Dolphins Coach Adam Gase A Big Fan Of What Arian Foster Can Do
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DAVIE (CBSMiami) – Preparations are underway at the Miami Dolphins training facility in Davie for the team's 2016 training camp.
Players will arrive later this week but on Tuesday Dolphins head coach Adam Gase spoke with the media for the first time since the completion of minicamp last month.
The biggest piece of information offered up by Gase what that rookie cornerback Xavien Howard would begin the preseason on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list due to a knee injury suffered on the final day of minicamp.
"We had to scope a knee, and he will be out for a little bit," Gase said. "We expect him, at worst, to be back by the first regular season game. He has been working hard trying to work his way back."
While losing Howard, who was believed to be a favorite for one of the two starting cornerback jobs, is tough, one thing that it does do is give other young players an opportunity to step up and show they deserve a spot in Miami's secondary rotation.
"It is what it is right now. [Howard] is not going to be there and it gives a bunch of guys a chance to step up and see who wants to try to make this team," Gase said. "We will see how it turns out. I'm interested to see how it plays out. I think it's great for Tony [Lippett]. It's more reps for him and it's going to be more reps for somebody else that gets a chance to step into that role."
Shifting gears to the offensive side of the ball, one of the biggest topics of discussion lately has been the Dolphins signing veteran running back Arian Foster.
Coming off a torn Achilles injury suffered last October, Foster visited the Dolphins facility twice during the offseason before the team offered him a contract.
Foster has said that he is fully healthy and thinks that he can still play at a high level.
"I still feel like I'm a Pro Bowl-caliber player, and I intend to show it," he said following the signing.
Foster has been someone that Gase has admired during his career and now the two will team up and try to make the Dolphins running attack one that is feared around the league.
Miami has Foster, second year back Jay Ajayi and rookie Kenyan Drake. All three are competing for their spot in the Dolphins running back hierarchy, and Gase is excited to see what the addition of Foster brings to the team.
"I think [signing Foster] adds great competition to that group," said Gase. "I really like his skill set. I've been an admirer of his for… I don't even know how long he has been playing. It just feels like forever. [It is] a great opportunity for us [with] him still being out there. We had been in conversations with him for a while. We had brought him in on a visit. We had a really good talk and allowed him to get healthy and work to get back. It'll be interesting when we get him out there and see how he fits in."
The interest was mutual as Foster said that Miami was his top choice as to who he wanted to sign with.
"After my [first] visit with Miami, I kind of already made my mind up that that's where I wanted to be, so I was stressing to my agent that I wanted to get the deal done, because I see a lot of promise in this team, and I feel like I can add value and help the team get to where they want to be. I'm going to try to do that as best as possible," Foster said.
Having running backs that can run routes well and catch the ball out of the backfield is essential in Gase's offense Foster certainly fits that mold.
"He's the type of guy that he can run his route tree similar to what a wide receiver's is," explained Gase. "When we worked him out, I put him in a couple spots to see how that looked. He runs about as smooth as any running back that I've ever seen. I'll be interested to see how far we can grow the running back position with him."
Foster is expected to be on the field for the Dolphins first training camp practice which takes place on Friday morning at 9 a.m.
