Tag Archive for: Isaiah Ford

Dolphins trade

Dolphins Make Moves at the Trade Deadline

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Although all of the attention on November 3rd is on the national election, and rightly so, the NFL also had big decisions to make. The NFL’s trade deadline came and went on Tuesday, and while not normally an active occasion, the Miami Dolphins made a couple of interesting moves.

While there were a number of major names on the market, most teams kept their rosters intact. Rumors of players like New England’s Stephon Gilmore being moved amounted to nothing. Teams may have hesitated to pull the trigger because of concerns over next season’s salary cap and delays in player availability due to COVID-19.

Miami, though, saw an opportunity to add depth at a position of need and did so.

Dolphins Deal Ford to New England

The Dolphins completed a rare in-division trade with New England. Miami sent receiver Isaiah Ford to the Patriots for a 2022 seventh-round pick. This came as something of a surprise, considering the Dolphins liked Ford coming out of Virginia Tech in 2017. Miami selected Ford with a seventh-round pick but he’ll be a free agent at the end of the season.

Ford landed on the IR in 2017 and bounced between the active roster and the practice squad afterwards. He played only one game in 2018, but found a role last season. He played eight games in 2019 and made 23 receptions for 244 yards. This season, he played in all seven games and caught 18 passes for 184 yards.

Ford’s departure opens additional opportunities for Jakeem Grant, rookies Lynn Bowden Jr. and Malcolm Perry, as well as the recently activated Antonio Callaway. While Grant should see his role expand, Callaway could take time from the two rookies.

Callaway made 43 catches for 586 yards as a rookie in 2018. But he was suspended 10 games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy in 2019. He spent a brief stint with the Tampa Bay Vipers of the XFL before being signed to the Dolphins’ practice squad this season.

Dolphins Trade for RB Depth

The Dolphins also acquired running back DeAndre Washington from Kansas City during on trade deadline day. Miami sent the Chiefs a conditional 2021 sixth-round pick in exchange for the reserve running back and a conditional 2021 seventh-round pick. This trade comes in the wake of injury news regarding Myles Gaskin.

Gaskin leads Miami in rushing this season with 387 yards and two touchdowns, but just a 3.9 yards-per-carry average. He’s tied for the team lead in receptions with 30. Gaskin sustained a strained MCL late in the win against the Rams. He’s expected to miss three weeks.

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Washington, meanwhile, has just three carries for five yards in 2020. He spent his first four seasons with the Raiders and tallied 1122 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 4.0 yards-per-carry. He has 89 catches for 615 yards and one touchdown in his career. Washington rarely played this season, particularly after KC’s acquisition of Le’Veon Bell.

The Raiders selected Washington with a fifth-round drafted pick in 2016 out of Texas Tech. Current Dolphins senior personnel executive Reggie McKenzie was the general manager of Oakland then. Washington won’t be available to play for the Dolphins this weekend as he navigates the COVID-19 protocols.

The Dolphins have the fifth-worst rushing attack in the NFL, averaging just 98 yards-per-game. Their 3.6 yards-per-carry average is second-worst in the league.

Without Gaskin or Washington, the Dolphins will turn to Matt Breida and Patrick Laird, as well as Jordan Howard, who’s been inactive in recent weeks, and possibly practice squad RB Salvon Ahmed.

The Dolphins (4-3) head to Arizona to face the Cardinals (5-2) in Week 9. Get the Five Reasons Sports original Tua shirt HERE! 

DeVante Parker was missed by the Dolphins against the Jets

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Wide receiver DeVante Parker has reached another level in 2019. Miami’s offense felt the void left by the fifth-year receiver after he suffered a concussion early in Sunday’s 22-21 loss to the New York Jets.

The Dolphins lacked a clear target that could push the offense into the end zone. They had drives stall at the 21, 13, 16, and twice at the 19. While kicker Jason Sanders finished the day with seven made field goals on eight attempts, finding the end zone once could’ve been the difference for Miami.

The offense lost traction after losing both DeVante Parker and Albert Wilson to concussions. Parker had only two receptions for 28 yards before exiting the game.

It was also the first time since Oct. 13 that Parker was held beneath 50 yards. 

“It definitely made it a little bit difficult,” quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said postgame about losing both Parker and Wilson. “We had guys out there hobbled and giving everything they had. I was proud to be in the huddle with those guys. I know there’s a lot of stuff people won’t see or don’t really care to write about, but there were some guys that really gutted it out today. It was tough sledding in the second half from communications and lining up for us just because of some of the injuries we had.”

The Dolphins entered action on Sunday as one of the league’s strongest teams inside the red zone. Parker helped Miami score with touchdown grabs of 17 and 43 against the Eagles in week 13.

