During the morning session of what was a two-a-day workout, offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo introduced Jerry and the others to a new drill designed to improve their balance and keep their feet underneath them. Each lineman had to pick up a 50-pound sandbag, lift it chest high and press it back and forth while shuttling down the line, which certainly burns those muscles.

“The purpose of that is to get them used to playing on their back foot,” said Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano, whose background is as an offensive line coach. “What we watched last night was we seen a lot of waist bending;

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Jerry’s size stands out whenever he’s on the field anyway as at 6-foot-5 and 328 pounds he is very big for a guard. He considers his strength at the line of scrimmage to be his biggest asset, which explains why he thought the sandbags only weighed 35 pounds, ...

“I think that drill will teach us how to punch and stay square,” Jerry said ...

Before acknowledging the challenges that come with making the type of position switch Jerry is making, Sparano cracked a smile when asked ideally how long that transition should take and then said, “Yesterday ...

EX-BULLDOG JONES VERY COMFORTABLE AT FREE SAFETY: So much has been made about the fact that fifth-round pick Reshad Jones played strong safety his senior season at Georgia and is going to have to learn how to be a free safety in the NFL that his selection has come under some scrutiny. Jones is one who most certainly would adopt the old adage, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”

As it turns out, Jones is better suited to play free safety for the Dolphins because he actually has more experience lining up there. In fact, as a junior for the Bulldogs in 2008 he put up his best numbers while playing free safety with 76 tackles (45 solo), five interceptions and one fumble recovery.

“My natural position is free safety,” Jones said. “I played free safety most of my whole career and only played strong safety one year, but I was a versatile safety so I just got to learn both spots. Now I’ve been getting my nose in the playbook, learning everything I’m supposed to be learning right now and I’m picking it up pretty fast and I feel comfortable out there running around at free safety ...


ODDS AND ENDS: Another unique drill involved the wide receivers, tight ends and running backs as the importance of holding onto the ball was highlighted. This time in addition to the standard fumble drill where one player tried to punch the ball out of the ball carrier, an elastic tension band was strapped around the ball. The other end of the band was held by the second player and he tried to yank the ball out as the ball carrier ran forward. ... In addition to putting in extra work after hours on his back pedal, rookie cornerback Nolan Carroll ...