Brandon Gibson enters his fifth NFL year with the Miami Dolphins.
Gibson spent his last almost 4 years as the St. Louis Rams wide receiver where he acquired a total of 179 receptions for 2090 yards and 9 touchdowns mainly playing on the outside and making some incredible catches in his time there.
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This season will prove to be different for him as he will be lining up in the slot for the Dolphins offense, a position that will be very important from what we can see through out the pre-season as the majority of the snaps have been with three receiver sets.
Gibson is still acclimating to his new role and seems to be getting a good start thus far.
“I feel like I’m getting better and better each and every snap I take,” Gibson said. “It’s a work in progress for me, but my thing is I want to make sure I’m open and Ryan has a good place to throw the ball.”
Currently Gibson leads the Dolphins with nine pre-season catches 96 yards and a touchdown. In Saturdays game against Tampa Bay, Gibson led the team receiving corps with five catches for 43 yards and the only receiving touchdown of the game.
Mike Wallace had some compliments to dish out to Gibson:
“I’ve seen him every day at practice, he does this every day. To me it’s nothing new. He’s just doing what he does. He’s a guy who makes crazy catches. Really smart player. He does it every day in practice.”
Gibson on the other hand is his worst critic feeling unimpressed by his performance last Sunday due to a couple of drops including one in the end-zone.
“That’s one thing I have to get used to is working through all the trash and finding my way and getting my eyes back to the quarterback once I clear all the trash,” Gibson said. “As an example (Saturday night), I’ve just got to make sure I get my eyes (to the quarterback), the ball is low inside, but I’ve got to be able to make that play.”
Even with the end-zone drop, Gibson has made some good plays this pre-season and he will be counted on to continue making those plays through out the regular season as he did last year with the Rams. In 2012, Gibson’s best year so far, included 51 catches for 691 yards and five touchdowns, the reason he was picked up on the fourth day of free agency by the Dolphins.
Now as a Dolphin and with Wallace and Hartline slated to start on the outside, it is up to Gibson to learn the slot position.
“He’s been coming a long ways for us,” Tannehill said. “He’s kind of new to this (because) he didn’t play in the slot last year, so he’s learned a lot, come a long way since the spring and continuously getting better. You can see him just getting more comfortable running the routes and really did a great job getting open (Saturday). That’s what we brought him here to do, win in the slot for us. I think he’s going to do that all year.”
That first half against Tampa Bay might have provided a glimpse of what the three wide receivers could accomplish, as they were on the receiving end of 12 of Tannehill’s 17 completions.
“I feel like everybody most of the half got into a good rhythm and got better and better as it went on, Hartline making big plays on third down and Mike capitalizing when he gets a chance,” Gibson said. “I think we’re coming along just fine.
“I think us three have a lot of special talent and abilities to get open and make plays after the catch. Our thing is if we’ve got to live in three-wide, that’s what we’ll do. We’ve just got to make plays when the ball comes our way.”
By Sergio Peralta
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