Saban- Did the Dolphin fans forget they were getting a ROOKIE coach, who took over a aging and talent depleted roster. Saban is doing an ok job. The biggest mistake that people put on him is the hiring of Mularkey. However when we got Mularkey everyone was jumping up and down(now lets hear the I knew it was bad people who were on "vacation" while everyone was celebrating). Mularkey was a proven play caller from his days in Pittsburgh and wasn't a horrible coach with Buffalo. Turning around a Franchise takes time people, give Saban his time(3-5 years). Overall his drafts have been solid(i'll address that later) and there is a future for this team. But, the key word is future.
Mularkey- I know it is popular to rip him apart around here. But, does anyone stop and think that we run ridiculous plays because our offense is terrible personel wise. Our line gets killed(along with Ronnie) when teams know we are running and we have one QB who is not ready to play and another who is mediocre at best. Pair them up with a group of recievers where Wes Welker is your star and you have a reciepe for disaster. Am I saying that I think Mularkey is good? I don't know, but I am saying that I can't evaluate him honestly with this roster.
QB- Culpepper is a QB that is good because he has a strong arm and is mobile. When you have a mobile QB who is still limping he is not going to be effective. Furthermore, his strong arm is negated by the fact that he can't plant right yet on is knee. Being able to plant on your leg is really important for a QB and I feel that is being overlooked by us. Comparing him to Brees or Palmer or whoever is just plain stupid. Each injury is different and their style of play is different and evrybody heals at different speeds. Culpepper next year will be night and day different from this year.
Harrington is mediocre at best. The best thing is to allow him to play so we can strike up some sort of trade value for him. He is not the future here. We could have a long debate on if he is the best QB here right now and he has 2 legs.
RB- Ronnie Brown is a very good runner. He like most rookie needs a season or two under his belt to grasp the game better. Also running behind this line is a joke. Put any running back on this team and we would still rank in the bottom half of the league. It also isn't helping that Mularkey is scared to run consistantly (like he did in Pitt) because of our line. If ronnie were to get 20-25 touches a game he would be having a pretty darn good season, but only getting the ball 10-15 times(on runs) will kill his game. I am very happy with Ronnie on this team, each week I feel he makes improvements. Not many runningbacks come into this league and look "great" in their first year as a starter. Barnes is a fine FB. Lets use him as the lead blocker more. Our Line could use the help
WR- Pathetic! Chris Chambers is a #2 reciever NOT a #1. Personally I wish we would trade him for a decently high draft pick and fix the problem via draft or free agency. Dumping Chambers and Mediocre Booker would improve this team(if we could use them to get a true #1). Welker is a good #3 and lets work with hagan(who has promise) and get a new #1 here. Work on a deal for Chambers for Moss? I don't know the answer but I do know the answer is not on this team. We need to bring in some talent here and quick because we have watched these guys with "hope" for to long. Take away a few games where Chambers puts up tremendous numbers(buffalo last year) and he is not worth the paper his check is printed on.
TE- Randy is fine. He is not elite and he is not bad. Tight end is not a huge problem with this team. Randy makes drops like everyone else but when all is said and done with exception to top tier TE I would take Randy over most of the league
Oline- We need a LT now, the only way to get one is in the draft. Lets stop wasting our time and take one THIS year. No more "stop gaps" get a LT now.The only FA that is worth anythingis Mike Gandy and someone will overpay for him. LG is another one, James is a ok LG but is not worth the money we pay him. We need to make a serious run at Leonard Davis and put him here, he would be the perfect fit. Problem is someone will offer him LT type of money. We need to get a LG somewhere though because a ok LG paired with a young takle is not a good fit. Center is a another position we need to address immediatly. Don't really have an answer here but we need to find one that can take this line up a notch. I like Shelton at RG and Carey at RT. Two big bodies who really improved our run game yesterday. Lets leave it alone and ride them through.
Dline- We have a nice setup here Taylor, Carter and Roth are nice options and Roth adds some youth. We could use another young guy here but all in all it is not a need right now. Holiday, Trayler, and Wilkinson are once again nice options. Trayler will probably be gone next year but lets hold the others and see what happens with Fred Evans and Rod Wright. Wright was considered first round talent at points last year and no worse than second round. He also has a chip on his shoulder from dropping so far. Lets leave our line alone and address more important spots.
LB- I'll take Thomas and Crowder any day of the week and Twice on Sundays. We could use another OLB and a younger guy to grrom for Thomas replacement. We should use a mid to late round draft pick on MLB and see if we can get a guy in the FA to upgrade over Spragan. However once again he is serviceable and all in all lets leave these guys alone, we have more important needs.
DB- We need a top notch corner. Throw everything we have at Nate Clements. We need a shutdown corner. Let Will Allen and Travis Daniels fight for #2 and Nickle Back. That would upgrade this team tremendously. At Safety we need to get Jason Allen in the game. Find out what this guy is worth. Throw him to the wolves and make him respond. The other safety can be handled multiple ways. I am not a fan of switching Daniels to safety. Lets draft one or look to FA.
MARE- GET HIM OUT OF HERE PLEASE
Free Agency- Our targets need to be( in no particular order)
K- Josh Brown, Rian Lindell or RFA Josh Scobee
DB- Nate Clements, Asante Samuel, John Lynch(stop gap) Ken Hamlin
OL- Leonard Davis, Mike Gandy, Vince Manuwai
Overall fellas(I know it is tough to hear right now) but we have a team that could make a push in a few years and could stay up top for awhile. We have a tough defense that needs some tweaking at DB. If we can get a jump there, we have some youth starting or waiting in the wings and really only need to get a few young guys slowly to replace retiring vets(who still have a few years).
