David Long Jr. is heading into his second season with the Miami Dolphins with a new defensive coordinator but the same mentality.
The 5-foot-11 linebacker has always seen himself as an underdog since he was taken in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL draft.
Now, the former West Virginia Mountaineer is a contract year.
“[The motivation] is the same,” Long said this week during a Zoom media session. “It hasn’t dropped off, it hasn’t gotten better. It’s the same. But I don’t look at it as that. Over the years I’ve grown … so I don’t really worry too much. I come to work every day.”
Long wears a tattoo on his neck that he considers his motto.
“‘Que sera, sera’ … It means, ‘what will be, will be,’” Long said. “That’s what I believe in, so that’s how I attack every day.”
Long will go into the 2024 season attacking every day with his new defensive coordinator, Anthony Weaver. Weaver was hired in February from the Baltimore Ravens.
Last season, Weaver helped lead a Ravens defense that reached the top of the league in scoring defense with 16.5 points allowed per game.
It is still early, but Long likes where the team currently is.
“We’re on like, phase (two of the offseason program],” Long said. “But right now, everybody is clicking, I would say, and it starts off the field as well. How tight is the team, how good can we communicate, and how fast we can take the classroom to the field. Everyday it’s getting better, and I’m sure it will continuously get better throughout the OTAs, phase three and going into minicamp.”
As Long enters his contract year, he is confident in the changes around him — including whoever winds up replacing his linebacker partner after the departure of Jerome Baker, which is expected to be Jordyn Brooks.
“Of course I had a lot of fun playing with [Baker], but the good thing about the league is there is a lot of good guys in the league,” Long said. “I feel like [Jordyn Brooks] came in, [Anthony Walker] came in and fit right in … As far as play style, [we] haven’t gotten the pads on yet, but as far as how we fit into the defense it’s feeling good right now. Everybody is clicking and learning every day.”
Miami residents are suing President Donald Trump, Miami Dade College and Florida officials, claiming a plan to donate prime downtown land for Trump’s future presidential library violates the Constitution by financially benefiting a sitting president.
Web Editor : Jessica Patrick
Posted
I have discussed this topic in the past, but it’s one of those things that never seems to fade in the minds of Miami Dolphins fans as a whole. As long as websites have been available on the internet, where people have been free to share any opinion they wish for the whole world to see, there has been a long-running complaint from many in our fan base that the media just flat-out disrespects or hates our Dolphins.
Many theories about why this happens center on the fact that most of the national media is based in the northeastern US. Many of the talking heads in this industry also come from places like New York, where, if they grew up as fans of one of the local teams, they probably grew up to hate the Dolphins, especially if they grew up in the 70’s or 80’s when the team was somewhere between great and at least good nearly every single season.
I, for one, have never really cared. First off, like many of you, I also grew up a diehard fan of the Miami Hurricanes football program. As such, I long ago learned to embrace the hate as I suspect it will always be there, even if most of their “reasoning” about the team being this way or another behavior-wise is tied to teams that are 30-40 years in the past. Ironically, many of those same players who were labeled as bad guys, thugs, etc., were then cheered and loved by the very same people once they joined their favorite NFL team. Funny how that works…
I can also remember a time, mostly because I am old, when this team was always good and, most years at least, a threat to get to the playoffs and do damage. In those days, and mind you, the media landscape was much different without the internet; the media was not so negative towards the team. In fact, I still have several old magazines, like Sports Illustrated, that had the Dolphins or Dan Marino on the front cover or in a positive featured story. Mind you, this was all during a time when the team was somewhat feared by other teams, not just the poster child for ineptitude.
So with that in mind, this evening’s Phinsider Question Of The Day is:
If you ever did in the first place, do you believe that the national media still shows utter disrespect for the Miami Dolphins, and if so, do you believe that this is deserved, earned, or just regional bias against a team that resides in a place that most of them wish they could actually live?
Please share your thoughts and answers in the comments section below-
NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) – The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office has located an 18-year-old man who went missing in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Detectives said that Ritchie Laguerre was recovered early Saturday morning.
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