Assuming that Howard misses significant time in training camp and the preseason, it seems unlikely he will be able to claim the starting job in time for the regular season.
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Miami Dolphins rookie cornerback Xavien Howard will start training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list following arthroscopic knee surgery.
Howard injured himself on the last day of Dolphins OTAs back in June. That timeline may not leave the rookie with enough time to show he’s ready to handle a regular role on defense in the opening weeks.
According to Pro Football Focus, if Lippett would have qualified for the minimum snap count, he would have been the team’s highest rated cornerback past year even higher than former Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes.
“It usually sorts itself out”, Gase said. “I really like his skill set”. A great opportunity for us, him still being out there.
Gase said Bobby McCain is the leader for the team’s nickel job.
Gase said the team hopes Howard can be healthy by their season opener in Seattle. “They see it on the script and know, ‘Oh, I need him to get these two outside zone runs because he hasn’t had that many'”.
“I’ve always been a fan of how he does things”, Gase said.
Lippett is certainly capable of covering wide receivers vertically, but his ability toget in and out of breaks on short and intermediate routes has been a question mark since he began making the conversion from wide receiver to cornerback.
When asked about Foster’s health issues and current recovery from the Achilles injury that cost him most of 2015, Gase said he trusts his staff to keep track of Foster and all his players. When we worked him out, I put him in a couple of spots just to see how that looked and he runs about as smooth as any running back that I’ve ever seen. “We’ve got a lot of work”. I’m interested to see how it plays out.
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“I thought he did a good job (during offseason practices)”, Gase said of Lippett.
