In keeping with our assessment of the team and where we stand as far as our defense goes, the time has come to look at the one position that at the moment has the most potential to show improvement this upcoming season with the development of the rookie players that we currently have. Our young cornerbacks have shown that they have all the tools they need to become great and I expect we will see some of that greatness this upcoming season now that they have a season of experience to their name.

Will Allen.- This is our senior and most experienced cornerback and although our rookie corners did a pretty good job of taking over after he suffered a season ending injury on week 6 the team still felt his absence on the field. During the six games Allen did play he proved he is still at the top of his game, and recorded 21 tackles, two interceptions and knocked down 6 other passes. He also held opposing quarterbacks to a 49.8 passer rating when throwing at his receivers, which ranked him third in the NFL.
Allen’s recent encounter with the law has made a few people question whether or not he will be back to play for the Dolphins next season, and I personally think it would be crazy to let him go. Sure our rookie corner’s have shown they have potential but they need the experience that Allen can offer them to further explore it and why would any team in their right mind let go of a guy who ranks third among the league in the position they play? That’s not to say that I condone his actions, something should be done, but I think letting him go would be a big mistake.

Vontae Davis.- As I have said before, Davis was one of my favorite players this past season, he was by no means perfect but I think he played very well in that position for being a rookie and if nothing else he proved he has great instincts. Davis numbers this past season are not a good indication of the potential he has,he actually was the worst corner in the AFC East out of those corners who faced at least 50 passes; he allowed 46 catches on 76 tries for a 60.5% success rate for the offense.
Despite being burned so much, what makes Davis special is his ability to keep track of the ball well while in the air, and to position himself well against opposing WRs in order to get those interceptions. He actually led the team with four interceptions, two of those which came against New England’s star receiver Randy Moss, and one of those was in their endzone. He has exhibited great leaping ability, body control and closing speed, but most importantly he has shown a willingness to learn and I expect that with Will Allen mentoring him and a season under his belt we will see great improvement from Davis this upcoming season.

Sean Smith.- Smith became the first rookie corner in Dolphins’ history to start all 16 games. And coverage-wise as well as in some people’s eyes he was the better rookie of the two. Sure he didn’t record any interceptions but he was also thrown to fewer times which might have contributed to that.
Smith ranked 16th in the AFC East out of those corners who faced at least 50 passes; he allowed 35 catches on 73 tries for a 47.9% success rate for the offense. Despite not recording any interceptions, he managed to deflect 12 passes and allowed only 4 touchdowns. Smith did seem to slow down a little towards the end of the season, but I believe he will also show great improvement this upcoming season.

Nathan Jones.- Jones saw a lot more action on defense this year due to Will Allen’s injury and although he struggled a little when it came to pass coverage, he did manage to record two interceptions. Jones’ greatest contribution though, came in the form of a special teams player, were he recorded 19 tackles, leading the team in this stat as well as being third in the NFL.
Jones is an unrestricted free agent this season, and I think he is one of those guys that we need to bring back.

Jason Allen.- Although he didn’t see much play as a corner this season, Allen’s greatest contribution, like Jones’ also came from special teams were he finished second in tackles with 15. Allen proved invaluable when it came to slowing players down and bringing down punt returners. Although special team’s players are often overlooked I fell as though both Jones and Allen deserve to be commended on the roles they played, after last season I think a lot more of us can appreciate how a game can be lost and/or won by special teams; remember those two returns by Ginn against the Jets?

Evan Oglesby.- Oglesby only saw action twice this season, both times as a special teams player and he didn’t record any stats during those appearances so it is difficult to say much about this player. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with him during this upcoming season.

After looking at our players, I think it’s clear that with so many other holes to fill in defense this upcoming season, the corner position is not necessarily one we need to worry about so I won’t discuss any of the options available I will give you a short list of what is available in both free agency and the draft.

Some of the CBs which will be available in free agency are: Leigh Bodden (New England Patriots), Dunta Robinson (Houston Texans), Carlos Rogers (Washington Redskins), Richard Marshall (Carolina Panthers) and Tramon Williams (Green Bay Packers).

