1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Top 10 position battles..

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by djphinfan, Jun 8, 2014.

  1. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    111,652
    67,546
    113
    Dec 20, 2007
    http://touch.sun-sentinel.com/#section/-1/gallery/p2p-80374171/

    1) Dallas Thomas vrs Billy Turner

    2) Cortland Finnegan vrs Jamar Taylor vrs Will Davis

    3) Knowshon Moreno vrs Lamar Miller

    4) Dion Jordan vrs OV

    5) Koa Misi vrs the field

    6) Nickel...Jimmy Wilson vrs Jamar Taylor vrs Will Davis

    7) Earl Mitchell vrs Jared Odrick

    8) 2nd tight end...Egnew vrs Sims

    9) Phillip Wheeler vrs Jelani Jenkins

    10) a Rishard Matthewsvrs Brandon Gibson vrs Jarvis Landry.

    It's hard to do these without seeing the new players play, but these are the battles, and they should be fun as hell and make us a better team..

    Dion Jordan vrs OV is the # 1 battle, were gonna have great depth and a great nickel pass rushing package with Dion, Wake, OV, Starks and Odrick coming after the Qb..really don't see a lot of need to blitz and jeopardize our secondary with those 5 mothers hunting.

    OV is not gonna go quietly, he might be the most competitive Miami dolphin on the roster, I've seen that dude in practice lose it man, and he's very young, and from the U so he will have his fans..

    I'm gonna go with DJ here.

    Dallas Thomas vrs Billy Turner..Well the only way I can look at this is who I had rated higher when they were coming out of college, and that was Turner, their both learning the new same offense, so while Dallas is there right now and looking good by all reports, it should be interesting to see the highly competitive Turner make a run.The best scenarios is the battle turns out to be even and Turner can then turn his sights on Shelley smiths job and takes over maybe week 4.

    2nd corner position battle, Jamar is ready for a fight, but Finnegan is healthy and highly motivated, if Jamar wins this battle or the nickel battle were gonna have a stud trio of corners..so to me I'm all good if all three are on the field in the nickel.

    By a lot of reports Jimmy Wilson is getting better, he's always been an instinctive player, he's now got the defense down, he's not gonna be an easy out and will present great depth for us if one of the trio goes down, he's a jackknife player and I'll feel comforftable with him at backup safety as well, also there is the dime position he will battle against will Davis..

    Having Finnegan..Grimes..Taylor..Jimmy..Delmas..R Jones with our top 5 pass rushers in passing situations sounds like a good defense to me..I'm good with that..

    Will Davis is going to have to learn how to be physical against the run because everyone else can tackle with authority.

    Aikens is gonna need to be a special teams demon.

    Earl Mitchell vrs Odrick...Jared has gone GQ, his body is now perfectly balanced for a man who weighs 285 to 290 lbs, I'm going to say that his improved quickness and lighter weight will help him improve his greatest strength, playing the three technique, knifing thru gaps and using his hands like a martial artist, jared Odrick has great hands, his weakness has always been about a lack of change of direction quickness..I love the rotation with Mitchell and was ready to play this style of defense and let go of Paul, I want three guys who can play three downs and we now have that.

    Egnew vrs Sims....hmmm, seeing that Egnew has improved his blocking since arrival, and has the athleticism to line up in different flex positions, I'll take him to play with Clay, Dion is just slow getting off the LOS and getting into his route, so there's pros and cons with both, but I'll have to go with better threat, the quicker player, and the improved blocker.

    Jelani Jenkins vrs Wheeler...Jenkins flashed to me pretty hard in some very critical situations, the flashes came in a form of discipline and knowing his assignment, it was pretty vivid that he was doing his job, idk, I just saw some sort of maturity that I liked, I wasn't his biggest fan coming out of college because I didn't see physicality against the run, but maybe because he has a high IQ, he learned that if he was gonna play in this league and not just collect a check that he consciously made a decision to be physical, I say that because I think his lack of physicality was mental not physical, he's a naturally very strong player, almost 30 reps at 225, has very good athleticism, and plays the pass well with good technique..He has the talent, and I'm hoping that he's that young stud that just suprises all of us and lives up to his talent that no one expected him too..He's a true blood, and if he can play at a high level it allows us to get wheelers contract off the books some time soon.

