Merged: Five areas the Miami Dolphins must address in the off-season

Five areas the Miami Dolphins must address in the off-season

Find an intimidating wide receiver: Davone Bess, Ted Ginn Jr. and Greg Camarillo have the skills and physical make-up of No. 2 or No. 3 wide receivers - players who can move the chains and provide an occasional big play. The Dolphins need big, fast and physical - a wideout who can pick up yards after the catch.

Get a bookend for linebacker Joey Porter: When pass-rusher Jason Taylor was at this best, he had Trace Armstrong or Adewale Ogunleye harassing the quarterback from the other side. Porter finished with an AFC-leading 17.5 sacks even though he didn't have one during four of the final six games. But Miami needs a force opposite him.

Linebacker Matt Roth's five sacks were second on the team and the fewest by the second-leading sacker since Tim Bowens had five in 1997.

Bring along the offensive line: The group that faced Baltimore on Sunday averaged 25 years of age and featured only two players with more than 20 NFL starts: right tackle Vernon Carey (60) and center Samson Satele (32).

No. 1 pick Jake Long was solid as the starting left tackle. With Carey, with his contract up, could be gone. The guards who started in Week 1, Justin Smiley and Donald Thomas, must recover from season-ending injuries. They were replaced by Andy Alleman and Ikechuku Ndukwe.

The Dolphins, who rushed for fewer than 100 yards on eight occasions, will have to decide if this group is adequate.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/dolphi...0105finslist.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=46

 

Well, I think they are mostly right, we do need a Wr who must be gamplanned against, we do need a better core on the Oline, and we do need another pass rusher.

We need a Cb just as badly, and a young safety.

Problem is, everyone can use another pass rusher, everyone can use a lock down Cb, and almost everyone can use a dominant Wr.

 

Yes, we could use another OLB and S, a stud NT, too. But after the Ravens game I still think that the glaring weaknesses are OL and WR. You have to factor in Smiley/Thomas/Camarillo returning, but IMO we need help mainly at those positions. We just couldn't compete there.

 

The thing about our G-C-G situation is Ireland likes to hedge bets, and there is no way we go into 2009 with the same situation on the Oline.

I don't believe Wr is a glaring weakness, not particularly, I do think with Greg C's injury, we will bring in another Wr because Wilford was a non factor, leaving us with Bess and Ginn and little else.

 

I like Camarillo and Bess, and Ginn has improved. But we still need a play maker/difference maker/force to be accounted for. I'm late in the game with Nicks, but I call them when I see them. I wouldn't mind a Tar Heel combo of Nicks and Brandon Tate- he can rehab with Camarillo. Ginn is what he is- an interesting piece of the puzzle but not a true #1. That guy Britt looks interesting, but for all of the resasons that Parrott mentioned, Nicks would fit in very, very nicely.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z21IeyH49xg&feature=PlayList&p=8ECC8FABE54D870D&playnext=1&index=15"]YouTube - Hakeem Nicks Sickest EVER HQ Slow-Motion Close-up Thru Legs Behind Back Catch[/ame]

 

Again,

1. Pocket collapsing DL
2. Inside OL, especially C
3. A playmaking ILB

That's about it

 

That's not about it- glaring need for Wr and depth/upgrades could be used in quite a few places, including OLB and S.

 

I'll concede, we could use an aggressive, physical WR who plays along the lines of A. Boldin. So does everyone else who doesn't have one of those.

I don't think it's a necessity to advance from what we had this year, though.

 

A part of me wonders if we just should concentrate on upgrading the Defense, specifically the Lb's, like we did last year with the Dline in the draft.

Or maybe the secondary, especially when we are in the same Division as the Pats, a sort of unit overhaul.

 

that's it?

I think not.
We need a pass rusher
We need help in the secondary as well.
As the article stated a big physical WR as well.

Regardless of this years record, we still have a ton of holes to fill.
Just like last year, there are more holes than can be filled in one offseason IMO. As many have said before, if we make good moves these next 2 years in the draft and FA, our shot real shot will come in 2010.

 

I agree with the 5 areas assessment. A big time wideout would help ginn,bess and camarillo even more where they are better fitted in a slot or 2,3 type role.

Keeping the FO and coaching staff together with as little turnover as possible is huge too.

I think induke and alleman could be depth guys but no way should they be starters, the line needs to get bigger and better. Hellva year for them, but if smiley and thomas come back getting a huge RT and letting carey go might be the way to make this line special.

Our d front needs another pass rusher. And a big nasty one at that. I think our drafting team should be able to find that high in the draft.

This team is in the right direction and I hope they address those areas of need in this offseason

 

The thing of it is, our Offense should improve with healthy Guards, and a healthy Greg C, our defense still has major holes to fill.

But at #26, we will be choosing the lesser prospects, our only premium choice is that #44, even under Wanny, we picked lower then #26..

 

An ILB with a pocket collapsing DL, gets you the pass rush.

Secondary this year was not bad, but will improve tremendously with an consistent, timely pass rush - yeah, we could pick up some depth, but we don't need to spend big $ on a FA or high draft choice on secondary.

A physical, aggressive WR would be great, but its not a "must have". We need to get Ginn to take testosterone treatments. If we do acquire a WR along these lines, I certainly wouldn't gripe about it.

 

What they could be thinking is, our Pennington Offense is passable enough to win games, but if our defense was even stronger, it will boost the offense enough to make us much more competitive.

When Nate Jones is tied for #3 in sacks, we have pass rushing problems as well as the lack of a true #3 Cb issue.

 

Yeah, but what side of the ball lost the ravens game? The Offense. And it was far from all Pennington's fault.

 

When you look at a team for areas of upgrade, the balance would be

16 games of competent play

1 game of incompetent play

You can't have a one game trend, the offense wasn't the problem this year, the defense was, we allowed to many long drives to poor teams, and that is a defense issue.

We covered for that with long 4th qtr drives, eventually though, it catches up to a team's chances.

 

We need a wr badly i mean very badly .

 

Let's not forget to look at the Parcells plan... We need an ILB IMO but only if we can get a dominant one! Akin and Channing are solid, just nothing spectacular. Ferg is getting old and needs someone his calibur to back him up or take over ala Jay Ratliff. I am in the group that feels that Roth has a chance at being really good opposite Porter. If Roth can have a full offseason at OLB and drop a little weight I think he can become a great player! But saying that you can never have too many LB's.

Players who should get cut IMO:

Charlie Anderson (never showed enough to me)
Ernest Wilford (useless)
Quentin Moses (never noticed him at all)
Lionel Dotson (him either)

And as I right this out I realize how much we still need... LOL! That's a descent start off the top. Honestly, I'd be OK trading Ricky too and giving Ronnie a few more carries and Cobbs a few carries with Hilliard as the 3rd with Polite getting his share too. Ricky proved his worth but he's a luxury we don't really need anymore. WR's, I'd keep Camarillo, Bess, Ginn and London and draft one in the lower rounds or an FA. Fasano and Martin are solid with Haynos too. Purge the lower half of the roster once again as well.

Re-sign Carey if he'll take a reasonable price, Crowder too. HAVE TO KEEP BELL and Hill would be a good keeper to battle in camp with someone. DEFINITELY more CB's to battle!

 

The good thing is that when they are all healthy, we are deep at WR, the problem is, no one is a true #1 WR.