Morning News - TE Keller/WR Brandon Gibson - Updated Mike Wallace Deal

"dcafiero wrote:

pads in your opinion, what do you REALLY think we're gunna do at DE if you had to make a solid prediction?

I'd like to see Antawn Barnes, what I suspect is, Ireland really likes Olivier Vernon and thinks he will improve, so don't expect much to happen.

I'm glad we are kicking the tires on Antoine Cason, he is one of the Cb's I like and is totally under the radar.

"Rouk wrote:

any te in football solves this whats your point just putting egnew in a uniform solves that issue

Any merit... I didnt say line up a punter at TE....

"VanDolPhan wrote:

http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nfl/42754/310/nfl-hot-stove-day-2?pg=2

The Dolphins are interested in a trio of free agent cornerbacks: Antoine Cason, Captain Munnerlyn, and Chris Houston. They could be searching for two starters

Those three fit the bill and would all be very affordable. It looks like we are trying to get by with patchwork at the corner position atleast for this season. Those three listed are as mediocre as Richard Marshall and Patterson and i'm fine with that as long as "shutdown" CB is on the list at some point. Hard to think that we wouldn't draft a CB this year as well. I like the corners available in this draft quite a bit so an Antoine Cason and a rookie CB to round out the secondary would make sense to me. The other thing with more Cason and Houston than Munnerlyn is that you really never know what the player is going to be like for you. We saw Carlos Rodgers make a huge transformation when he got to San Fran. He was bad in Washington and was labeled almost a bust and then he went to San Fran and ended up being a pro bowler. The same could happen for guys like Houston, Cason, or a Kyle Arrington.

"NJFINSFAN1 wrote:

He was always hurt, that is the big knock on him.

He's missed 8 games in 5 seasons.

Antoine Winfield was released. He's old....but he was still PFF's #1 CB. Even a short term deal helps with the transition.

Cason - 108th. Ouch.

"padre31 wrote:

I'd like to see Antawn Barnes, what I suspect is, Ireland really likes Olivier Vernon and thinks he will improve, so don't expect much to happen.

I'm glad we are kicking the tires on Antoine Cason, he is one of the Cb's I like and is totally under the radar.

Yeah, I've been thinking for a while he would pull a "there I fixed it" type of thing. but FA is off to a pretty wild start so, Who knows. I was starting to think trade, but Idk anymore.

"Al13 wrote:

he played every game since last season where he missed 8 games but before that he was 16/16 for 4 years

He got banged up all the time, was out missing plays often.

"NJFINSFAN1 wrote:

Gibson is visiting the Jets today, maybe us showing interest and inviting him down is a ploy to make the Jets pay more for him?

Well, I see Gibson as being Bess' replacement here, but for the money, I'd rather keep Bess for $2.7m than pay Gibson more than that.... There are options in the draft that may be better, if you want to spend that kind of resource (likely a #12 pick).

I've liked Keller all along. Despite his injury this past year, he's been fairly solid although not the best of blockers...(something, BTW, I think we will miss from Fasano, an underappreciated player for this team)... He's certainly a better receiver than Fasano and we don't really know about what is behind him (Egnew, Clay)...

Brandon Myer had a pretty good year last year and could be an option at TE, but my guess is that they like Keller better...

What a coup it would have been to get Cook as well yesterday (although he was not my first choice in FA)....

Look to see more TEs signed even if they sign Keller....either thru the draft or 2nd and 3rd tier FAs...Philbin collects TEs like I collect empty beer cans....

I'm still confused as to what they are really doing in FA...CB, S, OT, TE seemed to be more important than LB, to most of us, but I guess you get what you can when you can...Shows that Irish is possibly shedding his Quitcellian stench and getting players his coaching staff is asking for...

Keller had a great 2011 but was banged up last year. That would be a good signing.
Get it done Jeff.

Well, here is what adding Keller could do:

Down in the RZ, who do you double? Wallace most likely

Flex out Hartline and Keller on the outside, Bess in the slot and Wallace on the outside, all 4 have proven they can do things in the league, Wallace figures to draw the double team, Keller on a either smaller Db or Lb, Bess man to man vs who?

He adds a ton of options

Down on the goal line or inside the 10, Clay can replace Fasano's Td production imo

Brandon Gibson I don't know would spell the end of Davone Bess. Philbin has managed an offense that gave four wide receivers and a tight end significant workloads. They're going to be pretty egalitarian in terms of distributing passes, and Davone Bess has spent most of his career producing 500-800 yards on the +/- 50% snap counts that wouldn't be out of place for the bottom of that kind of rotation.

"Disgustipate wrote:

Brandon Gibson I don't know would spell the end of Davone Bess. Philbin has managed an offense that gave four wide receivers and a tight end significant workloads. They're going to be pretty egalitarian in terms of distributing passes, and Davone Bess has spent most of his career producing 500-800 yards on the +/- 50% snap counts that wouldn't be out of place for the bottom of that kind of rotation.

Well, they are going to have to justify Wallace's contract at some point, so expect him to get more targets that he should get or normally would get in this style of offense and philosophy.

Antoine Cason makes an awful lot of sense. Schematically he's a fit, he struggled early because he was the nickel, then in his first year as a starter he was a top 10 corner league wide. He was poor last year but few Chargers came out of 2012 with much grace. I loved him in college and he has talent.

"VanDolPhan wrote:

The Dolphins are interested in a trio of free agent cornerbacks: Antoine Cason, Captain Munnerlyn, and Chris Houston. They could be searching for two starters.

That's good news. I like all three. I wanted to draft Cason back when he was a rookie. That trio would work very well together.

Keller was my choice all along. I hope that gets done.

"KB21 wrote:

Well, they are going to have to justify Wallace's contract at some point, so expect him to get more targets that he should get or normally would get in this style of offense and philosophy.

I've got misgivings of my own about Wallace, but the guy put up 1,250 on 93 targets. You don't have to force-feed him the ball by any means.

I think Antoine Cason nowadays is a bend-don't-break corner. He doesn't make many plays on the football, he's not really aggressive or physical at all with his coverage. He's disciplined in his technique which limits big play opportunities for the other side...but he's not what you should be shooting for in a starting corner, IMO. With THIS corner class of free agency and all the guys switching teams who could potentially be really good, taking Antoine Cason would feel like a cop out to me.

I think Chris Houston could be more than that. He too gets conservative when faced with big time play makers at receiver, but most of the time he's more aggressive. Captain Munnerlyn I still don't fully have a bead on but his metrics were as good as you get.

And I'm not a big fan of Dustin Keller. They won't make a play for Fred Davis because of the off field issues but I think they should. I like Ben Watson.

Will also mention if we add Keller, Hartline will be without excuse for not scoring Td's as he figures to draw the weakest coverage players, ball is in his court if this move happens.

He figures to draw the #3 Cb, he is making what 6.7 million per yr, that is being set up for success.

"padre31 wrote:

Will also mention if we add Keller, Hartline will be without excuse for not scoring Td's as he figures to draw the weakest coverage players, ball is in his court if this move happens.

He figures to draw the #3 Cb, he is making what 6.7 million per yr, that is being set up for success.

It doesn't usually work that way. Most teams don't shuffle their corners on every play to match up with WRs according to perceived ability.

I hear Martellus Bennett's contract is 4 years, $20 million. That's a steal. Really wish Miami had got into the bidding on that.

"ckparrothead wrote:

I hear Martellus Bennett's contract is 4 years, $20 million. That's a steal. Really wish Miami had got into the bidding on that.

I saw that yesterday, and was stunned because I saw what Cook got first.

"Disgustipate wrote:

I've got misgivings of my own about Wallace, but the guy put up 1,250 on 93 targets. You don't have to force-feed him the ball by any means.

In general and at his previous salary yes. I think when it comes down to it though, there is going to be tremendous pressure from the ownership and front office to feature him in the passing game as an attempt to justify the salary.

"ckparrothead wrote:

I hear Martellus Bennett's contract is 4 years, $20 million. That's a steal. Really wish Miami had got into the bidding on that.

IMO, that points in the direction of Bennett really, really, really, wanting to go to Chicago, like I mentioned yesterday.

"Fineas wrote:

It doesn't usually work that way. Most teams don't shuffle their corners on every play to match up with WRs according to perceived ability.

At the very least, we know where the Safety help is going.