Some of the CBs available in the draft are: Joe Haden (Florida), Kyle Wilson (Boise State), Donovan Warren (Michigan), Brandon Ghee (Wake Forrest), Perrish Cox (Oklahoma State), Devin McCourty (Rutgers), Dominique Franks (Oklahoma).

Now that we have covered our OLBs it is time to move onto our ILBs which is easily the position we got the worst performance from this past season. Regardless of what kind of coverage or plays we were trying to run, our ILBs were just never able to successfully stop the oppossing teams offense. This is why in my opinion, this is the position where we need the most help with during this offseason, and we have to get it both, from free agency and the draft. Let’s start off by looking at what we have.

Channing Crowder.- This was easily Crowder’s worst season ever, granted he has never really been a great playmaker, but before this past season he had proved to be a solid tackler. During his rookie season he recorded 85 tackles, and had one of the most productive seasons in the NFL for a rookie defender. He has also managed to have two season with over 100 tackles since. This season however, he was only able to record 51 tackles, despite having played 13 games. He did manage to get his first career interception in the game against New England but even that is not enough to make me see enough possitives in the way he played. There is always room for improvement though, and we know he has more to offer though so maybe with a little help, we'll see the old Crowder again.

Akin Ayodele.- You know you have a problem with your defense when Ayodele leads all ILBs in sacks with 70. In my opinion Ayodele is the worst ILB we have and we should just cut him because there is no way anyone is offering a trade for him and cutting him will free up some money for us to make moves elsewhere. He is capable of maybe being a backup at best but the amount of money we pay him is too much to pay for any backup and I don’t think it is worth it.
Ayodele is ineffective when it comes to stopping the run because he is too slow and he is no better at covering the pass; he didn’t have a single pass deflection this past season. All in all he was disappointing and unless we replace him our defense will not get any better.

Reggie Torbor.- Things don’t get any better as we go along. Torbor is mostly a special teams player and he is not very impressive at that either. He did get a chance to start in two games replacing Crowder when he was out with an injury, and during those two appearances he proved to be slightly more reliable than Crowder and Ayodele, which doesn’t really say much. He had a total of 27 tackles, 1 sack and 1 interception (his first as a Dolphin). Although not an effective replacement he will probably remain in the team as both a backup ILB and a regular special teams player.

J.D. Folsom.- Folsom was the seventh round draft pick for the Dolphins in 2009, he saw very little action this past season and what little he did see he saw only in special teams where he managed to record just one tackle. It’s too soon to tell if he has any potential since I have not seen him play, but considering the three other options we have I have to wonder why he wasn’t even considered as an option for any of the games.

In looking at these player’s profiles it is easy to see that we need a lot of help with ILB and we need it for the 2010 season; we need one guy who can depend on and we do have options available so lets get one. Chances are Ayodele won't be back, but I believe Crowder will, that being said, if we want to make an improvement for the next season this is definitely the main area we should focus on. So what do we have available in the free agency?

Karlos Dansby (Arizona Cardinals).- Rumors have been flying around Dansby coming to Miami, and I for one would be ecstatic if that was the first headline I read regarding free agency. Although he didn’t make as many big plays for the Cardinals last season as he normally does; Dansby is still one of the best linebackers in the league. As of right now there is no talk about an offer being made by the Cardinals so it seems as though Dansby will be fair game after all. The problem is that there will likely be more than one team interested so if we want him it is going to cost us, that being said, Dansby is probably one of the smartest investments we can make.

Demeco Ryans (Houston Texans).- Although Ryans is an option some people have considered I wouldn’t expect the Texans to part ways with him. The only thing that might make Ryans consider signing with another team is an offer for a long term contract. Ryans has been very consistent throughout and is playing at a great level in Houston; if there was an opportunity to get him I think it would be worth it but I personally just don’t see it happening.

Barrett Ruud.- I have also heard some rumors of possibly offering Tampa Bay a trade for Ruud, and I have to admit that although I would find Tampa Bay considering a trade highly unlikely, I am surprised that he hasn’t been offered an extension yet considering that he is one of the league’s best pure tacklers and he has incredible natural instincts. Ruud will develop into an even greater ILB in the next few seasons and if this trade was indeed in the works we would be very pleased with the outcome.

