http://www.miamidolphins.com Observations - Someone's wearing Rod Wright's #90 in that. Not sure it means much, since Rod's not at rookie min-camp, and they probably have to give out a lot of numbers to the guys trying out but who won;t make the team. - Marion Brennan seems to favor one of his legs when he initially digs to accelrate. I'm guessing the leg ain't near 100%. Boy, you can see him really trying to make that catch though. Know what else? If you've seena great goalkeeper in soccer, when they let a ball past them for a goal, they always quickly get it back out of the net and kick it away. It's a mental thing. They have to clear it out of their net and their mind to reset their mind again. Notice how after Brennan's drop he goes back to pick up the ball. Can't leave it on the ground. Just a little thing I like about the kid's mentality. - Will Billingsly was there. I guess he qualifies for rookie mini-camp because he was was on and off the PS in 2008 and has no real time on an NFL roster. - Big ol' Sean SMith, matched against the much smaller, legit speedster Chris Williams, was respecting Williams speed and let Williams plant and cut for a ton of separation on a short route. - Vontae on Williams was interesting. Vontae attacked the LOS, taknig away an outside release and Williams made a quick slant move. Overall, Vontae seemed to be peeling off coverage a lot as people left his 'zone' responsibilities. That makes me curious, as they seemed to be working more zone coverage stuff in the footage they showed. - Remember last year's "Wired" traiing camp footage, how Sparano was hanging around henne talking with him? He definitely likes to get to know his QBs early. He was hanging around Pat White chatting him up this time. What I wouldn;t give to hear that conversation. - Cam Wake there stretching, but no sight of him running any drills. - Despite medias reports that White would not be taking snaps due to a jammed finger, White took lots of snaps. On one series, FB Chris Brown motions across the back of him from right to left to reset at the left end of the line. Ended up being a handoff to Hilliard running off the left guad/tackle hole. (couldn;t tell if it was a normal O-line alignment or if the LT had shifted to the right). - Wow, Sean Smith is big. - Someone wearing Andy Alleman's #57. - Hartline catches an endzone lob - Overall, couldn;t tell much of any use. The staff seemed to be checking the players mechanics doing various things, not expecting them to compete per se, imo. Smith looked big, but as Boom said, his backpedal turns into a sidepedal when he's worried about a speedy WR (like Williams), which hurts is ability to plant and drive to the ball on a short route. - Couldn;t tell much about Vontae, as they mostly seemed to be putting him in zone responsibilities, my guess is to see how he did with making the right choices and sqitch offs at the right times. Boom (I think? or was it Mayock. Hard to remember) has pointed out (with a video clip) that Vontae has had issues with things like not dropping deep enough into his zone and leaving a gap between him and the safety. Perhaps they wanted to see Vontae's zone work first hand today. - Brennan could probably benefit from a year on IR. No point PUP-iing a rookie, as he wouldn;t immediately contribute upon return in October, not knowing the offense well enough. - Williams looked crisp and quick.
So far, only what I noted above. He said he had to look at the film first. Plus, it was only day one of the camp.
Cam Wake is going to have to work his butt off to be a starter, he's a rush end that is trying to make the jump to OLB who has coverage responsibilities and it will take time for him to develop a quality drop and crossover step.
From the interviews, Vontae seems to be more ready mentally than Sean. But the field is where it counts.
There are players up now.. Clemons, Wake twice, and Hartline.. Chris's signature made it hard to look at Hartline and not see the blingmaster gangsta
His interview is posted up, he's been working on pass drops for two months now, so he should be ahead of the curve but still...
I watched the Vontae Davis interview and I saw NONE of the things that people questioned about his character. In fact, he specifically said he just wants to learn from the coaches and get better every day. Seemed very respectful to the media and has the demeanor of a guy that loves the game and loves to play and have fun.
Just because he is laid back off of the field doesn't mean he doesn't turn it on when he's on the field. His college play speaks for itself. I am very excited about the physicality Davis and Smith bring to the secondary personally.
Yeah, it says a lot about him that he's been here since late February (probably since te week we signed him), working out in our offseason conditioning program and honing the skills he'll need to transition to OLB instead of rush end.
And based on those 5 minutes in front of a camera you think that's how he acts for all the rest of his life, all the time? Honestly? Even guys who beat their wives are beating them 24 hours a day. (No, I am NOT saying Vontae is that bad. I am saying taking how someone acts for five minutes in front of medioa can;t possibly predict them being incapable of acting *any* other way).
Well, Davis brings physicality... Smith bring physical size and not much aggression. He's been consistently called a tentative/soft tackler.
Umm, no, that's not what I said. All I said was I didn't see anything I've heard about him in that interview. I never said anything about him being completely different just based off those 5 minutes.
The tone, to me, seemed clearly to be arguing against those who thought Vontae had character issues. The overemphasis that you saw "NONE" of those.... furthered by, "In fact..." and a list of how he showed everything opposite to what people are worried about" it simply sounded, to me, like you were trying to show doubters that this interview was a reason to question the character doubts he'd accumulated over years of interactions with coaches and players. Maybe I, myself, am just being over-reactive though. I don't know. My apologies if I got my knickers in a twist. I think I just get frustrated by how easily players can be *****, then fool people. Vontae's not *bad*, but he is still a character concern. I just think of Cecil Colins, or Pac Man Jones at the extreme end of the spectrum, and how they continually managed to pull the wool over people's eyes by being a 'nice young man' (not your words, but what people always say) in interviews. Then they continue living the way the always have.
If you all get a chance watch the interview with Brian Hartline. He is a great interview, BUT definately check out his FREAK-LIKE HANDS!!! They are Huge, especially in relation to his 6'2 body. If you pause his 5/2 interview around 3:08 you can see them for yourself. You all know what they say about big hands, right??? All the better to catch with
