DKphin
Club Member
http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2010/06/bill-sheridan-assesses-his-miami-dolphins-linebackers.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sports%2FMiamiDolphinsweblog+%28Miami+Dolphins+|+Sun-Sentinel+Blogs%29Here are some outtakes from a recent conversation with Bill Sheridan, the Dolphins’ first-year linebackers coach and the former New York Giants defensive coordinator. Unlike his predecessors at the position, George Edwards and Jim Reid, who split the duties between inside and outside ‘backers, respectively, Sheridan is handling all 12 of them (and for a while there were 14 in camp).
This should give you some more clues as to how the Dolphins will line up in the fall with a vastly overhauled linebacker unit:
On transitioning college defensive ends to pro OLBs: “It is a challenge. All the 3-4 teams are in the same boat. They all do the same thing. Even some of the 4-3 teams take guys and make them their SAM’s. It’s a little bit of a transition. Obviously you’re counting on them being excellent pass rushers, because they’re familiar with that , but the pass coverage stuff is a litlte foreign to them. We’re just developing in that area. It’s not like they’re overwhelmed mentally. It’s like if they’re playing basketball and they haven’t played basketball before. Just a little unfamiliar with opening up and playing out in space and relating to receivers and that kind of stuff. So it’s always a challenge for those guys.”
On $43 million free agent signing Karlos Dansby: “He’s an excellent athlete and he’s got alot of football smarts, so those are two gigantic advantages. He’s not only an outstanding athlete but he understands football and he’s got a lot of really good instincts. We’re expecting fantastic things from him.”
On why Dansby is such a playmaker: “He has a knack for getting around the football. I goon him a little bit because he plays with such tremendous vision on the quarterback when he’s back there in zone coverage. We’d like him to relate to the receivers a little bit better early in the down, but he’s a real ball hawk, and that’s why he gets around the ball so much.”
On OLB Charlie Anderson: “Charlie is a real good athlete. When I came in here and had to watch the film of all the players that had played here a year ago, I was pleasantly surprised at how athletic he is. He’s really a quick, athletic guy and very versatile. Can pass rush as well as play in coverage.”
On OLB Cameron Wake: “Cameron has a unique ability. He can be a dynamic pass rusher, exceptionally dynamic. We’re just trying to make sure he gets well-rounded and can play on every down and be a quality run stopper and a quality — or at least an adequate — guy in coverage. He has a unique talent. He is an outstanding pass rusher.”
On making Wake a right-side pass rusher when he’s clearly more comfortable on the left: “I think he’s just a little more comfortable on that side. Some guys grow up in right- or left-handed stances, and I know he prefers being on the defensive left-handed side. In our base front, he’s got to play on both sides because we line up off the tight end and the split end. So I don’t think he has any problems coming off the other side.”
On second-rounder Koa Misi, who has spent time lining up as the starting strong-side OLB: “He’s really a quick, athletic guy. He’s got a lot of explosion to him. He’s developing in regards to learning our defenses. That’s not different than the rest of our defensive players with [Mike Nolan's] scheme coming in here. He’s got a lot of ability. He’s quick. He’s got excellent pass-rush ability. The coverage stuff he hasn’t done quite as much at Utah as we’re asking him to do here, but he’s going to be a good player.”
On Misi’s limited sack production at Utah: “The biggest advantage he has and that we try to use against the offensive linemen we rush is our quickness, and he’s definitely got excellent body quickness. He’ll be a good pass rusher.”
On fourth-rounder A.J. Edds of Iowa: “He’s done a nice job. He’s a little more of a cerebral player. He’s trying to figure things out. At Iowa he played more of an outside backer, where here we’re playing him as more of an inside backer. That’s a little bit of a transition for him, but he’s an instinctive football player and he’s done a nice job so far.”
On Austin Spitler, the seventh-rounder out of Ohio State: “He’s done a real nice job. You can tell he comes from a really good football program. He’s not overwhelmed by this stuff at all. He can digest the X’s and O’s. He’s quality in coverage. He’s a good run support player. He ran into some injuries at Ohio State that kind of diluted some of his playing time, especially his last year, but he is a quality football player.”
:lol2:
