The Miami Dolphins are heading into the 2015 NFL season with perhaps their greatest collection of overall talent in the Joe Philbin era. Up and down both the defensive and offensive depth charts competition abounds on South Beach, meaning Dolphins training camp is almost assured to feature some truly interesting battles.
At corner, the recently-added Zack Bowman is likely keeping his eye squarely on a starting spot opposite diminutive, but tough-as-nails Brent Grimes. Unfortunately for the wily veteran corner, signed as a free agent earlier this offseason, he may have to first concern himself with actually making the Dolphins roster.
"Bowman signed with Miami this offseason for a chance to compete for a starting job," writes James Walker of ESPN. "A starting cornerback spot opposite Pro Bowler Brent Grimes is open, but there is plenty of competition. The leader in the clubhouse is Jamar Taylor, who started three games at the end of last season and knows the defense well. Bowman, Brice McCain, Will Davis and rookie Bobby McCain are all in a crowded mix. Bowman didn't stand out in offseason practices open to the media. He must make more of an impact in training camp. It most likely will come down to a numbers game for Bowman with how many cornerbacks the Dolphins decide to keep."
Bowman, set to enter his eighth NFL season, signed a one-year, $825,000 contract with the Dolphins this offseason, presumably with the intention of locking down a starting spot.
The 30-year-old was a strong, steady contributor for the Chicago Bears for six campaigns after the team drafted him in the fifth-round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He's never been much in the way of a playmaker - he amassed a career-high six interceptions in his second NFL season, but went the following three seasons without registering a single pick - but seemed to pick up the pace again in recent years, nabbing three in 2013 and two last season as a member of the New York Giants.
He came to the Dolphins, as Walker states, likely eyeing a starting gig, though he started just seven games for the Bears in 2013 and five for the Giants in 2014.
With Cortland Finnegan having called it a career, the spot across from Grimes is wide open, with several options vying for the opportunity to fill it and the team, as Dave Hyde of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel notes, likely hoping against hope that Taylor's the one who locks it down.
If, as Walker asserts, Taylor, a 2013 second-round pick, has the lead on Bowman already, it may not bode well for the veteran corners prospects of making an emerging Dolphins team.
Then again, Davis, a former third-round from the same draft as Taylor, has shown even less than his 2013 draft counterpart, and Brice McCain is set for slot duties. Miami did bring in a couple of young talents in Bobby McCain and Tony Lippett, but there's been nothing thus far to suggest they're better options than Bowman or the still-young Taylor or are yet ready to contribute meaningful snaps to the Dolphin defense.
Of course, Taylor has never appeared in more than 12 games in either of his two professional seasons and he's yet to register a sack, forced fumble or interception, so there's certainly cause for concern for the Dolphin faithful. But if he really is showing the type of development the team is hoping for and Walker has indicated, Bowman's stay in Miami could ultimately prove to be a short one, displaced by a base of young, still-developing talent.
