Dolphins re-sign tight end from years ago, lose another. The latest on Waller

Miami Herald

16 hours ago

The Dolphins on Monday welcomed back a tight end from the Brian Flores era and continued to wait on a former Pro Bowl tight end who's rounding into form after a year in retirement.
Miami signed Chris Myarick, a tight end/H-back who played three games for the Dolphins in 2020 and then played 24 games, with 11 starts, for the Giants in 2021 and 2022.
Myrarick - who hasn't played in the league since 2022 - has 10 career receptions for 82 yards and two touchdowns, all of that coming with the Giants. The 29-year-old Myarick, who is 6-5 and 261 pounds, spent last season on Houston's practice squad.
To make room on the roster, the Dolphins put rookie tight end Jalin Conyers on injured reserve, ending his season. He has been out for a week and wearing a compression sleeve on one of his legs.
Myarick can not only compete at tight end, but also fill in at fullback and H-back while Alec Ingold recovers from symptoms that have landed him on concussion protocol.
Meanwhile, the Dolphins remain eager to see tight end Darren Waller, who has been on the physically unable to perform list while working himself into football shape after a year in retirement. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said on his WSVN-7 segment on Sunday night that Waller will be available for games when the regular season begins.
'He's always been one of the better route runners in the league at that position,' tight ends coach Jon Embree said Monday. 'The first thing that really impressed me about him is his ability to quickly grasp the offense. That's obviously huge because that'll allow us to do more with him and move him around in the formations and all that.
'And then just his range, his catch radius. Probably not since Tony [Gonzalez] or Jordan Cameron had a guy that has that kind of radius as far as catching the ball. So Tua should like that.'
How important is it to get him on the practice field working with Tagovailoa, something Waller cannot do until he comes off PUP?
'I know they threw some, I believe, before camp,' Embree said. 'It will be important to get it going, obviously, sooner than later. But there's still a long way left in this journey. So, I'm not worried about that right now. My main thing with him was just the grasp of the offense and understand the nuances so that we can get that going because at the end of the day, him and Tua on a stick route, you should be able to do that in their sleep.'
Embree said he had no input in the trade for Waller -- which came within 24 hours after Jonnu Smith was traded to Pittsburgh.
'Once we got him and he was in the fold, I went back and looked at three years of his targets, just him running routes, and there were a lot of targets,' Embree said. 'But just going back to see what I needed to work on with him to help him get better.'
Did looking at that tape -- which included 52 catches for 552 yards for the Giants in 2023 -- lessen the disappointment of losing Smith, who wanted a raise after setting Dolphins tight end records for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns?
'It did,' Embree said. 'It's more than [the play]. It's the relationships. I've talked to Jonnu once since he's been in Pittsburgh. I obviously wish him nothing but the best.'
Embree addressed other issues:
▪ On new tight end Pharoah Brown, who is a skilled run blocker: 'He's made a lot of strides from this offseason program to where he is now and continues to make daily improvement. I think we'll be a lot better, not a lot better, but I think we're going to be better as far as setting the edge in the run game.'
▪ On Tanner Conner, who has made a bunch of receptions during training camp but has just three catches for 16 yards in limited opportunities in 24 career games for Miami:
'He's always been right there. He's had some bad luck, getting leg whipped and getting an MCL or getting poked in the eye. He just has had some bad luck. So I'm really excited for him because I know the work he's put in from day one since he's been here. He's gotten a lot better about letting some bad go.
'He's a perfectionist; he's his harshest critic. So really [there's] a lot of coaching with him, I've got to be, 'It's OK, it's going be all right,' just to get him back. And he's at a better mental space. I'm really excited and happy for him to where he is right now and hopefully things continue and everybody else can see why.'
▪ On Julian Hill, whose nine penalties led the league last season among tight ends, receivers and running backs: 'My thing with him was learning how to play with tempo. He wants to just come up and go so hard and come up and mash and murder guys. There's a certain tempo you have to play with.
'He's done a good job of finding the tempo of what he needs and that will help eliminate [pre-snap penalties] because he's so wound up. He's been good at camp. Has had only one pre-snap penalty. I'll live with the occasional holdings because I want them to be aggressive and find that line.'
▪ On Conyers, whose rookie season has ended before it started: 'He does some good things. I like his skill set. Big body, really soft hands. Good feet, getting in and out of breaks. It's learning to play the position. A lot of those guys coming out of college aren't really playing [NFL style] tight end.'