How rookie tight end Tanner Conner overcame odds to make the Miami Dolphins’ 53-man roster

You can pick any one of a number of reasons why rookie Tanner Conner is the most surprising breakthrough story on this Dolphins 53-man roster.

You can cite the fact he plays a position, tight end, where the Dolphins already seemed set, with four veterans.

You can mention the fact that he was something of a project, adjusting to a conversion from college wide receiver to NFL tight end.

You can note that he missed the final two weeks of preseason, and the regular season opener, with a knee injury.

You can acknowledge that he didn’t have a single football scholarship offer coming out of high school, let alone any Power 5 conference interest.

But despite all of that, the Dolphins also knew this: They likely wouldn’t be able to sneak him through waivers and onto their practice squad. And the combination of size (6-3), speed (4.37-second 40-yard dash time) and a 39.5-inch vertical leap -- combined with his receiving skills -- were too intoxicating to give up on, not after four months of developing him.

“Talent wise, we would have lost him [if he had been waived],” Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said. “Other teams were asking about him. He’s got a future here potentially.”

Was Conner surprised to stick?

“My coaches told me I did enough early in camp and the preseason game and they thought I did a really good job and had belief in me and saw potential maybe I didn’t see. It wasn’t a surprise. I thought I worked really hard for it. But I was grateful they put me on the 53. If I were on the practice squad, I would feel the same way. I’m happy to be here.”

Nobody with the Dolphins informed him that he made the team. Instead, “when I saw the whole roster on Twitter, I knew I was in.”

At least 10 teams called him after the draft; about half, including the Dolphins, wanted to move him to tight end.

Conner picked the Dolphins because he felt comfortable with the position switch and bonded with position coach John Embree during his pre-draft visit to Miami.

“Miami had taken me on a 30 visit, so they obviously saw something they liked in me. And I felt a genuine relationship there and felt like I trusted who [Embree] was and his track record,” Conner said. “Some teams hit me up the [third] day of the draft that I never talked to, and that’s kind of weird. You don’t want to sign somewhere where you never talked to them before. I went with what to me was loyalty.

“Coach Embree thought I could play tight end even though I never played it before. I was scared because that’s an adjustment; having to change position at this level is obviously a task. But I believe in his plan. Embree has a great track record.”

And Embree likes what he has seen of Conner: “I loved how physical he was with the football. He was physical with it in college. He runs well. He really made a lot of strides. He picks up things real quickly. He worked on stuff I asked him to work on during the summer. When he came back in the summer, he was light years ahead of where he was. He’s a really good special teams player.”

He was such an obscure wide receiver prospect coming out of high school in Kent, Washington - where his team ran a Wing-T offense and he was asked primarily to block - that he didn’t even have a Rivals.com page (which even most fringe FBS prospects have) or a single football scholarship offer.

He had offers to run track at Washington and Washington State.

During a recruiting visit to Idaho State in early summer, just after his senior year of high school ended, he asked Idaho State’s track coach, Hillary Merkley, if he could give a football highlight tape to Rob Phenicie, the team’s football coach.

“Every school I went to, I asked to play football,” he said. “Every one said no except Idaho State. I gave [Phenicie] a Hudl link [of my high school football highlights]. I said ‘Coach, I’m on a track visit. I would appreciate if you could take a few minutes to watch this link.’ Two hours later, they offered me a scholarship. They watched and loved what they saw and said, ‘you can really play.’”

Conner said he and the track and football coaches “made a deal” for him to play both football and continue running track.

“It was very late in the process” – less than two months before enrolling in college, he said. “I didn’t know where I was going to go, if I was even going to play football.”

Conner had 124 receptions for 2211 yards in 26 college games, including 34 catches for 685 yards and three TDs in just six games last season. He also set a Big Sky 60-meter hurdle record at 7.73 and ran the 100 meters in a blazing 10.51 seconds and the 200 meters in 21.5 seconds.

The advantage of playing tight end?

“Mismatches,” he said. ”As a tight end, you go against linebackers and safeties in the box. Also, you don’t get pressed as much. You get free releases inside. It’s a different world down there. You can disguise a lot of things, especially in this offense and hopefully can catch them off guard with what you’re doing and [the opponent] won’t see it coming. If you can surprise them with speed, you have a pretty good mismatch.”

How is his blocking? “I’m not going to say I’m great at it,” he said. “I’m proud of how far I’ve come. I didn’t think I was ever going to be able to block at all. But my coach has been passionate about coaching me. I’ve made some good strides.”

He has studied tape of tight ends George Kittle, Darren Waller, teammate Mike Gesicki and the retired Tony Gonzalez.

“It’s weird because my whole life I studied receivers and release packages, and now all of a sudden, I’m in line as a tight end,” he said. “I actually watched Mike Gesicki in college because he was that receiver/tight end hybrid that could really do it all. I’m not a traditional tight end. I’m not 250 pounds. I’m a smaller guy [at 232 pounds]. Watching those tight ends has helped me a lot.”