The Dolphins had a strong presence Thursday night at the candlelight vigil in Parkland, Florida, to honor and remember the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School a day earlier.
Kenny Stills, Kenny Stills, T.J. McDonald and Tony Lippett were on hand at Pine Trail Park, along with front office members Nat Moore and Jason Jenkins, as well as former defensive back Sam Madison for the vigil honoring the 17 people killed in the shooting Wednesday.
"People talk about situations like this hitting close to home because it's happening in our backyard," Stills told the Palm Beach Post. "You've got to start to understand that anytime this happens, it's wrong regardless of where it happens, regardless of if it's people that you know or somebody you have a connection to. We've got to find solutions to stop it and make sure it doesn't happen anymore."
Landry posted on Twitter a picture showing a large crowd at the vigil with the hashtag #PARKLAND.
Military support: A group of Dolphins players spent the week overseas visiting U.S. military personnel. Ndamukong Suh, Chase Allen, MarQueis Gray, Mike Hull and Eric Smith began the military tour Monday and visited the USS Donald Cook in Spain. "It's definitely breathtaking," Smith said of the experience. "I'm speechless. Lot of things I didn't know. It's definitely an experience you can't take for granted. It's one for the ages." The players' tour came one week after Dolphins cheerleaders and alumni visited U.S. troops in Europe.
Playing tag?: An important date on the offseason NFL calendar is Feb. 20, which is next Tuesday. That's the first day teams can designate a franchise or transition tag for upcoming free agents. In essence, the tag guarantees a one-year contract in exchange for certain restrictions. For example, the more expensive franchise tag usually prevents a player from signing with another team, while the transition tag offers teams the opportunity to match any offer sheet a free agent might get. The Dolphins did not use a tag last year after putting - and later withdrawing - the transition tag on defensive end Olivier Vernon in 2016. The most logical Dolphins candidate to get a tag this year would be Jarvis Landry, who led the league in receptions in 2017 with 112. The deadline for teams to apply a tag is March 6 at 4 p.m. ET. The 2018 NFL league year begins March 14.
Keeping up with coaches: It was an eventful week for former Dolphins assistant coaches. The most noteworthy move involved Mike Shula, the son of Hall of Fame coach Don Shula, who joined the New York Giants as their new offensive coordinator. Phil McGeoghan was hired as wide receivers coach of the Los Angeles Chargers after serving in the same capacity with Buffalo last season. Finally, two men who played and coached for the Dolphins got new jobs this week, with Bernie Parmalee becoming running backs coach for the Atlanta Falcons and Terry Robiskie replacing McGeoghan as Bills wide receivers coach. Last week, former Dolphins defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni was hired for the same position by new Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia.
