time for young DT to step up

[phinsfan1221]

http://www.realfootball365.com/nfl/articles/2007/06/dolphins-timefordts-tostepup210607.html Earlier this week, the Miami Dolphins officially severed ties with MIA defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson; and while his release is of little significance in terms of the existing depth chart, his exit got me to thinking about the current state of the position.

And, honestly, the word "old" comes to mind.

The only two guys with any real starting experience, Keith Traylor and Vonnie Holliday, have a combined age of 69. The younger of the two, Holliday, is 31, while Traylor will turn 38 just prior to the start of the regular season. Beyond that, the four youngsters vying for playing time have exactly one game of experience between them.

 

[Geforce]

They forgot about Matt Roth. Other than that, a pretty good article.

...second-year man Rodrique Wright was considered a possible first-round selection in 2006 after an outstanding career at the University of Texas. However, a previously undetected torn rotator cuff, which Wright amazingly played through during his senior season, made him somewhat of a draft afterthought. Consider this as a kind of a Nick Saban parting gift, because, when healthy, this seventh-round pick boasts a combination of size and pass-rushing prowess that could catapult him into the NFL's elite at DT.

 

[Kdawg954]

They forgot about Matt Roth. Other than that, a pretty good article.

Roth is a DE

 

[phintim]

This site went down as I was responding to this article. Lets face it we need "lots" of the rookie and second year Dolphins to step it up as we have very thin depth at every position except LB and WR. The Dolphins are on a youth movement after bumping the salary cap cauased by years of trying to make it work the veteran way. We are going to "need" rookies to do well at almost every position including the head coach to have a susessful season!

 

[D-bolt]

All the so called experts look at our defense and call it old and say we are in trouble because we have no youth. Then you have us dol-fans who know our team and also know that we are much younger and prepared for the future. You look at are secondary and we are relatively young in that area, LB corp is up there in age, but we may have found something in Abe Wright and I think we will be really surprised by Kelvin Smith. Then you tak a look at our so called over the hill defensive line and you see Solia/Evans as traylor/holliday replacements, you have Wright and Roth as our ends in the 3/4 hybrid, along with Abe wright putting his hand in the dirt also. You also throw fifita and Vickerson into the mix and this defense, especially the line, looks much younger and ready for the future.

 

[Kdawg954]

All the so called experts look at our defense and call it old and say we are in trouble because we have no youth. Then you have us dol-fans who know our team and also know that we are much younger and prepared for the future. You look at are secondary and we are relatively young in that area, LB corp is up there in age, but we may have found something in Abe Wright and I think we will be really surprised by Kelvin Smith. Then you tak a look at our so called over the hill defensive line and you see Solia/Evans as traylor/holliday replacements, you have Wright and Roth as our ends in the 3/4 hybrid, along with Abe wright putting his hand in the dirt also. You also throw fifita and Vickerson into the mix and this defense, especially the line, looks much younger and ready for the future.

Miami has a LOT of late round talent on this line . . . and we have a right to be excited about that . . . but these guys have to prove it on the field in NFL action . . . and until that happens, we will still have this "over the hill" defense. The only person w/ youth that has done anything on this line as a Miami Dolphins player is Matt Roth . . . and he has been a backup his first 2 years . . . so yea I understand the criticism from other sites. I think columnist will be hardpressed to throw the names of Abe Wright, Solai, Evans, Vickerson, Fifita, Rod Wright, etc. . . in the mix when they haven't played any games . . . its all potential so far . . . but I like what I'm seeing . . . and w/ the veteran presence we have on this team . . . we can afford to take shots on 2nd day players and bring them along because, tho old, guys like Zach, JT and Holiday can easily been seen playing another 2 years.

