Three weeks ago tonight, tackle Laremy Tunsil slid down the draft board while wearing curious footwear. The Dolphins are reportedly miffed at the suggestion that the slide was fueled by an ankle problem.
Via Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, the Dolphins are “not just puzzled but borderline angry” about a contention from Jason Cole of Bleacher Report that some teams passed on Tunsil on draft day due to a “pre-arthritic condition” in his ankle.
Team sources tell Salguero that there’s no ankle issue with Tunsil. Dolphins executive V.P. of football operations Mike Tannenbaum separately went on the record with WQAM in Miami to confirm the team’s position.
“None. Zero,” Tannenbaum said regarding alleged concern over Tunsil’s ankle. “He’s full go. He’s fine. We never had concerns about his ankle.”
No one else apparently did, either; Tunsil wasn’t asked to return to Indianapolis for a medical recheck before the draft. If teams are currently pushing the notion that there’s an ankle problem, it could be that some executives who passed on Tunsil are now hoping to lay the foundation for the inevitable explanation to ownership as to why Tunsil wasn’t selected. Given, after all, the number of players who smoke marijuana, the existence of video evidence of him puffing-and-not-passing that may not be enough to justify passing on Tunsil if he turns out to be the real deal.