QUARTERBACK Pennington will start. Henne and White will stick. No surprises here. RUNNING BACK Brown will start. Williams and Cobbs will stick. No surprises here either. FULLBACK Polite will start. Hilliard will stick as a FB/RB if he surprises and by surprise I mean he becomes one of the best special teams players on our team. WIDEOUT Ginn and Turner will start. Camarillo, Bess, and Hartline will stick. Armstrong could surprise. TIGHT END Fasano will start. Martin, Haynos, and Wilford will have to battle it out to see who sticks. John Nalbone or Jared Bronson could surprise. Could come down to blocking and special teams for one of these guys. OFFENSIVE LINE Long, Smiley, Grove, Thomas, and Carey will start. Murphy, Berger, and Gardner will stick. Mark Lewis could surprise but the practice squad is probably more likely. NOSE TACKLE Ferguson will start. Soliai will stick. Joe Cohen or Louis Ellis could surprise. I'm not sure if Cohen is eligible for the PS but Ellis is eligible and he could end up on it if there are any doubts about Soliai's ability to be a suitable backup. DEFENSIVE END Langford and Merling will start. Starks, Dotson, and McDaniel will stick. Rod Wright could surprise. OUTSIDE LINEBACKER Porter and Taylor will start. Wake and Roth will stick. Erik Walden, Tearrius George, or Charlie Anderson could surprise. INSIDE LINEBACKER Crowder and Ayodele will start. Torbor and Folsom will stick. Orion Martin could surprise but the practice squad is very likely if he doesn't. CORNERBACK Will Allen and Vontae Davis will start. Smith, Green, and Jason Allen will stick. Nathan Jones could surprise. SAFETY Wilson and Bell will start. Culver and Clemons will stick. No surprises here. SPECIAL TEAMS We're all set with Carpenter, Fields, and Denney. The real question is who will return kicks? Ginn on kickoffs and White on punt returns? I hope so.
Some additional thoughts.. First off I believe JD has already been cut. I think Camarillo will start. I believe Haynos will stick. I also believe Orion Martin will be kept. I think Bess will be doing some returns. Hartline as well.
I think they cut J.D. Quinn. Correct me if im wrong. Oh and I think Bess might be returning punts. I really don't see Pat White returning any kicks, I don't see him anywhere outside of the offense.
My bad. Didn't know they cut him. He had an interesting yet troubled background. Guess he won't be making the practice squad. I edited my original post which used to read:
You might be right about Camarillo. I just have a feeling about Turner. He was really outstanding for USC last year which doesn't mean much as far as the NFL goes but still. He is a playmaker. My gut feeling is Turner has the potential to be a #1 wideout at best or a #2 wideout at least. Camarillo and Bess seem more like slot receivers. Really excellent slot receivers but slot receivers nonetheless. I could see keeping both of them in that capacity. Plus they both have added value as special teams players. Tight end is really up in the air right now. Fasano and Martin are both free agents next year. Fasano will almost certainly be re-signed. So then what do you do with Martin? They will have to keep an eye toward the future. Keep Martin this year and you will lose Haynos, Wilford, or Nalbone. On the other hand Martin was pretty good last year. From a business standpoint when you consider the fact that Nalbone is locked up for the next four years it might make more sense to keep him around if he's any good. So if you keep Nalbone do you cut Martin, Haynos, or Wilford? Lastly they could really save face if Wilford pans out at tight end. Its going to be interesting. We'll see. He's a project. Played DE in a 4-3 at Virginia Tech. Now he'll have to switch to ILB or OLB for the Dolphins. Plus I keep thinking about that last 7th round pick we traded away. Why didn't we use it on Orion Martin? When you add it all up it points to the practice squad unless he's a standout on special teams. On the other hand Virginia Tech is known for their special teams. Last year we had a couple undrafted free agents who made the 53. However that was because we were so devoid of talent. Its a different story this year. How are those undrafted guys going to make the team when guys we actually drafted like Nalbone and Folsom might not even make it? Sadly you guys are probably right. However Bess was not spectacular. Just average. My hope is that White relieves Bess of his punt return duties and takes a couple to the house for us.
I still think our WR Corp will be Ginn, Bess, Camarillo, Turner, Hartline and London. I really do think we're gonna keep 6 WRs unless we trade Camarillo because we can't afford to lose any of these guys. I don't understand why everyone has forgotten about London. He's solid and has a chance to be special, though he may be buried on the depth chart. Forgot to mention, Chris Johnson will wind up on the PS imo
Look for GinnJr to begin to fulfill his promise as a Return Specialist, now that he has the WR role figured out. We need him big time on Special Teams.
