ckparrothead
Premium Member
I agree that offensive line needs to be addressed thoroughly this offseason but this does not preclude Takeo Spikes from signing with us and I will tell you why.
First off I don't see the offensive line problems being as murky as you do. I do not think Dixon will retire, nor do I think he will be able to successfully get another team to bid us into a war for his services given his injury history. The Dolphins want him back as a guard, and well that they should. He has shown the ability to play guard really well, as well as the ability to slide to tackle should we need it (as we did this year). That kind of ability is ultra-valuable...and yet he's bound to us, because of injury history. We can, and will get him back at a pretty cheap price. Nails and Perry, both still here. That means, once again, the best two guards of the three start for us. Thats how we went into this preseason, saying the best 5 linemen will start, and honestly who here is going to say that that philosophy did NOT work out for us? We had pretty good line play. Nonetheless tackle must be addressed, but since I know the coaches know this and WILL DEFINITELY address it, and since I also know that they most definitely know more about the guys available than I do, I'll leave that to them. Seth McKinney, if you'd seen the guy play in the preseason and minicamps as me and others did, and you paid close attention to him in the final two games, you wouldn't be so worried about releasing Ruddy and letting him take over at Center. BUT, I'm one who doesn't think we should release Ruddy. I think we should keep him, AS A GUARD/CENTER. Gotta hear me out on this one. Center is not a naturally aggressive position, and as such Ruddy is not an aggressive center. He's smart. Strong. Not aggressive. Takes a special kind of energy to make an aggressive Center, and maybe just maybe Seth McKinney's got that. But Ruddy is very strong, up until Chester's arrival he was the strongest on the team, and moving him to a naturally aggressive position like guard, in my opinion, would play to Ruddy's strengths and cover his weaknesses. He'd have to be aggressive playing guard, its the nature of the position. So honestly I think we should keep Ruddy, and release Perry. Have Ruddy, Nails, and Dixon be the ones competing for the two guard spots. This gives us the ability to have a backup for McKinney...because, let me ask you, what happens if we release Ruddy and McKinney gets injured? We have, as of yet, nobody else on the team prepared to take snaps at Center! So this doctor's prescription is, release Perry and save the $$$, keep Ruddy and move him to the guard mix, re-sign Dixon (probably will only cost as much as we saved in Perry), start Seth McKinney at center, and address the tackle situation however the coaches feel that is best approached. What I like about having guys like Dixon, Ruddy, Nails, and McKinney on the team aside from Todd Wade, is versatility. Important on a Tony Wise offensive line. Versatility, strength, athleticism.
Anyway. To WR. I honestly think J-Mac should not be released. Fumbling problems be damned. All he did when he started for us was set pace to gain almost 1000 yards were he starting the entire year. And this, while most SoFla media admits the passing game never really got off to a good pace and Chris Chambers very under-used. J-Mac gets yards AFTER the catch, very very very important to a quarterback that can't zip the ball 50 yards downfield easily. If we let J-Mac go to a team with a QB that has a deep ball, watch him turn into a 1200 yard receiver. Mark me there. He would be a pretty good complement to Chambers if we get the passing game on track, IMO. Doesn't mean we can't upgrade in the mean time. But I say, only let J-Mac go, IF we are sure of getting an upgrade like Peerless Price or Laveraneous Coles, or Darrell Jackson, or (gulp) David Boston. Otherwise, keep J-Mac and sign someone like Ike Hilliard (only cheap) or Mar-Tay Jenkens, or Brandon Stokely.
Lastly, Takeo Spikes. I'll make it short. He's a tackling machine. I see some people have our system mistaken. WSLB is not a valueless role in our system. We gave Rodgers a decent sized contract, and nearly offered Dexter Coakley a more than decent sized contract. WSLB to our system is a 2nd middle linebacker. We need, to make it short, a tackling machine. We don't blitz our linebackers or get cute with them. Zach has very extensive coverage abilities, so we need a 2nd linebacker that can cover but it is not the most important thing. We need a fast, pale version of Zach Thomas at WSLB. Thats what the system calls for. It also has plenty of potential as a position for big plays, stuffs, stripping the ball, interceptions, and even sacks. We've needed pale Zach at that position for years, and its about time we finally get that. Its one of the few things this defense lacked this year. A bidding war with Cincy favors us unless he is tagged. Cincy may have a new coach, but don't let that fool you. Mike Brown still runs the team, and he is notoriously cheap to the point of characature status. He will not pay Takeo Spikes. And that puts us as much in the running as any other team. Spending money on him would not be wasted. The more tackles you take away from the secondary (Brock Marion 93 tackles, Arturo Freeman 80 tackles) and place into the hands of the linebackers (Derrick Rodgers 73 tackles), the closer to the line of scrimmage you are tackling and the better for the team. Getting a tackling machine like Spikes at WSLB takes pressure off Zach Thomas, elongating his career (not to mention making him cheaper for us by giving us slightly more leverage), it leads to better run defense, and it helps cover what may be turning into a weakness at safety with Freeman and an aging Brock Marion.