I think we should try to get at least two ILBs during the offseason,; it would be great if we could get one of the guys I mentioned previously in free agency, but I still think we should pick another solid one in the draft. We have the option of possibly getting a decent ILB with both our first and second round picks. That’s not to say that we should pick both of these guys, I’m just going to present both options in case I am surprised by our first round pick come draft day (yes, I am still hoping to pick up Dez Bryant in the first, especially if we get an ILB in free agency).

Rolando McClain (Alabama).- In college, McClain proved to be not only an excellent tackler but was also effective when it came to protecting the pass. He also has experience with a 3-4 defensive scheme and is expected to be ready to play in the NFL. I am one of those people who wouldn’t mind McClain being drafted but I think we may have better options left at #12 so if we are going defense I would still like to see who is available come draft day before deciding on who our guy is going to be. If McClain does get drafted he better perform immediately or there will be a lot of angry fans out there because we are not all sold on his ability yet.

Brandon Spikes (Florida).- There has been a lot of doubt surrounding Spikes ability to perform at the pro level after some of his weaknesses were exposed during his senior year. Personally I still think Spikes has what it takes to perform and in looking at some of the mock drafts out there I am happy to see that a few of them have him falling to us in the second round. I am one of those people who thinks Spikes has a lot more potential than McClain and I don’t know that I would use my first round pick on either which is why I think trading back is still an option for us if both Bryant and McClain are taken by the time we hit the floor.

Additional Info:
Other players who will be available in free agency are: D’Qwell Jackson (Cleveland Browns), Stephen Tulloch (Tennessee Titans).
Other players who will be available in the draft are: Daryl Washiongton (TCU), Jamar Chaney (Mississippi State), Pat Angerer (Iowa), Sean Lee (Penn State), Micah Johnson (Kentucky).

Post Update:
There is one last thing I want to add, on my last post I discussed some of our draft options at OLB and someone pointed out that I omitted Sergio Kindle so I wanted to go ahead and give you the information on him as well since he is another prospect people feel we should consider. Sergio Kindle is an OLB out of Texas, who although physically gifted, recorded only 6 sacks during his senior year. Although he is pretty quick he seems very one dimensional to me and I think he will require some work before he can play effectively at the pro level, but I do believe he has amazing potential. The reason I don’t see Kindle getting drafted by us is he has had a couple of encounters with the law. He got arrested for a DUI in 2007 and crashed his car into a building this past June for driving while texting; granted these are not very big offenses in the grand scheme of things and can be attributed to his youth but I think it’s enough for Parcells to move onto someone else.

With the free agency period approaching, my goal is to finish up my defensive review before then so that we can go into the free agency and later on into the draft knowing what we need and what options we have available out there.

There have been a lot of rumors going around about what or who we are acquiring lately so I will try to address all of them. Now I know that a lot of people have very different and strong opinions and I don’t expect everyone to agree with everything but please keep in mind that no one knows what will happen yet so although I will give you my opinion I will also present other options so that we have at least some information about these other guys. If I happen to forget about someone, please feel free to let me know and I will go back and add them.
So where do we start? After much debating I have decided to start with our OLBs which also gives me the opportunity to address the Joey Porter situation which is something that I mentioned previously but I feel I have to touch on again, given the recent updates. As always let us start with what we have:

