This please. This is the play where I realized Grimes was a legitimate star. [video=youtube;PKLL7Lk74D8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKLL7Lk74D8[/video]
Sparano wasn't a good NFL head coach. Yet if you look at all the players drafted while he was the HC of the team, only Long and Pouncey can be considered top tier NFL players at their position. There just weren't a lot of quality NFL players drafted by the Dolphins from 2008-2011.
If we are going to more zone coverage, I wonder what Antoine Winfield and Charles Woodson would cost on 1-2 yr. deals. I suspect both could still play well in zone schemes and would give great physicality on the corners against the run. Then draft a few guys in the 2nd-3rd rounds to groom as their replacements.
Winfield still played at a pretty decent level last year as well, not a bad 1-2 year stopgap if he can do ok in the scheme. Still a physical guy as you mention.
If Miami's moving to more of a zone-based coverage scheme, I'd have my eye on a few guys in the draft: Ryan, Trufant, Taylor, Wreh-Wilson, and Poyer come to mind. Trufant would be my ideal target as I think he can play both press-man and zone. As far as free agency, I don't think Charles Woodson is going to end up in Miami; I think he's going to be a 49er. As far as free agency goes, I'm not sure I really see anyone worth ponying up money for other than a healthy Brent Grimes. I also wonder if the the rumored interest Miami had in Darrelle Revis would be so that he can essentially play press-man and you can roll coverage away from him in zone in some combo coverage packages. Miami played a lot of single-high safety towards the end of last year, and if healthy, I think Revis would be ideal to play that field side of the defense and you can get by with Carroll or Marshall in the boundary (you could do better for cheaper than Marshall as well I'd think), but I'm not sure if at this point Miami has the resources to pay Revis. It's a moot point as I doubt the Jets would let him go, but it's a move that would really pique my interest.
I have nothing against us taking Trufant, and he's probably a great fit here, but we'd have to take him at #12 (unless we had some trades up or down).
I'm not opposed to taking him there. I think that fits with Jeff Darlington's hint that Miami's draft plans are "interesting" or whatever he tweeted that first day of free agency. Just comparing the DBs that Cincinnati added while Coyle was there to what's available in the Draft, I think Milliner would be his ideal choice with Trufant a close second. If anything, they've seemed to prefer smaller guys who can run over bigger guys. They've added a few interesting guys here and there with size - Terrance Newman, Nate Clements, and Jason Allen (yeah, that Jason Allen), but of them, only Newman had success. Allen I don't think did anything more than special teams, and Clements didn't perform well at CB so they moved him to S.
Other than Grimes, here are the other veteran corners left: Quentin Jammer, DeAngelo Hall, Antoine Winfield, Nnambi Asomugha, Sheldon Brown, Terence Newman, Nate Clements, Tracy Porter, Captain Munnerlyn, Drayton Florence, Kelvin Hayden, Pacman Jones, EJ Biggers, Shawntae Spencer, Cedric Griffin, Rashean Mathis, Joselio Hanson, DJ Moore, Mike Jenkins, Marcus Trufant, Brandon McDonald, Ryan Mouton, Jacob Lacey, Terrence McGee. Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/#storylink=cpy
