The 2019 season is all about evaluation for the Miami Dolphins. Who can be relied upon to serve as a long-term piece? What can certain players do and how big of a role does that set themselves up for moving forward? Which young players are worth continuing to invest in and develop? These are the kinds of questions Brian Flores and company hope to have answered by the time Miami finishes their 2019 campaign at the end of the year.
But part of an evaluation must involve getting the players on the field and assessing their ability to execute in live action. And that is an opportunity that has not yet been afforded to two prominent defenders on Miami’s roster, DL Robert Nkemdiche and CB Cordrea Tankersley. Both of these young defenders have spent the season to this point on Miami’s physically unable to perform (PUP) list — and while they’re both eligible to return to the active roster, the Dolphins have not yet flipped the switch.
Flores thinks both players are coming along nicely in their bids to get back onto the active roster — with both recovering from 2018 knee injuries.
“…both guys are really working hard. Both guys are in good shape. Both guys have improved from last week to this week, I would say; and are kind of getting back into the swing of things from a football standpoint and from a practice standpoint,” said Flores.
“They’re getting more familiar with their teammates, with their communication, with their fundamentals. I think that’s the one thing for a guy – or two guys in this case – coming back off of a long, long layoff. It’s getting back into the footwork, hand placement, the bare bones technique from a football standpoint. They both need a lot of work there. I think a lot of people, there’s just this thought that you can just jump out there and play football and there’s a lot that goes into it.”
The Dolphins could sorely use some reinforcements at cornerback and the team should be eager to see what Robert Nkemdiche can bring to the table — it appeared as though the lightbulb had finally come on for him in year three last season in Arizona before getting injured. For now, the Dolphins will continue to wait and hope that they’ll get a chance to answer two more questions before heading into a pivotal 2020 offseason.
