TO DCH: These are my thoughts on your concerns/observations.
1. JAMAR FLETCHER: I'm just as concerned as anyone I suppose, and with the simple caveat of this statement being that I did not get to watch the Dolphins defense practice, morning or afternoon, I will say that from all accounts that I have seen other than the immediate rumor from WQAM or something the day of the practices, Jamar actually had a GOOD SOLID DAY. He was covering Keyshawn Johnson a lot, and batted some passes and basically did a great job blanketing him. In the 11 on 11's, only Keenan McCardell caught passes longer than 10 yards, and that was not Jamar Fletcher. I think Jamar will be fine IMHO.
2. Offensive Line: McKinney looked good out there that I can personally attest to. He was making very savvy moves out there, and though it looked like he lacked a little explosion from his lower body, he really did have an overall good day...with the caveat there being that he was against Bucs second string. I don't feel comfortable reporting anything about Nails, Perry, Wade, Searcy, Dixon, or Smith other than they did nothing to catch my eye in the running or passing game...other than Searcy POSSIBLY having trouble with picking up blitz assignments in the blitz drills.
3. I was at practice in the morning and I gotta say it was a perfect microcosm of the entire situation between Dedric Ward and James McKnight. JM started the day with a drop on a pass that, though it was not an easy pass it was an over the shoulder type about a foot too long to be easy, it went through his outstretched hands anyway. But then, he came back to make I believe 3 more catches for the day, including some where we remarked that they looked like hard catches. Dedric Ward on the other hand, had I believe 1 catch all day...and simply wasn't getting open or catching a QBs eye. Jeff Ogden was getting open more and drawing more QB attention. To me, thats a perfect summary of the situation. Sure, you can count on Dedric to catch the ball more than you can count on McKnight. But can you count on him to be consistently open in an offense where he's a top WR? My answer is no, and I will use the Ravens game as an example. In that game we had some hurt WRs, Chambers out, and all the sudden Ward was pushed into a prominent role, and in my opinion, he could not handle it. Wasn't getting open well enough consistently, and he even dropped the ball once or twice in that game. James McKnight on the other hand always gets open. The way Norv's offense ran in Dallas, Washington, and San Diego, he can deal with speedster WRs that drop the ball as long as they get open deep (first Alvin Harper, then Albert Connell, then Tim Dwight, now James McKnight??) For my money, James McKnight is still my man over Dedric Ward especially after that practice, and if the practice was any indication, I might even take Jeff Ogden over Dedric "forgotten man" Ward.
4. Randy McMichael. I guess I kinda disagree with some sports writers here. I heard reports of him making great catches in the back of the endzone etc, and I guess those must have been in the afternoon practice cuz I KNOW he wasn't doin that in the morning practices. People say that he looked impressive again but to me he didn't really impress me all that much. Not that I'm a hater...he made one or two catches that I saw, but they looked like your average run of the mill routes and catches. Maybe he looked spectacular FOR A ROOKIE or somethin, but certainly didn't look like an offensive difference maker. He's still got time and he HAS impressed on other occasions, so we'll see when games show up.
5. Ultimately I think Femi's a goner. He's not all that involved in the offense from what I see and I think in the end, the original quote about him by Wanny is whats proving out. He's training camp depth. But I think he was definitely brought in to push Dyer, NOT necessarily Konrad. Konrad's been given his role already and he's going into the first game the starting FB hell or high water it don't matter a lick what happens in training camp. Femi was here to make sure Dyer didn't get lazy and think that his devastating blocking power meant that he was an automatic lock for the roster....he needs to keep making a concerted effort to improve his catching and route running because as the quote goes, blocking is important in Norv's offense but not as important as the ability for every skill player on that field to be a multiple offensive threat in some way. Dedric or JM on reverses, Ricky running, blocking, and catching, TE blocking and catching, and the FB blocking and catching.
6. Return game. Dunno man. They didn't do returns at practice. From what I hear I prolly expect Minor to be handling them, which is unexciting but fine with me. Ogden fine punt returning so long as his fumble problems have gone bye-bye.
7. Zak Kustok took any 3rd string snaps at the practice we saw. Levcik did not. This may have to do with the fact that Kustok is the one set to play 1 and a half quarters against the Bucs, NOT Levcik (who may not play at all). Levcik will get New Orleans on his plate. Personally from what I've seen of Kustok, I dont know why they are even bothering to call it "competition" for this 3rd spot. Like Ozzy, I think if Kustok keeps gettin more attention than Levcik I'm gonna start shoutin conspiracy and start complainin that Wanny puts too much weight on "quick feet" Fvck man, if they keep Kustok over Levcik, you have to wonder if Kurt Warner could have made a stop at camp while he was unknown and gotten away from us because we thought his feet weren't quick enough. Kustok is like Heupel except...well, worst.
DL/DE Zach Thomas calls this DL the best and deepest he's seen in his 6 years here. He doesn't say this every year. They passrushed Tennessee like mad crazy and I hear they abused the Bucs good too. Thats enough to get me :)
RB The preaseason games will decide Henry's fate. If he does well they roster him, if not they try and sneak him past waivers. I disagree with sports writers on this one (or at least one writer who said that some team will take Henry off waivers based on "rumor" of his good camps). Sorry but I just don't think that some team's gonna give up a valuable roster spot to a guy who so far hasn't shown anything on special teams, and who happened to be a 7th round pick who should have been undrafted according to every other team in the league...UNLESS he tears it up in preseason and shows his wares to the rest of the league. In that case we can't sneak him on waivers. He'd have enough loyalty to us for drafting him that if he got on our psquad, and another team made him an offer, he'd give us a chance to drop someone and match before taking off. Thats a standard practice. Reuben Droughns was the exception, not rule.
LBer. Am I missing something? Don't we usually roster 7 LBers? Thats Zach, Morlon, Derrick....then Hendricks, Galyon, and Russell (all three of which are special teams ACES)...and does that not leave 1 spot left for either Symonette, Seaverns, or Shields? I didn't see him against the Bucs, but I thought Seaverns actually looked pretty impressive against the run, holding off OL pretty well, and sneaking into the backfield for stuffs...against Tennessee.
Hope this helps DCH