First off I don't see the offensive line problems being as murky as you do. I do not think Dixon will retire, nor do I think he will be able to successfully get another team to bid us into a war for his services given his injury history. The Dolphins want him back as a guard, and well that they should. He has shown the ability to play guard really well, as well as the ability to slide to tackle should we need it (as we did this year). That kind of ability is ultra-valuable...and yet he's bound to us, because of injury history. We can, and will get him back at a pretty cheap price. Nails and Perry, both still here. That means, once again, the best two guards of the three start for us. Thats how we went into this preseason, saying the best 5 linemen will start, and honestly who here is going to say that that philosophy did NOT work out for us? We had pretty good line play. Nonetheless tackle must be addressed, but since I know the coaches know this and WILL DEFINITELY address it, and since I also know that they most definitely know more about the guys available than I do, I'll leave that to them. Seth McKinney, if you'd seen the guy play in the preseason and minicamps as me and others did, and you paid close attention to him in the final two games, you wouldn't be so worried about releasing Ruddy and letting him take over at Center. BUT, I'm one who doesn't think we should release Ruddy. I think we should keep him, AS A GUARD/CENTER. Gotta hear me out on this one. Center is not a naturally aggressive position, and as such Ruddy is not an aggressive center. He's smart. Strong. Not aggressive. Takes a special kind of energy to make an aggressive Center, and maybe just maybe Seth McKinney's got that. But Ruddy is very strong, up until Chester's arrival he was the strongest on the team, and moving him to a naturally aggressive position like guard, in my opinion, would play to Ruddy's strengths and cover his weaknesses. He'd have to be aggressive playing guard, its the nature of the position. So honestly I think we should keep Ruddy, and release Perry. Have Ruddy, Nails, and Dixon be the ones competing for the two guard spots. This gives us the ability to have a backup for McKinney...because, let me ask you, what happens if we release Ruddy and McKinney gets injured? We have, as of yet, nobody else on the team prepared to take snaps at Center! So this doctor's prescription is, release Perry and save the $$$, keep Ruddy and move him to the guard mix, re-sign Dixon (probably will only cost as much as we saved in Perry), start Seth McKinney at center, and address the tackle situation however the coaches feel that is best approached. What I like about having guys like Dixon, Ruddy, Nails, and McKinney on the team aside from Todd Wade, is versatility. Important on a Tony Wise offensive line. Versatility, strength, athleticism.
Anyway. To WR. I honestly think J-Mac should not be released. Fumbling problems be damned. All he did when he started for us was set pace to gain almost 1000 yards were he starting the entire year. And this, while most SoFla media admits the passing game never really got off to a good pace and Chris Chambers very under-used. J-Mac gets yards AFTER the catch, very very very important to a quarterback that can't zip the ball 50 yards downfield easily. If we let J-Mac go to a team with a QB that has a deep ball, watch him turn into a 1200 yard receiver. Mark me there. He would be a pretty good complement to Chambers if we get the passing game on track, IMO. Doesn't mean we can't upgrade in the mean time. But I say, only let J-Mac go, IF we are sure of getting an upgrade like Peerless Price or Laveraneous Coles, or Darrell Jackson, or (gulp) David Boston. Otherwise, keep J-Mac and sign someone like Ike Hilliard (only cheap) or Mar-Tay Jenkens, or Brandon Stokely.
Lastly, Takeo Spikes. I'll make it short. He's a tackling machine. I see some people have our system mistaken. WSLB is not a valueless role in our system. We gave Rodgers a decent sized contract, and nearly offered Dexter Coakley a more than decent sized contract. WSLB to our system is a 2nd middle linebacker. We need, to make it short, a tackling machine. We don't blitz our linebackers or get cute with them. Zach has very extensive coverage abilities, so we need a 2nd linebacker that can cover but it is not the most important thing. We need a fast, pale version of Zach Thomas at WSLB. Thats what the system calls for. It also has plenty of potential as a position for big plays, stuffs, stripping the ball, interceptions, and even sacks. We've needed pale Zach at that position for years, and its about time we finally get that. Its one of the few things this defense lacked this year. A bidding war with Cincy favors us unless he is tagged. Cincy may have a new coach, but don't let that fool you. Mike Brown still runs the team, and he is notoriously cheap to the point of characature status. He will not pay Takeo Spikes. And that puts us as much in the running as any other team. Spending money on him would not be wasted. The more tackles you take away from the secondary (Brock Marion 93 tackles, Arturo Freeman 80 tackles) and place into the hands of the linebackers (Derrick Rodgers 73 tackles), the closer to the line of scrimmage you are tackling and the better for the team. Getting a tackling machine like Spikes at WSLB takes pressure off Zach Thomas, elongating his career (not to mention making him cheaper for us by giving us slightly more leverage), it leads to better run defense, and it helps cover what may be turning into a weakness at safety with Freeman and an aging Brock Marion.