On offense we will be upgraded instantly when Culpepper knee is FULLY healed. Then we really just need 3 lineman to put this thing together. I know three lineman sounds like alot but we will have a pretty high draft pick and if we can pick up a free agent or so we are on our game. Sorry for making this so long just wanted to throw out my 2 cents. I welcome disagreements and comments.
Mularkey- I know it is popular to rip him apart around here. But, does anyone stop and think that we run ridiculous plays because our offense is terrible personel wise. Our line gets killed(along with Ronnie) when teams know we are running and we have one QB who is not ready to play and another who is mediocre at best. Pair them up with a group of recievers where Wes Welker is your star and you have a reciepe for disaster. Am I saying that I think Mularkey is good? I don't know, but I am saying that I can't evaluate him honestly with this roster.
QB- Culpepper is a QB that is good because he has a strong arm and is mobile. When you have a mobile QB who is still limping he is not going to be effective. Furthermore, his strong arm is negated by the fact that he can't plant right yet on is knee. Being able to plant on your leg is really important for a QB and I feel that is being overlooked by us. Comparing him to Brees or Palmer or whoever is just plain stupid. Each injury is different and their style of play is different and evrybody heals at different speeds. Culpepper next year will be night and day different from this year.
Harrington is mediocre at best. The best thing is to allow him to play so we can strike up some sort of trade value for him. He is not the future here. We could have a long debate on if he is the best QB here right now and he has 2 legs.
RB- Ronnie Brown is a very good runner. He like most rookie needs a season or two under his belt to grasp the game better. Also running behind this line is a joke. Put any running back on this team and we would still rank in the bottom half of the league. It also isn't helping that Mularkey is scared to run consistantly (like he did in Pitt) because of our line. If ronnie were to get 20-25 touches a game he would be having a pretty darn good season, but only getting the ball 10-15 times(on runs) will kill his game. I am very happy with Ronnie on this team, each week I feel he makes improvements. Not many runningbacks come into this league and look "great" in their first year as a starter. Barnes is a fine FB. Lets use him as the lead blocker more. Our Line could use the help
WR- Pathetic! Chris Chambers is a #2 reciever NOT a #1. Personally I wish we would trade him for a decently high draft pick and fix the problem via draft or free agency. Dumping Chambers and Mediocre Booker would improve this team(if we could use them to get a true #1). Welker is a good #3 and lets work with hagan(who has promise) and get a new #1 here. Work on a deal for Chambers for Moss? I don't know the answer but I do know the answer is not on this team. We need to bring in some talent here and quick because we have watched these guys with "hope" for to long. Take away a few games where Chambers puts up tremendous numbers(buffalo last year) and he is not worth the paper his check is printed on.
TE- Randy is fine. He is not elite and he is not bad. Tight end is not a huge problem with this team. Randy makes drops like everyone else but when all is said and done with exception to top tier TE I would take Randy over most of the league
Oline- We need a LT now, the only way to get one is in the draft. Lets stop wasting our time and take one THIS year. No more "stop gaps" get a LT now.The only FA that is worth anythingis Mike Gandy and someone will overpay for him. LG is another one, James is a ok LG but is not worth the money we pay him. We need to make a serious run at Leonard Davis and put him here, he would be the perfect fit. Problem is someone will offer him LT type of money. We need to get a LG somewhere though because a ok LG paired with a young takle is not a good fit. Center is a another position we need to address immediatly. Don't really have an answer here but we need to find one that can take this line up a notch. I like Shelton at RG and Carey at RT. Two big bodies who really improved our run game yesterday. Lets leave it alone and ride them through.
Dline- We have a nice setup here Taylor, Carter and Roth are nice options and Roth adds some youth. We could use another young guy here but all in all it is not a need right now. Holiday, Trayler, and Wilkinson are once again nice options. Trayler will probably be gone next year but lets hold the others and see what happens with Fred Evans and Rod Wright. Wright was considered first round talent at points last year and no worse than second round. He also has a chip on his shoulder from dropping so far. Lets leave our line alone and address more important spots.
LB- I'll take Thomas and Crowder any day of the week and Twice on Sundays. We could use another OLB and a younger guy to grrom for Thomas replacement. We should use a mid to late round draft pick on MLB and see if we can get a guy in the FA to upgrade over Spragan. However once again he is serviceable and all in all lets leave these guys alone, we have more important needs.
DB- We need a top notch corner. Throw everything we have at Nate Clements. We need a shutdown corner. Let Will Allen and Travis Daniels fight for #2 and Nickle Back. That would upgrade this team tremendously. At Safety we need to get Jason Allen in the game. Find out what this guy is worth. Throw him to the wolves and make him respond. The other safety can be handled multiple ways. I am not a fan of switching Daniels to safety. Lets draft one or look to FA.
MARE- GET HIM OUT OF HERE PLEASE
Free Agency- Our targets need to be( in no particular order)
K- Josh Brown, Rian Lindell or RFA Josh Scobee
DB- Nate Clements, Asante Samuel, John Lynch(stop gap) Ken Hamlin
OL- Leonard Davis, Mike Gandy, Vince Manuwai
Overall fellas(I know it is tough to hear right now) but we have a team that could make a push in a few years and could stay up top for awhile. We have a tough defense that needs some tweaking at DB. If we can get a jump there, we have some youth starting or waiting in the wings and really only need to get a few young guys slowly to replace retiring vets(who still have a few years).
On offense we will be upgraded instantly when Culpepper knee is FULLY healed. Then we really just need 3 lineman to put this thing together. I know three lineman sounds like alot but we will have a pretty high draft pick and if we can pick up a free agent or so we are on our game. Sorry for making this so long just wanted to throw out my 2 cents. I welcome disagreements and comments.
