Free-agent CB choices dwindling with Bryant McFadden signing

All I can think is we must be waiting for some CBs to get cut after the draft, in June.
If not...well, we're screwed because our corners are not good and a rookie corner is going to take time to learn.

Eric Green is not your answer to a cover corner. He is very solid vs the run, but gets destroyed on coverage skills. He has skillet hands, and will drop easy balls, and usually gets turned around on ALL routes. This is not an answer to a number 1 or 2 corner on a team. His nickel skills SUCK, trust me, it is a good thing he hasn't signed with you yet.

LOL this is the 2nd time I posted something in another thread instead of making a new one of the same topic..lol

http://forums.thephins.com/showpost.php?p=621849&postcount=12

It's all good though.:hi5:

I really hope we can land Bodden, hell I wouldn't mind Surtain coming back for a year, and still draft a CB...."cough cough" DJ Moore from Vanderbilt:up:

jmo though

Dolphins | Interested in S. Smith
Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:38:33 -0700

Barry Jackson, of the Miami Herald, reports the Miami Dolphins are showing interest in University of Utah CB Sean Smith. The Dolphins have already met with him, and they are looking to have another private session with Smith Monday, March 9, at his Pro Day.

Still hoping we bring someone in via FA and look to upgrade in the draft.

Bodden is my top choice now, hes shown flashes of being a pretty solid guy, and hes still young.
We really need to sign someone, we have the cap room. We have to deal with Moss AND TO now.

I really wish we had shelled out for Goodman, he played very well for us.

"texanphinatic wrote:

Bodden is my top choice now, hes shown flashes of being a pretty solid guy, and hes still young.
We really need to sign someone, we have the cap room. We have to deal with Moss AND TO now.

I really wish we had shelled out for Goodman, he played very well for us.

At this point it is looking devastating not resigning Goodman.

Even if we draft a fine CB Goodman couldve taken over for Allen in 2010. Just dont see the strategy to signing NOBODY at this point ecspecially with plenty of cap room.

"Fin-Omenal wrote:

At this point it is looking devastating not resigning Goodman.

Even if we draft a fine CB Goodman couldve taken over for Allen in 2010. Just dont see the strategy to signing NOBODY at this point ecspecially with plenty of cap room.

Goodman's only 6 days younger than Allen. They'd both need replacing by 2010. Unless Leigh Bodden's demanding exorbitant prices, it's a no brainer to sign him as potential replacements for now and the future.

Getting a strange feeling they really like Jason Allen and while they will select a CB they may not sign a veteran. It's not without reason to:

1- More athletic than anyone in this draft
2- Did well in every game except the N.E. debacle against Hall-of-Fame Randy Moss one-on-one. I mean **** how many CBs face Moss one-on-one with zero pressure on the quarterback?
3- A damn good guy to have in run support at CB.

"Jaj wrote:

Getting a strange feeling they really like Jason Allen and while they will select a CB they may not sign a veteran. It's not without reason to:

1- More athletic than anyone in this draft
2- Did well in every game except the N.E. debacle against Hall-of-Fame Randy Moss one-on-one. I mean **** how many CBs face Moss one-on-one with zero pressure on the quarterback?
3- A damn good guy to have in run support at CB.

That's def a possibility ( I hope lol). I think everyone is just skeptical because they don't want to hold out any more false hope. We've all kind of been teased with the idea of the light going on but aren't sure what we're seeing.

I would still think they would sign another CB bc of the lack of depth, or better yet quality depth, not including Jason Allen.

Either way I think we have to get used to the idea of double covering the other team's best wide receiver with Jason Allen as the strength of that because Will Allen is too small and I'd rather have a more experienced Allen than say Sean Smith against Moss.

Downside? It's going to be hard doing that against New England if they go into that spread they put on us last time. We rushed four if I'm not mistaken, with a spy while they had five receivers with six guys covering for us. We had to pick our poison. Either not have enough pressure (killed us), double Moss (worked but we got killed by Welker especially), take the spy out (Cassel TD run), or CB blitz (only thing that somewhat worked).

Good news though. Brady and the rest of the QBs visiting us that do have great WRs (exept ****ing Matt Schaub) don't really run.

I guess we're just going to have to figure out how to work a double team scheme.

"Jaj wrote:

Either way I think we have to get used to the idea of double covering the other team's best wide receiver with Jason Allen as the strength of that because Will Allen is too small and I'd rather have a more experienced Allen than say Sean Smith against Moss.

