The Miami Dolphins don’t have many unsung heroes this year, mainly because there haven’t been many heroes on this team period in 2025. At 5-7, their season was off to a bad enough start that it got their general manager fired and there has been speculation about head coach Mike McDaniel’s job security almost on a weekly basis.
But, there has been one position that has been a surprising bright spot: tight end.
This past offseason, the Dolphins got rid of their most productive offensive player in 2024, tight end Jonnu Smith. Given the dearth of talent remaining at the position, the Dolphins acquired Darren Waller out of retirement and he’s wildly exceeded expectations when healthy. While he’s only had 12 catches for 164 yards in five games, that was about 12 more receptions and 164 more yards than many thought they’d get out of him. Oh, and his four touchdown catches have been huge.
But, they have another tight end that’s played really well too. Julian Hill is in his third season and while his fantasy stats leave a lot to be desired, he’s primarily a blocker and has earned the praise of assistant head coach and tight ends coach Jon Embree.
“I know it wasn’t very popular to be sold on him as I have,” Embree said on Thursday. “A few things, one, his mindset and mentality. It’s very important to him. He takes a lot of pride in his work.
“And I know sometimes it can be perceived as coach speak, but really it’s a process to being a tight end in the NFL. 95 percent of these kids coming out of college don’t play NFL football at the tight end position.”
Embree sees promise in young Miami Dolphins tight end
Embree hasn’t been expecting Antonio Gates-type production from Hill, but he likes what he’s seen.
“He’s very smart. He sees what defenses are trying to do,” Embree said. “He’s able to make adjustments on the fly, like on [De’Von Achane’s] touchdown run [against the New Orleans Saints].
“Technically, that wasn’t his guy, but he picked him up and then got another guy. So he’s really starting to understand what we’re trying to get accomplished with our runs, and that allows him to play a little bit freer. So I think once we clean up a couple of things with him, he’ll be that guy that hopefully will be the standard of what you’re looking for in a blocking tight end.”
You don’t hear the term “blocking tight end” all that much anymore. It used to be a staple of an offense, but blocking has been a diminished requirement of the position in recent years.
“[Tight ends are] not asked to do a lot of things that we’re asking them to do,” Embree said. “And so therefore, it’s going to be a process. And I just knew working with him and seeing what was in his body and seeing how he thought and was able to communicate with him that it was just a matter of time. It was just a matter of how fast he could progress. I know it probably wasn’t as fast as maybe what he wanted or other people wanted.”
Embree never gave up on Julian Hill
Hill made the Dolphins’ initial 53-man roster as an undrafted free agent out of Campbell University in 2023. To say that’s an uphill battle is an understatement.
“I have an expression I tell the guys, I will never let you drown,” Embree said. “Now, you may be going underwater and coming up, but I’ll never let you go under and stay under. It’s a slow process when I’m teaching guys on what they need to do.
“With [Hill], there were certain things I needed to get him to do before he could do the next step. And he knew what the next step was, and sometimes he wanted to do the next step and skip the step that we needed to work on. Once he figured it out, and part of it’s probably trust. You’ve got to have that relationship where they trust you, and once all that kind of got going, I think we’re starting to see the fruits.”
Hill only has 11 catches for 91 yards this year, but Embree thinks he’s just getting started.
“I believe he’s still scratching the surface because I think there are things he can do in the pass game,” Embree said. “He missed that one pass behind him. But in our room, you touch it, you catch it. And I throw a bunch of low balls to my guys every day. And so those are the hardest ones for big guys to catch — he’ll make that next time.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Dolphins Get Shocking Production from Key Offensive Position appeared first on Heavy Sports.