2024-08-11 02:35:02
MIAMI GARDENS — The Miami Dolphins invested more in left tackle Patrick Paul than any other draft pick making his NFL debut Friday night.
They clearly wanted to get their money’s worth.
Paul almost never came off the field in Miami’s 20-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, playing 63 snaps, behind only tackle Ryan Hayes.
Safe to say Paul left an impression with the quarterbacks he was protecting.
“He’s a large human being,” Skylar Thompson said.
Mike White: “A humongous human.”
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From the moment the Dolphins drafted Paul in the second round out of Houston, we’ve known he’s 6-feet-7 and 332 pounds. It says something that teammates still haven’t gotten over how much Paul towers over people, even in this big-man’s game.
Of course, size only goes so far. There will be a day when Paul is counted on to succeed Terron Armstead at left tackle. For offensive line coach Butch Barry, this season will in no small part revolve around getting Paul ready.
Working on Paul’s confidence won’t require heavy lifting.
“There are moments in it where you just go out there and you just realize, ‘Yeah, I can do this. This is what I’m made for,’ ” Paul said. “I’ve had those moments.”
White vouched for that. He played the second half of a game of attrition. It forced White to be as much of a coach on the field as a quarterback. But he said one player he never had to worry about was Paul.
“I do know that I didn’t have to tell him what we were running,” White said. “He broke the huddle and got to the line. Good communication at the line of scrimmage. So I thought he did well.”
Paul playing almost every snap wasn’t the plan going in, coach Mike McDaniel said. It’s what the flow of the evening dictated. And with so much time to prove himself, Paul left an impression on McDaniel.
“We kind of wanted to see really how he was doing during the game,” McDaniel said. “We were comfortable with it and Butch wanted to keep him in a couple extra drives. Our plan was at the beginning of the third quarter to get him a series and get him out and we left him in a little bit. I thought he had some real good opportunities to learn, and I thought he played fast and physical. There was some good stuff there.”
It was a good start for the draft class in general, including running back Jaylen Wright, receiver Malik Washington and safety Patrick McMorris. All had moments. And that’s with first-round pick Chop Robinson yet to make his debut.
“We’re all motivated,” Wright said. “We all have the same objective: to get our respect in this league. We’re all working. We’re close. They’re all great guys to be around and everything. I just feel like we’re all hard workers and really dedicated to our craft and want to be really good at what we do.”
Paul came away with a good feeling about what he called his “welcome to the NFL” moment.
“Definitely a dream come true to put on that aqua and orange,” Paul said. “I have dreamed of this moment and it’s finally here. It was great.”
Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal. Click here to subscribe.
