Which tight ends will Dolphins coach at Senior Bowl?
The Miami Dolphins are now just a week away from engaging in the most prominent scouting event of the 2021 offseason — the Senior Bowl. With the coronavirus pandemic threatening much of the status quo in the NFL Draft process, the Senior Bowl will continue on as usual. Just with some socially distanced modifications and plenty of COVID-19 protocols for the health and safety of all involved.
And throughout the course of the next week, the Senior Bowl, courtesy of Director Jim Nagy, will be unveiling which players are partaking in the event for which team; either the Dolphins or the Carolina Panthers.
Today, the tight ends were revealed. Here’s who Miami will be coaching throughout the week for three days of practice and then the game itself at the end of the week at perhaps the team’s most pressing need.
Tight ends
Apologize for the delay getting out today’s @seniorbowl position groups but another announcement kinda slowed us down. Here’s the tight end group the @MiamiDolphins will be working with in Mobile. They’ll also have the best fullback in the ‘21 draft, Michigan’s Ben Mason. pic.twitter.com/GcYLlpwGuA
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) January 18, 2021
Tight end may not necessarily be a primary position of need for the Dolphins, but the team would be wise to entertain improvements anywhere and everywhere on the roster at this point. Miami is not a team talented enough to take luxuries in drafting based strictly on positions of need — their rebuild is well underway and the front office should be especially encouraged by how well the team has developed over the last 12 months; but additional reinforcements should be on the table in every position group on the team.
That included tight end in spite of promising returns from the Dolphins’ low-risk trade for TE Adam Shaheen ahead of the start of the 2020 season.
As far as the prospects involved at this year’s Senior Bowl? Look for Hunter Long of Boston College to be one to watch. He’s perceived to be a fringe top-100 prospect by some in this year’s class and his ability to play the traditional Y-alignment would put him in position to challenge Shaheen and Smythe’s role. If the Dolphins are looking for someone to challenge Mike Gesicki’s role, their option out of this group is Ole Miss TE Kenny Yeboah. He’s an impressive athlete and a vertical seam buster.
And, of course, we would be remiss to not call out Michigan fullback Ben Mason as a candidate, too. If Miami is interested in replacing Chandler Cox this offseason, Mason is the best fullback prospect in this year’s draft.
