Randy Starks

[Fresh]

Should be a way to "neg" instead of "thanks"

 

[DonShula84]

Almost completely illegible...

 

[Billshater]

Yes, because we didn't sign big, sexy names, we had a terrible day.

Today was the best free agent day the Miami Dolphins have had since.... since I can remember.

I agree. I think we had some good signings today. I just hope we can still land pace.

 

[rayfinkle5]

Two things are obvious to me:

1. You care very deeply about our football team. For that I commend you.
2. The first couple days of free agency can be an emotional time. I think you are overwhelmed and perhaps need to take a step back, slow down and take a deep breath.

While I am not asking you to drink the Kool Aid that others are apparently addicted to I would like to help you see a bit of the light. Lets start with Randy Starks. I would not qualify him as a "loser". Instead of focussing on best available talent we need to look more at opportunity and fit. Starks is a good fit here in Miami. He has good size, speed, and most importantly he is young. You like Jenkins because he is 27 and only cost the Jets a third rounder (most likely a punter!). Starks just turned 25 and cost us nothing but money...and a lot less than Jenkins. Lets consider the DT's who have signed and how much they have garnered.

Kris Jenkins 27...5 years, $35 million with $20 million guaranteed ($7 million avg.)
Tommy Kelly 27...7 years, $50 million ($7 million avg.)
Damione Lewis 30...3 years, $14 million ($4.6 million avg.)

Kelly's ridiculous early signing with the Raiders didn't help any team looking to sign a free agent DT. While the money spent on Starks seems high for his career #'s when you compare it to the other player signed it puts it into perspective. Again, I am not saying he is the best player there at the position. But when you take size, speed, age, ability, fit, and cost to the team, Starks seems like a good signing in Miami.

Next, calling Torbor a "waste" and "just like Spragan" is a bit much. You are comparing a 31 year old who is declining in his career to a 27 year old who seems to still be improving. Either way the signing adds depth to the position. I personally will take the improving 27 year old.

Finally, your comments on McCown and Wilford seem written out of frustration. McCown is here to push Beck for the starting job. Should Beck step, as I expect, then we have a backup QB with starting experience. I am not a fan of McCown but I don't think he is "horrendous". Keep in mind he is replacing Cleo Lemon. I call that an upgrade. As for Wilford, I too prefer B. Johnson. I think everyone knows that by now. But Wilford is of the same mold. Big, strong, and sure handed. That is all we needed brother. A nice, big possession target opposite the speedy, smaller Ginn.

I hope this helps you some. Best of luck during the rest of the free agent period.

 

[dlockz]

looks like you know your stuff, there is always these guys that put that negative spin on everything, some of them don´t like the players we get, because they think they are GM´s themself and can evaluate talent better then people who do this for a living and then there is these guys who start to worry about next years cap already after we signed some players with absolutely no significant bonuses to contracts, ridiculous

Yea like Gms never make mistakes lol. We had a GM that traded for Feeley, signed Jeno James and Reggie Howard. You may see those bonuses as insignificant but for the level of players they were plenty significant. I like the Smiley signing and have always liked Starks(not his contract) but just because these guys get paid millions does not make thier decisions any more right. Mueller and Speilman got paid pretty well also.

 

[Dolfan1000]

Dom, you have been around here a long time, and I know you are a passionate about your Fins, and especially about FA and the draft, but like the poster above said, you really are off base here. For one, we are in NO position to give up two picks for Kris Jenkins. He is not as young as you make him out to be, number one. But beyond that, we just have too many positions that need an infusion of young talent to give up that kind of compensation. Not to mention the $. Is he a good player? Sure. Is he dominant? He was at a point, and can be. Is he a player that when I look at the FA moves, I say to myself WE HAD TO GET HIM? No, not by a long shot.

As for Starks, calling him a loser is silly. Do you know much about him? Clearly not. What you should know is he is a 24 year old UFA (which is rare in itself). John Beck was DRAFTED at 26. Just some perspective. No, his production hasnt been through the roof, but he was signed based on pure skills and potential. As a 3-4 DE, he will be playing a totally different position, with different roles and responsibilities, which should hopefully lead to dominant play from the young man. Is the contract big? Sure, but whose contract isnt? Jerry friggin Porter got 30 million dollars. But lets be clear, as far as DTs go, its a fair contract.

You need to open your eyes Dom and see the big picture. We werent one player away. It wasnt going to happen. We didnt need any 30+ year old FAs who wanted to cash in one last time. Every player we added (and potentially Pace) is in his prime. You have to understand just how important that is for a team that has missed on oh so many draft picks. In just one day, we have infused the team with young, ascending talent, and have completely made over the personnel in our front seven, with more to come in Douglas and Pace. It is critical that we upgrade the overall talent, as in 25 new players, and that just would not happen by bringing in Samuel and Briggs. We would have Samuel, Briggs, and then Derrick Robinson, Anthony Bryant and Donnie Spragan.

