No the sky is not falling after two OTA practices

The Miami Dolphins have held two OTA practices and already people think the season is over.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Miami Dolphins are back on the practice field and some people are already calling it quits on the season. The team is struggling and, after two days of practice – with the media only allowed to see part of one of those workouts – there are people who are ready to pack it in for 2026. I promise you, the sky is not falling after two days of organized team activities.

This portion of the offseason training program allows for the first offense versus defense drills, but the team is working without pads and without contact. This is a time where playbook installation is being done and the basics are being worked out. The performance on the field on Tuesday and Wednesday this week is not the performance we will see on Sundays in September.

This one post on X from South Florida Sun Sentinel reporter Davis Furones seems to have sent fans into a frenzy:

You mean a speed receiver going into his fourth season with a chip on his shoulder after not reaching 1,000 yards on the season for the first time in his career last year came out ready to run? A speed receiver “burned” cornerbacks?

Yep – season must be over.

I mean, forget the positive of Jaylen Waddle being ready to burn people, only focus on cornerback Cam Smith limping and “burned…DBs.”

Yes, the Dolphins’ cornerbacks are a concern. It is May. Things will change between now and September. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey will be traded, providing the Dolphins with a roster spot and salary cap space that could be used to add a veteran, with rumors of Asante Samuel, Jr., and Rasul Douglas leading the way. Younger players like Storm Duck (second year), Kader Kohou (fourth year), Ethan Bonner (third year), and Smith (third year), along with veteran free-agent addition Artie Burns, must step up and prove they are ready to be key members of the defense.

Miami is betting their pass rush will be a factor in the pass defense this season, led by Jalen Phillips, Bradley Chubb, and Chop Robinson. In non-contact, non-padded practices in May, it is hard to judge how effective a pass rush is in disrupting an offense’s timing and aerial attack.

“In the outside linebackers room, we call ourselves the ‘Big Dawgs.’ We have that mantra because at the end of the day, we want to be the ones to change the game,” Chubb told the media on Wednesday about how they can help the secondary. “We want to be the ones that if we need a play, we’re going to be the ones that do it. So yes, we’ve got some inexperienced guys in the backend, but we all know who we are in that room and we take it upon ourselves not because, ‘Oh, we don’t believe in this guy,’ but because we want to walk the walk and talk the talk. It’s added pressure to us, but we know they’re going to handle their job because we’re going to handle ours.”

Of course, if the pass rush were having an impact, the sky would be falling still as it would lead to concerns about the offensive line.

Head coach Mike McDaniel spoke with the media on Wednesday, including a discussion on the position battles that will play out at cornerback this summer. He explained, “I think it’s sometimes the best message is the clearest one. I’ve said to the group a couple times, ‘I have a depth chart to fill out, can you help me out with it?’ But realistically, we’re far from establishing what that is at any position. Yes, there’s guys that are not going to get beaten out, but the biggest thing is I want people to show me who they are. I don’t like looking at a guy, looking at their name plate and judging them off of last year, the year before. I want to see how they compete and what they do with the opportunity. The way that it’s played out thus far is you have a lot of guys very eager and understanding what the opportunity is.”

He continued, adding, “So the secondary unit, every day in individual, you can see – any sort of DB, they are as focused as anybody on the field in what they are training. You take that training to practice, and we had some great line of scrimmage and deep-third play yesterday and some stuff that we can get better at. So my thing is I’m not trying to guess; I don’t want to guess. I want people to show and earn. So then what do you do? You coach, you assess good play, bad play regardless. How do you adjust the next day? And that from a secondary perspective epitomizes what the whole team is, is you are defining yourself daily by what you do, not say. That’s what I’m excited about, because they are very much up for the task of competing who gets to take most advantage of the opportunity.”

It is May. It is the second day of OTAs. Can we stop panicking over every little comment, tweet, and report that is made? Everything will change over the rest of the summer – including the team likely adding veteran cornerbacks – and we do not need to be worried today about Jaylen Waddle having a good practice against the defensive backs.