Oops...Hindsight is 20/20...Donovan Darius to be traded?

[DannyNoonan]

CK: I think the point you/PFT bring up regarding our strategy in this off-season has some merit...it is based upon our past experiences. We did learn last year (the hard way) not to leave ourselves with limited depth on the OL. So, this off-season we are being pro-active (as opposed to reactive). We have jettisoned older, under-performing OLmen and signed younger vets who could provide upgrades and/or be solid back-ups. We are not finished yet. We will add at least one more quality OLman, either in the first three rounds of the draft or later in FA.

As for WR, we did miss out on Bolden last year. However, Boston fills that same role. He is a bigger risk, but he cost us far less (a 6th vs. a 2nd). Both are young and talented.

If we had drafted Bolden last year, we would be in far worse shape at LB depth than we are now, with Moore set to compete for playing time. We still need a back-up MLB, but we should be able to address that in two weeks.

You/PFT draw a conclusion regarding Garcia and Feely. I believe that the wooing back of Fielder is where your coparison should be. Would you rather have Garcia-Feely-Sage or Feely-Fiedler-Sage? Feely was a solid deal...he provides us with a young, talented QB who has seen some real NFL experience. Bringing in Garcia for couple of years to compete with Sage may have led to a QB controversy, but it also would have covered our rears if Feely does not pan out.

As for the Darius deal, I like the Knight and Edwards-or-Freeman pairing. Darius would have demanded much more from us in terms of salary, further pushing the imbalance between defense and offense.

If you want an indication as to how bad the F.O. views Surtain's knee situation, watch the draft. If we go CB early to fill our 4th CB role, then Surtain's knee is an issue. If we do not draft a CB and then we sign Buckley, then they are confident in the health of Surtain's knee.

 

[ZOD]

I'm going to borrow DOLFANMIKE's words from "Flippers finest" to explain why I loved the move by the FO.

"The SS and FS must be GREAT (not good) run stoppers in this Defense! Obviously the CB's need to be ok too, but it today's NFL it's more important for the CB's to be coverage studs. We have that. The Safeties in this scheme share outside contain responsibility (depending on the Defensive call and alignment) with the SOLB and WOLB. In other words, on one particular call and/ or read the SOLB might have contain on one side of the field, and the FS might have contain on the otherside - as well as flat responsibility against the pass. Or the OLB's could have contain in another call, or both Safeties could have contain in yet another. See, this defense mixes up it's contain responsibilities while also bringing outside pressure from DE (tight to LOS) and inside pressure. That is the treasure of the defense Dolfans. If you don't know who the contain man is (for sure) then it is very difficult to run outside, plus add in the fact that the OLB's are fast as heck, and the Safeties are run stuffers and you start to get the idea about why this defense is such a great one. It is a high pressure Defense even when no blitz is called."

The only thing I can add as to why I loved the move....

Sammy Knight brings the house when he has contain.

 

[iceblizzard69]

I think cutting Marion was a good move. He was getting old and I think I would rather have Knight at this point. I think having two slow safeties gave us a disadvantage, and I think Freeman and Knight will be a good tandem this year.

 

[Surferosa]

Darius is looking for a long term contract, something we are not willing to shell out - for a safety.

The teams stance on paying safeties the last few years is quite apparant - let them walk cheap rather than reward them with a big contract. We let Brian Walker leave. We let Brock Marion leave - twice. And we passed on a number of other hard hitting safeties in FA last season, including Lance Shulters and others - because we didnt want to dish out a big signing bonus to a safety.

Anyway point is, I dont think that the Phins would give up a third rounder for Darius, knowing his contract demands. Now Larry Allen, thats another story...