Downside? It's going to be hard doing that against New England if they go into that spread they put on us last time. We rushed four if I'm not mistaken, with a spy while they had five receivers with six guys covering for us. We had to pick our poison. Either not have enough pressure (killed us), double Moss (worked but we got killed by Welker especially), take the spy out (Cassel TD run), or CB blitz (only thing that somewhat worked).

Good news though. Brady and the rest of the QBs visiting us that do have great WRs (exept ****ing Matt Schaub) don't really run.

I guess we're just going to have to figure out how to work a double team scheme.

We're going to need to have a great ****ing pass-rush. Period.

That's why I'm predicting 2 LB's in Day 1. Or the off chance that Brace falls to 2b.

"slickj101 wrote:

We're going to need to have a great ****ing pass-rush. Period.

That's why I'm predicting 2 LB's in Day 1. Or the off chance that Brace falls to 2b.

Ya pretty much:pointlol:

We need that anyway though even if we did get a good pair of CBs. Would love some pressure from the ILB position though. Starks is likely the pass rush NT and Merling/Wright the third down pass rush DEs. Wake is the pass rush LOLB and Porter is Porter. We've got little coming up the middle though.

"Jaj wrote:

Ya pretty much:pointlol:

We need that anyway though even if we did get a good pair of CBs. Would love some pressure from the ILB position though. Starks is likely the pass rush NT and Merling/Wright the third down pass rush DEs. Wake is the pass rush LOLB and Porter is Porter. We've got little coming up the middle though.

Yea your right. I duno if there's a great answer for ILB in the draft either.

The best case scenario IMO would be if:

Wake turns out to be a solid aquisition and can get to the QB in this league.

We manage to draft Larry English.

We could kick English out to LOLB and put Wake on the inside. That would be ideal IMO, but obviously there's quite a few ways that plan could never work.

You could put Porter inside at LILB. He'd be able to play the position effectively in the case of a run.

"Jaj wrote:

You could put Porter inside at LILB. He'd be able to play the position effectively in the case of a run.

I haven;t seen Porter fight off blocks to make tackles in the run game for the last two seasons. too easily blocked in the run game to be a great ILB.

if you;re desperate, I guess, but he won't impress anyone in there.

If we are not going to have Ted Ginn return kicks I think we should sign Chris Carr as a back-up. He would help our return game greatly.

There are a few guys out there that I would not mind having but Bodden should be priority #1.

"Jaj wrote:

Getting a strange feeling they really like Jason Allen and while they will select a CB they may not sign a veteran. It's not without reason to:

1- More athletic than anyone in this draft
2- Did well in every game except the N.E. debacle against Hall-of-Fame Randy Moss one-on-one. I mean **** how many CBs face Moss one-on-one with zero pressure on the quarterback?
3- A damn good guy to have in run support at CB.

I thought Leigh Bodden and Lito Sheppard did pretty good jobs last year with Moss. One of them is still available. I like Jason Allen but I'd still want a little insurance for that.

It sure would be nice having Bodden to be sure. Considering his size and his skill it would enlarge our CB core significantly and help in the run game. Not sure how much of a difference that would make in the run defense but it certainly can't hurt and if you've got Jason Allen playing the #2 WR, Bodden the #1, and Allen the slot guy you'll be set for a Patriot game.

"Jaj wrote:

It sure would be nice having Bodden to be sure. Considering his size and his skill it would enlarge our CB core significantly and help in the run game. Not sure how much of a difference that would make in the run defense but it certainly can't hurt and if you've got Jason Allen playing the #2 WR, Bodden the #1, and Allen the slot guy you'll be set for a Patriot game.

Bodden's pretty good against the run. Active tackler for sure. Of course, the Browns and Lion DL's and LB's tend to let RB's in the secondary. Still, it'd give us 3 talented CB's to match up with the more dynamic passing offenses. Draft a CB to groom for the future and you're pretty much set for a long time.

http://www.universaldraft.com/3_10_2009_CK_s_Blog.php

CK wrote:

The reason the Dolphins do not have a corner yet, however, is because the market is flooded with cornerbacks that have a lot of starting experience. Here is a figure for you. Let's take ONLY the cornerbacks on the market that are under 30 years old right now, and average their number of starts. That average is 23 starts. The average jumps up to 32 starts if you count only the 10 most experienced players. Keep in mind, these are players that are under 30 years old. If you average the experience of the 9 players I tracked that are over 30 years old, the average number of starts under their belt is 89 games. So, the average player under 30 years old has been starting for 2 years, and the average player over 30 has been starting for 5 or 6 years.