PS Torbor is good enough for the SB winners, but not for 1-15? Yikes, interesting logic.

 

[Vendigo]

I'm somewhat at a loss as to why people complain about Starks' contract. We're talking 7 million guaranteed in the course of 5 years - that's roughly 1.5 million in guaranteed money a year. Not a huge deal by any means. 21 million might sound like much, but in reality he's probably not going to earn half of it before we either extend him (if he pans out) or cut him for an insignificant cap hit (if he doesn't). This is a very low risk contract; even if Starks was to get in trouble again and busted big time, we'd be able to cut him in 2009 for a preciously small cap hit.

 

[alen1]

This thread reminds me of the riot started by dolphins1972 in the Pace thread.

 

[dlockz]

I respect Dom's opnion. How come any opinion that does not say we did great or even good on something is given less weight than the continual PArcells is god or insert name is god. It happned last year with CAm and Previously with Saban. How many times did we hear These guys really know what they are doing in the off season. I'm pretty in the middle of these signings but I dont think you can dismiss that we did sign a guy with a somewhat checkered past and had like 12 tackles to a pretty damn good contract. I advocated signing Starks so I think i'm far less biased than most on him here. We all shall see. I just find it funny when we are jumping for joy over signing Ernest Wilford to a 4 yr 13 million dollar contract.

 

[Sunny Fish]

ok............you know how we are always talking about how certain players are "a product of the system?" Well, be patient and watch these "rejects" flourish in what is ultimately is going to be Bill Parcell's system. He will make most of these players stars through Tony Sparano and the other coaches. You have to trust the man. He's filling a lot of holes with this money and God knows, we needed a lot of players, not just one or two. I put my faith in Parcells. When it comes to this game, he knows his stuff!

 

[dlockz]

ok............you know how we are always talking about how certain players are "a product of the system?" Well, be patient and watch these "rejects" flourish in what is ultimately is going to be Bill Parcell's system. He will make most of these players stars through Tony Sparano and the other coaches. You have to trust the man. He's filling a lot of holes with this money and God knows, we needed a lot of players, not just one or two. I put my faith in Parcells. When it comes to this game, he knows his stuff!

The same was said about Jimmy Johnson, Saban and so on. I feel good about Parcells but Im not just blindly praising everything he does.

 

[Rev Kev]

Dom, you have been around here a long time, and I know you are a passionate about your Fins, and especially about FA and the draft, but like the poster above said, you really are off base here. For one, we are in NO position to give up two picks for Kris Jenkins. He is not as young as you make him out to be, number one. But beyond that, we just have too many positions that need an infusion of young talent to give up that kind of compensation. Not to mention the $. Is he a good player? Sure. Is he dominant? He was at a point, and can be. Is he a player that when I look at the FA moves, I say to myself WE HAD TO GET HIM? No, not by a long shot.

As for Starks, calling him a loser is silly. Do you know much about him? Clearly not. What you should know is he is a 24 year old UFA (which is rare in itself). John Beck was DRAFTED at 26. Just some perspective. No, his production hasnt been through the roof, but he was signed based on pure skills and potential. As a 3-4 DE, he will be playing a totally different position, with different roles and responsibilities, which should hopefully lead to dominant play from the young man. Is the contract big? Sure, but whose contract isnt? Jerry friggin Porter got 30 million dollars. But lets be clear, as far as DTs go, its a fair contract.

You need to open your eyes Dom and see the big picture. We werent one player away. It wasnt going to happen. We didnt need any 30+ year old FAs who wanted to cash in one last time. Every player we added (and potentially Pace) is in his prime. You have to understand just how important that is for a team that has missed on oh so many draft picks. In just one day, we have infused the team with young, ascending talent, and have completely made over the personnel in our front seven, with more to come in Douglas and Pace. It is critical that we upgrade the overall talent, as in 25 new players, and that just would not happen by bringing in Samuel and Briggs. We would have Samuel, Briggs, and then Derrick Robinson, Anthony Bryant and Donnie Spragan.

PS Torbor is good enough for the SB winners, but not for 1-15? Yikes, interesting logic.

amen

 

[kbeath]

If you don't like Jenkins, fine. Jenkins had 38 tackles and 2.5 sacks last year. Starks had 16 tackles and 0 sacks. You're not arguing that you would rather have Starks than Jenkins, are you?

If you only knew football... You cant tell a dt production from their stats. I watchd Starks at md and he has a higher ceiling than paying draft picks for a guy who is constantly over weight

 

[dlockz]

Well to the comment about Torber being good enough for the super bowl winners.

There have been many players for super bowl teams that ended up doing nothing.

 

[aquaman54]

I'll take Ernest Wilford over Cleo Lemon...............ANY DAY!!!