The fourth week of the preseason often is a time for longtime NFL veterans to rest their bodies and prepare for the regular season.
However, that won’t be the case for new Miami Dolphins middle linebacker Rey Maualuga.
The nine-year veteran has a lot of ground to make up after signing with the Dolphins last week. He missed all of training camp and has yet to play in the preseason. That might change Thursday when Miami travels to play the Minnesota Vikings in its preseason finale.
Maualuga, who played his previous eight seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, must get back in football shape after joining the Dolphins overweight. Last week, Maualuga worked with trainers while Miami had joint practices in Philadelphia.
According to Dolphins coach Adam Gase, it remains to be seen if Maualuga will be ready for Thursday or even the regular-season opener on Sept. 10. However, Maualuga sounds more optimistic.
“Whenever coach is ready for me to get on the field, I’ll be ready,” Maualuga said. “In the meantime, I’m just on the side working out with the strength guys and doing drills.”
According to Maualuga, he’s been “swimming, eating and relaxing” during his time off. Once he gets back in shape, Maualuga will compete with incumbent Mike Hull, who looks like the favorite to start in two weeks.
Hull, who replaced injured starter Raekwon McMillan (knee) this preseason, has been a career backup since joining Miami has an undrafted rookie three years ago. He’s shown flashes in the preseason, but Miami’s defense overall has struggled it remains to be see if Hull can be an effective full-time starter in his third NFL season.
Maualuga is a physical run-stuffer, which is needed on a Miami defense that was ranked 30th against the run last season. He is very familiar with the Dolphins defense after playing for defensive coordinator Matt Burke when he coached with the Bengals.
“My strengths are coming downhill and taking on blocks and stopping the run and leading by example,” Maualuga said. “If I come in and do all of that and show what I can do on the field in that aspect, I think everyone will follow and I think we can be that much better on defense.”