 

[D-bolt]

Miami has a LOT of late round talent on this line . . . and we have a right to be excited about that . . . but these guys have to prove it on the field in NFL action . . . and until that happens, we will still have this "over the hill" defense. The only person w/ youth that has done anything on this line as a Miami Dolphins player is Matt Roth . . . and he has been a backup his first 2 years . . . so yea I understand the criticism from other sites. I think columnist will be hardpressed to throw the names of Abe Wright, Solai, Evans, Vickerson, Fifita, Rod Wright, etc. . . in the mix when they haven't played any games . . . its all potential so far . . . but I like what I'm seeing . . . and w/ the veteran presence we have on this team . . . we can afford to take shots on 2nd day players and bring them along because, tho old, guys like Zach, JT and Holiday can easily been seen playing another 2 years.

I definately hear where you're coming from, but I guess the point that I was trying to aim for is the fact when you're watching a fins game and you hear the announcers talk they make it sound like our backups run in the same age bracket as our starters. These young guys definately need to prove themselves without a doubt, but I just don't like how it's perceived by the media that we have no youth on this defense. Really if you look at it if you put our defensive players on 90% of the teams in the nfl and asked them to compete for a starting spot the Miami dolphins overaged defense would be starting for a lot of teams. I guess it's a blessing of sorts to know that these over the hill guys are still right at the top of the league at their respective positions.

 

[NCDolphinfan]

Roth is a DE

Roth did play a couple series throughout the year at DT.

 

[csabe]

Fred Evans and Soliai should be able to contribute some. Evans needs some playing time this year.

 

[chillwill3000]

This site went down as I was responding to this article. Lets face it we need "lots" of the rookie and second year Dolphins to step it up as we have very thin depth at every position except LB and WR. The Dolphins are on a youth movement after bumping the salary cap cauased by years of trying to make it work the veteran way. We are going to "need" rookies to do well at almost every position including the head coach to have a susessful season!

well said. i agree

 

[Kdawg954]

I definately hear where you're coming from, but I guess the point that I was trying to aim for is the fact when you're watching a fins game and you hear the announcers talk they make it sound like our backups run in the same age bracket as our starters. These young guys definately need to prove themselves without a doubt, but I just don't like how it's perceived by the media that we have no youth on this defense. Really if you look at it if you put our defensive players on 90% of the teams in the nfl and asked them to compete for a starting spot the Miami dolphins overaged defense would be starting for a lot of teams. I guess it's a blessing of sorts to know that these over the hill guys are still right at the top of the league at their respective positions.

Yea, I guess u have to look at these national writers . . . they don't look at every team and every practice and break down the roster . . . they stat box watch more often than not, so they look at a team and don't see any up and comming players making plays . . . so they assume Miami doesn't have any talent behind the starters. Miami has been blessed w/ a DLine really is in a league of their own the last few years . . . and we haven't had the need to draft DL on the first day, so the writers are worried we are too old on defense.

I tell u something . . . if Miami would have never traded for Ricky, Feeley, Gordon or Culpepper . . . those 5 first day picks probably make us a playoff team for the last couple of years . . . we threw away alot of young talent that we could have used . . . and its sweet that we have taken advantage of our 2nd day picks since Nick took over and now into Cam's reign.

 

[Kdawg954]

Roth did play a couple series throughout the year at DT.

lol, I understand that, but his official position is DE . . . and he is NOT considered a DT. Rod Wright is also a DE, who also is considered a DT . . . Roth is strictly a DE, who may in some formations be put in a DT role. We Run a 3-4, so we have all these big guys on the Line, and they are all versatile. I'm just saying they probably didn't mention Roth in this article, because technically he is our starting DE opposite of JT.

 

[Disgustipate]

lol, I understand that, but his official position is DE . . . and he is NOT considered a DT. Rod Wright is also a DE, who also is considered a DT . . . Roth is strictly a DE, who may in some formations be put in a DT role. We Run a 3-4, so we have all these big guys on the Line, and they are all versatile. I'm just saying they probably didn't mention Roth in this article, because technically he is our starting DE opposite of JT.

Considering Roth appears to be playing DT in 4 down linemen nickel/dime packages, it's quite possible there will be games where Roth gets more snaps at DT than DE.

 

[DolphanD]

Fred Evans and Soliai should be able to contribute some. Evans needs some playing time this year.

