Sports Buzz -5 position battles,more There is more in this latest Edition of Sports Buzz. After a long offseason it smells like football again .
Would like to see Matthews get some run at punt return man, kid was real good in college, a natural kinda.. I'd like to see Fuller give Binns a good run for the fifth this camp.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/spor...acing-lawsuit-heat-canes-marlins-tidbits.html Lots of notes there. Not all ones that I like to hear. 1. Dolphins still plan to use Jared Odrick at defensive end in base packages. I think they're going to regret it. 2. They plan to have Olivier Vernon rotate with Dion Jordan as the guy that will come on the field on pass downs. It should be exclusively Jordan. 3. They have tossed around the idea of having Jordan on the field as a SAM in base packages, some. I like this. Was how I thought he should be used initially. 4. They've got to figure out which two linebackers stay on the field in passing situations. This should be obvious, IMO: Wheeler and Ellerbe. 5. Emeke Onyenekwu should push Derrick Shelby for a roster spot. Nothing wrong with competition. Emeka drew some headlines during mini camps. 6. Vaughn Martin is a favorite to stick as a backup DT. Not a very interesting player on tape. More interesting in workouts than on tape. But he's a backup, so who cares. 7. The Dolphins signed Lance Louis with the idea that he would START in place of John Jerry, as he was Chicago's best OL a year ago. This is a BIG revelation to me. The Dolphins put out language that he would compete and/or be a backup but Jackson's sources believe Louis is supposed to start if he gets healthy. 8. Dimitri Patterson is potentially up to be cut if Carroll, Davis and Taylor prove good enough. But if it looks like Patterson is going to help they'll keep him because they're in "win now" mode. Unsurprising. Patterson is superfluous on a roster that has Richard Marshall on it already. He's a version of Richard Marshall with a poorer attitude that can't be moved to safety in a pinch. 9. Dion Sims gained momentum for the primary backup TE job. Egnew improved but his blocking is still inconsistent and he faded late in the off season program. Clay will factor in but still has the dropsies. Veterans say not to count out Kyle Miller. That's fine. I'll do it anyway. 10. Sturgis and Carpenter showed about the same accuracy in media sessions but Sturgis showed more range. He's the favorite. 11. At this stage it's tough to envision anyone beating Armon Binns and Rishard Matthews for the fourth and fifth roster spots at the position. 12. Miami wants to upgrade over Jorvorskie Lane and when Jeff Ireland returns for vacation, negotiations will begin in more earnest with Leach, but the fact Vonta wants a multi year deal could still get in the way. He would immediately be the starter. Otherwise Lane will try and hold off Evan Rodriguez. I personally don't think Lane will succeed in keeping his job this year, either way. 13. Daniel Thomas has clearly held off Mike Gillislee for the number two tailback job thus far. The Dolphins have sprinkled Marcus Thigpen in more than a year ago. They like Jonas Gray a lot but he's a long shot. Cameron Marshall also had his moments during practices. I personally think that, not unlike the linebacker positions, you're only going to start finding out how this position really is going to shake out once you put pads on and you see them taking real shots. 14. Aaron Corp is not long for the roster. No surprises there. 15. Jimmy Wilson is the heavy favorite for the primary backup safety job. There will probably only be one other safety spot and Don Jones, Kelcie McCray and Jordan Kovacs are competing for it. That seems like a tough call. I haven't seen Kelcie McCray play at all but someone whose opinions on draft stuff I trust enough to cite (which is a very short list, mostly just Simon and Richard and maybe two or three other people) liked him a lot coming out. I love Don Jones' explosiveness but his awareness and fundamentals were poor. I actually wonder at him being used as a safety, think he could play more instinctively if used at corner. Jordan Kovacs to me has a practice squad spot inked. Nobody will clamor for him off the waiver wire, yet I think he'll be a guy that coaches find it difficult to part with. 16. The backup LBs currently look like Jelani Jenkins, Jason Trusnik, Austin Spitler and Josh Kaddu. Jonathan Freeny, Lee Robinson and Alonzo Highsmith are on the outside looking in. Freeny to me was a train wreck last year. But I don't have any good feelings about any of those backups. Spitler and Trusnik have looked good AT TIMES, but the instances are way too few and way too far between. I still think Josh Kaddu is an odd-shaped puzzle piece that you're going to have a tough time figuring out how he fits. 17. Three backup OL spots are going to go to Dallas Thomas, Nate Garner and John Jerry (if he loses to Lance Louis). Barry did not spell out this distinction but I think it was smart of him to say that John Jerry will claim a backup spot if he loses to Louis, but not that Louis will claim a backup spot if Jerry beats him. To me, if they did hire Lance Louis to start if healthy, then if he's not starting it's because he's not healthy, and at that point I think the Dolphins would just consider it a failed experiment and cut a deal with him to exit stage left. Josh Samuda and Will Yeatman are the primary guys that will compete for one or two more backup jobs. To me, both could make it if Jerry manages to keep his starting job. But I wouldn't count out Jeff Adams competing with Yeatman. Still think he's better.
