Sean Smith and the Dolphins "Far Apart" on contract talks

Against team's 2nd best WRs?

I'll gladly take the 2nd.

 

In what sense can Smith can't test FA? He's an unrestricted FA, there is no avoiding that. It would be grossly negligent for him to negotiate solely with Miami, why would he do that? He's going to go to the highest bidder.

 

Fine, get your players in the draft, but expect a lot more growing pains, more losses and the expectation that the drafted players may not even be as good as you already have.

If they plan on building this way, then Ross has to give Ireland and Ross through 2015 to put their plan in place.

I don't know how many fans will be left by that time.

 

Ill take the 2nd even though its lower then many thought it would be...as I said it would be initially. I just think with Vontae here we'd be less likely to overpay to keep Smith cause at least we'd have a legit starting CB on the roster.

 

Sure, because July depth charts are carved in stone and messages are never sent to players who need motivation.

 

At least I am not alone in my projections. The future looks scary indeed.

 

You got it. Meanwhile, I'll watch Vontae Davis be the one of the best players on the field in this playoff game.

Funny thing is that in hindsight I'm not against the trade at all. But I won't delude myself into re-writing history and re-evaluating what this guy was capable of on Sundays. The coaching staff was sending a message to this guy in the pre-season. Trying to get him to stop taking plays off in practice. The day Richard Marshall is a better CB than Vontae Davis...well, you get he point

 

Marshall and Patterson both look like starters to me. Really don't see how anyone could say Smith is that much better than either.

 

That's fine and dandy, if you have a GM that has consistent history of finding cheap DBs that can make impact plays. We don't - we have Jeffy Ireland.

 

With a completely unbiased perspective I'm sure.

lol Capable of. Another nice way of saying underachieved or inconsistent.

 

Revis

 

Richard Marshall isnt even a 4th CB. Hes a hell of a FS though. The guy flat out stinks as a CB. Which is why it worries the snot out of me that we will overpay to keep Smith since even Ireland cant be so blind as to see Marshall sucks.

 

lol Really you got all that from 4 games this year?

 

Some people here are so biased to their opinions, they actually rejoiced in a 4th straight losing season and subsequent lack of change.

 

Are you really saying that there are 128 better CBs in the NFL than Richard Marshall???

 

I said that when we signed him. His play last year in Arizona as a FS was great but the whole reason he got moved there was because he terrible as a CB.

 

At least 128. There are some off the street that dont suck that much. We signed two of them.

 

I'd kind of like to see him play more than 4 games in the position we paid him to play in our defense, healthy.

 

Marshall sucked so bad he got half as many INTs as Sean Smith in 1/4 of the games.

 

Id like to see us move him to FS, keep Patterson as the nickel and sign Grimes or DRC and Gamble. Now you have some speed and guys that play the ball. Plus Gamble replaces Smith as the CB who can deal with taller wr's.

 

Thats an indictment of Smith if ever there was one. Ball skills is the one good thing about Marshalls game and why he excelled at FS.

 

I wouldn't mind any of those guys but I'm certainly not browning my pants bc we'll probably lose Sean Smith.

 

never underestimate Jeffy's ineptitude.

 

A big part of him being moved was Rhodes getting hurt. Even then, he moved around alot regardless of whether he was listed as CB or FS. Even toward the end of the season when he was listed at FS, he was lining up against the slot for a good number of plays.

 

But, true or false, his best play still came as a FS? PFF's ratings clearly indicate when he played best...

 

I think he was a little better at safety, but hes much better at CB than you're giving him credit for. IIRC, he only played safety for Arizona when in nickel, he was entirely a CB in base defense.

 

I'd prefer they let Smith walk. Every time he's played like a quality corner he's slumped by the end of the season into absolute ****.

They're not in bad shape now with the defensive backfield they have. They're in a position where they can make additions if they want, but it's not nearly as dire as many people seem to think.

 

Youre confusing Marshall for Rhodes. Marshall played FS most of the plays when Rhodes was out. When Rhodes came back he was eased back in as a nickel CB: http://ari.scout.com/2/1140441.html

 

I thought this would happen. Sean Smith strikes me as that kind of person that lives in his own personal world far from the real one. In this world, Sean Smith thinks he is far better than he actually is, and wants to be paid accordingly.

Don't think he'll be back.

 

I really don't think the guy has the resolve necessary to become great at his position. He's too lax a person to be driven in that way IMO. I don't think he has the kind of grit or fire in that regard that the great ones do.

And when you're trying to develop a winning team culture, the character of the guys you sign to big, long-term contracts at the beginning of that process is going to "define" your culture, whether you want it to or not. You have to be careful giving such contracts to people like Smith IMO.

I'd much rather target guys like Hartline as my "culture-builders."

 

It would have been better if Wilson and Carrol had shown more this year though.

I could live with Patterson/Marshall as the starting duo.

 

Really? Every cornerback we have on our roster shouldn't be more than a CB3 other than Smith. We need to release Patterson or Marshall because we shouldn't be paying both of them the kind of money they're getting.

I think we'll re-sign Smith for $6.5M/yr (compared to his $7.2M/yr demands) or so then potentially draft Millner or Banks in the first round unless one of the top tier pass rushers drop to us.

 

Do you like the way Sean Smith plays the run?

Do you like the way Sean Smith plays the ball in the air?

Do you like the way Sean Smith intercepts the ball?

Do you like the way Sean Smith blitzes?

Do you like the way Sean Smith plays in zone?

Do you like Sean Smiths swagger?

Do you like the that he gave up 8 tds?

I know he can cover man to man..but is it enough

I could only offer 2nd corner type money.

 

And that's what he deserves IMO, but if history is any indicator, the supply and demand of the free agency process will get him offers far higher than that.

 

So a guy whose market was $6 million per year deal, got paid $12.5 million in 2011...and this is a credit to the front office?

 

Question??? Did Ireland workout Sherman from Seattle the same year he drafted Smith?

 

Well if nickel cornerback money is $3-4M per year... what do you think 2nd corner type money is, DJ?

 

I think Wilson and Carroll played decently.

All in all, the Dolphins put a lot of young, cheap cornerbacks in "starting" positions outside of ideal circumstances and got adequate performances. Sometimes they got taken advantage of, but not as often as you'd expect and none of them were as terrible as you'd fear. Some of them had good games as starters/slot corners. You've got to sit on some of those eggs a bit.

Claiming what players should or shouldn't be is something that is based pretty much entirely on merit. Overall, the defensive backfield didn't play poorly this year and I don't think there was a single individual who got put out there you can claim who did a **** job.

 

Personally, I was picturing Smith as a 5yr/$36M guy, which isn't unreasonable considering the amount of responsibility we routinely put on his shoulders as he's essentially on an island much of the time in order to free up Jones to make plays around the field.

 

IDK, they did work out Brandon Browner though.