Love the Marco Rubio support.
Not so much your comment about us "rebuilding into something meaningful". I think this is a "baseless assertion" that I have been discussing with another poster.
How are we rebuilding into something meaningful? We are old on defense. Our best player are our oldest players or the most injury prone.
Who is our best WR? Exactly. We don't have one.
We have one outstanding OL in Jake Long (a parting gift from Cameron) and a bunch of older, injury prone, for the most part underachievers.
Here is the deal, as I see it.
RG was a problem when these guys got here, its still a problem.
WR was a problem when these guys got here, its still a problem.
We still don't have a game changing TE (the only game Fasano changed this year was the ATL game, and not in a good way).
Was Jason Ferguson really their long term answer at NT? Seriously? Because we are still using someone elses scraps (Soliai) when Ferguson predictably got hurt.
Chad Henne got alot of kudos from alot of people, but we still don't know if he is the man or not.
We spent a fortune on Gerbil Wilson who looks as if his name could as easily be Flip Wilson (google that, kids).
We paid some guy like 2 million dollars per catch....and yet I constantly here how this regime doesn't throw money around.
No team has ever finished 1-15 two years in a row. They have always "improved". The proof will be this year. Do we win our division and win a playoff game or not? If we do, I will say that I was wrong about these guys and they have rebuilt this team into something meaningful.
If we do not, I will stand by my assertions that these guys are in way over their heads, Tuna has lost interest, and Ross should go in a new direction.
Bah man you acting like you expected the dolphins in 2 offseasons, 1 beginning with a pos roster that I posted earlier to be 100% improved and in contention.
Yes we still have some old f*cks on defense, but again they only had 2 offseasons only to improve on it.
What have they done so far?
1. Drastically improve or DL. We started with no true NT and ****ty DE's and now we have above average to very good DE's with an excellent rotation. We also brought in Fergy to instantly hold over the NT position while we addressed others. When healthy he has been spectacular. Once they draft or pick up a new NT to replace Fergy then this line is 100% improved. I expect this to happen this offseason.
2.Drastically improve our DB's. We went from having average DB's to having Two young studs in the corners and one of the best SS in the league in my opinion in Bell. Nate Jones also played very well as the Nickel compared to any other Nickel we have had around here in many years.They messed up big time in bringing in Wilson and letting go Hill. But this regime felt that Wilson was the better paycheck for some reason. They were wrong and have no doubt it will be addressed this offseason. Either Clemons comes on and becomes the man or they will address it via FA or the draft. Once they pick up a true FS then this unit will be 100% improved.
3. LB's are another story, yes we haven't had hardly any improvement in the LB position but again I attribute that to only having 2 offseasons, truly 1 with their own players and having to deal with the contracts of Joey Porter and Channing Crowder. What they have done is churned the bottom part of the roster in this position and bring in the likes of Wake who just might be the next big thing @wolb and brought in imo better backups then we had to begin with in Torbor, Ayodele etc... The problem is the talent level at LB is below average and Ayodele had to start. Channing is another story. I do not think Crowder is a bad ILB, I just think he needs a true #1 stud next to him to allow him to free roam a bit more. We brought Taylor back at the Cheap and made a move I still dont understand with the Roth release. Either way this will be the offseason that LB's are addressed from top to bottom. I expect to see 2 new ILB's and 2-3 new OLB's this offseason regardless.
Lets check the offense:
4. QB- We went from Cleo Lemon,Trent Green & Beck to Chad Henne, Chad Pennington, Tyler Thigpen and Pat White. IMO a 100% improvement. Will penny come back? Not sure but I expect it, I also expect Thigpen to be traded this offseason either way I beleive even if Henne was our Only QB on this roster its a 100% improvement over Trent Green,Clemons and Beck combined.
5.OL-Not even fair to compare the OL from now to then. Some of our backups imo are better then some of the starters we had back then.
When healthy they are a very nice group. Long,Smiley,Grove,Thomas, Carey is an above average line when healthy. Now the problem is we are relying on Smiley and Grove to be healthy. I expect them to draft 1 or 2 G/C OL in mid rounds this year.
6.WR- We havent had much improvement because we still do not have a true #1 WR, but that will come. the bottom portion of the depth chart is instantly better. Hartline & Bess are very good #2's and #3's and are good enough to be the #'s 2's and #'3s on many NFL teams.And we still do not know what we have in Turner, he could be the next coming or the next nothing we do not know. This will be either Ginns last season with the fins or will be moved this offseason either way I do not see him a fin beyond 2010 not enough balls to play in a Parcells/Sparano offense. The speed is their but thats about it. I honestly dont see us chasing big $$ on a true #1 this offseason I see us grabbing a temp player like Bryant or another big receiver that becomes FA this year and waiting till next years draft when all the stud WR's are comming out. Either way we are just 1 peice away from having a decent WR group. Unfortunately that peice happens to be the most important.
7.RB- Old then still old now. But when you step back and think about it wtf would you have done. RB and RW together are a lethal combination, they knew exactly that RW was getting up their in age and that RB's contract was up eventually but again having the ability of fielding RB and RW let them to not having to spend time or money to address the RB right now so they could focus on other areas. But its not like they just sat back and did nothing. The 2 backups to RB and RW are move then serviceable and I think Cobbs is one of the best 3rd down backs in the league and is all around amazing player. Sheets who we brought in after Cobbs went down is a very exciting player. So again they churned the bottom have of the Depth Chart for the time being.
8.TE's this position needs to be addressed. But to their credit everyone and their mothers was high on Fasano after his first year with us, And Joey Haynos was developing faster then expected. Noone expected the droubt at TE that we had this past season. I do see us addressing the TE in the draft. ANd Hopefully Fasano Will pick it back up. So ya here is one position that is not greatly improved but stepping back and looking at the overall picture we are much more improved now then we were then.
Chubbs