though:
The Dolphins simply believe their energies should be better focused on getting the 10 or so rookies that are actually going to make this team ready to contribute as quickly as possible rather than finding that improbable one kid who comes out of nowhere and takes the team to the Super Bowl.
The New England Patriots added the hero of Super Bowl XLIX, cornerback Malcolm Butler, after he impressed in a post-draft tryout, but ultimately, Salguero is correct: Rookie tryouts aren't where you go mining for Super Bowl talent.
Still, even if a player like Butler isn’t discovered in rookie camp, a few teams have found contributors and the Dolphins are passing on that opportunity to improve the roster, even if only a little bit.
2) Rookies won’t get the on-field experience and will see an NFL field for the first time in training camp. In the long run, that might not matter too much, but eventually rookies have to learn the pace and intensity of an NFL practice.
Instead of getting those learning experiences out of the way in May, the Dolphins will push them back to the end of the summer, just a couple weeks before the preseason debut against the New York Giants on Aug. 12.
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The innovative idea by the Dolphins is one that makes plenty of sense, but it comes in lieu of practices and rookie tryouts. Maybe in the future, a new collective bargaining agreement will allow for both, but under the current CBA, the NFL Players Association might not be too happy with the idea of players hunting for tryouts having fewer opportunities.
Gase’s decision to think outside the box is far from a bad one, though, and could have long-term effects on the way rookies transition from college to professional football.
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