MIAMI GARDENS — Miami Dolphins offensive line coach Butch Barry spoke with conviction about how rookie left guard Jonah Savaiinaea needs to improve, but it’ll happen at his pace of development.
“Got to improve on everything. We got to improve everywhere, but I would say that, coming in as a rookie, there’s development that happens,” Barry said Thursday. “You get put in a lot of situations, and you got to play right away.”
As the Dolphins (1-5) go into a matchup with the Cleveland Browns (1-5) on Sunday and Savaiinaea, a second-round pick, is six games into his NFL tenure, Barry compared him to second-year left tackle Patrick Paul, who had the benefit of sitting behind Terron Armsead for much of his rookie season.
“Development is the core foundation of everything we got to do,” Barry said. “So, it takes time, right? You tie in the left tackle. He’s a young player, and development with him, but we’re in Year 2. So you have that development that’s going to be a different situation than the guy in Year 1.
“Where is he at foundationally? Every player starts at a different place. I look at it like this: When I’m a parent, I got three kids. They all go at a different rate in terms of — I have an expectation of what I think they should do and how I think they should mature. They don’t do it at my rate, though. They do it at their own. Players have that same type of mode of operation. It’s consistency, it’s the standard of work that we approach it with.
Barry’s voice grew more intense as he continued.
“How often can I build that recall? How often can I get him to use his inside hand? How often can I get him to do that, right? Because he’s got to build that recall. He’s got to build that feel. People say muscle memory, but it’s that recall, that memory of how it occurred.
“How often can I force him to do that? To use his hands every time, to stay inside-out, to keep his feet moving and mirror the defender. Every day, we got to work it. Every single day, and endless the amount of reps. And then the feel starts to happen. It may only happen, today, five times in practice, but then tomorrow, maybe it happens 10. Is that improvement? Yeah. That’s twice as many.
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“Could he improve from one game to the next? Yes. There’s development as it’s going. Is it at the rate that everyone wants it at? That’s for him to answer. What is the expectation of what that play should be at this point in time? But as long as it keeps getting better, now we’re talking about the progress that we want, and that’s the development.”
Injury report
Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold returned to practice Thursday after missing Wednesday drills due to a combination of a neck injury and rest.
Safety and special teams ace Elijah Campbell was not seen during a media viewing portion Thursday as he works back from his ailing quadriceps. Center Aaron Brewer (pectoral) and tight end Darren Waller (hip/rest) appeared to remain limited.
The team’s official Thursday injury report will be released later in the afternoon.
Position change
Dolphins linebackers coach Joe Barry revealed Thursday that second-year safety Jordan Colbert is switching to linebacker.
“At this point in his career, we feel his future — that’s why we kept him when we released him — we brought him back with the intention that his future is going to be linebacker,” Barry said.
Colbert, listed at 6 feet 2, 218 pounds, played linebacker in a preseason game and is also often seen working out with linebackers during practice.
Barry also said the reason K.J. Britt played nearly all the defensive snaps last Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers in Tyrel Dodson’s absence is because Britt is Dodson’s primary backup at his Mike linebacker position. Willie Gay Jr., who didn’t play a defensive snap, is Jordyn Brooks’ backup at the Will linebacker role. Barry said Gay was prepared to back up either Brooks or Britt on Sunday.
This story will be updated.