My take away is we have a nice corps of Lb/De prospects to pick through. Shelby, Freeney, Baby Squid, Kaddu etc Lee Robinson showed up in shorts, let's see what happens when the pads come on. Not so much at DT, with really Martin and Randall the only two decent looking backups. Had expected Louis to start all along, suspect he will play himself healthy Other thing is, it all seems logical with no real longshots being relied on, which tells me they are basically happy with the roster's core depth.
I think a ST unit is better off with 1 "returner" as it allows plays to be run and consistency to be had, and imo, Thigpen can be a Westbrook type of back, can catch the ball really well and make things happen.
i still remember one of jeff irelands appearance on the finsider early in the offseason shortly after louis was signed, he said on that day that louis will be ready for camp, its only a week until we find out if he was right.
Ambivalent on the Lance Louis thing. There's good and bad there. The Dolphins have weakened their run blocking capabilities already by allowing Anthony Fasano and Jake Long to walk and replacing them with Dustin Keller and Tyson Clabo. That's a bigger deal than many would like to think. If they also dump John Jerry to the bottom of the depth chart in favor of Lance Louis, it further weakens the run blocking capabilities. That's why it would be such a positive for them to sign Vonta Leach, as it helps them get back some of what they've lost. If they can't agree with Leach then I don't care how good Lamar Miller is, he's running into a pile of bodies because the men up front can't move anyone. Further, on a macro level having Lance Louis in the starting lineup increases your exposure to two negative factors. They are the number of players from outside your team structure that you are counting on to play (especially NEW ones, including rookies), and the number of players with injury risks that you're counting on to play. On the former, you already have Tyson Clabo, Dustin Keller, Dion Sims, Mike Wallace, Brandon Gibson, potentially Vonta Leach, Dion Jordan, Phil Wheeler, Dannell Ellerbe, Brent Grimes and potentially Dimitri Patterson/Will Davis/Jamar Taylor...all taking up significant roles on the team. And every single one of them is new to the team this year with very little known about them. That's essentially 9 out of 22 players on the field that are completely new this year. That's a lot of macro risk. On the second factor, the injury factor, consider that Lamar Miller came into the league hurt with shoulder problems (one of the reasons he sank), Richard Marshall had serious injury issues a year ago, Brent Grimes is coming off an Achilles tear, Tyson Clabo is 32 years old, Dustin Keller had significant injury issues a year ago, Vonta Leach is 32 years old, Dimitri Patterson had injury issues last year and is 31 years old, and now you're tossing Lance Louis' ACL recovery onto the pile. That's a lot of macro risk. The flip side to all this is...John Jerry just is not that good. He has potential as a run blocker but he didn't make good on it. Good plays and bad plays. If you're going to Lance Louis you're losing the good plays but the bad plays wouldn't be as bad, and the pass protection would be better (most likely). So it's a tough call.
I think we forget sometimes that thiggy can improve in his craft as well, including myself, first year at the NFL level he did very well, returning is so much about trust and confidence, his 2nd year in the same system he should be explosive, and a better punt returner.
maybe we run more out of the spread ?, use a bit more read option? Get a bit more room in between the lineman?
True..but considering we're stuck with the skillset we have wouldn't it be better for us to run more out of it as opposed to a more traditional two back set.?
From a "team" standpoint, I'd prefer another of the players to win it, because I think other RBs (e.g. Gray) and players at other positions (the WR's or plethora of DLs) offer more to the team's other units than Thigpen does. Just don't see him offering anything as a RB. So, I think it would be best for the Dolphins to see a player win that spot outright who also can make a more significant contributions in other areas.
Traditional two back sets gets Vonta Leach on the field. That's a good thing if you're running the football, IMO.
Trying to get other players (especially Brian Hartline) to take some return duties away from Marcus Thigpen feels like vintage out-thinking yourself.
And yet, the Patriots do it regularly. That's the importance of coaching...masking talent deficiencies by adaptation and that is not easy.
It also relies on the oline to run out of a more traditional run formation thus exposing their weakness as a group and from your take above I wouldn't of guessed that Leach's importance would outweight that vulnerability.
The issue with the run game last year wasn't the blocking, it was the backs. The line was at worst adequate, and I'm not sure that I would single out anything besides the exchange of Dustin Keller for Anthony Fasano as a negative. It would prevent the team from having a league-leading, irrepressible rushing attack, but it certainly isn't such that it would prevent a talented back from being quite successful. You can still have good performances from a talented back behind middling lines.
I think you are on to something with this, I see a lot more single back shotgun sets in our arsenal this year. Getting Lamar Miller in space will be an effective strategy. And with the multiple threats coming out of this formation the OL won't need to be as aggressive of run blockers considering the DL SHOULDN'T be able to just pin their ears back without consequence.
