No one is expecting the Miami Dolphins to vault into playoff contention one year removed from a 1-15 record, but Bill Parcells teams generally show improvement in their first year. To take a step forward as a franchise, a young group of receivers will need to grow up fast.
That group is led by 2007 No. 1 pick Ted Ginn Jr., who was a little disappointing in his rookie year. The development of Ginn and third-year player Derek Hagan will go a long way in also helping the progress of whoever wins the No. 1 quarterback job among John Beck, Chad Henne and Josh McCown.
The Dolphins brought in former UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell to work with the receivers. Dorrell was the Broncos’ receivers’ coach for a few years before taking the UCLA job, and he sees No. 1 potential in Ginn, who had 34 catches for 420 yards and two touchdowns last season.
“He’s very smooth, quick, has good feet. He has all the tools to be a great player. He knows he needs to be a bigger factor in what we do,” Dorrell said. “[Creating separation] takes day-to-day preparation and work at doing that, and he does that every day.
“Route-running, ball skills, he has a better knowledge of what we’re trying to get done. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.”
Incidentally, the team says it will not scale back Ginn’s duties as a punt and kick returner despite the added stress that could put on him.
Hagan, who had 29 catches for 373 yards and two touchdowns last season, realizes it’s time to be the consistent threat he was at Arizona State. He developed a reputation for dropping some easy throws.
“I’m ready,” Hagan said. “I’ve been sitting behind Chris Chambers and Marty Booker the last couple of years and now those guys are gone and my expectations are high.”
Miami didn’t bother with the receiver position in the draft, meaning Ginn, Hagan and free-agent signee Ernest Wilford are the only experienced pass-catchers on the roster. That hasn’t dulled Dorrell’s enthusiasm.
“There’s a lot of possibilities,” he said. “It’s a group that has a lot of growth potential, and that’s my job, to get that potential out of them.”
