The Dolphins’ signing of Chad OchoCinco elicited a wide range of reaction around the NFL Tuesday. We’ll start with the positive:
“Watching the Patriots practice three times for the Super Bowl, I was really impressed with Chad,” NBC’s Cris Collinsworth said. “He was much sharper physically than I anticipated. The key is to find things he does well and stick to basic routes.“I was impressed how Chad handled himself in New England; he was very much a team player. I might have shied away from him after he left Cincinnati, but that experience did him a lot of good. I wouldn’t be worried about him having a negative influence over younger players the way I might have been [when he played with] Terrell Owens in Cincinnati. There’s no downside to this, and if I’m in Miami’s situation, I would have done it, too. If he can’t do it, you can get rid of him. Physically, he has something left. He has this non-stop brain that would call [Bengals coach]Marvin Lewis at 3 in the morning and suggest a play.”
Said CBS’ Phil Simms: “I have no doubt physically, he is still capable of being a solid NFL receiver and have an impact. It’s a really good signing, especially with the situation they are in with receivers. The energy I saw at Bengals practices [before 2011] was awesome, and it was driven by one guy: Chad. Full speed every play.” After OchoCinco’s first Dolphins practice Tuesday, Sean Smith tweeted, “[No.] 85 still got it!”OchoCinco encouraged people to "tweet Vontae Davis and ask him how I look. They wont [sugar] coat." Davis, asked how he looked on a scale of 1 to 10, tweeted: "10; for not knowing the playbook, he still got it."
As for concerns: “He was overwhelmed by the complexity of New England’s offense,” CBS’ Rich Gannon said. “Tom Brady didn’t have a lot of trust he would be in the right place and do the right thing. You would think a veteran guy could learn a game plan. They kept him around in the offseason program this year and he was still struggling. Now, going to a West Coast offense, he may struggle there.”Patriots receiver Deion Branch had to tell OchoCinco where to line up during a May 24 practice witnessed by reporters. The Patriots cut him last week.Gannon once asked former Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski why they didn’t move OchoCinco around more, and “Bob said, ‘We don’t want to overload him.’ That tells you right there. He’s not a bad guy. But his extra curricular activities take away from his focus on the game.” But Gannon said in spite of all that, there's no risk to signing him because it's a low-risk, low-money move
.Former Texans general manager Charley Casserly, of NFL Network, said: “He still has enough physical skills to be productive, but route discipline has always been a question. Does Chad get it, at the end of his career, that he has to be a good soldier and it has to be about the team, not him?”
NFL Network’s Joe Thiesmann, noting his problems against Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, said: “He’s got great feet, but when it comes to being physical, he can’t do it. He’s physically not strong enough to get off jams. With OchoCinco, [Brian Hartline, Davone Bess and Legedu Naanee], you have four guys who can be functional.”
One longtime NFL executive told us Tuesday: “The guy ran the wrong route on the first play of a game last year, after you practice it all week. How can you screw that up? With Ryan Tannehill, you want a receiver to be in the right spot to help your young quarterback, and that would concern me with Chad. You’re a new coach trying to build a program there; I wouldn’t have touched him.
”### OchoCinco’s former teammate, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who reportedly needed to sometimes tell OchoCinco where to line up, told Bengals.com: “If I went with Tom Brady and didn’t produce, I’d hang it up. Are you kidding me?”
### OchoCinco, 34, is in great shape and showed quickness during his Dolphins workout Monday. Though he had just 15 catches for 276 yards last season, he is one year removed from a 67-catch, 831-yard season with Cincinnati in 2010, when he also dropped eight passes. If he makes the team, he will earn the veteran’s minimum $925,000, with potential to push that to more than $2 million if he meets incentives such as catching 80 passes, according to Peter King.
### Chad's best tweet from Day One as a Dolphin? He said anyone attending fiancee Evelyn Lozada's book-signing in the Bronx should "tell her to wire me my allowance."
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/
“Watching the Patriots practice three times for the Super Bowl, I was really impressed with Chad,” NBC’s Cris Collinsworth said. “He was much sharper physically than I anticipated. The key is to find things he does well and stick to basic routes.“I was impressed how Chad handled himself in New England; he was very much a team player. I might have shied away from him after he left Cincinnati, but that experience did him a lot of good. I wouldn’t be worried about him having a negative influence over younger players the way I might have been [when he played with] Terrell Owens in Cincinnati. There’s no downside to this, and if I’m in Miami’s situation, I would have done it, too. If he can’t do it, you can get rid of him. Physically, he has something left. He has this non-stop brain that would call [Bengals coach]Marvin Lewis at 3 in the morning and suggest a play.”
Said CBS’ Phil Simms: “I have no doubt physically, he is still capable of being a solid NFL receiver and have an impact. It’s a really good signing, especially with the situation they are in with receivers. The energy I saw at Bengals practices [before 2011] was awesome, and it was driven by one guy: Chad. Full speed every play.” After OchoCinco’s first Dolphins practice Tuesday, Sean Smith tweeted, “[No.] 85 still got it!”OchoCinco encouraged people to "tweet Vontae Davis and ask him how I look. They wont [sugar] coat." Davis, asked how he looked on a scale of 1 to 10, tweeted: "10; for not knowing the playbook, he still got it."
As for concerns: “He was overwhelmed by the complexity of New England’s offense,” CBS’ Rich Gannon said. “Tom Brady didn’t have a lot of trust he would be in the right place and do the right thing. You would think a veteran guy could learn a game plan. They kept him around in the offseason program this year and he was still struggling. Now, going to a West Coast offense, he may struggle there.”Patriots receiver Deion Branch had to tell OchoCinco where to line up during a May 24 practice witnessed by reporters. The Patriots cut him last week.Gannon once asked former Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski why they didn’t move OchoCinco around more, and “Bob said, ‘We don’t want to overload him.’ That tells you right there. He’s not a bad guy. But his extra curricular activities take away from his focus on the game.” But Gannon said in spite of all that, there's no risk to signing him because it's a low-risk, low-money move
.Former Texans general manager Charley Casserly, of NFL Network, said: “He still has enough physical skills to be productive, but route discipline has always been a question. Does Chad get it, at the end of his career, that he has to be a good soldier and it has to be about the team, not him?”
NFL Network’s Joe Thiesmann, noting his problems against Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, said: “He’s got great feet, but when it comes to being physical, he can’t do it. He’s physically not strong enough to get off jams. With OchoCinco, [Brian Hartline, Davone Bess and Legedu Naanee], you have four guys who can be functional.”
One longtime NFL executive told us Tuesday: “The guy ran the wrong route on the first play of a game last year, after you practice it all week. How can you screw that up? With Ryan Tannehill, you want a receiver to be in the right spot to help your young quarterback, and that would concern me with Chad. You’re a new coach trying to build a program there; I wouldn’t have touched him.
”### OchoCinco’s former teammate, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who reportedly needed to sometimes tell OchoCinco where to line up, told Bengals.com: “If I went with Tom Brady and didn’t produce, I’d hang it up. Are you kidding me?”
### OchoCinco, 34, is in great shape and showed quickness during his Dolphins workout Monday. Though he had just 15 catches for 276 yards last season, he is one year removed from a 67-catch, 831-yard season with Cincinnati in 2010, when he also dropped eight passes. If he makes the team, he will earn the veteran’s minimum $925,000, with potential to push that to more than $2 million if he meets incentives such as catching 80 passes, according to Peter King.
### Chad's best tweet from Day One as a Dolphin? He said anyone attending fiancee Evelyn Lozada's book-signing in the Bronx should "tell her to wire me my allowance."
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/
