Part 1 of a Miami Dolphins On SI preseason opener mailbag:

From Jack Dixon:

Kion Smith? Heard very little about his camp and Borom at tackle?

Hey Jack, I’ll start with Borom, who really didn’t look all that impressive early on but has come on of late. As I wrote in my 10 players to watch in the season opener story, I’m not at the point where I’m totally comfortable with him as a backup swing tackle, but I’m closer now than I was before. As for Smith, I’d be inclined to think he’ll make the 53-man roster and has looked serviceable.

From Prince Check Casher:

Does McDaniel last the season?

Hey PCC, I would be shocked if that didn’t happen. I don’t see the Dolphins making a coaching change unless the season gets off to a horrendous start and the schedule is favorable in the early going with games at Indy and at home against New England (the Patriots will be much improved, but it’s a September home game and the Pats could need time to jell).

From Jason Kirkland:

Hi Alain, without factoring in draft position, or contracts, just based off the performance you’ve seen, who should: start inside with Brooks, be 3rd and 4th WR, starting CBs including slot, and S next to Minkah?

Hey Jason, so strictly based on camp performance so far, Willie Gay Jr. at ILB next to Brooks, though Dodson has outplayed Gay recently; the 3rd and 4th wide receivers would be Malik Washington and Dee Eskridge; the starting CBs would be Storm Duck and Kendall Sheffield with Mike Hilton as the nickel (though Cornell Armstrong has looked good too), and the safety next to Minkah would be John Saunders Jr. (though that’s not happening in the real world).

From Jorge boyd:

Hi Alain, I read somewhere that the Dolphins are planning to play three outside linebackers at the same time; if that is the case, who would be the front 7 and who would be on de DL?

Hey Jorge, yes, there absolutely will be (or should be) packages where the Dolphins will have three OLBs on the field at the same, if we’re classifying Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb and Chop Robinson all as OLBs. This likely would come in obvious passing situations, so there would be at least five DBs on the field, so now we’re talking about a front six. And that front six likely would have the three aforementioned players, along with Zach Sieler, Jordyn Brooks and either Willie Gay Jr. or Tyrel Dodson.

From Sal Cano:

Why not poach a practice player from a team with a reputation of a good line: Philly, Baltimore, Buffalo… Omar is always saying they have depth, well, that should include practice players, too, right?

Hey Sal, that’s kind of what the Dolphins tried to do last year when they signed Jack Driscoll as a free agent, but then they decided they liked rookie free agent Andrew Meyer better and released Driscoll. So it’s not quite that simple. That said, yes, the Dolphins absolutely will scour the waiver wire for O-linemen and will be paying attention to those teams that have better depth than most, adding the he Detroit Lions to the list you provided.

From rjgrosso:

Here goes … If the glowing camp reports about Willie Gay Jr. pan out, do we have a logjam at ILB? We haven’t heard much about Dodson, who seemingly played very well for us last year.

Hey Richard, yes, the Dolphins do have a lot of depth at ILB and not necessarily a logjam. You mentioned those two players and they’ll join Jordyn Brooks and K.J. Britt for what should be a solid foursome. And I would expect the snaps to be spread out beyond Brooks, who should be an every-down player.

From David Campbell:

Greetings Alain. I admit to being queasy (sorry, couldn’t help it) about a redshirt rookie (Paul) & rookie Savaiinaea as starters on left side but old enough to remember a couple of rookies named Webb & Sims that turned out pretty well (not comparing yet). I really haven’t heard too much about RB Jaylen Wright. Despite early (only in pencil) depth chart, is Mattison slowly taking that RB2 slot ? Also, what’s The Great Poupart’s Crystal Ball have as a rare but not unheard of trade of a 2nd round  pick (Cam Smith) player for player swap or a mid-round pick ? Life’s been hectic, so I owe you some catch-up on those fantastic Podcasts. 

Hey David, thanks for the kind words on the All Dolphins Podcast, which I encourage everyone to check out. I think there’s a wide open battle for that No. 2 running back spot right now with maybe a slight edge to Wright because the Dolphins like his potential. And, yes, the hope is Paul and Jonah became the next Webb and Sims, though that’s a very high bar. I’m on record as saying my prediction for Cam Smith is he’ll get traded, but there’s zero chance the Dolphins can get a mid-round pick for him from where I sit. The best would be like a seventh or maybe the Dolphins trading Smith and a seventh for a sixth.

From Jeff:

Hello Alain, on the Dolphins’ depth chart they listed an odd defensive formation/scheme. Basically they have a 4-man front, but they had a single OLB and listed two MLBs. What is the “official” defensive scheme? 4-3 or 3-4?  How many OLB are on the roster and are the Dolphins simply including a “flex” spot on the defensive side for DE/OLB? Many thanks for all that you do.

Thanks Jeff. The first thing I would point out about the defense on the depth chart is there are 12 players listed with four defensive linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs. So clearly that’s not the real first team. As for the “official” scheme, it’s a hybrid and we can call it different things based on how we want to list Chubb and Robinson, who the Dolphins have as defensive ends but really are edge defenders. So the Dolphins, based on last year, will run a lot of 3-4-4 alignments, some 2-4-5 (two pure linemen, four linebackers with two edge guys and five DBs), and will go to a 4-3 look in short-yardage situations at times.

From gburg63:

Are you confident that the DL (and blitz packages) can put enough pressure on opposing QBs so that our weakness at CB won’t be exposed?

That’s the key question, right? I think Anthony Weaver is a very sharp DC and he’ll blitz as much as he needs to make sure we don’t have a repeat of the first half of 2024 when the Dolphins clearly didn’t put enough pressure on the quarterback.

From Olive Grove Jon:

Hey Alain, a lot was said about the Fins’ inability to run in short-yardage situations. What’s your thoughts on how they’ve looked to address this with the additions of Mattison and Gordon? How have they looked in camp?

Hey OGJ, Mattison has looked great, though he’s put the ball on the ground way too much for my taste. I’m feeling Gordon more and more as camp moves along. So I think the Dolphins have addressed the need for a bigger back (assuming they keep one on the field on third-and-short), but still don’t know about the blocking up front. That answer will come in the regular season.

From Phil Montgomery:

After you’ve been around it, I’d be really interested to hear whether you think Ben Johnson is the real deal or is he just the next Adam Gase, an O coordinator who was over promoted due to his team’s success.

Hey Phil, that’s a great question and I’d be lying if I said I had a strong conviction about it. I do believe Johnson will have better success than Gase. I also hope for that considering I saw Johnson at the beginning of his NFL coaching career with the Dolphins more than a decade ago.

From Mason:

Alain, do the Dolphins have a discipline problem? It seems to me like you always reporting too many flags on the field. I noticed the Dolphins are listing Chop, Chubb as DE with Jones and Sieler as DT. Are the Dolphins switching to a 4-3 in order to have Chop, Phillips and Chubb on the field at the same time?

Hey Mason, for the second part, see my earlier answer. But where they list a player means nothing in terms of who they have on the field. I question the listing of Chubb and Robinson as DEs when they look like OLBs or edge defenders to many. But, yes, all three will be on the field at the same time in certain instances. As to the question of a discipline problem, I’ll just say there have been too many flags — way too many flags — and the frequency hasn’t slowed. It’s very frustrating.

More Miami Dolphins Coverage: