Tyler Huntley got Dolphins receivers back early from bye for extra work

The Miami Dolphins had a week off to get healthy and reset after a rough start to the year, but Tyler Huntley spent that time working to catch up on the offense.

On Monday, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said that Huntley used the time to “jump into” the offense ahead of his third straight start in relief of the injured Tua Tagovailoa. On Wednesday, Huntley revealed that he asked some Miami pass catchers to come back early from their time resting to get some extra work.

“I didn’t really want to bother too many guys, you know what I mean?” Huntley said. “The guys that were able to come back early and had a chance to catch a few passes, it was good.”

Huntley didn’t want to specifically say which players cut their bye week short to get back to work. Tight end Jonnu Smith was the only one specifically mentioned by name.

“I think we’ve all seen a big jump from the first week he was with us to the second one, and he’s gotten a lot more comfortable,” Smith said of Huntley earlier this week. “We were able to go in there and win with him and we’ve showed that we can do that and that’s just the expectation. He’s a phenomenal, phenomenal player but a better person, so I’m glad to have that guy back there leading us.”

In Huntley’s first start, the Dolphins struggled to get going, finishing with only 78 passing yards and 184 yards of total offense in a loss against the Tennessee Titans. A week later, Miami more than doubled those totals with 372 offensive yards and 179 passing yards in a win against the New England Patriots.