Dolphins Add James to Practice Squad, Enjoy Week Off

The Miami Dolphins' win over the Oakland Raiders was mostly due to the improvement of quarterback Ryan Tannehill in offensive coordinator Bill Lazor’s game plan.

Tannehill is not the only player who showed improvement in his play in Sunday in London. The receivers and their play improved as well, something Lazor has been quite proud of this week.

Tannehill got all his receivers involved Sunday, with his 23 completions being spread out among the five wide receivers on the roster, tight ends Charles Clay and Sims, and running backs Lamar Miller and Daniel Thomas.

Lazor was highly complementary of the performance of the wide receivers — Hartline, Mike Wallace, Brandon Gibson, Rishard Matthews and Jarvis Landry — against the Raiders.

“You saw guys when they got the ball in their hand they were excited to have the ball in their hand,” Lazor said. “They were really working as hard as I’ve seen them work to do something with it. I thought they were physical blocking for each other on the perimeter. At times you could include the tight ends with that. I thought they started to develop an attitude of how they wanted to play with the football in their hand.”

JONES TO RETURN

Safety Reshad Jones is scheduled to rejoin the Dolphins this week and defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle is hoping to get him back into the mix quickly.

“He’s an outstanding player, a guy that’s made a lot of contributions to our defense and we’ll try to figure how we can package certain groupings to our advantage,” Coyle said. “We want to get him up to speed as fast as possible. He’s a playmaker. He can be a difference-maker for us.”

Jones, who’ll be coming back from his league suspension, isn’t the only prominent defensive player who could be back in action when the Dolphins face the Green Bay Packers at Sun Life Stadium on Oct. 12.

Linebacker Koa Misi also could be back after missing the last three games because of an ankle injury.

SIGNING JAMES TO THE PRACTICE SQUAD

The Miami Dolphins continue to show their need for depth at the running back position by adding LeMichael James to its practice squad.

Originally a second-round selection out of Oregon in 2012, James, 24, spent the first two years of his career with the 49ers before he was released after Week 1 of the 2014 season. Through his career, James has 184 yards rushing on 41 carries, and has also recorded 738 yards as a kick returner including a long of 62 yards in 2012.

The team also added to its defensive side of the ball by signing the New York Giants defensive end Emmanuel Dieke.