That's a pretty flooded market, and I am willing to bet the Dolphins simply believe there is no point paying $7 million a year premiums when you can get a guy for $1-2 million a year that has multiple years worth of experience starting at the position. And, that's if you simply eliminated the players that are over 30 years old.

So, why not go after one of the premium names out there? Would that be so wrong? Personally, I was hoping they would indeed pony up for a Ron Bartell, who is young with size, speed, play-making ability and could lock down a #1 or at the very least #2 cornerback job for years. But, the Dolphins obviously believe differently. Either they didn't like the talent of Bartell and Greer, or they have philosophical problems with the idea of signing them. I think the latter is more likely than the former. One thing that any follower of the NFL can and probably has noticed over the years is that when a premium free agent corner leaves his current team, you often see a significant drop-off in the guy's talent. The idea has been floated by some that with the current pass interference rules, there are no lockdown corners anymore and the whole position should be paid cheaply. I am not sure I believe that. I think the Dolphins do believe in elite corners, but I think they also believe that elite corners are grown within your defensive system, not acquired from someone else's defensive system. DeAngelo Hall went to Pro Bowls for the Atlanta Falcons. He didn't last half a season with the Oakland Raiders. Sometimes it works out, but often it does not. I am not sure if I fully agree with this philosophy, especially in today's NFL where teams are absolutely awash in salary cap liquidity, but I believe that the Dolphins have made decisions about the cornerback position on this basis. I do not believe they will hesitate to keep their own younger corners if/when they draft them and they grow into elite level players within the system, but I do not sense any comfort level whatsoever with paying some other team's "elite" or even "good" corners.

There ya go. That's what I think.

At this point...

Look to the draft for corners and WRs. That is where I feel the Trifecta is going to build up those areas. Of course teams will have to cut other guys, but they may not be anyone we want or is the true answer for the long term.

We will have learning curves and rookie mistakes, particularly at corner. Any rookie WR probably won't start unless he is just amazing in camp.

"Jaj wrote:

Either way I think we have to get used to the idea of double covering the other team's best wide receiver with Jason Allen as the strength of that because Will Allen is too small and I'd rather have a more experienced Allen than say Sean Smith against Moss.

Downside? It's going to be hard doing that against New England if they go into that spread they put on us last time. We rushed four if I'm not mistaken, with a spy while they had five receivers with six guys covering for us. We had to pick our poison. Either not have enough pressure (killed us), double Moss (worked but we got killed by Welker especially), take the spy out (Cassel TD run), or CB blitz (only thing that somewhat worked).

Good news though. Brady and the rest of the QBs visiting us that do have great WRs (exept ****ing Matt Schaub) don't really run.

I guess we're just going to have to figure out how to work a double team scheme.

I think you may be right with a CB plans.

Parcell's teams frequently had one decent corner that played on an island while the other with limited coverage skills was protected (Giants w Mark Collins & Everson Walls, Jets w Aaron Glenn & Otis Smith). I expect the Fins will fill the open CB with a larger CB, whose contributions may be more valuable in red zone situations, tackling, and ball skills in double coverage. Perhaps, this explains why the team made no effort to retain Goodman who impress many of us with his improved coverage while his stats indicate he was half the tackler as Otis Smith.

As for the spread offense, it would seem to be a top issue to address. Since the QB can quickly see the field and get the ball off, defenses generally respond by getting hands up to block QBs view in passing lanes and by disguising coverages. Hopefully, with most defensive players returning, the schemes can become more complex and the players more aggressive.

Well forget about Bodden :pity:

Patriots agreed to terms with CB Leigh Bodden on a one-year contract. NFL.com's Vic Carucci reports that the deal is worth $750,000.

After dealing Matt Cassel, the Pats' top priority was upgrading the secondary and they've executed. Bodden returns to a mostly man-to-man scheme after failing to adjust to Detroit's heavy zone. He flashed shutdown ability early in his career with Cleveland and is only 27. Bodden brings needed size (6'1/192) to New England and will compete to start. With Shawn Springs, Ellis Hobbs, and Bodden at corner, the Pats' pass defense looks much improved.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playernews.aspx?sport=NFL

Eric Green anybody?

Dolphins | Could make E. Green an offer
Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:17:47 -0700

Armando Salguero, of The Miami Herald, reports the Miami Dolphins could make free-agent CB Eric Green (Cardinals) a contract offer this week.

http://www.kffl.com/team/22/nfl

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/2009/03/free-agents-available-defense/

Eric Green (Cardinals) –The four-year veteran started nine games for the NFC champions and can come in and compete for a starting spot. He is physical and can get in the faces of receivers at the line of scrimmage, which makes up for his lack of top-end speed.