http://www.realfootball365.com/index.php/articles/dolphins/11082 02. Joe Thomas or Robert Gallery? With No. 1 draft pick Jake Long already penciled in as the starting left tackle, expectations are that he will perform as well as the Browns’ Thomas did last year. Of course, the Raiders had the same expectations of Robert Gallery when he was taken No. 2 overall in 2004. The Dolphins are banking on Long being more Thomas than Gallery to shore up an unstable offensive line. 03. Beck, McCown, Henne, or wait until next year? Everyone seems thrilled at the hard work second-year quarterback John Beck has put into improving his game. Free-agent pickup Josh McCown believes Miami gives him the chance he needs to be a successful NFL quarterback. Many are hailing second-round draft pick Chad Henne as the Dolphins’ quarterback of the future. The question is whether any of them are going to be ready to lead the team in 2008. 04. Whoever throws the ball, who’s going to catch it? The Dolphins drafted no wide receivers or tight ends, meaning either they are comfortable with the returning receivers and free agents they’ve brought in or they don’t expect to throw the ball much in 2008. At 5-foot-11 and 178-pounds, Ted Ginn is not a prototypical Parcells-type wide receiver who is expected to block for the running game at least as much as he catches passes. Ernest Wilford, at 6-4 and 220 pounds, is more the type favored by Parcells and, by extension, head coach Tony Sparano. At tight end, it appears the team is content with free-agent addition Sean Ryan ... or it's waiting for the Giants to drop their asking price for Jeremy Shockey. 05. Are the running backs back? With Ronnie Brown coming off knee surgery and Ricky Williams coming off years of self-destruction, the Dolphins’ ball carriers remain a huge question. The Miami brain trust obviously agreed, using two of its nine picks in last weekend’s draft on running backs. Jalen Parmele is a 6-0, 222-pounder from Toledo with sub-4.5 speed. Lex Hilliard is a 6-0, 240-pound bruiser from Montana with 4.66 speed who can carry the ball or block for the man who does. Parmele is tentatively slated to be the No. 3 back behind Brown and Williams, assuming either or both return to form in '08.
Agreed, I think Fasano is ready to be our TE this year and he's one of Tunaland's boys... At any rate, most of the points are well made here. The team has been improved in every area but the skilled offensive positions if you consider Wilford and Marty Booker a wash... Most of us knew it would take at least 2-3 yrs for a turnaround here, and looking at what they've done so far, while seemingly a great start in that process, there's a lot left still to do...
Because he doesn't fit the narrative of a team devoid of talent across the board Doc, we are helpless a team with no talent and no speed..blah blah.. I think they missed the real problem at Linebacker, we have a armada of LB's on the roster none of which are really oustanding..and of course..JT...
I totally agree, one of my co-workers is an avid Cowboy fan and I remember us talking about Fasano last year during the preseason on how good he looked! Made some BIG plays... I think he'll definitely end up the starter unless David Martin really draws on the talent that he DOES posess.
Probably just a case of the author trying to churn out a quick article before the deadline and not looking at that trade, and just looking at draft picks. I think it's pretty clear that barring injury, Fasano will emerge as the starting tight end.
Jayson Foster is fast becoming one of the guys I really want to see play, out of the entire rookie class. The fact that Bill Parcells was on the horn with Foster's agent 12 minutes after they picked Jake Long, and then gave him two more calls in the 7th round...suggests they really wanted the kid. In fact, if I have my timeline correct...that phone call to Foster's agent 12 minutes after they picked Jake Long may have come not long before they pulled the trigger on trading Lorenzo Booker for a fourth round pick, no?
A couple of questions CK: Do you think the Lorenzo Booker trade was a spur of the moment thing, or was he being shopped around before the draft? Is Foster a good enough prospect that we could see Ted Ginn moved off of kick return duties and Foster take over that job? And is he head and shoulders above Devone Bess?
I'm sure it was something that the Eagles and Dolphins talked about well before the draft, but clearly the Dolphins were waiting on something before they pulled the trigger. And, since they didn't wait all the way until pick #115 when they would know who was available, it means they were waiting on something else. Chances are, they needed to call Foster on draft day and see what teams had been talking to him, make sure they could still get him UDFA. That's my guess.
