RoninFin4
FinHeaven VIP
Pre Pre-Season Brain Splatter
Sorry fellow Dolfans, it’s been far too long since I’ve been able to write a column, and for that I apologize. I blame it mainly on work and my new hobby, kick-boxing. Anyways, at least work was good for something this summer. I got to travel to Miami to work Jason Taylor’s youth football camp, back when he was an “in-limbo” member of the Miami Dolphins. Meeting him was great and all, but the cool story was the first night down there. As I was checking into the hotel, I turned and saw a girl walk out the front door, coke in one hand, purse in the other - she stops dead in her tracks as she turns the corner. I really didn’t pay attention to it other than a giant looming figure had to duck his head to get into the front door – I figured it was an NBA player by the size of him at first glance. After a few moments and finally checking in at the desk, a giant, catcher’s mit-sized hand plops down on the counter, I looked up, and it was none other than our very own Jake Long. Turns out we were staying in the hotel where they house the rookies during mini-camp/OTAs. I got to meet Jake, Donald Thomas, Davone Bess, Lex Hilliard, and Titus Brown. All were very nice guys, very personable, which was a nice change of pace from the Bengals players (I volunteered at TC for them the past two summers) I’ve met, so props to the FO for adding some guys with some off-field character.
Anyways, thought I’d share the coolest story I’ve had this summer, but back to the column. At this point of the year, everyone’s got their stories – heck, even ESPN has divisional blogs now. I’m sure, like me, the rest of Dolphin Nation knows the usual headlines and TC stories by now; who’s going to be the QB, Ronnie Brown’s health, who will replace JT, Ricky’s back, and now Terry Glenn and the Big Tuna are reunited again. I’m sure all of those will play out just fine.
I’ve decided to focus my attention elsewhere. I’ve picked three Dolphins who I think will have an unheralded, yet major impact on the 2008 version of the Miami Dolphins. We’ll see whether those impacts will be positive or negative as I try not to look through the aqua colored glasses too often.
1. Justin Smiley – Sure, he signed a major FA deal right when the clock struck midnight at the dawn of free agency, but what will his impact be? For the scenario, I look back on the 2006 New York Jets, as scary as that seems. The Jets started two rookies on their O-line, D’Brickashaw Ferguson at LT, and Nick Mangold at C, arguably the two most important positions in the trenches. Pete Kendall, a veteran of 10+ NFL seasons played between them at LG, and for the most part, they played very well. Kendall has since left the Big Apple, and the Jets have struggle, most notably Ferguson.
I would hope that for all of the money we’ve paid him, Justin Smiley has a similar type of impact on rookie Jake Long and 2nd year man Samson Satele. The Jets added Alan Faneca, though at a steeper price, to play between Ferguson and Mangold. It’ll be very interesting to see if Smiley can duplicate the kind of success Kendall and Faneca have had in the past now that he is back at his natural LG spot (Larry Allen forced Smiley to RG once he joined the 49ers). If Miami is to have success running the ball, and ultimately building a solid team that will be ready to make a playoff push in the future, Smiley’s play is critical. Long, Smiley, Satele, and Vernon Carey (hopefully he gets re-signed) give us 4 very solid starters. Hopefully one of the young pups, my money’s on Donald Thomas – (I really was puzzled at the Murphy pick at the time, maybe that’s just me) or Murphy can stick at RG and give us a line that can play together for a long stretch.
2. Sean Ryan - finally, Miami signs a free agent from a divisional team, rather than the other way around. Sean Ryan wasn’t brought in to start (that is of course if we open in a double tight end formation), but he was brought here for a reason. That reason being to block. I remember watching the Jets play at Cincinnati last year, so I watched it being the Bengals are the local team and the Dolphins had already lost, but Ryan was pretty dominant at setting the edge against the Bengals OLBs. He also made a very nice catch to save a Jets drive when they were still in the game in the early 4th quarter, so he’s got some hands.
New OC Dan Henning loves to use an H-back (TE/FB hybrid) as a lead blocker and will often line both of them up in the backfield in front of the RB. Justin Peelle is his main competition, in my opinion at least. Anthony Fasano was brought here to start. David Martin can’t catch a cold, nor can he block that well at all. Peelle played this position somewhat under Nick Saban in 2006, eventually phasing Darian Barnes’ out of the normal offense for most of the year. Ryan is a bigger, and hopefully better version of Peelle, with the ability to play special teams. His value might be even greater than keeping Reagan Mauia, who has virtually no special teams value, and/or Boomer Grigsby, who has virtually no proven value as a FB in the NFL. I’d bet a pretty penny, if I had one, that Ryan will receive quite a bit of playing time this season.
3. Quentin Moses - what a strange few years for this guy. He tore through SEC offensive lines as a junior at Georgia and opted to stay for a senior season, and prior to the start of 2007, was the top-ranked defensive player in the NCAA. Well, we know the story – his play fell off, the Raiders cut him after drafting in the 3rd round. Arizona cut him after stashing him on the practice squad for a few games, and he wound up in Miami and played pretty well in the limited action he saw.
Jason Taylor is now gone, and now Quentin Moses, along with projected ROLB starter Charlie Anderson, are now going to have to provide pass-rush opposite Joey Porter. Anderson is a more complete player, but he doesn’t have the raw speed and pass-rushing ability that Moses already possesses. Moses needs to learn the nuances of dropping into coverage and stopping the run without a hand on the ground. That will take some time, but he’ll play a large factor in the nickel and dime pass-rushing packages very early on, and MAY eventually overtake Anderson for the starting spot.
Another point for Moses, is that he is capable of playing the LOLB spot as well. He’s 6’5” and 260lbs, and while not quite as big as Shawn Merriman, Adalius Thomas or Greg Ellis, he’s bigger than Clark Haggans, Ahmad Brooks, and LaMarr Woodley among other SOLB who’ll play some in 3-4 schemes this year. I bring this up, because Joey Porter might be on his last legs, at least as a Dolphin, we’ll have to see how that plays out. However, if he is gone after 2008, which I think the chances are pretty good he won’t be here, what do we do at the SOLB spot? We passed on Chris Long and Vernon Gholston. Next year’s class only has a few guys who could play it: Brian Orakpo from Texas, Greg Hardy from Ole Miss, and maybe Lawrence Wilson from Ohio State – not the best odds I’d say. Moses’ development is paramount this season to figure out what we have. Is he going to overtake Charlie Anderson and be our version of DeMarcus Ware that Parcells and Co. had in Dallas? Could he replace Joey Porter? Or is he simply a good situational pass-rusher?
Other candidates that I considered were: FB Boomer Grigsby, CB Andre Goodman, and LB Reggie Torbor, but I thought that Smiley, Ryan, and Moses can provide us with the biggest long-term success, or failure, at their respective positions for the Dolphins well into the future. I’ll try to have my predicted final 53 man depth chart up before the first preseason game, and who knows, maybe I’ll figure out the inactives for week one while I’m at it. Feel free to comment.