    As far as wheeler goes, I don't think he played that bad, not worse the Ellerbe, and he's got talent, but the discipline wasn't there, especially at the end of the year, exactly at the time I saw discipline from Jenkins, should be a great battle, I hope that Jenkins has learned about taking care of his body and fuel it properly.

    Who the hell is gonna win the slot..man...I'm gonna have to wait and seen on this one, this is gonna be a hella preseason battle...Gibson should be healthy, Rishard is the most talented, and Landry has the intangibles and hands...just gonna let this one play out, should be fun to see what all three different skillsets look like going up against each other..

    Moreno vrs miller...I got Moreno being in shape and taking care of business, don't forget, morenos got talent, he's just not fast, I don't see good open field ability in Lamar miller, I know he can get to the edge and I know that seal in the zone blocking scheme is a piviotol play, but I'm gonna take the consistency and knowledge of a pro for once..it will be a good battle because miller has talent and is hungry, but I think he will be good with sharing reps and taking advantage of that dynamic..I've seen enough early game mistakes from miller to think that he may have an issue starting games with jitters, maybe letting him settle down, working him in slowly will help with that anxiety.

    We have another three days of OTA's starting 2maro then a mandatory one starting next week so the battles will be heating up..

    There is a group photo of like 20 guys and Jason Taylor in the middle that is bad ***, if someone could post that shot I would appreciate it, it's sig worthy and looks like some real chemistry developing.
     
    Disnardo, evz and Alex13 like this.
  2. firedan

    firedan Well-Known Member

    2,000
    826
    113
    Oct 31, 2008
    palm beach county fl
    One positive is the teams depth looks better than last years.
     
  3. Alex44

    Alex44 Boshosaurus Rex

    20,810
    8,965
    0
    Jan 7, 2008
    Hollywood, Florida
    1) No clue. I want to hope Thomas actually wins the RG position and Turner wins the left.

    2) Taylor

    3) I believe there is no winner. They will platoon based on situation. If the blocking improves I think Miller breaks out.

    4) DJ

    5) Doesn't matter, we are facing mediocrity here.

    6) Davis doesn't fit here IMO. May see Davis/Finnegan play the outside on three WR sets while Taylor slides in.

    7) Platoon.

    8) Different players. Egnew will get time if he improves a bit and could still be a seam threat for us.

    9) Wheeler. He's a good LB when you aren't asking him to play with his back turned to his man and then locate the ball. He is an eyes to the QB zone coverage LB and solid blitzer.

    10) Jarvis Landry. He has "it". Gibson will see time too.
     
  4. Limbo

    Limbo Mad Stillz

    2,476
    1,128
    113
    Mar 21, 2013
    Playing Vernon over Jordan would be a travesty, I'm sorry. OV is a fine player, but I'd hate the staff for giving him more snaps than a potential star player like Dion. This team needs starpower in the worst way. Splash players get you to the playoffs, not a bunch of decent guys like Vernon. Play the potential stud over the decent starter. You have to give Jordan the chance to be that guy who can get the Phins over the hump.
     
  5. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    111,652
    67,546
    113
    Dec 20, 2007
    why would you want Thomas to win the right, the left side is where he played all his time in college?
     
  6. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

    99,377
    37,301
    0
    Nov 22, 2007
    inching to 100k posts
    Depends a great deal on Coyle, OV is a better all around DE, Dion is a better all around athlete that offers lots of flexibility, would love to see Dio in a "Tiger" role like JT was in 06
     
  7. Alex44

    Alex44 Boshosaurus Rex

    20,810
    8,965
    0
    Jan 7, 2008
    Hollywood, Florida
    Doesn't mean he can't transition. IMO its easier to transition between guard spots than tackle spots. If it were able to occur you'd be talking about 4/5 of the line being secure long term.
     
  8. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    111,652
    67,546
    113
    Dec 20, 2007
    I guess it's a convo that the staff will have to have with both players if were gonna do this right, from the looks of it, It looks like they will battle on the left, then the loser will need to make the transition to the right, or else be a backup.
     
