Dolphins
The Dolphins signed veteran TE Darren Waller following his brief retirement and missing the entire 2024 season. Waller said he’s working on his timing with QB Tua Tagovailoa.
“Just getting reps, getting time under tension, knowing how he’s getting the ball off when he hits his drop,” Waller said, via Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post. “What that looks like for me, whip my head around and having that ball come in which I felt like was a great start today. It’s just time, just continuing to grind at it and those things start to become second nature.”
Jets
Jets QB Justin Fields looks to replicate Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, who both reemerged as successful starting quarterbacks later on in their careers. New York GM Darren Mougey expressed confidence in Fields and likes how the quarterback is playing going into the season.
“I do believe Justin can be one of those guys,” Mougey said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “I’ve seen progress during this camp and look forward to seeing the progress throughout the season as they all come together. Obviously, it’s his third stop in three years with three different coordinators and a lot of moving parts, so it does take time. But I like where he’s at and I look forward to watching the progress.”
Mougey thinks Fields has improved “every day” in training camp and especially over the past week.
“I’ve seen him improve every day — specifically, this past week,” Mougey said. “I think we’ve really seen good rhythm out at practice with the offense — a balanced attack, some runs, some pass, but just the overall operation, the command, his leadership. … So, seeing that growth has been really good.”
Jets OC Tanner Engstrand said Fields understands their system and where to make the throws.
“I really like where Justin is at with the dropback passing concepts,” Engstrand said. “He understands what we’re trying to do. He understands what we’re trying to attack, where the ball needs to go, and I think, every day we’re showing progress from Justin.”
Patriots
The Patriots signed QB Tommy DeVito after being cut loose by the Giants. DeVito said he had a feeling that he would land in New England and had “good insight” on the organization.
“It was something I had a feeling was going to happen, something I was hoping was going to happen, especially with where they were ranked in the claims order,” DeVito said, via Conor Ryan of Boston.com. “I was very excited to get here. I’ve had a lot of prior coaches who have been part of this organization before, know a lot of coaches and people in the business, so I had a lot of good insight.”
DeVito completed 17 of 20 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns in the Giants’ preseason finale against the Patriots. DeVito called his performance a “personal audition” for the Patriots.
“I had a feeling, I was hoping,” DeVito said. “Every time you go on the field, you perform for 31 others. Especially when you have some feelings about something, so that last one was, ‘Listen, everything is an audition, but this one is a personal audition. So, I want to make it count.’ We did, and here we are.”
As for playing under OC Josh McDaniels, DeVito doesn’t think New England’s system is drastically different than Giants HC Brian Daboll‘s.
“We had a little bit of conversation [Thursday], but it’s not too drastic from where I came from,” DeVito said. “Coach Daboll was with the Patriots in the past. Things have changed a little bit, but it’s not as far off as I thought it might have been. So we’re looking forward to getting in and just starting from the ground up and learning everything, and being able to hit the ground running.”
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