Every once in a while you read a story and have to give it a double take. Fresh off the 2016 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins and first-year head coach Adam Gase are preparing to welcome a whole bevy of young players to the team during their rookie minicamp next weekend.
This isn’t necessarily the story. After all, the other 31 teams around the NFL will be doing the same thing.
It’s how the Dolphins are planning to integrate these rookies into the organization that has some taken aback.
“Dolphins rookies will spend all their time during this minicamp in classroom sessions learning how to be Miami Dolphins,” the Miami Herald‘s Armando Salguero reported. “That means they’re going to get schooled on the schemes they’re playing, their assignments, and everything football that involves the brain.”
This means absolutely no on-field football drills for the rookies in Miami.
It’s never been done before around the NFL. It’s also a pretty interesting idea for a Dolphins team that needs to try something new in order to get out of its recent funk.
Taking it one step further, the organization is planning on holding what has to be considered life lesson classes. Yes, you read that right.
“But they’re also going to get a little polished up as people,” Salguero continued. “They’re going to get life labs to help them with nutrition, financial planning, sports science, and dealing with the media — the last of which is a big part of their job believe it or not.”
It’s hard to criticize the Dolphins for trying something new. Though, this is going to have a dramatic impact on the team’s late-round picks and un-drafted free agents, most of whom need to show what they can do in order to latch on with the team.
Miami will hold a couple minicamps during the summer months before its annual training camp. It will surely give these rookies an opportunity to prove their worth at that point.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out and whether it will start a trend around the NFL.
One thing we do know. Rookie offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil will be front and center during this rookie minicamp.