A Dan Marino Dozen Non-QB Developments

I will hand Omar Kelly one thing. Whether he's biased against someone in particular on the QB front or not, or whether his explanation that he hates all QBs was a weapon of mass distraction or not, he was right in one thing. He and the other guys are forced to talk about the QBs at least 40% of the time because that's what the fans want.

But I think there are some very interesting non-QB developments going on and I was hoping to talk about some of them. Here are the ones I see, in no particular order:

1. Vonnie Holliday and Matt Roth are starting DEs, and both being worked at OLB? Many consider Roth's work at OLB to be a desperation move but I see it as a privilege, considering they've yet to even hint that he could be bumped off first string LDE duties. Maybe this is oversimplification, but when my bosses give me a new task to try my hand at, I consider it a new opportunity to make myself more valuable to the company. And, both Vonnie Holliday and Matt Roth are being given that opportunity. The idea is, the more jobs you can do, the more snaps you can take during a game, the more valuable you are. If Holliday and Roth prove capable enough to do spot OLB duty, then the Dolphins don't have to keep as many LBs active for game days. Perhaps it lets them keep more DLs active, so that they can keep everyone fresh and ready to bust up the quarterback. Who knows? I do know that added flexibility disappears if you suddely got rid of Holliday or Roth, and so that's why I say the coaches have given them a privilege of adding more value.

2. Boomer Grigsby is not playing STs. This was noticed by Boomer, who started a thread on it in The Club Level. It might be something to keep an eye on. We can speculate as to the reasons, but either way it's an interesting development. It could be a negative, since part of the reason you bring a Boomer Grigsby here is because of his STs value...so if they don't trust him to play STs, what does that say about his chances of making the team? On the other hand, it could be a positive, if they're not working him on STs simply because they already know what he can do there, and they'd rather get him focusing on his FB duties.

3. Jake Long is consistently strong against strength, and weak against speed. You'd rather he not show weakness at all but from what I'm reading, his problem isn't consistency and that's I think the worst problem you could have as a left tackle. If you're inconsistent, the quarterback never knows when you're not going to do your job and he'll get jittery. If your weaknesses are predictable, that takes away from the unknowns and helps keep the QB comfortable...as an offense, you can cover up predictable weaknesses. I could be wrong about this, but so far the impression I get is he's having far less trouble going up against guys like Phil Merling, Kendall Langford and Vonnie Holliday than guys like Charlie Anderson and Quentin Moses.

4. Is Charlie Anderson a diamond in the rough? In listening to Armando Salguero's interview on 790 they got to talking about Anderson a bit and Armando is skeptical of Anderson, as he should be. I mean, immediately you have to say...where has Anderson been the last four years? But, knowing about his background...he's been an OLB in a 4-3. I mean, listen to him interview. He'll outright say it, he's trying to get use to rushing the passer again because all this time in the NFL he's been getting use covering people. If that's the case, and he's already so good at rushing the passer even though it's been years since he did it...then whoa. We just might have ourselves a linebacker here. I think it's entirely possible that nobody ever would have wanted to try him out as a full time DE, but that doesn't mean he couldn't be an effective pass rusher as a 3-4 OLB. Does anyone think Mike Vrabel would be a top tier DE? I don't. Rosevelt Colvin? Nope. Joey Porter, for that matter? Heck no. These guys are linebackers. Maybe we just found ourselves one, too. It's possible. It's nice to dream...in July...

5. Donald Thomas is now working with the first string. This is significant, because he's working at first string RG even before "Dropkick" Murphy does. But, even that isn't quite as significant to me as what Tony Sparano said about Donald today. He said that he talked to some of the defensive players about him after he had him practice with the first string and the defensive players said he was "heavy". Sparano went on to explain that when a player says that he doesn't mean size or weight, "he means he’s heavy when he hits on you and when he leans on you." That's about as significant a compliment as you'll find at this juncture. Before the draft I would have thought Donald Thomas goes above Dropkick Murphy. I clearly liked them both. I just thought Thomas was better, even if less experienced. He's now developing a pattern for practice excellence...one that was first established way back in January at Hula Bowl practices...continued through to the very next week when he was invited to the Shrine Game practices and he stood out once again...and now his very first training camp experience and he's impressing. That...is a significant development, to me.

6. Is it me, or is the secondary doing a great job out there? Perhaps this is just a function of the quarterback and WR problems, but...we're hearing about an awful lot of interceptions. Will Allen, Jason Allen, Andre Goodman, Nate Jones, Chris Crocker all getting picks. We're also hearing about a lot of blanket coverage out there. Again, this could be about teh WRs and QBs, but either way the DBs are actually getting their hands on balls and hanging onto them. That right there seems like a big improvement, no? I bring it up because one could have predicted based on his history that Todd Bowles would coach these guys up on being able to snatch up the ball for more picks...and so far, wel, certainly what is happening in camp wouldn't be proving that theory WRONG in any way...on the contrary...

