Defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, a 2025 fifth-round pick out of Maryland, was just as extreme as Louis.
“Every day that you compete, you’re not competing with just the guys on your team, you’re competing with the whole world,” Phillips said. “So, at the end of the day, life ain’t fair, right?”
Safety Michael Taaffe, the rookie fifth-round pick who was originally a walk-on at Texas, was even more dug in.
“They brought three transfers back-to-back-to-back years to try to replace me,” Taaffe said. “And every single year I just took it in. That’s fine. I’m going to go beat them out. And it might’ve took six games. It might’ve took the next spring, but eventually I was the one that was, at the end of the day, the starter.
“So, is it unfair to the guys? I don’t think so.”
The unremitting confidence and almost arrogant defiance the Dolphins’ youngsters displayed was insightful. And consistent.
Cornerback Chris Johnson, the No. 27 pick of the draft out of San Diego State, called players returning to college an “interesting situation” and said he understands both sides of the issue.
“I’ve got a couple of buddies that they tried out for a camp or whatever, don’t end up making it,” he began. “It’s like, ‘Well, I’m still trying to play ball, so why not go back?’
“So, I do kind of see it from both sides because then a freshman just got on campus and now he’s got to compete with a, quote, unquote, NFL player.”
But Johnson was also pretty hardcore.
“I definitely say it’s unfair,” he said of a fifth-year player taking a starting job this season. “But at the same time, that’s just kind of how the game goes and how the game evolves. It’s the same way how you might think you’re the starting safety and then some guy enters the portal and they give him a million dollars to come.”