  9. CaribPhin

    CaribPhin Guest

    I want Thomas to beat out Turner. One because I don't want it to be a wasted pick, and two, Turner provides much more versatile depth than Thomas would. Assuming Thomas wins out because he flat out plays well rather than Turner sucking, Garner, Turner, Fox, and Brenner would provide some good depth at just about every position. I think they only see Thomas as a guard although he and Turner are the same person size wise. Thomas was brought in exclusively to be a guard and I think Turner was just too high on their board to pass up.
     
    djphinfan likes this.
  10. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

    99,377
    37,301
    0
    Nov 22, 2007
    inching to 100k posts
    I loved the Jelani Jenkins pick, think he has the range to play in the pass happy NFL

    Do notice not a single position battle involves try hard types of players, they all have a lot of physical talent. And in true Dolphins fashion, we signed Shelly Smith, drafted Turner and had Thomas, Smith will play RG imo, Turner imo wins LG and Thomas pushes Garner as he also played Tackle for the Vols

    Wr battle is another odd one, Matthews and Binns have shown they can make plays, so we draft Landry with a #2 pick, this staff does not mind sitting high draft picks still..makes little sense to me.

    Some ways, our last two draft classes remind me of the patsies when they were doubling and tripling up on positions and sitting high picks who rarely played and wound up being waived.
     
  11. RoninFin4

    RoninFin4 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    23,683
    44,622
    113
    Dec 11, 2007
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    I think battle number 7 is more Randy Starks vs. Jared Odrick. I think Earl Mitchell is the front-runner to play the 1-technique DT spot. Both Starks and Odrick are better playing at 3-technique. I think it'll end up being like last year though; while Starks may be the "starter", both will play plenty of snaps.
     
  12. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    111,652
    67,546
    113
    Dec 20, 2007
    I really don't understand the Hazel..Aikens..and Lynch picks pod...I just don't.
     
  13. Alex44

    Alex44 Boshosaurus Rex

    20,810
    8,965
    0
    Jan 7, 2008
    Hollywood, Florida
    Hazel was a 6th rounder. Youre just going BPA there.

    Aikens has the physical skills to be a #1 or #2 corner so I have no issues. You don't count on both young corners being adequate. Grimes is aging and Finnegan is hot trash. I think this pick makes sense

    Lynch....I agree.
     
  14. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    111,652
    67,546
    113
    Dec 20, 2007
    I would of taken Michael Campanaro instead of Hazel.

    I'm betting on finnegan and Jamar Taylor being players.

    Agreed on lynch.
     
  15. Alex44

    Alex44 Boshosaurus Rex

    20,810
    8,965
    0
    Jan 7, 2008
    Hollywood, Florida
    Well I'm not saying Hazel was my BPA but maybe he was the Phins. I know some posters here like him a lot.

    I do like Taylor. Even if Finnegan is good though he's a 1-2 yewr solution so youth behind him would be nice
     
  16. LBsFinest

    LBsFinest Banned

    3,972
    2,062
    0
    Jul 24, 2012
    Good points...we finally agree. Hell I would've gone corner in the 2nd round.
     
  17. VanDolPhan

    VanDolPhan Club member Club Member

    13,057
    8,875
    113
    Nov 26, 2007
    Hamilton, Ontario Canada
    I also called the Aikens pick 12 spots ahead of the pick in the Club chat. There was talk earlier on about competition for Davis who could grow into a future starter.

    Smith's pass blocking needs improvement (which is why he didn't get a better deal in FA) so I wouldn't quite hand him the job yet until he can prove he's gotten better there. If Thomas locks up the left side...we could see Turner flipped next year to the right.
     
  18. Alex44

    Alex44 Boshosaurus Rex

    20,810
    8,965
    0
    Jan 7, 2008
    Hollywood, Florida
    :lol:

    There is a first time for everything!
     
  19. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

    99,377
    37,301
    0
    Nov 22, 2007
    inching to 100k posts
    Looks like Philbin's approach is to have a Vet starter and young physically talented guy planted firmly behind them for OJT rd that young player was taken in does not matter, they sit and learn.

    Will make the roster deeper, also means they are burning pre FA yrs to coach those players up in their systems.

    For example, Taylor and Davis sniffed little playing time behind Carrol and Wilson, NC left via FA, Wilson is a Fa after this season, instant replacements already on the roster

    Odd way of doing things tbh, very old school in the days of "instant' starters via the draft
     
    djphinfan likes this.

Share This Page