Keep in mind, DeVante Parker has spent most of the season playing at an elite level. 

Mike Gesicki then caught a touchdown from 14 yards out after the defense turned its attention to Parker. The Dolphins tried to go back to Gesicki after Parker left the game on Sunday, but the second-year tight end finished with just one reception on six targets for just six yards.

Isaiah Ford stepped in and had career highs in both receptions (6) and yards (92). With that in mind, the Dolphins lacked a player with a nose for the end zone.

“He’s a guy that has done a great job of despite not being on the active roster,” offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea said of Ford. “He’s a conceptual learner, so he can line up anywhere and that happened in the game. He basically lined up at several different spots in the game. He did a good job of getting some other guys lined up, helping ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) in the huddle.”

The Dolphins are excited to see Ford finding himself a role on the team. However, they’re hoping to get both Parker and Wilson back sooner rather than later. Both were still in concussion protocol as of Wednesday morning.

Dolphins displaying true ‘next man up’ mentality

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One of the key philosophies of the New England Patriots for the past decade has been their ability to take backup players and make them play like starters. Whoever takes the place of the injured player has to provide the same level of play. Teams in the NFL look for that “next man up” mentality year in and year out. Only some actually manage to find it. However, it seems that the 2019 Miami Dolphins are on their way to putting it all together in that regard.

Observe what Miami has endured this season in the injury department. Even after trading a vast majority of their best players, those who remain on the team still are not contributing due to circumstances beyond their control. They are now all on season-ending injured reserve.

  • CB Xavien Howard – Knee
  • WR Jakeem Grant – Ankle
  • WR Preston Williams – ACL
  • SS Reshad Jones – Chest/Ankle
  • FS Bobby McCain – Shoulder

And the list goes on and on from there. As a result, the Dolphins are being forced to call on players who normally wouldn’t even make an NFL roster to take their place. Yet they make it work. They compete week in and week out in spite of their withering roster.

Unfortunately, it got even harder for Miami on Sunday. Both DeVante Parker and Albert Wilson, two of the Dolphins remaining wide receivers, left the Jets game with possible concussions. That left only Allen Hurns, newcomer Mack Hollins, and the returning Isaiah Ford as their wide receivers for the game. Parker is having a career year, so losing him especially hurt.

“It definitely made it a little bit difficult.” Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said after the game. “We had guys out there hobbled and giving everything they had. I was proud to be in the huddle with those guys. I know there’s a lot of stuff people won’t see or don’t really care to write about, but there were some guys that really gutted it out today. It was tough sledding in the second half from communications and lining up for us just because of some of the injuries we had.”

But again, while it was tough, it wasn’t impossible. Isaiah Ford responded by playing the best game of his career. The young receiver out of Virginia Tech caught six passes for 92 yards against New York. Obviously, he’s unhappy with the loss. But he’s glad he got a chance to show what he’s capable of.

“I’ve had confidence in myself the entire time that I can play at this level.” Ford said. “I know I can go on the field and help our team win.”

Undoubtedly, it’s good to see players like Ford stepping up. But who could predict the Dolphins would even be in this situation by this point?

“Just when you thought this season couldn’t get any crazier.” Fitzpatrick said. “Isaiah has been on the active (roster) and off, on the practice squad and up and down. He’s worked so hard. He’s a guy we have so much faith in as quarterbacks because whenever anybody has a question, sometimes when coaches have questions, we’ll go back to Isaiah and say, ‘What is this signal? What is this route?’ and he knows everything. I was happy to see him get out there and get an opportunity to catch some balls and really take advantage of it and make the most out of it today.”

In spite of that, Brian Flores admitted that it isn’t easy to compensate for the loss of top players like that.

“It complicates things a lot.” He said. “Obviously, when you go into a game with a specific game plan with guys in mind. When you lose one player at any position, you have a backup for that. When you lose two, that’s when it’s tough … Again, Isaiah Ford stepped in and played well. Mack Hollins who we just got a couple days ago, he stepped in and gave us some good snaps, drew a pass interference penalty. And then our tight end group, they really stepped up for us. So, I thought as a collective group, given the adversity of losing two guys, I thought we battled through it.”

Once again, coaching deserves credit for adapting and helping players shine in bad circumstances. Flores will have a lot of roster turnover come next season, with talent coming from free agency and the draft. But here and now, he has to work with what he has. What he has is not good. However, that’s what “next man up” is all about. The Dolphins are taking players who have far less talent, and bringing it to the wire every game. That alone is a sign of things to come.

Luis Sung has covered the Miami Dolphins for numerous outlets such as Dolphins Wire for six years. Follow him on Twitter: @LuisDSung