Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Training Camp - Day 3

The tweet birds are back at it again, with morning practice in full swing. Here are some highlights:

Omar Kelly:
  • "Still no sign of Dolphins part owner JLo. I can't believe she hasn't come to check out her new team."
  • "I'll admit Patrick Turner is a real smooth route runner, but I'm still waiting for him to make a WOW catch to back up all the hype he has."
  • "Pat White is still having troubles with his accuracy. He's still throwing high and behind guys. The rook needs time."
  • "Quentin Moses got to Henne when pocket collapsed, pushing FB chris Brown into him. Erik Walden beat Garner for a sack a few plays later." (Moses got a sack yesterday too...)
Armando Salguero:
  • "blah blah blah blah!"
Edgar Thompson:
  • "Justin Smiley back after being excused for the birth of his son. Did I mention Smiley just had a son. Just in case no one has read my last 40 tweets on the subject, Justin Smiley had a son. I have nothing to say about training camp, so I'm just going to talk about Justin Smiley and his wife having a son. His name is Jett. " (I might be paraphrasing)
Meanwhile, after practice yesterday, rookie cornerback Sean Smith took to the tweet-waves as well, and showed both humility and swagger in a series of posts linking to videos of various interviews he's done over the past few months and how shaky he was back then as opposed to now. Not a huge story, but it is relevant to other rookies. If you watched Pat White's interview from yesterday, you see a guy that a) seems to have no energy at all - some would say he's 'stoic' but he didn't seem that way playing at WVU (maybe he's a gamer, not a practicer) and b) he seems generally nervous and uncomfortable in front of the microphone/camera. While he possesses good traits like humility and understanding that he's here to learn, it would be nice for the star player of our draft to have some swagger too. Also, in that same video, he pulls a Steve Urkel snort. I kid you not.

I also kid you not when I say that, watching the PM practice highlight video, during stretches, Ernest Wilford can be seen sneaking an Oreo cookie. At least that's what it looks like to me....

  • It's amazing to me how little Armando 'gets it' sometimes. In his latest report, he says that in the dime package, the Dolphins have JT and Porter on the ends and Merling and Starks in the middle. Then he says "Interesting that Kendall Langford, who actually had one more sack than Merling last season, is not in that mix as of now". Does he not realize that Merling and Starks are not there to rush the passer in that formation? Maybe when Roth comes back, as the second leading sacker of last year, they will replace Merling with Roth. Obviously Merling and Starks are two stout guys who are good at holding their ground. They also need to be able to drop back to eliminate the short middle passing lane. They will not be rushing the passer, at least not on a regular basis. Langford is much slimmer and is not best suited to play in the middle.
  • But he does redeem himself with this tidbit:

    "I continue to be fascinated by the competition between rookie left tackle Andrew Gardner and weakside linebacker Cameron Wake. It was all Gardner the first day of camp. Yesterday belonged to Wake. This morning was a deadlock.

    On one pass-rush, Wake leveraged Gardner into the quarterback. On the very next snap, Gardner simply rode Wake wide and out of the play." (this is the kind of thing I like to hear about).

  • Practice Video:

  • Omar says, "Sparano said the Dolphins will hold a scrimmage Saturday in the afternoon session and wants a big crowd." This would be THE practice to go to.
Unrelated to camp, but it looks like I'll be lining up to see a Sandra Bullock movie...
  • Brennan Marion has re-injured his ACL, and is done for the year. I have updated the depth chart.

64 comments:

  1. Seriously? Jett?????? Oh boy.

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  2. tin, from what i remember about him pat at wvu, he was always 'stoic'.  he was never really energitic or wordy in interviews.

    by the way, some sources have reported that justin smiley missed practice cause his wife was giving birth, i look on snopes but cant see if the story is true or not

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  3. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 7:58 AM

    LOL, good stuff Tin!

    Edgar Thompson said today that Wilford looks really slow, much slower than the rest of the TEs. That's not the first time we've heard this. This guy isn't working out and maybe it's time to cut ties with him. I know they'll probably keep him around for training camp because you need bodies but he brings nothing to the table.

    What chance do you give Wilford to make the team? I say less than 10%.