Jason Taylor.- There are many rumors going around regarding whether or not JT will be back next year; including claims that he could be going to the Patriots which were very interested in him last season as well but I think many of us can agree when I say Taylor is a Dolphin at heart and should retire as one. By now we all must know how much JT loves the Dolphins, not only did he take a big pay cut last season to come back and play for us , but I challenge anyone to find a player who depicts more heart on and off the field than he does. There was not one game were I didn’t see him motivating his players on the sideline or standing behind Sparano looking at what our offense was doing out on the field.
Sure his days as a football player are numbered but as I said before I personally believe he should go out as a Dolphin and in a season where we do him proud. We also can’t overlook what he did on the field this past season, Taylor was our most productive OLB, he easily adapted to the 3-4 scheme and became one of the best all around 3-4 linebackers in the NFL this season. Taylor might have not recorded the 10+ sacks he has us accustomed to but he did end the season with a decent number of sacks with 7, and he proved that he is still both a good pass and run rusher. All in all, Taylor finished the season with 42 tackles, three forced fumbles, five passes defended, one interception without a return, and one fumble recovery that he returned for a touchdown in that second game against the Jets, which by the way was one of my favorite moments this past season.
More valuable than what he offers in the field though is what he offers in the locker room and knowing that we have all these young OLBs and that we are expecting to pick a rookie who will likely start that experience will prove to be an invaluable teaching tool.
We all know that neither the Dolphins, nor Taylor have expressed a commitment to each other so we are left waiting to see what will happen in the free agency, but a couple of things have changed since the end of the season; for one we now know that Porter will be gone and as of yet we are no sure who will replace him, if we were to go for a rookie, I believe JT could be offered a bigger paycheck along with more play time which is probably what he is looking for during his last season? Either way we might be waiting for a decision on Taylor until May after undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery earlier this week. I for one would love to see Taylor play one more season with us.

Joey Porter.-Other than leading the team in sacks with 9 this season, Porter didn’t do much for this team except for run his mouth and create problems. Now don’t get me wrong I loved Porter, anyone that knows me knows that I sported his jersey almost every week, and that what I loved about Porter more than anything was how he smacked talked all of his opponents, which is probably a byproduct of being both a Miami girl and a UM fan myself. Things changed for me dramatically though when he turned that smack talk from his opponents to his team. Porter’s whole attitude has been not only detrimental to the team and himself, but also an embarrassment for us fans.
Joey you have made it very clear that you don’t want to play for Miami, but please get off your high horse for a minute and listen to us fans, some of us who used to be fans of yours as well when we say we don’t want you here either. You are not as good as you used to be or as good as you say you are!
Now that I got that out of the way, I’ll address the circumstances surrounding his release which later proved to be invalid due to salary cap rules. Basically the problem with the salary cap has to do with the fact that technically we are still under the 2009 contract season and releasing Porter accelerated the disbursement of money in other areas which then put the Dolphins over the salary cap. The salary cap is a complicated issue which is probably how it escaped the Dolphins front office when the decision was made so I don’t really have a better explanation than that one.
Regardless, a lot of people are wondering why the Dolphins weren’t looking to trade Porter when he still must have some sort of trade value but I believe that they might have been trying to trade him and no one wants him enough. Why trade anything to Miami in exchange for Porter when they know that Porter will be released and then they can just pick him up. It’s not like there’s going to be a bidding war going on between teams for Porter because even though some teams could probably use him, who wants to put up with that kind of player? We all sit here and debate getting Marshall because even though he is that good, he has a bad attitude; so what would we think about a player who is not consistent, had a bad season and has a terrible attitude? It’s not an easy sell. That’s why I believe the move to release him came after an inability to trade him in order to avoid having to pay him the $1 million roster bonus they will owe him by March 1st , now that they have to pay it regardless they might try to shop him around a little longer so we might see a trade take place but I wouldn’t expect anything more than a late draft pick.

Cameron Wake.- I believe that Wake has a lot more to offer than what we got to see during the 2009 season in which he had very limited play time. He ended the season with 11 tackles, 5.5 sacks and 20 QB pressures, these numbers on their own don’t seem extremely impressive but when you take into account that he did that in only 167 snaps compared to the average 800+ snaps that the sack leader OLBs played in the league last season then things start to look considerably brighter, he was actually ranked third in sack efficiency in the AFC last season.
Wake has a bright future and I believe that we will see a lot more of him next season, he was a star defensively in the CFL for two years and I think he has the potential to be a star for the Dolphins next season, with Nolan coming in as our new D-coordinator.

