The Ten Biggest Talking Points Heading Into Training Camp

The Ten Biggest Talking Points Heading Into Training Camp

1. Malik Willis
Regardless of your opinion of the former Packers quarterback when he was signed as a free agent, you can’t deny that the upside isn’t intriguing. Because it is. You can immediately slot him in with Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels and Jalen Hurts as the most mobile passer in the game not called Lamar Jackson, which will immediately bring an element to the Dolphins they’ve not had since the heyday of Ryan Tannehill. It’s a quarterback league, and although there are way bigger issues in Miami than what happens under center, how Willis can assimilate into Bobby Slowik’s scheme now the pads are on will be the number one talking point.

2. The Wide Receiver Group
The real number one talking point without any question is this group of players. Who, if anyone, can emerge to help their quarterback out? If the struggles that hampered them in the spring hold over to the summer, it’s going to be a huge issue for the team on myriad levels. Perhaps the most concerning issue with this group isn’t about X’s and O’s per se.

It’s about the future of the team: how can you possibly evaluate Malik Willis properly when your receiving corps, across the board, is the worst in the NFL? Especially when you’re almost certainly going to have a top two pick in a draft that could contain passers such as Arch Manning, Dante Moore, Drew Mestemaker, CJ Carr, Drake Lindsey, LaNorris Sellers, Darian Mensah, Jayden Maiava, Trinidad Chambliss and more.

Fifth-round pick Kevin Coleman was the best of the bunch during mini-camp, and it wasn’t particularly close. He could be in line to start opening day in the slot. But the Dolphins need this room to kick into shape quickly or the long-term plan that GM Jon-Eric Sullivan is trying to implement may hit a very large bump in the road.

3. Chop Robinson
If you’ve followed me or my work or my podcast for any length of time, you’ll know I’ve struggled with Robinson’s game as far back as Penn State. I watched eight games of his in 2023 as a Nittany Lion, and I thought he was one of the most polarising prospects in the entire draft. His tape was an absolute roller-coaster ride of explosive speed and get-off, mixed with stretches where he all but disappeared. His 11.5 sacks in three seasons were also a serious red flag.

As was a final campaign where he had just 15 total tackles and four takedowns – with just two against FBS teams. Despite the fabulous get-off, he couldn’t seem to get home, and I was worried about how much his game would transfer to the next level. Because if you can’t finish against Wisconsin and Illinois, how can you expect to do it against Penei Sewell in Detroit and Lane Johnson in Philadelphia? And truth be told, his selection was a desperate, boom-or-bust type of swing for the hedges that Chris Grier had resorted to in previous drafts.

After a solid rookie season, he fell off a cliff in 2025, finishing with just 19 pressures, 5 hits and 15 hurries at an unbelievably underwhelming pass-rush win rate of just 8.8%, which ranked him 125th. Praised in the spring for how well he set the edge, Robinson has added weight and will play under the man who helped Micah Parsons to 12.5 sacks last season before a season-ending ACL injury.

The Dolphins are desperate for pass rush, and they have to believe that Robinson can be a force as more than just a sub-package rusher. He has to deliver on all three downs. As I wrote in my very first piece for Dolphins Talk, it’s absurd to write him off after just two seasons and to call him a bust. But believe me, alarm bells are ringing. And they’re ringing hard.

4. Austin Jackson
There may not be a player on the entire team with as much weight on his shoulders as Jackson, a complete enigma who’s missed an astonishing 41% of his career games – he’s played in just 62 of 104 matchups since Miami passed on Justin Jefferson, Jordan Love, Jordyn Brooks, Tee Higgins, Xavier McKinney and Jonathan Taylor to take him in that disastrous first round of 2020.

If he can stay healthy, then the bottom line is that Miami can protect Malik Willis with the best RT on its roster, allowing first-rounder Kadyn Proctor to bed in at left guard. With a line that goes: Paul, Proctor, Brewer, Savaiinaea, Jackson, then the team has a chance. But if the former USC left tackle falls foul of the injury bug again, it could mean shifting Proctor to RT, a position he’s never played, or experimenting with Charlie Heck, Kevin Cline or Gottlieb Ayedze, scenarios which nobody wants to face.

