Sports Buzz .....Best group of WRs we have had...

What does" being 100 percent is a lost thing at this stage" mean?..

I hope that appendectomy didn't rob him of his strength training, cause the dude could use it.

 

This is exactly what Daniel Thomas will learn one day.

 

He's the guy I predicted a couple months ago that is going to be the pleasant surprise of the group and will make the 53.

 

Why are some of the players trademarked ?

 

You saw something from special teams you think will translate?

 

If he is to make the team, that one day better be real soon. I know it's a, somewhat, bold (to many) prediction on my part. I just don't see him beating out the competition, but that's just my humble opinion. If he does make the roster, I hope he makes me eat as much crow as Reggie Bush did, I really do!

 

He'll make the roster. We'll see if he loses carries to Lamar Miller or someone else (Jerome Messam?). I'm just referring to how Daniel seems to have this habit of turning a question about the Marlins, rain fall in Malaysia, or the European sovereign debt crisis into a "You see, I wasn't healthy last year, so that's why I sucked..." explanation. Eventually he'll learn those dings and scrapes come every year and he's got to learn to A) take care of his body better (we did hear whispers of unhappiness with him in the locker room about that), and B) suck it up and succeed even with minor dings and scrapes. As Brian Hartline said, 100 percent is a lost thing, at this stage.

I look forward to seeing his progress. He may not have been my favorite pick but he is the one we got, and it's not like I had him undrafted.

 

I took it as meaning "Youre never going to be 100% in this league".

I still have a feeling when cut downs start happening we may get another WR.

 

I don't usually have a strong opinion against a draft pick, but this one I absolutely did not like... especially as high as he was taken. Like I said, I hope he proves me wrong. And you are right, he will probably make the roster (much to my disdain), but to me only because he was picked where he was. There is just something about the way he runs and his attitude toward his job (like you mentioned) that has had me not a supporter from the start.

 

... never mind. I reread your post.

 

As for the rest of the article...here's how I would stack things (prediction, not preference):

3 QB: David Garrard, Matt Moore, Ryan Tannehill
4 RB: Reggie Bush, Daniel Thomas, Lamar Miller, Steve Slaton
2 FB: Charles Clay, Jerome Messam
3 TE: Anthony Fasano, Michael Egnew, Les Brown
5 WR: Brian Hartline, Davone Bess, Chad Johnson, Clyde Gates, Rishard Matthews
8 OL: Jake Long, Richie Incognito, Mike Pouncey, Artis Hicks, Jonathan Martin, Lydon Murtha, Ray Feinga, Josh Samuda
9 DL: Cameron Wake, Jared Odrick, Paul Soliai, Randy Starks, Olivier Vernon, Jamaal Westerman, Tony McDaniel, Kheeston Randall, Derrick Shelby
7 LB: Karlos Dansby, Kevin Burnett, Koa Misi, Josh Kaddu, Jason Trusnik, Gary Guyton, Cameron Collins
5 CB: Vontae Davis, Sean Smith, Richard Marshall, Nolan Carroll, Quinten Lawrence
4 S: Reshad Jones, Chris Clemons, Jimmy Wilson, Kelcie McCray
3 ST: Dan Carpenter, Brandon Fields, John Denney

The one I'm up in the air about is Cameron Collins. I don't recall liking him much at all when I've watched him, but I do recall hearing that the Dolphins have liked what they've seen from him, perhaps it was another Barry Jackson note. There are a few veterans I project them to keep (Tony McDaniel, Gary Guyton) that I could imagine them finding cause to ditch.

Immediately I imagine I'll get asked why Les Brown makes this team. I look back at the history of the Green Bay Packers tight end position and I just don't see many Jeron Mastrud or Will Yeatman types. Go back and you find guys like Torey Humphrey who was a smallish uber-athlete, Donald Lee who was more of a well-rounded type at 6'3" and 255 lbs, Jermichael Finley who is definitely a receiver type, Spencer Havner who was a 6'3" and 237 lbs fullback type (along the lines of Clay), Andrew Quarless who is an athletic H-Back, D.J. Williams who is 6'2" and 245 lbs, Ryan Taylor at 6'3" and 250 lbs. The "blocking specialist" Tom Crabtree was originally a thin 6'4" and 244 lbs athlete pass catcher and special teams ace coming out of Miami of Ohio. Nowhere in there do I see the type of slow, 6'5" and 255-270 lbs stab-you-in-the-heart one dimensional blockers that you see in Jeron Mastrud and Will Yeatman. But I do see project athletes like Les Brown in there. And I do believe that with Charles Clay's experience as a fullback and move type H-Back, they will make use of him there so that they don't have to roster a true Mahaffey/Lane type fullback, which opens the door for Brown as a third tight end.

 

I feel like I just realized how "not deep" this roster is at every position. Stacked with talent we are not. We have a few good men though and with great coaching that would be enough.