I absolutely believe in running out of spread principles, especially with a back like Lamar, let those 4 receivers take four men out of the box, take another safety out of the equation because of the Wallace affect, were down to 6, let Ryan decide what to do at the LOS, if he likes a one on one matchup, then go to it, if he sees some gaps to exploit, call the read option, draw, or just give it to Lamar, let the average blocking oline hold their blocks, and let the speed and flash of miller time do it's thing.. The advantage of having a Qb who can split the defense up the middle is pretty cool if you got four receivers running go routes, heheheheh know what I'm saying O?
are people really questioning whether Thigpen should make the team? he should be a lock to not only make the roster but remain our primary return man, he was 4th in return avg in KR's and PR's. i mean there were only like 5 guys in the whole league that scored off both kickoffs and punts, and he was one of them. the idea of Hartline taking return reps away from him is so laughable I hope we never see it.
Darren Rizzi had an interview with the Finsiders earlier last week. In it, he said that Marcus Thigpen was the ONLY player in the NFL to be both top 5 in kick return and top 5 in punt return yardage. IMO, it'd be hard to cut a guy who can give you that type of field position consistently.
I agree. Don't see the reasoning, if Thig can do both very well, play on def special teams, then I think that's worth a roster spot.
This could be the case. They may want Hartline to be the hands punt returner to mainly handle fair catches when the PR is lined up around the 10 yd line or so. Essentially fill the role Bess had last season.
Guess who I'll be watching during the preseason? I'm not understanding Jordan playing the Sam when Wake rushes the passer better from that side of the D, suspect we are seeing some smoke coming from Davie.
Yessir, Thiggy is the type of player that can flip a field, yet even among Dolfans he is an afterthought. TBH, we've seen maybe 50% of what he can do, if one watched the CFL you'd know he was a "take it to the house" type of player from several positions, KR/Rb/Slot Wr. Good vision, good acceleration, his issue is concentration lapses, inow sometimes he does some dumb ****.
Never saw him in the CFL, but I do remember him giving opponents a tough time in the Big 10 when he was at IU.
And amazingly the Hamilton Tiger-Cats keep rolling with returners. Ironically after Thigpen they rolled with former 2009 Miami Dolphin Chris Williams (2013's CFL dick of the year so far ;p) [video=youtube;diUFeWySULM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diUFeWySULM[/video] So Chris Williams holds out for the season and they put in Lindsey Lamar who had 2 returns in 2 pre-season games and 1 so far in 3 games in the regular season (on top of leading the league in return yards). About the only thing the Tiger Cats can always find.
If we're talking CFL players there's a guy I watched at USF that I always had a feeling might be a better NFL player than college player. Name is Lindsey Lamar. Skip Holtz had a little trouble figuring out what he is and how to use him, went kind of under-utilized at USF. Always had legit speed right out of the box, but was small at 5'8" and eventually got up top 180 lbs. Was a great kick returner in 2010 but not quite as great in 2011 and then didn't have those duties in 2012. Ran 135 times for 836 yards during his career, including 5 touchdowns. Caught 58 balls for 510 yards and 6 touchdowns. Finished with 80 kickoff returns for 1812 yards and 2 touchdowns. They flirted with him a lot as a receiver but I always felt he was most comfortable as a tailback. He averaged 7.2 yards per carry on his 66 carries in his final year. The only other time they gave him a fair number of carries was his freshman year, so that's not fair to look at his 4.4 yards per carry that year. He averaged 7.5 yards per carry in 2011 & 2012 combined. Well anyway up in the CFL he's tearing it up on kick returns. Had a 104 yard touchdown return in his first game. Has 331 return yards on 9 returns. Has had 13 runs with a 5.5 yards per carry average. Incidentally you know who is leading the CFL in rushing right now? Our old pal Kory Sheets. He's got 69 carries for 442 yards and 4 TDs. Last year he had 229 carries for 1277 yards and 11 TDs, with 49 catches for 517 yards and 2 more TDs.
Yessir, Sheets is just beasting up there, could be the turf, could be the more open field, but Sheets is doing a great CJ2K impression circa 2009. The other 2 commodities the CFL is known for, DE and Qb is not quite as fruitful this time around. Odell Willis is Odell Willis, otherwise not to much going on, the only Qb of note is Mike Reily, and he is going through yr #1 as a starter struggles.
Another interesting CFL player to look at would be Alex Hall the defensive end. He's 6'5" and 256 lbs, has 5 sacks already this year in only 3 games, had 9 sacks last year so it doesn't look like an aberration. Came out of St. Augustine's in the 2008 NFL Draft was CIAA All-American, pretty much the only good player at a small school that only re-started its football program in 2002...had 26 sacks and 51 TFLs in his final 29 games at St. Augustine's. You can find some videos of his sacks on YouTube in the CFL and he looks pretty good. He's only 28 years old.
What's wrong with the two best pass rushers side by side? The 49ers do that with Aldon and Justin Smith.
Whichever OLB is over the tight end is the Sam. That's the definition of the term. Last year is was Misi with Burnett as the Will.
But Miami doesn't play it the way the definition reads. Burnett was more often on the TE side last year, but definitely played the way of a traditional Will LB.
