Mitchell, Culliver hope to return to field for Dolphins Sunday

[DKphin]

Earl Mitchell hasn’t played since Week 1. Chris Culliver hasn’t played since mangling his knee last November.
But both Dolphins defenders are hopeful that they’ll return to action Sunday in San Diego.
Culliver, the veteran cornerback coming of reconstructive knee surgery, said Wednesday that he was told he would play this week. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph was much less certain of that. Coach Adam Gase later sounded more like Joseph than Culliver.
“The plan is to continue to evaluate him,” Joseph said. “He’s getting closer and closer each week. When he’s ready, we’ll play him. He wasn’t quite ready last week. Hopefully, he’s ready this week.”
And the chances of that are good?
“Yeah, yeah,” Joseph said. “Obviously we want to get him out there. We need more capable corners. If he’s ready he’s going to play.”
If activated, Culliver would play exclusively at corner. He’s never played in the slot. But Culliver will only be active as long as he practices well with no setbacks.

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article113821118.html#storylink=rss

 

[fansinceGWilson]

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article113821118.html#storylink=rss

"We need more capable corners. If he’s ready he’s going to play.” I can read that one of two ways. 1) We need more of those capable corners. 2) we need corners who are more capable. I suspect the later and I agree, although if he was referring to Maxwell, maybe it's #2.

 

[kcbrown]

OVERVIEW

Culliver has the pure cover skills to eventually develop into a starter but does not display natural instincts and is not willing or productive in run support. Is versatile enough to play corner or free safety. Has the athleticism and speed to shadow in man coverage and the hip fluidity to turn and run but lack of route anticipation allows receivers to gain separation. Has the range to play the deep half or middle in zone but can be sucked in by play-action. Really needs to improve his ability to diagnose run and be productive coming up in support. Culliver's a mid-round talent with higher upside.

ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS Culliver's a nice combination of height and speed. Smooth, fluid athlete. Can flip his hips or mirror receivers on underneath routes. Displays a good closing burst to the football. Very comfortable with deep half responsibilities and can as a single-high safety. Ball skills are good.

WEAKNESSES Liability in run support. Doesn't want to take on blockers and takes too long to shed. Pursuit angles need work and also fails to breakdown and tackle in space at times. Tackling technique needs to be more consistent. Awareness in coverage is still a work in progress. Lacks some recovery speed when on an island.

 

[fansinceGWilson]

OVERVIEW Culliver has the pure cover skills to eventually develop into a starter but does not display natural instincts and is not willing or productive in run support. Is versatile enough to play corner or free safety. Has the athleticism and speed to shadow in man coverage and the hip fluidity to turn and run but lack of route anticipation allows receivers to gain separation. Has the range to play the deep half or middle in zone but can be sucked in by play-action. Really needs to improve his ability to diagnose run and be productive coming up in support. Culliver's a mid-round talent with higher upside. ANALYSIS STRENGTHS Culliver's a nice combination of height and speed. Smooth, fluid athlete. Can flip his hips or mirror receivers on underneath routes. Displays a good closing burst to the football. Very comfortable with deep half responsibilities and can as a single-high safety. Ball skills are good. WEAKNESSES Liability in run support. Doesn't want to take on blockers and takes too long to shed. Pursuit angles need work and also fails to breakdown and tackle in space at times. Tackling technique needs to be more consistent. Awareness in coverage is still a work in progress. Lacks some recovery speed when on an island.

That's from 2011? I more interested in if he's addressed those weaknesses since. If not, not capable of learning and JAG.

 

[Kdawg954]

The thing with Culliver is . . . Is he ready to go?

Dolphins have needed CB help for weeks and he has been eligible to come back for a few weeks now, yet they wait to activate him 2 days prior to the deadline for activation or IR.

 

[Eesti]

OVERVIEW

Culliver has the pure cover skills to eventually develop into a starter but does not display natural instincts and is not willing or productive in run support. Is versatile enough to play corner or free safety. Has the athleticism and speed to shadow in man coverage and the hip fluidity to turn and run but lack of route anticipation allows receivers to gain separation. Has the range to play the deep half or middle in zone but can be sucked in by play-action. Really needs to improve his ability to diagnose run and be productive coming up in support. Culliver's a mid-round talent with higher upside.

ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS Culliver's a nice combination of height and speed. Smooth, fluid athlete. Can flip his hips or mirror receivers on underneath routes. Displays a good closing burst to the football. Very comfortable with deep half responsibilities and can as a single-high safety. Ball skills are good.

WEAKNESSES Liability in run support. Doesn't want to take on blockers and takes too long to shed. Pursuit angles need work and also fails to breakdown and tackle in space at times. Tackling technique needs to be more consistent. Awareness in coverage is still a work in progress. Lacks some recovery speed when on an island.

