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 wide receiver position.
Can DeVante Parker repeat or improve upon 2019?
Parker’s explosion in 2019 was the payoff Miami has been waiting nearly half a decade for. In his fifth season in the NFL, Parker became everything he was supposed to be as a former top-20 overall selection in the 2015 NFL Draft. Now comes the next hard part — repeating that performance year over year.
Physical talent has never been the problem for Parker, so with a fresh contract in hand and a strong foundation between he and head coach Brian Flores, Parker should be well situated for success. But it is worth noting that the team did change their offensive coordinator and the team also lost wide receivers coach Karl Dorrell this offseason, who took the head coaching job at the University of Colorado.
There will be some changes — can Parker transcend them to become a No. 1 wide receiver for Miami in the long run?
Will Preston Williams indeed be at full health to start the season?
The former undrafted free agent was on a terrific pace at the season’s midway point before a knee injury ended his season prematurely. Williams handled punts and was in position to challenge for 1,000 yards on the season before injury struck — can he get back to full health in time for the start of the season? What will Williams’ availability look like in training camp? How far along is he in his rehab?
These are all critical questions that we will not have answers to until camp opens up, but Williams is a potential critical piece of Miami’s passing game and his health being at 100% would be a big boost for Miami’s hopes of hitting the ground running this season.
Who will step up to create plays after the catch?
Will it be Albert Wilson? Jakeem Grant? Gary Jennings Jr? Miami needs pass catchers who can take a pass in stride and break off big gains or else it runs the risk of teams crowding the line of scrimmage and first 10 yards of the field and forcing Miami to play “small ball” in the passing game. Albert Wilson has been a RAC stud in the past but he looked like a shell of himself in 2019 as he continued to recover from a hip injury in 2018. Jakeem Grant might be the fastest player on the team — but he’s ended the last two seasons on injured reserve and his reliability is questionable at best for a full 16-game schedule. Jennings Jr. is a sleeper — he played the slot receiver role in West Virginia’s college spread and ran a blazing fast 40-time in 2019 ahead of the NFL Draft.
Miami will need someone to step up here. Who is is going to be?
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