Mike McDaniel walked up to Erik Ezukanma before his first practice as a Miami Dolphins player and began to tease the rookie. Before taking to the field on Friday during the first on-field session o…
Mike McDaniel walked up to Erik Ezukanma before his first practice as a Miami Dolphins player and began to tease the rookie. The Dolphins’ coach was seemingly attempted to cut the tension, ease the nervous energy the team’s fourth-round pick had percolating by bringing up his body fat, and telling the former Texas Tech receiver he needed to get it down.
“I’m at four percent,” said Ezukanma, who caught 138 passes for 2,165 yards and scored 17 touchdowns during his four seasons with the Red Raiders. “He was cracking a joke on me. We had a little laugh.”
Before taking to the field on Friday during the first on-field session of Dolphins rookie minicamp, all the newcomers — the four draftees, the 14 undrafted rookie free agents, and camp tryout players — were measured, weighed, examined, tested, and basically over-analyzed to determine exactly what each player is working with. So, what are these newbies bringing to the team? The correct answer to that question about this handful of youngsters, who will likely get off to a slow start in the NFL because of how deep Miami’s roster appears to be, is inexperience. And with that comes a side of mistakes, and growing pains like what Jevon Holland, Jaelan Phillips, Jaylen Waddle and the rest of last year’s rookies experienced before picking up their productivity in the second half of the 2021 season.
