Dolphins look sharp in first camp practice

Jul 28, 2017 - 12:01 AM DAVIE, Fla. -- The Miami Dolphins were in midseason form mentally on Thursday, the first day of training camp. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill was able to hit wide receiver DeVante Parker on a two-point conversion after fellow wide receiver Kenny Stills showed some awareness by briefly screening a defender. Parker shrewdly used the screen and Tannehill recognized what was going on, which, according to the Dolphins, is an indication things are different this year.

Tannehill said such wisdom shows players understand the play instead of simply knowing how to run the play.

"Once you get to that step, that next step in development as an offense," Tannehill said, "that's when you see more plays being made because guys have an overall understanding of what we're trying to accomplish."

The defense was sharp mentally, too. In fact, in a red zone-intense practice, the offense and defense came out fairly even on Thursday.

Again, the players maintain advanced knowledge of the system was at the root of the cause for that, this time on the defensive side of the ball.

"Instead of trying to teach guys the defense like we were last year, now we're trying to work on the details," safety Michael Thomas said. "And it's a process. You can't jump ahead at any point, but at the same time because we're not having a whole new coaching staff now we can try to start honing in on the details."

About the only issue with the team is wide receiver Jarvis Landry, who is in the final year of his rookie contract. Miami hasn't been in touch with Landry's representatives recently.

Owner Steve Ross is appreciative of how Landry has handled himself.

"I think that he's a great player," Ross said. "There's no question about it. I think he's handled himself well. He didn't hold out. It's not a question if we don't sign him now, we lose him. We can franchise him and go from there. So there is a lot of opportunity for him to stay here. I hope he stays here because he's a great player."

However, Ross also knows the aforementioned franchise tag is his trump card. That's why Ross is hesitant to say they'll get something done with Landry before the season opener.

"I don't know if before the season," Ross said, "but like I said, it's not really mandatory that we do it before the season."

Despite Landry's contract situation, Pro-Bowl center Mike Pouncey being limited by a hip ailment, Pro-Bowl safety Reshad Jones being on the non-football injury list with some type of muscle ailment, and linebacker Koa Misi being placed on season-ending injured reserve due to the neck problem that limited him last year, Miami remains optimistic about training camp and the season.

They're confident that bringing back 17 starters and probably the vast majority of the players from last year will equal similar success to a year ago, and maybe more.

"Last year you walked into this and it was like, 'Where are we going with this? How does this work? When things don't quite go right, what's our answer?'" head coach Adam Gase said. "Now they're one step ahead. It was fun to go through that today because those guys look like we just had an OTA like three days ago. They look really comfortable and the speed of practice was good."



ROOKIE TO WATCH

--MLB Raekwon McMillan. The second-round pick from Ohio State seems to have the inside track on the starting job in the middle. And he didn't have a setback on Thursday, the opening day of training camp. McMillan was active (even though Miami wasn't in full pads) in the defense on both running downs and passing downs. The better test for McMillan will be when the team puts on the pads Saturday. Miami thinks that will turn out well considering McMillan has a reputation as an aggressive player.