Fred Evans should have gotten playing time last season, and a lot more than the 1 games' worth he received last year. After the play he showed in pre-season Fred should have been a part of the rotation, especially when Traylor was injured vs. the Chiefs and we had Jeff Zgonina playing NT. I couldn't believe we were still able to shut down Larry Johnson that game. It goes to show you just how good our front 7 can be, when you can shut down LJ with a 295 Lb. NT then that is a stout run defense.

It was only the games where the D seemed to get lazy or over-confident that they under-performed and gave up the long runs to Ahman Green and Maurice Jones-Drew and to no surprise they were games we lost. The only game last season where the entire team played well was @ Chicago where all aspects of our team were playing great. Ronnie was running through giant holes and Joey was efficient when he had to be. The Special Teams causing turnovers, all a beautiful thing to see. Then when we beat the Patriots 21-0 it was almost the same kind of dominance but done a lot more because of the defense. The wins vs. the Chiefs, Titans, and Vikings were all 'cuz of Defense. The wins vs. the Lions, Patriots, and Bears were closer to team wins. None of our wins were because of our offense and that is what must change. Our defensive line is going to be fine for many years to come. Chase Page is a DT no one is talking about who may turn into a 4-3 DT/CE or a 3-4 DE. He was drafted by San Diego and we picked him up from their practice squad so Cam already knows a bit about him and Mueller must like something about him. If he was a total Saban player I'd think Mueller would've gotten rid of him by now, who knows?

I just can't wait to see this starting front 7 and all the backups whose names are associated with the word "potential" develop into the next generation of dominance, only our new front 7 could very well have better, more versatile linebackers and lineman! So here's to CE/DE Matt Roth, DT/DE Fred Evans, DT/DE Rodrique Wright, OE/OLB Abraham Wright, NT Paul Soliai, DT/DE Chase Page, LB/ST Kelvin Smith, LB/ST Robert McCune, OE/LB Mkristo Bruce, DT/DE Kevin Vickerson, and even DE/OLB Akbar Gbaja-Biamila all making the roster cutdown harder and harder for this coaching staff to make!

 

[phinsfan1221]

Fred Evans should have gotten playing time last season, and a lot more than the 1 games' worth he received last year. After the play he showed in pre-season Fred should have been a part of the rotation, especially when Traylor was injured vs. the Chiefs and we had Jeff Zgonina playing NT. I couldn't believe we were still able to shut down Larry Johnson that game. It goes to show you just how good our front 7 can be, when you can shut down LJ with a 295 Lb. NT then that is a stout run defense.

It was only the games where the D seemed to get lazy or over-confident that they under-performed and gave up the long runs to Ahman Green and Maurice Jones-Drew and to no surprise they were games we lost. The only game last season where the entire team played well was @ Chicago where all aspects of our team were playing great. Ronnie was running through giant holes and Joey was efficient when he had to be. The Special Teams causing turnovers, all a beautiful thing to see. Then when we beat the Patriots 21-0 it was almost the same kind of dominance but done a lot more because of the defense. The wins vs. the Chiefs, Titans, and Vikings were all 'cuz of Defense. The wins vs. the Lions, Patriots, and Bears were closer to team wins. None of our wins were because of our offense and that is what must change. Our defensive line is going to be fine for many years to come. Chase Page is a DT no one is talking about who may turn into a 4-3 DT/CE or a 3-4 DE. He was drafted by San Diego and we picked him up from their practice squad so Cam already knows a bit about him and Mueller must like something about him. If he was a total Saban player I'd think Mueller would've gotten rid of him by now, who knows?

I just can't wait to see this starting front 7 and all the backups whose names are associated with the word "potential" develop into the next generation of dominance, only our new front 7 could very well have better, more versatile linebackers and lineman! So here's to CE/DE Matt Roth, DT/DE Fred Evans, DT/DE Rodrique Wright, OE/OLB Abraham Wright, NT Paul Soliai, DT/DE Chase Page, LB/ST Kelvin Smith, LB/ST Robert McCune, OE/LB Mkristo Bruce, DT/DE Kevin Vickerson, and even DE/OLB Akbar Gbaja-Biamila all making the roster cutdown harder and harder for this coaching staff to make!

very well stated,props