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Setting expectations for Dolphins’ training camp wide receiver battle

kyle crabbs
·4 min read

The Miami Dolphins entered the 2021 offseason with a dire need at an upgraded wide receiver room. The team finished the year in 2020 running on fumes, with rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa struggling to find separation from his targets; which did not allow him to build confidence throughout the course of the team’s stretch run to close the year. And so Miami went to work. And they added piece after piece until we’ve reached the point in the road that we’re now at.

The Dolphins have more wide receivers than you can shake a stick at. Fourteen of them, to be exact:

…you got all that? Add in the presence of TE Mike Gesicki, who takes approximately 80% of his snaps from a wide receiver alignment and you’ve suddenly got a very crowded room. Very crowded indeed.

So, with the team on the doorstep of training camp and kicking off the biggest positional battle on the roster, what can we expect? Miami surprisingly brought Ford back from the brink yet again after a number of cuts and even a trade in his lengthy history of transactions with the Dolphins.

Here’s how we shake things out at this point in time with Miami’s wide receiver battle and the race to fill seven spots (our guess for how many Miami will carry on the active roster):

Locks for offensive contributions

  • DeVante Parker

  • Will Fuller V

  • Jaylen Waddle

Go ahead and put this trio into the top three spots in the wide receiver room in Sharpie — Parker is an accomplished, if not frustrating, veteran. Fuller signed a one-year deal worth in excess of $10M and Waddle was the team’s No. 6 overall pick in this year’s draft. This trio isn’t going anywhere.

Special teams appeal

  • Mack Hollins

  • Robert Foster

  • Jakeem Grant

Hollins and Foster are kick coverage players on special teams who can get down the field quickly and help play contain as “gunners”; that is a valuable skill and it is a role Hollins has filled for this team quite well since he got here. Foster may have some more ceiling as an offensive weapon; which will help him if he’s directly battling Hollins for a single spot out of the 7 slots we’re handing out.

Grant’s special teams contributions are totally different; he’s exclusive as a returner. But that’s also a negative relative to his complete body of work — he’s really only been effective in the NFL to this point as a returner and his offensive impact is marginal at best. He’ll need to blow the rest of the return candidates out of the water to comfortably make the roster; a tough chore when you consider his financial commitments this season.

The danger zone

  • Albert Wilson

  • Preston Williams

  • Lynn Bowden Jr.

  • Allen Hurns

  • Malcolm Perry

Welcome to the party! This is where things get interesting; primarily because this group of players is an odd mix of potential, experience, youth, versatility and financial implications. We’re assuming that three seats at the table will be available to these five players once you account for Parker, Fuller V, Waddle and one of the three special teams contenders.

So how do you go about making cuts from here? Hurns feels like he’s an outlier relative to the physical skillsets of the other players; but eliminating him still leaves one unenviable decision to be made. Perry and Bowden Jr. showed some promise and versatility in 2020 as rookies, but Albert Wilson is a more experienced (but not durable) version of the type of player either could eventually become.

And then there’s former UDFA Preston Williams — who has the peaks and valleys of a talented player who desperately needs reps; but can’t stay healthy enough to collect them. But he’s also very cheap while on a UDFA contract.

Little to no chance

  • Kirk Merritt

  • Kai Locksley

  • Isaiah Ford

Merritt was carried with the team for the season last year as a practice squad player and called up on game day — a similar role could be in his future this upcoming season. The same can be said for Locksley, a former college quarterback. Ford, however, feels like he’s entering into a tough situation with all the new faces around him in the Dolphins’ receiver room. Consider Ford got bumped off the roster with last year’s group and now add in all the new faces? It’s hard to envision him commanding a spot in the top-7.

The final breakdown

Want the cheat sheet? Here’s how we’re stacking up the positional battle for the Dolphins’ training camp battle at wide receiver:

  1. DeVante Parker (Lock)

  2. Will Fuller V (Lock)

  3. Jaylen Waddle (Lock)

  4. Albert Wilson, Preston Williams, Lynn Bowden Jr., Allen Hurns, Malcolm Perry (WR depth)

  5. Albert Wilson, Preston Williams, Lynn Bowden Jr., Allen Hurns, Malcolm Perry (WR depth)

  6. Albert Wilson, Preston Williams, Lynn Bowden Jr., Allen Hurns, Malcolm Perry (WR depth)

  7. Mack Hollins/Robert Foster/Jakeem Grant (Primarily special teams)

Longshots: Kirk Merritt, Kai Locksley, Isaiah Ford