WR competition is going to be tough this TC, IMO. I don't know that even Ginn can be considered safe. What I like about Camarillo as well as Bess is that they both run good routes which enables separation and they catch everything thrown their way. I do like what I hear about Turner, though also. You may be right in that he ends up as a starter, but I don't think it'll be right from the beginning. Y'know, my thinking with Wilford is that they're going to try and unload him somewhere. That's just what I think - I don't have much of anything to base it off of. He didn't pan out at WR and IMO we've moved on by drafting Turner and holding onto London. I suppose if he flat out excels at TE then they'll keep him. Otherwise, I just think they'll try and trade him and if they can't they'll cut him. I really like Haynos. He creates such a mismatch due to his height. I agree I think we'll try to keep Fasano. I don't know about Martin. As you said he had a good year last year. Maybe they'll look to trade him this year as well? Maybe they'll try and stash Nalbone on the PS.
London isn't getting any respect because we drafted Turner and Hartline. You know Ginn isn't getting cut. Camarillo produces. His stats were second best on the team last year and he missed the last five games. Bess looks like a gem. Which one of those guys do you cut to make room for London? Plus Armstrong is coming on. You have to believe London is in trouble unless we carry six wideouts but that almost never happens. Every year I hear the six wideout argument and every year we only carry five. Why? Because you don't need six wideouts. The 4th and 5th wideout rarely see the field other than special teams. Its highly unlikely we carry a 6th guy just to ride the bench. I'm pretty sure Chris Johnson is going to start. He was lights out for the Titans last year. Chris Williams could make our practice squad though.
** We seem pretty thin at ILB. Torbor is the only proven backup. Not a lot of upside among our young guys IMO. At DB, Im guessing that Nate Jones will beat out Jason Allen for the last DB spot.
Granted that Jason Allen has been a total bust to this point in his career, but he probably has more upside than Nate Jones and should be cheap since he's still on his rookie contract. I don't know what the numbers actually are, I just don't know that he's worth getting rid of. That said, I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if he is let go. He hasn't proven that he belongs on the field at any position.
Superb post & thread. 5 stars from me. Don't necessarily agree on every player, but IMO its just too early on in TC to predicts who sticks and who goes.
They do split carries but Ronnie gets 65% of the carries and Ricky gets 35%. Before the draft I would have agreed with you. However you have to ask yourself why we drafted Nalbone in the 5th round. Before Clemons I might add. And why did we bring in Jared Bronson who was a very good tight end at Central Washington? That doesn't seem like something you do if you're happy with your tight situation. Maybe. Do you see either them beating out Thomas, Berger, Murphy, or Gardner? I don't. I don't know, man. He is 6-7. That's pretty tall for a NT. If what we're hearing about Dotson is true then Wright might be done. Which is too bad because I always thought he had potential. He just hasn't lived up to it yet. True. Sean Smith could win the starting job. My money is still on Davis. However I'm not really hoping for one over the other. May the best man win. Do you mean you believe he could win a starting job? I hope you're right. Its a waste of Ginn's natural ability to have him on the sideline during kickoffs.
Don't believe the hype. Ginn is as safe as a baby in its mother's arms. I love Camarillo and Bess. However we drafted not one but two wideouts. That tells us the front office is looking to upgrade the receiver corps. You might be right about Turner not getting the start right from the beginning. It will depend on how training camp goes. I would love to unload Wilford. I just don't believe anybody would give us anything for him. If he doesn't win a TE position he will be cut. However he stands a better chance than most might believe. David Martin is primarily a receiving type of tight end. He is not a great blocker. Martin was a former wideout. You could be describing Wilford when talking about Martin. Plus we would have a way better chance of trading Martin than Wilford. Haynos is also more of a receiving tight end. Wilford could beat him out too. Don't be shocked if our three tight ends are Fasano, Wilford, and Nalbone.
