We’re hearing that behind closed doors, the Dolphins’ coaching staff is just as excited, if not more so, about the potential of third-round DE Kendall Langford as it is about second-round DE Phillip Merling. Langford is bigger and perhaps a little faster than the former Clemson star, and executive V.P. of football operations Bill Parcells has always been enamored with physical tools. That being said, Merling, from Clemson, is far more polished than the former Hampton star and will likely make more of an immediate impact. link http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/The+Way+We+Hear+It/Whispers/2008/whispers050308.htm
what i found interesting was Mike Martz saying Alex Smith is the best QB he's ever worked with. Should be an interesting year in SF this year
What else is he going to say? "Man this kid really doesn't have what it takes. Hopefully we can find someone else next year"
Physically, I might believe that. He's much stronger and thicker that any QB they ever had in STL or DET. He's also taller. And I'm sure he can chuck it deeper than any of them as well. Mentally or intangibles though, that's quite another story right now...
Smith is actually an extremely slight and outright skinny QB. He's 6-4 and only 210 pounds. Kurt Warner was 6-2 and 220 when he played in St. Louis and probably had a stronger arm/quicker release. Either way, those comments are typical coach speak.
Langford has a better shot of starting in our straight up 3-4 formations than Merling does. Merling will probably start out as a DE in our four-man fronts.
Maybe this means Greco wasn't the guy they were looking at at the top of the 3rd, and Langford was the guy all along.
I can understand Martz being excited about Smith, he does have potential. The thing about Smith is that QBs from different college systems often take longer to get the footwork down. That really slows down their development. The general rule is that a QB takes about three years to adjust fully to the NFL. But a QB who was primarily in the shotgun throughout college may take a little longer or at least struggle more early on.
Why did we draft Merling? I wasn't aware he was to small to play 3/4 End but I wasn't aware he could even stand up and play OLB.
I dont think anyone on our coaching staff believes that is true. The only place I hear that being said is in Dolphins forums. He practiced with the DE's at the rookie practice. He's DE weight at 282. He is listed as a DE on our Roster. He has a DE number. Ireland identified him as a DE in his post draft video on the dolphins site. He played DE in college, never a down at OLB. If he looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, fly's like a duck and walks like a duck he might be a duck!
I havent seen that anywhere, but I sure hope they did ask him to lose weight if thats what they have planned for him. Have you seen an article with that anywhere other than here?
Cool. I'd like to know too. You'd think they are planning to play him at OLB based on how many DE's we already have on the roster, but then again look at how many Safeties we have too. We also use 2 DE's in our base formation with the possibility of another stand up type OLB or two as well.
At 275 he's the same size as Calvin Pace, maybe a bit bigger. I thought he would play elephant LB but we'll see.
I thought we were bringing in Pace to be a pass rushing OLB. Merling to my knowledge doesn't posses that kind of quickness or speed of the edge to do so. Merling is more of a Bullrush, take it to the inside kind of DE. I think both Merling and Langford both get time at DE. Better than what we had last year.
Of course Alex Smith is the most talented QB that Martz has ever worked with. Look who he has been around! He made filet mignon out of ground chuck. He hasn't ever had a true prospect to work with. It'll be interesting to see how he incorporates Gore and Davis into the offense. That will be his test in SF.
Gore has better be pulling a Darian Barnes and training bigtime to catch the ball. He's going to need it.
