Here’s more encouraging Dolphins news about rookies Proctor, Douglas, Rodriguez

You might have seen this neat stat floating around social media this week, courtesy of SportsRadar and the Associated Press: The Dolphins’ 436 snaps by rookies were the most by any team in Week 1 since this began being tracked in 2006.

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And Dolphins coaches and analytics websites emerged with favorable impressions of what they saw from several of the 10 rookies who played those snaps.

Pro Football Focus this week rated Dolphins receiver Caleb Douglas as the NFL’s seventh-best rookie in Week 1 and guard Kadyn Proctor the 14th best.

What’s more, PFF rated Douglas’ Week 1 performance 14th best among all 84 NFL receivers who played enough snaps to qualify for their rankings through Week 1.

Proctor was rated 14th of 83 guards. And Jacob Rodriguez was rated 19th of 58 linebackers.

Among rookies, Douglas — who had five receptions for 94 yards in the 27-13 loss to Las Vegas — was ranked behind only Commanders receiver Antonio Williams, Chiefs interior defender Peter Woods, Browns guard Austin Barber, Ravens tight end Matthew Hibner, Titans linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and Chargers safety Genesis Smith.

“You see the talent in practice,” offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said of Douglas during his weekly Thursday media session. “Early in camp, he flashed, but it was some inconsistency in what he was doing. And as we kept going through camp, preseason, everything, he really was able to kind of lock in, settle in and feel confident and comfortable about what he was doing so that on Sunday when the lights were on, he showed up.

“He made some really nice plays or even some routes he ran where he was on the back side or away from where we were trying to get the ball to, and he was still winning on backside routes. He did a really good job [against the Raiders]. And then as important as anything for us and what we want to be this year, he showed up in the run game. He was physical in the run game.”

As for Proctor, PFF rated him higher than any of 11 players drafted before him. (Top overall pick Fernando Mendoza of the Raiders and No. 8 pick Jordyn Tyson of the Saints did not play.)

Proctor led all rookie offensive linemen with a 79.0 run-blocking grade, PFF noted.

“You just feel the energy, the way he plays,” Slowik said. “It kind of spreads through the whole team. The first play was a great example. I think it was the third play of the game, he also took an interior lineman, drove them all the way from outside the hash to across the opposite hash. He had like five knockdowns in the game.

“He plays the game the way we want our left guard to play. Now there’s a lot we’ve got to clean up because there’s some times he’s finishing pancakes and he’s not pancaking the guy he’s supposed to be on. So we got to work through some of that stuff, but the energy and the style he plays with is really exciting for us. We just got to channel it in the right direction.”

Meanwhile, only Denver’s Alex Singleton and Tennessee’s Hill had more tackles in Week 1 than Rodriguez, who had 14.

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And though cornerback Chris Johnson was near two Raiders players who caught touchdowns, Dolphins people say he wasn’t entirely to blame. PFF rated him 57th of 72 corners through Week 1.

“One thing I did like about him, and you can see it this week in practice, is he’s responded,” defensive coordinator Sean Duggan said. “He hasn’t gone in the tank. He’s a confident player who knows he’s good. He’s a really good player. He’s going to continue to get better as this year goes.”

As for rookie tight end Will Kacmarek, the third-round pick from Ohio State played just 13 offensive snaps in the opener, compared with 43 for veteran tight end Greg Dulcich.

“We want to balance out Will and Greg’s snaps a little more than we did,” Slowik said. “I didn’t think I did a good job really keeping that. I wanted it to be closer to even. Greg is a really good player that we got to take advantage of, but it got fairly skewed as we went through it again, especially the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter kind of made it a two-minute drill all the way through it. But we want that to be more balanced for sure.”

Here’s how the coordinators sized up the rookies overall:

Slowik: “When you watch the film, you get really excited about them as players. They’re talented, they’re doing what we ask them to do as far as play style, grit, effort, competitiveness, but we just got to be way better in our assignment.”

Duggan: “I think early we were a little uneasy, if I’m just going to be honest with you. I think as the game went on, we got better. Guys started playing more confident. You could really – well, I’m in the box – you could see the communication level rising when you watch the film, which makes guys play more comfortable and it leads to anticipating plays. We’re never going to use youth as an excuse… I think they did a nice job.”

Injury update

On Friday, coach Jeff Hafley ruled out edge player Chop Robinson (concussion) and linebacker Ronnie Harrison (hamstring) for Sunday’s game at the 49ers (4:25 p.m., Fox).

Here are more details from our Omar Kelly, in California, on the Robinson injury and the fallout.

Tight end Seydou Traore, who played on special teams but not on offense in the opener, has been limited this week with thumb and Achilles injuries. But Hafley said he “would anticipate him being out there Sunday barring a setback.”

Long snapper Tucker Addington remains limited with a shoulder injury.

“We’ll see how Tucker goes today,” Hafley said before Friday’s practice in Napa, California. “Hopefully he will feel good enough to snap for us.”

If he cannot, the Dolphins likely would elevate long snapper Cal Adomitis from the practice squad.

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This story was originally published September 18, 2026 at 3:00 PM.