Yeah but its fun to look back and see how wrong you were prior to any preseason action. Plus its easy to make predictions once the season starts.
i don't truly see any surprises .... as the starting line up has only 3 question marks: RG, MILB, LCB ... all others are pretty much set. i would be surprised: if Wilford makes the final roster ... if Berger doesn't make the final roster .. if Moses makes the final roster ... if Wright makes the final roster ... if J. Allen makes the final roster ... if Green starts more than 4 games as LCB ... i won't be surprised if Camarillo gets traded based off of Hartline's performance. if Alleman, Nduke, or even Garner don't make the final roster. Frye, Gardner are keepers ... jury is still out on Rogers, Lewis if Martin is traded, based on the progress of Haynos and Nalbone ... if Ayodele or Torbor (but not both) get cut ... if Davis / Smith start the season as LCB ... if Clemons makes an impression in nickel and dime enough to start next year ... the only radical type changes could be Ginn getting traded (just don't see that this year) ... someone other than Roth / JT at SOLB (and i don't really want to see JT there) ... maybe Wake can step in if need be (injury to Roth) ... we pick up some new to fill the other MILB position during camp ....
Orca-5: Long-Smiley-Grove-Thomas-Carey backups: Berger, Frye, Murphy or Alleman, Gardner WR: GinnJr, Bess, Hartline, Turner, London (Camrillo or Armstrong) NT: Fergie, Soliai, McDaniels TE: Fasano, Haynos, Martin or Wilford (Nalbone to PS)
Much respect but I would be surprised: if Donald Thomas isn't the starting RG ... if Crowder and Ayodele aren't the starting inside linebackers ... if Vontae Davis isn't the starting CB opposite of Will Allen ... Before his switch to tight end I would have agreed with you about Wilford. However I do agree with you about Berger, Moses, Wright, and Green. Jason Allen is due to make $1.27 million this year. That's a lot of money for a 4th or 5th string CB but its also not starting money. Will Allen will make $4 million this year and Asante Samuel will make $8.9 million. If he wasn't so good on special teams or we were up against the salary cap then I would agree that Jason Allen will be cut. However he is big and fast and a standout on special teams. Plus he can play in dime packages. He might not be able to cover an opponent's #1 receiver but he can cover their 3rd, 4th, or 5th receiver. However I wouldn't be surprised if we drafted a CB in the later rounds to take Jason Allen's place on special teams next year. I don't see Camarillo getting traded. He's too valuable even as a 3rd or 4th wideout. Finally I just don't see Ayodele or Torbor getting cut. There simply isn't a suitable replacement for either of them at this point. Hopefully we will address ILB in the draft next year. Are there any good free agents at ILB next year?
There aren't any FAs next year that can play ILB in a 3-4 at a high level. I would love to see Miami draft Brandon Spikes in the draft. I think he is going to be an excellent player, and can fit into the 3-4 defense.
Only problem Spikes is probably going to be a high pick and I don't think we are going to be picking that high. A guy to look at though in free agency is Kirk Morrison. Would be a real nice upgrade over Ayodele.
Kirk Morrison did have a great year in 07. He would be a solid signing. Edit: Just read that Herzlich has cancer. I feel like a douchebag, lol.
The gurus also have mentioned Joe Pawalek from Baylor I believe as a guy we might target. Next year really does seem like the year to upgrade the LB corp. It's probably why we didn't dip into it this year. Micah Johnson, Pawalek, Spikes, Ryan D'Imperio at ILB. Brandon Lang, Antonio Coleman, Jerry Hughes to name a few at OLB. It's where we probably triple dip next year I think.
Agree with most of this but on WR, JMO, Camarillo will top London. Why? They both play ST but Camarillo is better, he also signed an extention before getting hurt (They love this guy and so does Penny), Cam runs better routes, and last but not least Camarillo has the best hands on this team. My guess is that London and Armstrong will be trade bait if they show anything in PS. I'm just guessing here but I'm bett'en that Hotlanta picks up one of them to help not only with the first game but their WR group which is poop!!
Looks like Nathan Jones just made the team. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...-cornerback-eric-green-081909,0,7820563.story Good for him. He played well on Monday. Impressed with Hilliard on Monday. He's looking good. Wilford did himself a lot of good with that TD reception. Starks seems to have the edge over Merling right now. McDaniel didn't exactly go off against his former team but he wasn't awful either. Wright is going down swinging. He looked good on Monday. However he wasn't exactly playing against the first team. JT and Porter look like their usual bad *** selves. How about Cameron Wake?! I like it. Walden and George mixed it up a little bit. Nothing special but they were fighting. Anderson was M.I.A. Nice interception by Folsom. Equivalent to what Wilford did. One big play is not going to earn either of them a roster spot but it don't hurt their chances either. They both will need to show something again on Saturday if they hope to stick. Torbor looked good. Martin didn't do much. Didn't play much either. He's in the same boat as Wright. It will be very telling if they don't get more playing time in the 2nd or 3rd quarter. Chris Williams... Wow. If he keeps it up then Armstrong doesn't stand a chance.
