When the Dolphins traded Brandon Marshall at the moment the free-agent market opened in March, many assumed that the team would pursue one of the many big-name receivers who were available.
They didn’t.
Eventually, the Dolphins added Legedu Naanee, who had spent a year in Carolina after starting his career in San Diego. And while some (e.g., I) scoffed, Naanee has risen to the occasion.
According to Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald, Naanee is in line to start the preseason opener, and he’s vying for a starting job when the real games start.
“I am absolutely not sugar-coating this,” agent David Canter told Beasley. “I told every single person when he signed here he’d be the No. 1 receiver if healthy.”
Naanee’s not the No. 1 guy yet. A copy of the team’s tentative depth chart shows Naanee and Davone Bess as the starters at one receiver position, with Chad Johnson the starter at the other. Brian Hartline is listed as Johnson’s backup.
Elsewhere on the depth chart, rookie running back Lamar Miller is mired in fourth position, behind Reggie Bush, Daniel Thomas, and Steve Slaton. Also, cornerback Vontae Davis sits one spot behind Richard Marshall at cornerback.
The biggest surprise for now is Naanee. And so remember that one for your fantasy draft. Two N’s. Two A’s. Two E’s. Hopefully more than two W’s.