East Notes: Drake, DRC, Revis
The Dolphins will treat rookie running back Kenyan Drake as the starter this week in place of the injured Arian Foster, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Rapoport, though, passes along more interesting news regarding Miami’s running back corps and head coach Adam Gase‘s attempts to instill discipline in his new club.
After Gase’s highly-publicized decision to leave Jay Ajayi off the team’s travel list prior to the Dolphins’ regular season opener in Seattle, there was another incident involving the team’s running backs the following week. Both Isaiah Pead and Damien Williams missed a meeting in advance of Miami’s Week 2 matchup against New England, which is why both were inactive for that contest. Drake, it appears, is the only back on the 53-man roster who is both healthy and has not had a lapse in maturity over the past several weeks.
As Rapoport notes, time will tell if more “messages” are necessary or if the Dolphins will begin to fall in line with Gase’s vision.
Now for more from the league’s east divisions:
- Despite his team-friendly deal and his still considerable abilities, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is clearly not in the Giants‘ long-term plans, James Kratch of NJ.com writes. Janoris Jenkins and Eli Apple are entrenched as the team’s top two corners, and it would make no sense for New York to pay $6.5MM for a 30-year-old slot corner after this season (especially when the team could recoup the full $6.5MM by cutting DRC). But there are plenty of cornerback-needy teams for whom Rodgers-Cromartie would represent a significant upgrade, so Kratch opines that the Giants should look to trade DRC prior to this year’s deadline, and if that fails, then the team should release him before free agency begins next year.
- Rich Cimini of ESPN.com believes the Jets and cornerback Darrelle Revis are set for a “contract staredown” after the season. Revis is scheduled to earn $15MM in 2017, including a non-guaranteed roster bonus of $2MM, which is due to be paid on the second day of the 2017 league year in March. Of course, if Revis begins to recapture his prior level of play, his contract may not be as much of an issue, but if he continues to struggle, the team will probably ask him to renegotiate, which Revis has never shown any inclination to do. As Cimini notes, the roster bonus puts a deadline on what could become one of the bigger storylines of the offseason.
- Eagles head coach Doug Pederson expects Dorial Green-Beckham‘s role to increase as DGB continues to learn the offense and get healthy, as Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice.com writes. Through the first two games, Green-Beckham has had just six passes thrown his way, though Pederson says DGB was the primary target on several plays in the team’s Week 2 win over Chicago, but the defense dictated that the play go elsewhere.
- If Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson is in fact suspended for PED use–his hearing is set for October 4–Marc Narducci of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that the team will move left guard Allen Barbre to right tackle and promote Stefen Wisniewski to the starting lineup to take Barbre’s place.
AFC East Notes: Williams, Thomas, Johnson, Kelly
Bills newcomer Mike Williams sat out portions of minicamp to rest his troubled hamstring, but the veteran wideout has no worries heading into training camp.
“I’m fully ready to go,” Williams told Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News. “I trained this whole offseason. There was really no offseason for me. I kinda had to get my leg better. I had to get back to feeling like Mike again, like my mom always tells me. Today running that conditioning test made me feel like I was Mike again.
“At the start of camp, just did the conditioning test and I feel real good. I feel great. I feel I got an A-plus, if there was a grade for it. I feel I’m ready to go.”
Williams finished 2013 with 22 catches for 216 yards and two touchdowns – all career lows. The Buccaneers traded the wideout to the Bills in early April for a sixth-round pick.
Let’s look at some more notes from the AFC East…
- Mike Rodak of ESPN.com gives Bills wideout Marcus Easley an 80 percent chance of making the team, especially considering the 26-year-old’s contributions on special teams. Easley could potentially be squeezed out by receivers Chris Hogan and T.J. Graham or fullback Evan Rodriguez.
- Graham, tight end Chris Gragg and punter Brian Moorman are notable omissions from Rodak’s projected Bills roster. In his scenario, offensive tackle Cyrus Kouandjio would beat veteran Erik Pears for a starting gig, resulting in the 32-year-old’s release.
- The Dolphins would like somebody to challenge running back Daniel Thomas for a roster spot, and ESPN.com’s James Walker thinks that player could be undrafted rookie Damien Williams.
- If Jets running back Chris Johnson proves that his surgically repaired knee is not 100 percent, ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini says it may be in the team’s best interest to carry a fifth running back. The competition for that final spot would likely include Daryl Richardson and Alex Green.
- If there were to be a surprise cut on the Patriots defense, ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss thinks it could be defensive tackle Tommy Kelly. The 33-year-old is coming off an ACL injury and recently restructured his contract, leading the writer to say that Kelly is “anything but a sure-fire lock to stick.”
- Safety Patrick Chung and offensive guard Dan Connolly were notable snubs on Reiss’s projected Patriots roster.
Dolphins Sign 21 Undrafted Free Agents
THURSDAY, 4:25pm: Add one more player to the Dolphins’ undrafted free agent class, as USC safety Demetrius Wright showed up on today’s transaction wire, per Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter).
WEDNESDAY, 10:44am: The Dolphins have signed two more undrafted free agents, bringing their total to 20. Former Arizona State defensive end Gannon Conway and Tulane running back Orleans Darkwa have also showed up on the league’s transaction wire for the Dolphins, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
MONDAY, 6:06pm: The Dolphins have made their undrafted free agent signings official today announcing their 18 new players via their official Twitter account.
Here are all the Dolphins’ signings:
- Deion Belue, DB, Alabama
- Steven Clarke, DB, Vanderbilt
- Tariq Edwards, LB, Virginia Tech
- Evan Finkenberg, OL, Arizona State
- Harold Hoskins, TE, Marshall
- David Hurd, OL, Arkansas
- Anthony Johnson, DT, LSU
- Derrell Johnson, LB, East Carolina
- Kamal Johnson, DT, Temple
- Ryan Lankford, WR, Illinois
- Tyler Larsen, OL, Utah St.
- Tevin Mims, DE, South Florida
- Garrison Smith, DT, Georgia
- Marcus Thompson, LB, Rutgers
- Davonte Wallace, OL, New Mexico State
- Damien Williams, RB, Oklahoma
- Andrew Wilson, LB, Missouri
- Rantavious Wooten, WR, Georgia