5. Cornerbacks
Last time I checked, the Dolphins had eleven corners on the roster, and you could argue that the best of them has yet to start a game in the NFL. Chris Johnson was as advertised in mini-camp and if that can carry over into the summer and beyond, he will nail down one of the two outside corner spots, as well as probably seeing some snaps inside too. But on the other side and in the slot…..your guess is as good as mine.

The consensus from those I’ve talked to is that coming into camp, JuJu Brents and Jason Marshall Jr. are in the box seat to start on the perimeter, but the issue for Brents is that he’s had just one healthy season since he started college in 2018, and all three of his NFL campaigns have ended because of injury issues. Given the importance of the position in Jeff Hafley’s scheme, much like the receivers, this unit needs to find serious contributors quickly.

6. For Corners, See Also: Safeties
There is one definite starter in the safety group, and that’s Dante Trader, who made a solid impression as a rookie and has continued that upward arrow in the off-season, leading to his new nickname of ‘Teacher’s Pet’ for how he’s always around the new coaching staff asking questions and demonstrating his leadership.

Lacking in the sort of game-changing athletic ability you desire, he will come downhill and hit you in the mouth, and if he can fill that role that Evan Williams played so effectively in Green Bay, the Dolphins might have a legitimate piece in the former Maryland standout. But who plays opposite him is up for grabs. Rookies Michael Taaffe and Louis Moore have a shot, but Lonnie Johnson is probably the clubhouse leader at the moment.

7. Can Greg Dulcich Take Off?
One of the brighter spots for Miami last season was the play of Dulcich, who delivered a number of big-time plays up the seam. He finished with a career-best 12.9 yards per catch and should become a prime target for Malik Willis. And he’s not without talent: a third-round pick of the Broncos in 2022, he was an All-Conference player as a senior at UCLA and was second in the nation in YPC average at the position.

Unfortunately, his career has been blighted by injuries both in the Mile High City and in New York, where he flashed for the Giants but could never stay on the field. Rewarded with a one-year deal worth up to $3.25 million in the spring, he won’t block a pop-up. But he has excellent hands and can get open against multiple coverages. If he can continue to emerge, it will certainly help the evaluation of Willis.

8. Sophomore DTs
It’s a big season for the trio of 2025 draftee interior defenders, most notably Kenneth Grant, who flashed a little down the stretch last year but will be asked to take on a much more significant role. First off, Hafley needs to work out what he is. The size profile points to one thing at 335lbs, but the quickness and the skill set offer intriguing upside in a multitude of roles, notably as a potential pocket wrecker.

As for Jordan Phillips, you just want to see continued development. Jeff Hafley is already a big fan – in the spring he called him: “A damn good zero technique.” He’ll be asked to take on a significantly increased role from his 16 starts and 465 snaps a season ago, but is the perfect apex player for Jon-Eric Sullivan to build around – a high-upside defender who isn’t going to come close to his peak until the point where the GM believes this team is going to really start contending.

And for Zeke Biggers, I don’t think it was a stretch to say that over the last five or six weeks of the season he was the best of Miami’s three rookie DTs. If the trio can continue to show development through camp and into the season, it may make veteran Zach Sieler expendable.

9. Which Rookie will Emerge?
I mentioned Kevin Coleman earlier on, and Miami is hoping that his running mate at receiver, Caleb Douglas, can put an underwhelming mini-camp, beset by drops, behind him. What Kacmarek brings to the table will only start to show up in camp now that the pads are on, and it will be interesting to see the former Ohio State standout moving people on the line of scrimmage. But look out for Pitt’s Kyle Louis, who can wear multiple hats and should follow up a strong spring.

He figures early on to be a chess piece, making use of his versatility to play a multitude of roles and giving Hafley a Nick Emmanwori-style player who can operate as a safety/dime LB/overhang/big nickel. But who can also roam the second-level as a down LB, and make plays from stack alignments.

As Assistant GM Kyle Smith said during his post-day-three-of-the-draft press conference, the Dolphins view Louis as an LB first, albeit with the ability to do different things in different packages. He plays with a toughness and an intelligence that’s hard to match, and he has 50 pressures over the past two seasons alone, which should parlay into some nickel blitzes.

10. Jeff Hafley
It’s his first training camp as an NFL head coach, so how will he handle everything that the next few weeks are going to throw at him? Injuries, the heat, player fights, scrimmages, fan expectation, and more. He’s been pitch-perfect since he joined, both with the media and in feedback I’ve heard from around the playing staff. This is his time to bring the blueprint into the light.