In just over three weeks, the Miami Dolphins will open training camp for the 2020 season ahead — and with it face the prospect of building upon a promising “foundation” year in 2020. The Miami Dolphins surprised everyone last season with a 5-4 stretch to finish the season and promptly followed suit by nailing down one of the most prolific college quarterbacks in recent history, plus a slew of new faces to add to the team.
The Dolphins will hold camp this year with fan enthusiasm as high as it has been in quite some time. But amid the restrictions of this offseason due to the ongoing health crisis, can the Dolphins rise to the challenge? We’ll be taking a look at each position group for the Miami Dolphins ahead of the start of training camp and exploring which storylines are most pressing to monitor as the Dolphins look to improve in year two under Brian Flores.
Here are the Dolphins’ key storylines in training camp at the tight end position.
Can Mike Gesicki repeat or improve upon 2019?
The explosion from Mike Gesicki over the second half of the 2019 season surely allowed many Dolphins fans to let out a big sigh of relief. Gesicki was bad as a rookie in 2018, but a competent coach seems to have put him in a much better position to have success moving forward. The challenge now is that the Dolphins have remodeled their offense once again in 2020 with new play caller Chan Gailey.
Tight ends have not been a staple of his passing games in recent years, but then again Gailey hasn’t really had many good ones to work with. Gailey typically sees to it that his best targets get the majority of the looks in the passing game — so if Gesicki is the second-best target this season for Miami he should get the opportunity to follow up 2019’s success.
Or so we hope.
Can Durham Smythe make the active roster in Miami’s new-look offense?
The Dolphins, under Chan Gailey, are expected to implement a lot of “11 personnel”, meaning they’ll have three receivers, one back and one tight end on the field simultaneously. What does that mean for Durham Smythe, who has commanded 25 targets in the passing game over his first two NFL seasons?
The Dolphins will still need extra bodies to allow the team to go heavy in short yardage situations, but is that value from Smythe enough to guarantee him a roster spot? If the Dolphins would prefer to keep a more dynamic backup tight end for the passing game, could the team call upon a 6th offensive linemen in heavy situations instead and look for more versatility from the tight end group?
Smythe is a bottom-third of the roster player given his lack of ceiling — and he should ultimately be fine. But given the Dolphins’ personnel groupings and snap distribution, we’re at least a bit interested to see how this plays out.
Who will serve as the backup for Gesicki in “11 personnel”?
So if Miami wants to space the field and call their tight ends into the action from the slot, who is going to serve as the primary backup for Gesicki on passing situations? Could it be Smythe, who isn’t anywhere near the same caliber of an athlete? Could former Detroit Lion Michael Roberts be the more appealing backup in the passing game? Or could young Chris Myarick create a stir and make the team? Myarick looked impressive in the 2019 preseason, logging 8 receptions for 104 yards in three games.
