The Miami Dolphins are two days into organized team activities (OTAs), and the coaching staff seems intent on showing confidence in their much-criticized secondary.
At every practice, at least one player is wearing an orange jersey, recognizing their hard work and leadership. The perk of the honor is that the player selects the music during that day’s session.
“It is solely about somebody that epitomizes what we are trying to do that day,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel explained to reporters in August 2023. “It’s about doing their job that day and how it affects the team and also you get to be the DJ.”
So is there a thinly-veiled message in the team’s decision to have young, undrafted cornerbacks wearing orange in the first two days of OTAs? On Tuesday, it was third-year defensive back Ethan Bonner in the jersey, and second-year corner Storm Duck donning one Wednesday.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and his staff seem to be speaking loudly with the decisions, and voicing a not-so-hidden meaning behind them. With cornerback Jalen Ramsey headed out the door, the Dolphins are left with a room of unproven, unheralded, and mostly undrafted corners.
In addition to Duck and Bonner, Miami also has 2024 undrafted signee Isaiah Johnson, as well as undrafted rookies BJ Adams and Ethan Robinson. Newly re-acquired Ryan “Bump” Cooper Jr. is another former rookie free agent who initially signed with the Baltimore Ravens before finding his way to Miami.
Even the safest and most senior corner left in the room, slot specialist Kader Kohou, signed with the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2022.
There’s still plenty of time for Miami to trade for another player or sign one in free agency, to bolster the unit. But the Dolphins seem to be telling the world that they’re confident in the young players they’ve been patiently developing.
If the orange jersey is any indication, Duck and Bonner are doing what they can to battle for spots and inspire confidence in the cornerback room.
This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Are Dolphins using orange practice jerseys to send a message about their young CBs?
Reporting by Jason Sarney, Dolphins Wire / Dolphins Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