7. Jason Ferguson is a bonafied NFL nose tackle. That makes me breathe a sigh of relief, I don't know about you. I figured he would be, but you never know. The biggest question now will be, will he stay healthy? He's out there beating the snot out of Samson Satele in one-on-ones and really, that's his job. If you're going to start as an NFL nose guard, that's your job. Any time you're one-on-one with any Center in this league, you're supposed to beat him up and have your way with him. If your starting NT can't do that consistently, your 3-4 defense is pretty much dead in the water because the two guards are free to release on the ILBs, and you've got an easy 5 to 10 yards right up the gut before a safety or scraping player can even get into him.

8. Paul Soliai is getting mad props. I know that Harvey Fialkov and Omar Kelly have gone out of their way to say that Satele is handling Soliai but other people are definitely going out of their way to give him some props, including Channing Crowder and Tony Sparano. Also our own Ozzy gave Soliai some props from Sunday's practice. The great part about what was said about him is, it didn't need to be said. Channing Crowder was asked about two completely different guys and went out of his way to say the biggest surprise is Soliai, who lost like 30 pounds and is "beating the hell out of guys". Sparano went out of his way too on Soliai, talking about how much better he's playing and how much weight he lost. I can tell you one thing, just getting that big Samoan mother to lose the weight you want him to lose and show up, check in, and pass his conditioning test where others like Julius Wilson and Dan Gore failed? That's an accomplishment.

9. Wide receiver medley. I personally believe based on what I'm seeing so far that Derek Hagan is continuing his work in spring OTAs and mini-camps, and looking the best among the WRs. He's being noted for his hands being consistent for a change, he's probably the most crisp route runner out there, and size/speed have never been an issue for him. Meanwhile, I think Greg Camarillo is quietly winning the #4 spot. Something like two of four days now (counting today) we hear something nice about a good Camarillo catch. We also hear that in 4-WR sets, Camarillo is that fourth guy. Davone Bess continues to show nice hands and route running skills. Jayson Foster packs a wallop as a blocker for a little guy. Ozzy specifically noted how good Foster looked in blocking drills, and now today in Edgar Thompson's notes on practice, he talks about Foster blocking Jason Allen into tomorrow on one play. These guys obviously have a long way to go as a unit but they're doing some things right.

10. Running backs are the strongest unit on the team. Ricky Williams is damn near bringing tears to the eyes of some people watching him. Ronnie Brown is mystifying folks with how well he's moving so soon after tearing an ACL...and he's not really taking any breaks. Meanwhile, Jalen Parmele continues to look like the real deal Holyfield out there. Even Patrick Cobbs is getting into the action and doing well. The line may clearly have issues in pass pro, but by all reports they can run block especially on that left side. If we're going to be a core running team, that's certainly where you have to start! If Donald Thomas ends up starting at RG, that left side running game could end up quite the spectacle...because of Thomas' athleticism for pulling.

11. Injuries. Knock on wood. But, so far, things really seem to be playing out well on that front. I don't know why Joey Porter missed the first two and a half days but it doesn't appear to be significant because by that third day he was already passing his conditioning test and working back at his LOLB position. Ronnie Brown isn't even wearing a knee brace, let alone lightening up his work load. Vonnie Holliday's knee feels so good, he's working at outside linebacker. No hint of those old shoulder problems we remember for Ricky Williams; he's seeking contact, stiff-arming people, and loving every minute of it. We heard a lot of people swear by the Parcells strength and conditioning program, tell us how healthy and strong they feel because of it. Not quite a week into camp but, it certainly appears we're doing ok. Seems like at last year's pace we already would have had three injuries by now. The only injuries are really just Lehan and McKinney. Steve came to us injured and he's rehabbing out of it.

12. The locker room atmosphere is tense. I was talking to Armando about Beck, asking what the players in the locker room thought of him, and he really just emphasized how the entire locker room are way too busy fighting for their own survival to even care. Others have noticed this as well. The atmosphere is absolutely just as it was intended to be...one where players are intensely focused on doing their job, making the squad, and impressing the coaches. There are no distractions. There's no Jason Taylor situation looming. They don't even really care about the QB controversy. The guys are wound up pretty damn tight, and that's impressive...so much different from a year ago.

13. Is Anthony Fasano emerging? The guy has been steady thus far as the first string tight end. I notice today that even Sean Ryan is getting a crack at first string 2-TE packages, over David Martin and Justin Peelle...but the constant has been Fasano. That wasn't unpredictable, especially after we heard that the fourth rounder traded for Fasano was indeed mostly a trade for Fasano and that Akin Ayodele was a last minute after-thought. But, what is nice to hear, is that Anthony is earning it. We've heard about a couple of nice grabs from him now in the passing game. A week or two ago, Terrell Owens went on record about Anthony saying he really came along in the passing game and he's going to be very good down here. We know he can block. Did we get a complete TE? Because having Sean Ryan in on 2-TE sets suggests to me that the coaches are even more confident in his pass catching ability than they are David Martin. If that's the case, that is a significant development, to me.