For most teams, including the Miami Dolphins, this week marks the halfway point in the pre-season. We’ve reached the second game, and meaningful football is just around the corner. In a few short weeks, rosters will be cut down to 53 players. But before we reach that point, we still have much to sort out, starting this week with the Carolina Panthers.

There were some ups and downs last week against Tampa Bay. The starters, for as short as they were in, looked pretty good. Some rookies took their lumps, which is to be expected at this point in the season. Ultimately, the game didn’t quite turn out how you would like, but that hardly matters in the preseason. What matters is that players are developing and fighting their way onto the final roster.

With Week 2 upon us, we should get a longer look at the guys who will get the brunt of the playing time in the regular season, so who should we keeping our eyes on? There are the obvious answers like Ryan Tannehill as he continues his comeback from a serious knee injury. Then there are the key rookies on both sides of the ball, including Mike Gesicki and Minkah Fitzpatrick. However, I’m training my eyes on a couple lesser publicized, but equally important, players.

I’m also going to be keeping a close eye on one of the more interesting position battles shaping up this preseason. So, let’s get to it and talk about the three players to watch in this week’s match-up!

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