The battle for the Dolphins' starting cornerback spot not occupied by Will Allen isn't just a battle of age. Mass could tip the scales toward one of the Dolphins rookies and put him atop the depth chart come Sept. 13.
Veteran free agent Eric Green, entering his fifth NFL season, stands 5-11 and weighs 196 pounds. Not small by average standards, definitely not small by the standards of an NFL cornerback. Allen lists at 5-10, 195 (officially), and last year's other starting cornerback, departed Andre' Goodman, measures a relatively slender 5-10, 185.
On the other hand, first-round pick Vontae Davis and second-round pick Sean Smith go 5-11, 203 and 6-3, 214, respectively. In any football world lorded over by Dolphins vice president of football operations Bill Parcells, size matters.
``I think a big part of our philosophy, when I say our philosophy, me, Bill, [general manager] Jeff [Ireland], has always been to have big corners,'' Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said during minicamp. ``It really has. In fact we'll take smaller corners in some situations off the board. And they might just be good players for other people just maybe not for us. So, we kind of really wanted to have big corners. It's something that we believe in. They're a little bit more physical, and you can do maybe a few more things with them in some situations.''
