A dozen Dolphins, Canes, Heat and Marlins notes on a Monday night:
### As the Dolphins begin to evaluate potential upgrades at linebacker (Dion Jordan is among those options), there’s a need not only to improve against the run but in pass coverage, as well.
Though the Dolphins weren’t hurt by tight ends as much over the first half of the season as they were in past years, consider the completion percentages and yards per catch averages against the team’s linebackers this season, according to Pro Football Focus:
Philip Wheeler allowed 17 of the 22 passes thrown against him to be caught for 202 yards (11.8 per catch).
Koa Misi permitted 19 of 25 to be caught for 161 yards (8.5 per catch).
Jelani Jenkins, the Dolphins’ best linebacker in pass coverage, allowed 43 of 62 for 426 yards, which was sixth-most among all 4-3 outside linebackers (9.9 per catch).
And Jason Trusnik allowed 9 of 11 for 110 yards, or 12.2 per catch.
Completion percentages against linebackers will generally be high, because some of those passes are short dump offs to running backs. The bigger problem is the yards per catch. Wheeler’s was fifth-worst and Jenkins’ 14th-worst among 40 linebackers in a 4-3 defense.
The Dolphins can’t afford to give up as many passing plays that go for first downs (or close to it) when running backs or tight ends matched up against linebackers. Perhaps making Jordan a linebacker would help in that regard.
### As of close of business day Monday, the Dolphins coaching staff remained intact. That does not rule out staff changes by any means. But Joe Philbin, who is deliberate in his approach, hasn’t made changes eight days into the offseason.
### The Dolphins have lost one well-regarded employee since the end of the season: Claudia Lezcano del Campo, the team’s senior vice president/chief marketing officer, resigned due to health issues. She has started a marketing consulting business and will remain a consultant with the organization.
The Dolphins, led by president Tom Garfinkel, did excellent work marketing the product this season, considering the team ranked 13th in average home attendance (70,035) after averaging 57,379 in 2012 (29th) and 64,319 in 2013 (21st). Garfinkel is entering his 17th month as the team’s president and CEO.
### The Dolphins on Monday started tearing out seats from Sun Life Stadium as part of its stadium modernization. Whereas UM sold off seats and other memorabilia when the Orange Bowl was demolished, the Dolphins have no plans to put those seats up for bidding. But they are considering giving them to season ticket holders.
### Chris Grier, the Dolphins' director of college scouting, will be the latest candidate to interview for the Jets GM job on Tuesday, according to ESPN.
### With UM’s Denzel Perryman moving on to the NFL (Mel Kiper calls him a second-rounder), defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio said Raphael Kirby will replace him as UM’s middle linebacker, with Juwon Young behind him.
### Defensive end Al Quadin Muhammad, who was suspended from school one semester for breaking another student’s nose with a punch in the parking lot outside Sun Life Stadium on April 12, has returned to campus, and he and Chad Thomas will compete to replace Anthony Chickillo. (Both will play a lot.)
D’Onofrio said UM football coaches were allowed to stay in close contact with Muhammad during his suspension, so he knows what’s expected of him.
### Perryman, Philip Dorsett, Ladarius Gunter and Clive Walford accepted Senior Bowl invitations.
Meanwhile, agent Drew Rosenhaus continued his strong track record of adding Hurricanes to his stable of clients. Walford, Chickillo, Shane McDermott and Olsen Pierre have all signed with Rosenhaus. Some other Canes haven’t announced agent selections.
### The Heat is 5-1 when Luol Deng takes at least 14 shots, and Deng said recently that Erik Spoelstra has “been adding more plays to get me more involved. Coach has been saying, ‘What can I do?’ and seeing what works in practice…
"I knew it wouldn’t click right away and it has been very difficult. If this was next year, I would be worried about chemistry and connection. The teams doing really well have been together a while.”
### We saw less of that Norris Cole/Mario Chalmers pairing in recent Heat games and that’s a good thing; the Heat has been outscored by 84 points (or 12.7 per 48 minutes) when they played together this season. That’s the worst plus/minus of any two-man Heat combination.
Not only has the Heat's point guard play been deplorable, but backup shooting guard remains a hole that hasn't been adequately addressed.
FYI: The Heat is minus eight in the 482 minutes that Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade play together. Among combos not involving Josh McRoberts, the Heat’s best two-man plus/minus is Deng and Birdman (plus 46).
### The Marlins were very open to dumping the last two years and $15 million of catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s contract, according to a team that spoke with them, but nothing materialized and Miami now expects him back, hoping for drastic improvement.
He finished his first Marlins season with the most errors of any catcher in baseball (15), the third-lowest average among qualifying catchers (.220), and among the worst averages in all of baseball with runners in scoring position (.182) and runners in scoring position and two outs (.122, 5 for 41).
The Marlins love top catching prospect J.T. Realmuto --- a excellent defender who hit .299 with 8 homers, 62 RBI at Double A Jacksonville. He would have been in line to share the job with Jeff Mathis if Saltalamacchia had been dealt.
### As our Clark Spencer reported, Ichiro Suzuki has emerged as a possibility for the Marlins’ fourth outfield job. Ichiro, 41, hit .281 for the Yankees last season.
Twitter: @flasportsbuzz
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