Man, I thought we were deeper than this.

 

We do have positions with good depth. Defensive line, Tight End and running back for example. You could argue our line backing core is deep too with Josh Kaddu and Gary Guyton.

 

are there teams out there with more talent ? sure, but this "lack of depth" is more to guys beeing very young and didn´t really had a chance to make a name for themselves imo

 

I have to say I am not completely sold of Pruitt, Wallace, or Marlon Moore. They have been here for what about 3 years and it doesn't seem like any of them have grabbed the chance to even play let alone start. Its not like we have been burning it up at WR that they couldn't get on the field. They couldn't beat out average guys. Hopefully it was a combination of a run heavy offense with Sparano and them being young. If we dont see anything this year its time to cut our losses.

 

and QB..... and, despite not being strong at the very top, we're deeper at WR than we've been recently.

 

Stopped reading at

 

That may be true, Al, but we need a lot of these unproven guys to all work out. It's not just one or two of them that'll be out there a lot. More like five or six unproven guys.

 

Here's why I say I'm a bit surprised by how much our lack of depth will be showing up on the field:

3 QB: Decent but not great
4 RB: Reggie Bush, plus unproven guys
2 FB: Charles Clay (potential but still an unknown how he'll do carrying more responsibility)
3 TE: Anthony Fasano, Michael Egnew (unproven) Les Brown (unremarkable)
5 WR: Brian Hartline (decent), Davone Bess (decent but limited ceiling), Chad Johnson (total question mark), Clyde Gates (no indication of improvement), Rishard Matthews (totally unproven) same goes for Wallace, Moore who dropped off and disappeared
8 OL: Jake Long, Richie Incognito, Mike Pouncey (those three are proven on the OL, the other two starting spots will be manned by the following question marks.... ) Artis Hicks, Jonathan Martin, Lydon Murtha, Ray Feinga, Josh Samuda
9 DL: Cameron Wake, Jared Odrick, Paul Soliai, Randy Starks, (strongest unit has at least RDE and both DTs proven but the LDE, who is crucial to our pressuring the QB, is totally unproven) Olivier Vernon, Jamaal Westerman, Tony McDaniel, Kheeston Randall, Derrick Shelby
7 LB: Karlos Dansby, Kevin Burnett, Koa Misi, Josh Kaddu, Jason Trusnik, Gary Guyton, Cameron Collins (Dansby is good, Burnett is okay but not great, Will Misi continue to develop and will he fit comfortably in this new scheme under a new coach, I think so but I don't know so. The remainder of these guys are a mix of unproven or question marks about how good they really are and what they really offer. Only Danisby gives me confidence in this corps)
5 CB: Vontae Davis, Sean Smith, Richard Marshall, Nolan Carroll, Quinten Lawrence (with all the passing in this league do I see enough quality depth to field a dime paCkage confidently? Hell no. I'm not even sure how Marshall will fare, thou I hope he does well in his role here. If I played the Phins I'd go four wide and pass all day)
4 S: Reshad Jones, Chris Clemons, Jimmy Wilson, Kelcie McCray (nothing proven here. Shaky but we're hoping they play well)
3 ST: Dan Carpenter, Brandon Fields, John Denney (this is the one unit that's proven and dependable! Lol)

A lot of hoping guys step up, hoping they play well, hoping unproven guys take a developmental step up, or guys from elsewhere show they are better than what seemed like their ceiling, or guys needing to recapture past levels of performance.

We will be fielding way more hope than certainty in the starting 22.

Sometimes hopes pan out though.

 

Lol.

 

Actually, I think this lack of depth is in good part due to the inability to develop players. Where the primary blame lies is up for debate, but Ireland, Sparano, Parcells and the previous coaching staff all have to share in the failure. And while it may be encouraging to see guys like Wallace, Pruitt and Jones doing well, if they don't mature into productive players it'll just be another instance of off-season hollow chocolate bunny syndrome.

 

It's not the depth that bothers me, it's the lack of play makers. Reggie Bush is a play maker. Cameron Wake is a play maker. Karlos Dansby is a play maker and Vontae Davis is clearly a play maker.

Who else, though?

David Garrard used to be a play maker, he could create plays out of nothing that really opened your eyes. He's 34 and off back surgery now, though...so we'll see. Charles Clay showed flashes of being a play maker in 2011. His playing time and opportunities were limited (16 catches) but he still created plays of 46, 31, 30 and 29 yards.

But after that...I mean, do you really call Brian Hartline or Davone Bess "play makers"? I don't know. Hartline's got 2 TDs the last 27 games (2 seasons). Bess can do something impressive every now and then but not very often. He had one play for 30+ yards in 2011, and none in 2010. At least Hartline had 6 plays that big in 2011, though only 3 of them in 2010. I like these guys for what they are, just like I like Fasano for what he is (3 plays of 30+ yards in 2010 & 2011), but I don't know that I call them play makers. Hartline's the closest to being one.

