Friday Dolphins Mailbag: Tua, Lamar, Riley, and More

Tackling Miami Dolphins issues ahead of and related to the showdown against the Baltimore Ravens

Part 1 of the pre-Baltimore game All Dolphins mailbag:

From Fred Savard (@LeFredSavard):

With injuries to the receiving corps, is there a chance that Chase Claypool will have a larger role in the future? He was a promising young receiver not so long ago.

Salut Fred, you make a good point about how Claypool once was seen as a young receiver with a lot of potential, but the fact he still hasn’t been used very much on offense leads me to believe we shouldn’t hold our breath for him to play any kind of significant role. Of course, that could change any week.

From Flipper13 (@Flipper13):

When might Baker return to play? Riley is doing great but no depth!

Hey Flipper, Baker is eligible to come off IR for the regular season finale against Buffalo next week and it wouldn’t actually surprise me if he were in the lineup for that game. If not, I most definitely would expect to see him for the first playoff game.

From Dave (@angryvet59):

The defense has been trending upwards but have given up 2 leads in 4th quarter. An aberration or a troubling trend? Happy New Year!

Hey Dave, as my father used to say, the other team gets paid too. The Tennessee game was a lot more troubling in that aspect because there were a lot of defensive breakdowns, but against Dallas that was more of a case of a good QB making plays to drive his team to a touchdown. I can remember a couple of plays that went from sacks to completions because Prescott’s ability to escape pressure. Those things will happen. Happy New Year!

From Jayco (@ljc7975):

I know the last playoff win was at home in 2000. When was the last road playoff victory?

The Dolphins’ last road playoff victory came in Seattle in the 1999 season when they rallied for a 20-17 victory. That turned out to be Dan Marino’s last win with the Dolphins.

From Ricardo Hernandez (@Ricardo96451182):

No. 1 seed’s great, but with winner takes AFC East game looming, should the Dolphins consider resting everyone? Two home games and returning to Baltimore in a month with a healthy Hill, Waddle, etc., seems more promising Super Bowl path than all games on the road starting with KC.

Hey Ricardo, I hear what you’re saying, but you can’t think like that. If the players can go and don’t have an additional risk of re-injury, you play them.

From Mark Lever (@MarkFinsfan):

If Tua wins the last two games and becomes the NFL MVP, does he deserve to be the highest-paid quarterback? What’s your thoughts on who should be the MVP this year? Thank you guys for all your hard work love the show.

Hey Mark, yeah, you certainly could make the argument under you scenario that Tua indeed would deserve to be the highest-paid QB, particularly because that’s also the way it usually works in that the latest deal always tops all previous ones. As for who deserves MVP, we need to see how the final two games play out, but to me the conversation needs to include Tyreek, Tua, Lamar Jackson, Purdy, McCaffrey and maybe Josh Allen if the Bills somehow end up winning the AFC East. If the season ended today, I think my (unbiased) vote would go to Tyreek.

From Gondolas West (@GondolasWest):

Not a Baltimore question but curious about JPP being cut. Not a good locker room fit?

I actually think it was more a result of production and what he showed in practice. You look at the two games he played and he barely got any snaps and then he was a healthy scratch, which tells you the Dolphins didn’t feel he could help them very much. Had it been a locker room issue, he would have been gone before that, I would think.

From David Triana (@davidtriana_)_:

Hey Alain, how conservative do you think the coaching staff will be in these final 2 games regarding injuries? If they win at Baltimore on Sunday, do you think there’s a chance they keep players like Holland, Hunt & Waddle on the sideline against Buffalo or go all hands on deck?

Hey David, I don’t think they’ll be any more conservative than they’ve been all season even with a win at Baltimore because they’d also likely need a win against Buffalo to secure the No. 1 seed, which clearly would be huge.

From Javier (@jboy1724):

Fangio said he was going to mix things up against the Ravens to attempt to confuse Lamar. Can you expand on what that would look like based on Fangio’s past and what has also worked to contain Lamar in the games he has struggled in this year?

Hey Javier, the idea is to constantly change the way to defend the play, going from rushing only three with eight in coverage to a zero (all-out) blitz so that Jackson never really knows what the Dolphins are going to do and he’s forced to think and assess things after the snap. Ideally, the Dolphin can get pressure without sending extra rushers while at the same time making sure there’s no room for him to escape. All of that is easier said than done.

From Stephen A. Hall, II (@SHsquared):

All my questions are on one side of the ball: What approach do you think the Dolphins take defensively? Rush 4 and lean into what’s been working? Up the blitz rate and try to throw off expectations? Do you spy Lamar?

Hey Stephen, as discussed in the previous answer, it’s gotta be a mixture of different approaches. The biggest key for me defensively is not giving Jackson big rushing lanes. I remember the Dolphins smothering him when they played in 2021.

From Jorge boyd (@raga1922):

Hi Alain, if Waddle can't go what can the Dolphins do to make up for his absence; will Wilson have more play time in this game given his physicallity; how can we manage this game with a 4-man rush against a very physical Ravens team.

Hey Jorge, Waddle is out, and the Dolphins cannot de facto make up for their absence because they don’t have anybody else like him on the roster (other than Tyreek, of course), but they can compensate by getting others involved, and I’d certainly look at Durham Smythe and Braxton Berrios here. And, yes, Cedrick Wilson Jr. will play a bigger role.

From Cliffy Mac (@mclifford36):

Aside from Josh Allen, has Miami faced a mobile QB this season? How did they fare?

I know that statistically nobody has hurt them the way Justin Fields and Lamar Jackson hurt them last year. The Dolphins have faced several “mobile” QBs this year — Allen, Jalen Hurts, Daniel Jones, Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott — but I’d say most of the damage has come from those QBs making plays on the move as opposed to gaining yards on the ground.

From Amol Yajnik (@amolyajnik):

Does Duke Riley's recent play make Jerome Baker more likely to be a cap casualty this offseason?

Hey Amol, I think Jerome Baker always was going on the other end of a discussion this offseason that will entail either him agreeing to a restructured contract or pay cut or getting released because his cap number is on the heavy side.

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