Charlie Anderson.- Anderson didn’t see much play time for the Dolphins this past season. His best game was the one against Tampa Bay were he had more of an opportunity to play following Porter’s suspension. All in all, Anderson finished the season with two sacks and to forced fumbles along with nine tackles in special teams.
This is only Anderson’s second season but I don’t see him developing into a starting player, he is a solid backup and should stay in the roster; but we need to either draft or pick up a guy to start as an OLB next season.

Quentin Moses.-Was highly productive in college but I still haven’t seen him do much with this Dolphins defense. I had hope during the preseason when I saw a significant improvement with him but come the regular season here really wasn’t much there other than his one sack. We’ll have to wait and see if he even makes the team next season.

Erik Walden.- Only saw action in special teams this past season so it’s difficult to argue that he has potential considering this is his second season with the Dolphins as well, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was let go next season depending on how productive the drafted players are.

In looking at our roster it is clear that we need help with our OLB position, we know that Porter is out, but even if we keep Taylor I still think we are looking to get two solid guys. Ideally we would get at least one of these guys from the free agency and then the other one in the draft, but what exactly is available? In free agency there are a few guys available, I’ll give you the three that have been talked about lately.

Elvis Dumervil (Denver Broncos).-With the addition of Nolan as our defensive coordinator, this is the guy I think the Dolphins will like to obtain the most, unfortunately I believe that the Broncos will be smart enough to place the franchise tag on him. The advantages of getting a guy like Dumervil are many, not only does Nolan know and understand him but he is an exceptional player, leading the NFL in sacks this past season with 17. I believe that if the opportunity does arise for us to get him we should as he will immediately improve our defense.

Shawne Merriman (San Diego Charggers).- Coming of an injury, Merriman hasn’t proven to be quite as effective as he once was but, that is really the only reason why we even have a shot at getting him. I believe after he has the time to heal during this offseason he will come back up in effectiveness to closer match the player he used to be. The thing is signing Merriman is a little like rolling the dice and I don’t know that we are in a position to do that right now, also I’m not sure how he will work with Taylor considering they have exchanged words in the past, but at the right price it is an option to consider.

Thomas Davis (Carolina Panthers).- Will be coming off a knee injury so we can’t be sure how he will play, but prior to his injury, Davis has proved to be a force to be reckoned with, if anything, his injury has decreased his value enough that even if the Panthers give him an offer as expected, they won’t tender him the highest offer of a first and third round pick, so depending on what they actually tender him , he might be worth looking into.

The draft offers a couple of viable options as well, here are the two I have heard the most talk about:

Brandon Graham (Michigan).- was the senior bowl MVP and proved he is the best 3-4 option for OLB in the draft which is why so many people want us to get him with our first round pick, unfortunately I think that there will be much better options for us in that first round and that it all still comes down to Rolando McClain and Dez Bryant (who is still who I’m pushing for). I see graham going at the end of the first round.

Jerry Hughes (TCU).- He is incredibly athletic and proved to be extremely effective in TCU, his only weakness is his size, he is a little short which goes against Parcell’s usual liking, but I would think that Nolan will have a little part in making decisions when it comes to building his offense and if that’s the case this could be our second round pick.

I figured it would be nice to look at everything we have discussed thus far and try to paint a picture of what our offense might look like for the 2010 season before moving on to the defense which I’m sure we’ll have a harder time trying to figure out. This is really just a summary of the last few posts but I thought having it all in one place would paint a clearer overall picture.

Quarterback.- Despite all the discussion and disagreements, I still stand by the fact that our quarterbacks will be Chad Henne as a starter, Tyler Thigpen as a second string and Pat White as a third string.
Wide Receiver.- From all the rumors going around it seems as though Anquan Boldin will become our #1 WR, with Ted Ginn still on the roster to assist him (hopefully he’ll be able to perform more with someone else being the main target). I think Brian Hartline will develop into our #2 WR next season and we will have Davon Bess and Greg Camarillo as our slot receivers.

Running Back.- This might be the one area I’m still not too sure about because although I personally would love for Ronnie Brown to come back I still think there’s a possibility for a trade there. Ricky Williams will come back and he will have a great season, he proved he had it in him last season and he’ll want to leave with a bang. Lousaka Polite will continue to be that dependable guy in those short yard situations and Lex Hilliard will play more of a starter role as he prepares to tak over for Ricke when he retires.