Reggie had 7 runs of 25+ yards and 2 more 25+ yard catches out of the backfield. For a back, those are big plays. I'd have a little different standards for a wide receiver. Daniel Thomas only made 1 big play. Truthfully, Reggie only creating 9 big plays like that doesn't necessarily stack up all that high amongst tailbacks, but it's not rock bottom either, somewhere in the top 15 or 20 I think.

That would be my concern really is the lack of play makers on the offense. Brandon Marshall created I believe about 10 of those big plays last year on offense. Take him out and that's a big play making loss.

 

Ummmmmm

 

So if C Johnson gets around 8 big plays we haven't really lost a thing?

 

As far as players at that position go, yeah he makes plays. He's gotten 11 sacks and 12 hits (30 more pressures) on the quarterback the last 4 years on 450 tries. Those numbers work out pretty good. He's got 5 interceptions over that time period and only allowed 6.9 yards per attempt...good numbers for a middle linebacker. He has 214 of what PFF considers "stops" which are tackles that constitute offensive failure. That includes the 11 sacks and 28 additional "stuffs" behind the line of scrimmage. He's forced 6 fumbles over that time period and recovered 3 of them. We're talking 400+ total tackles during the four seasons.

Yeah, he's a play maker at his position.

 

As far as big plays are concerned yeah IF Chad Johnson can produce 10 of them then the Dolphins will have not lost much play making. But that doesn't mean the Dolphins will have not lost anything. This is just one aspect of the offense.

Wouldn't hold out much hope for that though. Last time Chad played in Cincinnati and actually got any action offensively, he created 2 big plays according to the standard I've been talking about.

 

I just wish he had done more thus far as a Dolphin.

 

2 big ones! Not going to be enough. I'm looking for Miller to help also I know he is a rookie but the ball should be spread around more and the kid has some nice speed.

 

I watched BMarsh account for some of Reggie Bush's nicer runs with great blocking for a WR. Don't expect that from CJ, even if he tries. BM's impact, as you say, was more than just his catches.

 

I think the reality is when you have to acquire a talent of his caliber via free agency, you're going to pay for it. That's why it always pays better to draft that talent.

He's been exactly what should have been expected. He's been exactly what I thought when I reviewed him prior to his signing. He's a very, very good coverage player. He's physically gifted which makes him versatile. He's upper echelon against the run, upper echelon blitzing, and doesn't make too many mistakes. He's not Ray Lewis in his prime but he's giving you upper caliber play in every aspect of a linebackers game. If we didn't have him this defense would probably be a lot worse.

 

If Miller gets Daniel Thomas' carries then I think it's entirely possible he moves the needle as far as being a play maker under the definitions I've set down.

 

I agree with you. Tremendously physical and powerful blocker capable of helping you spring big plays in the run game. We'll be missing that. Hartline, Bess and Johnson aren't the same caliber.

 

If Jerry makes weight and Martin ' gets it " and Murtha plays decent I would have to say the odd man out this year would be Nate Garner. We have legit guard backups and not too bad Tackle backups. Ryan Cook, not really sure where he would be. Would like to see them dress at least 8 Oline on game day. 9 would be even better.

Everyone forgets about the big guys until one of them goes down and even worse, when two of them goes down. Past those two backups the drop off is usually abysmal and thats most NFL teams, not only ours.

I may be one of the minority here but we have decent guys fighting for the RG and RT spot and the ones that lose out are not actually bad backups. I for one, once the RS gets straightened out, really like this offensive line.

Fact is though, they are only a piece of the puzzle. Look at the Colts, with Manning everyone loved their offensive line. Without Manning ? The clear truth finally came out, their Oline AT BEST was average to below average.

 

If Miller gets those snaps, expect them to run blitz, forcing a throw and forcing a useless pass blocking Miller to get outmatched trying to pickup blitzes. This equals hits on the QB... Maybe turnovers.

Miller scares me if overused before he develops.

 

What in Jerry's entire life to this point has given us the slightest glimmer of hope he'll suddenly get serious about making weight? Nothing I've heard, even this offseason. Sure he says he knows he needs to, but I have a thousand fat friends who know they need to lose weight.

An army of fatties.

He can be their general and lead the assault on the mall food court.

 

I agree, momma, that Nate's looking like the odd guy again, which is surprising given how promising he seemed and how versatile he is.

 

Clay should produce more this year. I'd look for some big plays out of him. His biggest play in my mind from last year was the down field blocking vs the Chiefs on Bush's big TD run.

 

i think hartline is a "mini" playmaker just for his knack to force a PI call here and then

 

BM just stated yesterday that he is more focused and ready to play than ever...didn´t he say something similiar with us too ?