Thursday, February 25, 2010
Are any of our ILBs worth keeping?
2:31 PM | Posted by
Phins 2 Phins
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.
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.
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1 comments:
i would like to think if the fins get dansby .and draft a linbacker in the first or second round crowder will be gone. as well as someone else not sure who though . because that would give you taylor and wake on the outside and dansby and the rookie on the inside .i think that would workout real good because anything is better then last year .when your corners out tackle all your line backers its a real bad thing and not just one mans fault
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