Advertisement

A road PA announcer credited another player with his preseason TD; now, there’s no mistaking Chris Brooks on Dolphins active roster

david furones, south florida sun-sentinel
·4 min read

MIAMI GARDENS — Most undrafted rookies that make an NFL active roster can point to a moment where they were slighted, disrespected, undermined.

Chris Brooks had one just days before he was one of the Miami Dolphins’ 53 players to survive the cut and make the team.

In the Aug. 26 preseason game at the Jacksonville Jaguars, the running back heard Eli Apple’s name credited over stadium speakers for his touchdown scored in the exhibition. Albeit an innocuous mistake by the TIAA Bank Field public address announcer, made simply because Brooks shared No. 33 during training camp with the veteran cornerback Apple, it still happened because the undrafted back out of BYU didn’t even have his own jersey number.

Every year, there are preseason darlings that fans fall in love with upon seeing a few impressive performances against opposing third-stringers in the exhibition season. But it’s understood they’re longshots to make the roster.

It was especially true for Brooks, as part of a deep running back room on a team that was even looking into a potential trade for star Indianapolis Colts tailback Jonathan Taylor up until Tuesday’s cut-down deadline.

The 6-foot-1, 223-pound Brooks, however, made such an impression on the Dolphins coaching staff, that he was kept as a fifth running back with Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson Jr., De’Von Achane and Salvon Ahmed. He made the team over veteran Myles Gaskin. Wilson has since been placed on injured reserve, meaning he’s out at least the first four weeks of the regular season.

Brooks’ mindset went a long way in keeping him focused on his own play, as opposed to analyzing the odds stacked against him.

“I thought more in a day-to-day mindset,” he said. “I feel like if you look too far ahead, you get really anxious and get kind of nervous. I just thought, ‘What can I do today to get better?’ and ‘How can I learn from these guys?’ ”

Related Articles

In three preseason games, Brooks had 22 carries for 104 yards and two touchdowns, plus three catches for 39 yards and another score. He became known as that last running back in for those exhibitions, getting his snaps in the fourth quarters and keeping the Dolphins’ run game churning.

But before his physical running was on display in televised game settings, Brooks made his first big splash as a pro in training camp.

Not getting many opportunities in team portions of practice early in camp, he broke through on the final play of an early August practice with a 95-yard touchdown run in the team’s indoor bubble that had the offensive sideline in a frenzy over the exclamation point on the day’s drills.

“I think that the mental reps were just as important as the physical reps,” Brooks said. “Almost like I’m in it, getting those reps right then. I think taking advantage of those was a very big deal because anybody can get those same reps on game day.”

A productive rusher for four years at Cal before finishing his college career at BYU, Brooks never took it as a slight to go undrafted.

“I wouldn’t really look at is as a low,” he said. “I would say it’s an opportunity. It’s an opportunity that not many guys have. I can either take advantage of the opportunity or I can just let it go to waste. And I chose to take advantage.”

Brooks was surprised the Dolphins wanted to bring him in after the draft because he didn’t receive much interest from the team in the pre-draft process.

He learned he made the team Tuesday, like fellow undrafted rookies in tight end Julian Hill and defensive tackle Brandon Pili, when the Dolphins had a team meeting that afternoon following the cuts congratulating those that were on the initial 53.

This camp, Brooks has taken in the tutelage of veteran running backs coach Eric Studesville.

“Learning conceptual football and breaking it down to a foundational level,” Brooks said of learning from Studesville. “I think once he breaks it down to a foundational level, we’re able to learn, read and do things when we play football.”

As for the two No. 33s, both Brooks and Apple are on the roster, so they will have to settle who keeps it and who changes jersey numbers in the coming week ahead of the season opener at the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 10.