Former Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne visiting Dolphins mini-camp

Former Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne was a visitor with the Miami Dolphins today, though not as a player. Wayne was in attendance at the Dolphins mini-camp practice today to help some of Miami’s wide receivers.

Wayne, of course, played for new Dolphins offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen in Indianapolis for several years. He was the Colts’ wide receivers coach from 2002-2009, meaning that he was Wayne’s position coach for eight years (Wayne was drafted in 2001). Christensen then transitioned to the role of offensive coordinator in 2010 and 2011, again working closely with Wayne. Even after he moved to quarterbacks coach in 2012, he was still on the staff and around in the offensive meeting room. So Wayne only played one NFL season (his rookie year) without Clyde Christensen on staff with the Colts offense in some capacity.

“He’s one of those guys that you just love talking ball with and love being around,” Dolphins head coach Adam Gase told ESPN's James Walker about Wayne. “Any time any of our players can talk to guys of that caliber. ... it’s great for our guys. They learn stuff.”

Wayne isn’t the first former NFL player to visit the Dolphins this year. Wes Welker, who played for the Dolphins early in his career (2004-2006) and also played for Gase in Denver (2913-2014), has also been at Dolphins mini-camp this week. Earlier this offseason, Peyton Manning visited the team to help tutor quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Manning, of course, played for Christensen in Indianapolis and then for Gase in Denver.

The Dolphins are certainly being proactive about bringing in former players to help their current ones, which is something that might be a good idea for the Colts to consider. The Colts are very much focused on developing younger players this offseason, and it surely wouldn’t hurt that development for those players to be able to talk with, learn from, and ask questions of former players who know the coaches and system. Perhaps it’s something Reggie Wayne would be interested in doing for the wide receivers group, but even if not there are several former players that the coaching staff could bring in to help the Colts players learn the system and continue to develop. It’s not something they have to do in order to be successful, but it’s at least an interesting idea worth considering for the Colts.