The preseason is often about figuring out the contours of the roster. Sometimes, it\u2019s simply about getting through the game.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the Dolphins extensively used a player who\u2019d signed with the team a day before \u2014 and who hadn\u2019t participated in any portion of any training camp, with any team.<\/p>\n
And Stephen Dix Jr. was thrilled to have the opportunity, not just to play but to play a significant role.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a linebacker who I met this morning in my office; Steve came in, met him, and he started the whole second half where we had to tell him the call, he had to give the call, then we had to tell him what to do on every single play,\u201d coach Jeff Hafley told reporters after the game. \u201cSo we were able to play only like two calls in the second half, which has never happened to me in my life. So I just give him credit for going out and fighting. That\u2019s what the preseason is all about, to find out who those guys are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dix welcomed the challenge, and the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I had a quick 30-minute meeting with [linebackers] coach [Al] Washington,\u201d Dix told reporters. \u201cThey told me, \u2018Look bro, just go out there run sideline to sideline. I\u2019m going to be in your ear and I\u2019m going to tell you the call and tell you what to do.\u2019 . . . Like that\u2019s literally any football player\u2019s dream, get told what to do and just go play ball. It was exciting. It was so fun out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dix, undrafted out of Arkansas, had been signed by the Cardinals but released in June.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my dream, I\u2019m doing exactly what I set out to do as a kid, and the journey doesn\u2019t stop here,\u201d Dix said. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously putting together enough days to make the team and continue my career. Today was just surreal. It was a blessing. I can\u2019t be more thankful. . . . To get this tryout and to get called to come up here and sign and not only sign and play, what more can I ask for? That\u2019s all I wanted, was an opportunity to put the pads on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dix was on the field for 34 defensive snaps and two special-teams plays. He made one tackle and had two assists.<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether he wins a spot on the 53-man roster, he may have done enough to get a spot on the practice squad, where he can keep working toward his next opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The preseason is often about figuring out the contours of the roster. Sometimes, it\u2019s simply about getting through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-823575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}