Dolphins’ McDaniel addresses injuries, Tagovailoa, Isaiah Wynn, more
The Dolphins are using new offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn at multiple positions, coach Mike McDaniel said Tuesday.
Wynn played right tackle in New England last season but played his first three NFL seasons at left tackle. He also played three years at left guard at Georgia and logged fewer than 50 NFL snaps at left guard with the Patriots.
“He’s been awesome,” McDaniel said, declining to answer if right tackle is an open competition with Wynn and Austin Jackson.
At the moment, Liam Eichenberg, Robert Jones and offseason addition Dan Feeney are options at left guard, and Wynn possibly could emerge as one.
McDaniel has said it’s soon to judge Eichenberg and Jackson after one year in a new system. Both will have the opportunity to win starting jobs, and general manager Chris Grier said last month that his expectation is that Jackson will be the team’s starter at right tackle.
The Dolphins did not re-sign Brandon Shell, who started 11 games at right tackle last season when Jackson missed 15 games with ankle injuries.
Wynn’s signing “raises the urgency and competitiveness and overall helps every player involved as long as every player is working together,” McDaniel said.
Dolphins media rules - which are common around the league - prohibit reporters from noting players’ specific positions during five offseason practices open to the media, the first of which is Tuesday afternoon.
In other news, McDaniel said he had no timetables to offer for the return of defensive backs Brandon Jones and Nik Needham.
Jones sustained a season-ending knee injury in Week 7 last season. Needham sustained a season-ending Achilles’ injury in Week 6.
“They are diligent; I feel good about where they are at,” McDaniel said. “I try not to get consumed with when they’re going to be ready now.”
Jones said in January that he should be ready for the start of training camp. Needham said in January that he was targeting sometime around the start of camp to return.
McDaniel addressed other issues:
▪ On Tua Tagovailoa: “I’ve seen a guy that has followed through on his words as much as any young man I’ve come across in my career. You talk about going above and beyond [with] training and martial arts. We’ve incorporated it into some of the drill work we do with the quarterbacks.”
▪ McDaniel declined to say if cornerback Trill Williams - who missed last season with an ACL injury - has moved to safety, but said a couple of players on defense are working at multiple positions.
We were told on Monday that Andrew Van Ginkel is working with inside linebackers in nickel packages and outside linebacker in base packages, to make him more versatile and potentially get him on the field more. McDaniel confirmed on Wednesday that he’s playing both positions after playing exclusively outside linebacker and an edge position during the first four seasons of his career.
“When you have an edge player that has an ability to play off the ball backer, those things are very important, not to mention the fact position flexibility allows you to have an extra human being at each position on game day,” McDaniel said. “And understanding all the defense is instrumental. The entire defensive staff thought he’s at the position he can handle that.”
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio reached out to Van Ginkel when he was a free agent and encouraged him to return. Van Ginkel usually has been very productive when he gets playing time.
▪ McDaniel has regularly been attending Heat home playoff games, including Game 3 of the Boston series. “How cool for South Florida sports,” he said of the Heat’s and Panthers’ playoff runs. “They’re doing a lot of things people said they couldn’t do. We are taking note.”
▪ McDaniel said he supports the NFL approval of a new rule making a third quarterback available on game days even if the player is not active, provided the two active quarterbacks are injured or ejected.
