Mike Wallace ready to improve in 2014

Written by Matthew Cannata
When Mike Wallace was signed to a monster deal last year in free agency, many expected him to come in and become a superstar in the Dolphins offense. When that didn't happen, frustration set in and many became upset with him and his inconsistency. Now, in 2014, Wallace knows he has to improve on a lackluster year and has already taken several steps to make it happen.

"I think this year I feel a lot more comfortable," Wallace said. "I feel as though guys have a lot more confidence in me. I always have confidence in myself, but I feel like my teammates trust in me a lot more. I feel now it's kind of like 'let's just play. Last year, I was worried about coming in and getting to know the guys, fitting in, knowing the coaches and knowing the system. It's a lot tougher than people think to go to a whole new team, especially with it being such a young team and me being a young guy coming into a young team trying to be a leader on a team where I'm not even familiar with the guys."

Under Bill Lazor, Wallace is expected to thrive as he has been moving around all over the line of scrimmage and will be used to his strengths. Head Coach Joe Philbin says that Wallace will need to continue to improve and laid out several ways he can do so.

"Well, I think the timing and the rhythm, this is a timing and rhythm passing game," Philbin said when asked where Wallace can improve. "One of the, we call it, 'axioms of the receiver position here' is you have to be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there. I know that sounds simplistic, but that's No. 1 (that) I think what he has to do. Then, we want to expand his route tree a little bit and we want to expand where he lines up a little bit. I think we've done some of those things, but we're still starting to work on those."

If Tannehill and Wallace can get their chemsitry down, the Dolphins offense can be an explosive one and possibly one of the best in the AFC.

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