2014 Grade: +8.5

2014 Snaps: 839

A third round selection in 2011, the former Game**** saw plenty of action as a backup corner in his first two seasons and generally impressed, though he struggled as a starter during the 49ers playoff run in 2012. A knee injury forced Culliver to miss the entire of the 2013 season, and that may have been responsible for some of the rust he showed early in 2014. However, he soon shook off that rust and finished the season as one of our Top 15 cornerbacks, allowing just 37 receptions on 73 targets (50.7%), and holding passers to a 66.5 QB rating.

Culliver is tall enough and fast enough to match up with most receivers, and should draw plenty of attention. He is less proven than some of the others on this list, and there may be some durability concerns (missed two games in 2014 as well as the entire of 2013), but his performances in 2014 make him an intriguing free agent.

Vikings reportedly have shown interest in Culliver, who has the size and skills to play man. Culliver allowed just 37 catches on 73 targets last season with the San Francisco 49ers for 468 yards and four touchdowns with four interceptions.

 

[Eesti]

As much as I have dogged Mitchell since 2014, he should be a rotational improvement over Chris Jones. The D-line is playing with better gap discipline and he may actually look good within the system. That was rarely the case in 2015. Now if we can correct the gap issues with the LB's...

 

[ANUFan]

The more healthy DBs the better. I really wish he had #25 out there.

 

[Fin Thirteen]

Not a regular watcher of the 49ers or Skins, I can't say I'm intimate with Culliver's game. but the few times i saw him over that period I don't remember him being stellar, just an OK press corner in Harbaugh's defense.

PFF seemed to have him rated 5th of the available FAs when he left SF, behind such stellar names as Byron Maxwell and Tramon Williams. But they seemd to be fans of his play if not his durability:

" 5. Chris Culliver – Signed with Washington

2014 Grade: +8.5

2014 Snaps: 839

A third round selection in 2011, the former Game**** saw plenty of action as a backup corner in his first two seasons and generally impressed, though he struggled as a starter during the 49ers playoff run in 2012. A knee injury forced Culliver to miss the entire of the 2013 season, and that may have been responsible for some of the rust he showed early in 2014. However, he soon shook off that rust and finished the season as one of our Top 15 cornerbacks, allowing just 37 receptions on 73 targets (50.7%), and holding passers to a 66.5 QB rating.

Culliver is tall enough and fast enough to match up with most receivers, and should draw plenty of attention. He is less proven than some of the others on this list, and there may be some durability concerns (missed two games in 2014 as well as the entire of 2013), but his performances in 2014 make him an intriguing free agent."

The he went to Washington and didnt light it up early on. PFF put him in their top 10 of bad signings (with Maxwell at No. 1! - this post may only go to prove how bad PFF is!)
10. Chris Culliver, CB, WAS (four years, $32 million, -4.1)
While Culliver was solid in 2014 (+8.0 PFF grade) for San Francisco, many were surprised Washington was willing to give him $8 million per season in free agency. Through three games (he missed Week 2 with an injury) he has given up seven completions on only 11 targeted throws, good for 13th in coverage snaps per reception.

But these completions have gone for 15.6 yards per reception and a touchdown, good for a 126.7 NFL passer rating. He has also produced zero stops in the run game, and committed two penalties. The sample size is small here, and there is plenty of time for Culliver to turn it around, but thus far, he hasn’t produced at a level commensurate with his contract."

Culliver tore his ACL again, before he was able to put together any kind of "redemption" for the Skins paying him $8m per. By Chrostmas, PFF ranked him 111th CB in the NFL.

Whatever about the accuracy of PFF, you don't have to look too far into the forums of Skins and even some 49ers fans who were not happy with either his play or his endless injuries. Or, for that matter, his character. http://www.mercurynews.com/2014/03/31/herhold-lessons-from-the-chris-culliver-escapade/

I get that it's a low risk pickup for us and any bit of help is welcome, I just think a lot fo Miami fans are expecting a lot from a guy who was an OK starting corner 4 years ago, who gets injured at the drop of a hat, who is a questionable personality and whose play has regressed.

I'm hoping he has turned a corner in all the above, but I'm considering him as a JAG and not a saviour until I see otherwise over a number of games. On the plus side, he's (or certainly was before these big injuries) a prototypical press corner with the speed our guys like Maxwell and Lippett lack. So the talent is (or was) there.

We'll see.

 

[oasis]

I don't have high expectations for Culliver. I suspect he's not 100% game-ready yet, though he could probably play if someone went down. He probably sees extremely limited action against SD just to shake some rust off, but I bet they try to keep him off the game field for another week or two.

 

[LANGER72]

I agree with Oasis.
In addition, Culliver isn't going to make much positive impact. You can bet that SD will target him when he is in the game.

 

[Superself]

Just a shout out to Gase and Joseph being on the same page and sending the same message to Culliver.


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[BenchFiedler]

Chris Culliver might be better than Maxwell but he is not the 2nd coming of Christ. I'm not sure why the hype and that he can be a shut down corner like Sherman.

 

[fansinceGWilson]

Chris Culliver might be better than Maxwell but he is not the 2nd coming of Christ. I'm not sure why the hype and that he can be a shut down corner like Sherman.

Agreed, but I suspect most will be happy if he's better than Maxwell.