Dolphins rookies dish at rookie minicamp: ‘It’s like living in a dream right now’

Each of these seven Dolphins draft picks has put on football jerseys and pads hundreds of times in their lives. But when it happened Friday, for the first time as NFL players, there was a special tingle.

“It’s like living in a dream right now,” left tackle Patrick Paul, the team’s second-round pick, said before the first practice of the Dolphins’ two-day rookie minicamp in Miami Gardens. “I don’t even know If I’m awake right now.”

“This,” fourth-round running back Jaylen Wright said, “is a dream come true. [Jersey No.] 25 I feel I like good in. I am going to make it look good.”

The rookies were so excited, even during the initial walk through on Friday morning, that outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow “had to tell me to calm down,” rookie fifth-round edge rusher Mo Kamara said.

A couple of these Dolphins’ third-day picks have been boldly blunt about their desire to make teams pay for bypassing them in the draft.

Wright said on draft day: “I want to prove my point, make people who passed on me to feel me.”

He reiterated that Friday:

“I’m going to remind these teams why they shouldn’t have passed [me up],” Wright said. “They let a great team get a dawg. That’s on them.”

Kamara said on draft day: “I’m very angry going the round I did. All 31 other teams, look out. The way I’m about to play against these guys, you should have picked me before. I’m going to roast the whole NFL.”

Friday, Kamara conceded that “I’ve got to be humble about it because I’m here… I’ve still got to make the team.”

Kamara’s brother, who played at Temple, “called me” Thursday night “and said ‘you made it to the locker room.’ [But] I’ve still got to prove myself.”

The Dolphins’ picks are very much aware of what was held against them in the draft process.

For Kamara, it was his size (6-1, 248). That didn’t stop him from producing 45.5 tackles for loss and 29.5 sacks in five years at Colorado State.

As a “shorter-than-typical” edge rusher, Kamara said there is a benefit: “I’m low to the ground. I’m going to always use that. I’m quicker, too. Some of those guys have a longer length or longer strides. I’m quick and put my hands on you fast.”

For sixth-round receiver Malik Washington, he knows his height (5-8) worked against him. That didn’t stop him from leading the nation with 110 receptions at Virginia last season.

Also, “I know I’ve had some issues with injuries in the past, but I gave everything I had my whole career,” he said of what teams might have held against him.

For seventh-round receiver Tahj Washington, the size (5-10, 174 pounds) and mediocre 40-time (4.51) were held against him, despite high-volume production at Southern Cal, including a Pac-12 leading 18.0 yards per catch last season.

“I’m a smaller guy and I guess I didn’t run as good as people hoped for me to run,” he said. But neither of those has limited him “to this point. People have been telling me that my whole life. Some way, every day, you figure out a way to show up and impress.”

For these rookies, the next few months will be not only about learning the Dolphins’ system, but self-growth.

For first-round pick Chop Robinson, that will involve learning the tricks to convert more of his quarterback pressures into sacks.

For Paul, one priority towers above all: “My hand usage is the big emphasis,” he said. “I’m going to get with coach Butch [Barry] and we’re going to go hard on it every single day.”

More draft pick tidbits from Friday:

▪ Paul said left tackle Terron Armstead texted him welcoming him to Miami. He’s excited about being mentored by a five-time Pro Bowler.

▪ Robinson and Kamara and six other draft-eligible pass rushers trained together in Phoenix before the draft. Six were drafted. Kamara said Robinson owes him money from a bet they made during those training sessions.

▪ Robinson said he and Dolphins edge rusher Jaelan Phillips talk “all the time.” He said the message he received from Phillips and Bradley Chubb has been consistent: “Just work. Come in, put your head down and grind.”

▪ Malik Washington, on how — at 5-8 — he was able to break 35 tackles last season (which led all FBS receivers): “It’s a little bit of being in the training room and weight room. But I also think it’s a mind-set. I don’t think anyone can tackle me. I don’t want anyone to tackle me. I don’t want to touch the grass. Each time I touch the ball, I want to score.”