Tight End.- Although not our strongest position I don’t see us picking up anyone new here, I still think they’ll work on developing the young guys we have so we can expect to see Anthony Fasano, Joey Haynos and Kory Sperry, and I hope they surprise us.

Offensive Line.- As far as the O-line goes I think we only have to worry about keeping our guys healthy because when they remain healthy they are a pretty impressive bunch.

So know that we can look at what our offense will shape up to be I feel pretty confident with this side of things, so now it’s time to look at the defense, we all now we need help there but just how bad is our situation? I will break it all down just like this in similar posts. In the meantime I would love to hear your opinions on both, what you think about the looks of these O and what you think we need on D.
Remember you can leave your comments here or email me at phins2phins@gmail.com

In this post, I will take the opportunity to examine our offensive line, which is the last unit of our offense we have left to look at. As a whole, the offensive line did a pretty good job of protecting our young quarterback and was superb in helping our running game. Not only that but I was pretty impressed by the depth and versatility we had. Despite the injuries, we were able to sustain a fairly solid line all season which proved to be key not only in assisting with the development of Henne, but was also the reason we got to see Ricky shine once again.
So let’s go ahead and get started by looking at what we currently have:

Jake Long (Left Tackle).- Long is by far the best player we have in our offensive line. Drafting him with the number one overall pick in 2008 was one of the best draft choices we have made in recent years. He has been outstanding during the two years he has played with the Dolphins, and he has been recognized for it by being selected to play in the Pro Bowl both seasons. Granted he had the opportunity to play in it his rookie season because Jason Peters was out due to injury, but he still got the opportunity to play in it, making him only the fourth overall number 1 selection to play in the Pro Bowl since 1970. Ironically, it was an injury that prevented Long from appearing in this last Pro Bowl.
Long proved to be a dominant pass protector and run blocker in the 2009 season, allowing only four sacks, two of which took place during the season opening game. He is ranked second among full-time starting left tackles with just 9 QB pressures (Cleveland Brown’s Joe Thomas was ranked first).
At 24 years old and with only two seasons under his belt we can only expect Long to get even better in the next couple of years. Also worth mentioning I think is the fact that Long and Henne have experience working together as they are both former Michigan Wolverines something which may be significant in further developing that trust between our young quarterback and our offensive line.

Vernon Carey (Right Tackle)- Born in Miami, Carey has played all of his six pro seasons in a Dolphins’ uniform. He has started in 75 straight regular season games (he has played a total of 92) and having signed a multiyear contract extension last year he is also expected to stay with the team.
Carey has proven to be a very solid pass protector, allowing only 4 sacks this past season, but he is even better as a run blocker, he is actually the third best running tackle in the league. I honestly believe that having Carey start opposite Long in our O-line will continue to prove successful this next season.

Jake Grove (Center).- I don’t think anyone expects Grove will be going anywhere in the next couple of years, but I personally expect him to remain healthy. This might sound simple enough but the truth of the matter is this is one of the most injury prone players I have seen. He has missed a total of 22 games in the past five seasons!
Despite all the injuries he has proved to be a decent pass blocker and a great run blocker; he is actually the second best run blocker in the AFC (NY Jets’ Nick Mangold was ranked first). His ability as a run blocker has been key in perfecting our running game and I believe he still has more to offer, if only he can make it through the whole season injury free.

Joe Berger (Center and Guard).- Berger got his first opportunity as a starter this season after replacing Grove while he was out with an injury in a game against the Buffalo Bills. Although he only started in 6 games, he played in all 16 and demonstrated he is a good blocker. But most importantly, I believe he demonstrated that he is a good backup who is ready to start at any moment, which is a good thing considering Grove is very injury prone.

Justin Smiley (Left Guard).- Smiley is another guy who has been very injury prone, he looked very sluggish this season after coming back from an ankle injury he suffered during the 2008 season. This season he suffered a shoulder injury which sidelined him for one game and allowed to play in a reserve role for three others. Smiley proved to be a strong pass protector this past season, but the same cannot be said for him when protecting the run. He is easily the weakest run blocker in out O-line.
Smiley has demonstrated he has the ability to be a great guard during those times when he has been injury free. He had two great seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and even his first season as a Dolphin was good, prior to sustaining that ankle injury towards the end. He can be a great asset to the team if he can stay healthy!

Nate Garner (Right and Left Guard).- If nothing else, Garner proved he is a very versatile player, he not only played at both, right and left guard, but also as a center in the game against Carolina and even as a tight end. He finished out the season as our starting right guard and showed consistent improvement throughout. Considering that this is only his second season and that he kept rotating to different positions, I believe that he did well enough for me to want to wait and see what he is capable of next season if he has a more prominent role in a steady position.

Donald Thomas (Right Guard).- Thomas hasn’t proved he is capable of handling his own in the offensive line yet. This is only his second season and he does have an opportunity to grow, but with so many players making an impact I believe he will have to work hard just to make the team in the 2010 season. in the 2009 season, he started in the first 12 games before being replaced by Nate Garner.

It is also worth mentioning that there are other offensive linemen currently in our roster which saw little to no action this season, they are: Andrew Gardner (Tackle) who was the 6th round pick in the draft; Andrew Hartline, who was activated from the Dolphins practice squad November 25th; Lyndon Murtha, who was signed from the Detroit Lions practice squad in October; Dimitri Tsoumpas, and Ray Feinga.

In my opinion, although there is always room for improvement, other than nagging injuries, I don’t feel as though our offensive line is something we have to worry a lot about during the free agency and the draft, especially considering we have so many needs on defense (which we will be addressing in the next few posts). But I’d still like to take the time to discuss some of the options which will be available in the free agency.

Bobbie Williams (Cincinnati Bengals).- Williams will be an unrestricted free agent this season but it is almost certain the Bengals will offer him an extension. He is a solid guard who has great abilities as a run blocker.

Kevin Mawae (Tennessee Titans)- With his contract expiring, Mawae will be a free agent in 2010, and even at 39 years old he still has a lot to offer, especially when it comes to experience. Even though there might be a few teams who are interested, I don’t see the need for a guy like Mawae in the Dolphins.

There are also a couple of good options available in the draft, although as I stated earlier, I don’t think we will focus our attention to the O-line in the draft, I will go over a couple of the best options available.

Russell Okung (Oklahoma State).- Projected to be a top 5 pick as a left tackle, Okung is expected to be ready to play as a starter immediately following the draft.

Anthony Davis (Rutgers).- Originally played guard in college but made the transition into left tackle. Davis biggest strength is his run blocking ability.

Additional Notes:
The following are some of the OLs who will be free agents in 2010: Chad Clifton (Green Bay Packers), Jahri Evans (New Orleans Saints), Logan Mankins (New England Patriots), Marcus Mcneill (San Diego Chargers)
The following are some of the OLs that will enter into the draft: Bruce Campbell (Maryland), Brian Bulaga (Iowa), Mike Iupatii (Idaho), Mike Johnson (Alabama), Maurkice Pouncey (Florida), J.D. Walton (Baylor)

First of all I wanted to apologize for taking so long to make a post, this past week has been really crazy and I know a lot of you guys have been waiting for it so I hope you enjoy it. I didn’t want to keep you waiting any longer so what I’m going to do is continue with our team report by looking at our tight ends. I originally planned on discussing our tight ends along with our offensive line in order to finish our look at the offensive side of things, but I figured this would be much better for two reasons, first, that post would’ve taken me longer to write an thus I would’ve kept you all waiting longer, and second, our offensive line is in a whole other league than our tight ends are.
In looking at our tight ends one thing becomes clear, this is probably the single position which saw the most regression this past season. What isn’t so clear however is whether or not we have the need to focus on this position as a top priority going into the free agency and the draft.
So as usual, let’s start out by looking at what we have:

Anthony Fasano.- Fasano’s performance this season was far less stellar than his performance during the 2008 season. In the 2008 season he scored 7 touchdowns and had 454 yards, this past season though, he managed to score only 2 touchdowns and had only 339 yards; he also dropped three passes and fumbled the ball twice (both fumbles were in the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons). Part of the reason his numbers dropped could have to do with the fact that he was inactive for two games (against Carolina and Tampa Bay) due to a hip injury.
In my opinion though, the drop might have had more to do with the fact that we went into this past season with a heavy focus on our running game, and as far as the running game goes, Fasano was a key part of it acting as a blocker which he indeed did prove to be very good at. This past season he was the second best tight end blocker in the NFL after Dallas Cowboy’s Jason Witten.
I also believe part of the reason for his less than stellar performance might have to do with the fact that we are lacking that key #1 WR that will demand more attention from the opposing teams’ defense which will in turn open up the game and leave Fasano with clearer opportunities.
Fasano will be an unrestricted free agent (or a restricted one after March if there is a new labor deal by then) and I believe that if a good enough offer comes, then we might want to look into trading him, but I don’t believe it should be considered for just an average trade. Fasano has proven that he knows how to play the game and although last season wasn’t his best one we know he has the potential, and I for one would hate to see him live up to that potential in a different team. I think we should give him one more year and make a decision then, unless, like I said before, a deal too good to pass up becomes available.

Joey Haynos.- I’m still not sure what Haynos has to offer, this was his first season he got to see real action though so the potential might be there, I just don’t see it yet. His receiving numbers were not good; he had 19 catches for 162 yards averaging about 8.53 yards a catch. He was a pretty solid blocker though when it came to the running game, and considering that, as I stated previously, this franchise has a pretty solid running game that might have been what was expected of him. Regardless I don’t see him going anywhere so hopefully we will get more from him next season.

Kory Sperry.- This is a rookie I personally would like to see a little more of. He caught three passes which earned significant yards in his first game against Tampa Bay, and one of those passes was a touchdown. This guy put up great numbers in college when he played for Colorado State and I feel like he has what it takes to make it if only he is given the chance. I think the reason I feel so compelled to want to see more of him is because he beat out John Nalbone, our 5th round pick for a spot in the roster in the games that Fasano was out for, despite not having been with the Dolphins during training camp (he attended training camp with the Chargers who later released him).

John Nalbone.- Nalbone was the 5th round pick out of Monmouth for the Dolphins in the 2009 draft. He has been resigned to a 2 year contract with the practice squad so we will have to see how he develops in the future.

As grim as our tight end position might look when looking at it by itself I don’t think it is something that we need to focus our immediate attention on. Our tight ends have proven themselves to be capable of assisting in our running game and we know that at least Fasano has the capacity to perform in the passing game, especially if we do get that #1 WR threat which could assist him. That being said there is a prospect that I wouldn’t mind signing on for the right price. Let’s take a look at a couple of options available in free agency.

Owen Daniels (Houston Texans).- Daniels has proven to be an incredible tight end and the Texans might have never even considered letting him go, but after tearing his ACL it seems as though the Texans are only interested in offering him a 1 year deal to see how well he is able to come back from that injury. With Daniels being a free agent though, any team has the opportunity t make him a better offer and he might consider it. This is probably the one tight end I would consider going after. Sure he is coming back from an injury but I think he will still come back to be a better than average tight end.

Tony Scheffler (Denver Broncos).- Scheffler is young and talented and I don’t think he has been given the opportunity to show what he has to offer. Along with Brandon Marshall, this was one of the guys that seemed to have problems with McDaniel’s so I don’t think that he will play for the Broncos again. I personally don’t see him playing in for us next season, but it’s been rumored that this is one of the teams he may end up in.


Additional Notes:
The following are some of the TEs who will be free agents in 2010: Ben Watson (New England Patriots), Bo Scaife (Tennessee Titans), Alge Crumpler (Tennesse Titans), Daniel Fells (St Louis Rams), Jeff King (Carolina Panthers).
The following are some of the TEs that will enter into the draft: Jermaine Gresham (Oklahoma), Aaron Hernandez (Florida), Rob Gronkowski (Arizona), Dennis Pitta (BYU), Ed Dickson (Oregon), Anthony McCoy (USC)