    Agreed on Smiley and his son Jett. Okay, we all know now. Congrats Justin! But we don't need to read over and over Justin Smiley was back at LG after witnessing the birth of his son Jett yesterday. Will we read tomorrow that Justin Smiley is still back at LG after witnessing the birth of his son on Monday. Enough!  >:o

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  4. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 8:17 AM

    It's Jett, not the Jets. Who cares? Would you be upset if he named his son Bill or Pat?

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  5. I guarantee you that will be the second question asked of him if he does an
    interview today. For the record, he has another son, Justin Jr, and his Dad
    is named Jerry.

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  6. What was it Sparano said yesterday - about the make-up of the team and if
    they keep 4 TEs (which to me guarantees they keep at least 3, if 4 is an
    option) and 4, 5 or 6 WRs. He said that they needed to think about keeping
    younger players to develop and think about the future. Wilford is a goner
    if you ask me. It sounds like Nalbone is starting to 'show up'. And David
    Martin apparently is blocking much better, moving Tony McDaniel with ease.
    Haynos is a giant and has all the tools, but Nalbone is faster/quicker, so
    maybe there's more of a competition there than previously thought on my
    end. We'll see in pre-season.

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  7. Yes, because Bill and Pat are so worn out. It's 2009 for crying out loud,
    get with the times! lol

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  8. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 8:36 AM

    Martin is moving McDaniel with ease? That's not good.

    I don't know that we have enough talent at TE to keep 4. I think there is more talent at WR and we very well could keep 6.

    OL 9
    QB 3
    RB 4
    WR 6
    TE 3

    DL 8
    LB 8
    DB 10

    K 1
    P 1

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  9. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 8:38 AM

    I know parents should start naming their kids names like Sniff, or Build, or Perky. I mean after all names are just grunts.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Da da da da da da da!!!!

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  11. the McDaniel comment is per Omar. He says McDaniel doesn't look good. If
    McDaniel doesn't show up, Holliday will be back before long.
    I agree with the talent assessment, but when Sparano said are we keeping 4,
    are we keeping 5, what about 6, he said 6 as if it would be surprising, but
    said 4 as if it's a strong possibility. Keep in mind that our offensive
    scheme thus far has been a lot of double TE and the Wildcat which only
    occasionally had a receiver in the mix last year.
    That said, I would expect, if not demand, that they alter their game plan
    based on the talent that we have. I think ultimately, it's best not to make
    any decisions or leanings at this point. The coaches need to see how things
    shake out and who they can trust to be on the field.

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  12. he should name is next son 'Face' so he could fill out forms as Smiley,
    Face.

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  13. Come on people... this is football we're talking about. Incase you don't know who Ted Ginn is, remember him, the highly touted WR draft #9 overall out of Ohio State. Well my sources tell me that he's very fast and that WRs tend to break out in their 3rd season. Don't blame me for being Captain Obvious a.k.a. "condescending jerkoff'.

    ReplyDelete
  14. <span style="font-family: Times; ">
    <div style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; -webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-color: #ffffff; background-position: initial initial; margin: 8px;">
    <p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">Come on people... this is football we're talking about. Incase you don't know who Ted Ginn is, remember him, the highly touted WR drafted #9 overall out of Ohio State by your own Miami Dolphins in 2007. Well my sources tell me that he's very fast and that WRs tend to break out in their 3rd season. Don't blame me for being Captain Obvious a.k.a. "condescending jerkoff".
    </div>
    </span>

    ReplyDelete
  15. Come on people... this is football we're talking about. Incase you don't know who Ted Ginn is, remember him, the highly touted WR draft #9 overall out of Ohio State. Well my sources tell me that he's very fast and that WRs tend to break out in their 3rd season. Don't blame me for being Captain Obvious a.k.a. "condescending jerkoff'.

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  16. next you'll be telling me that even though Ginn is the fastest guy on team, he likely will not be the main punt returner...

    ReplyDelete
  17. next you'll be telling me that even though Ginn is the fastest guy on team, he likely will not be the main punt returner...

    ReplyDelete
  18. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 9:06 AM

    LOL, good one!

    I found this to be interesting from Edgar Thompson's latest blog.



    "Second-year pro Lionel Dotson had a nice day at nose tackle.

    A seventh-round pick in 2008, Dotson got excellent push a number of times and sacked Henne when Dotson blew by Ike Ndukwe.

    Paul Soliai worked some with the starters and looks much quicker this season."

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  19. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 9:11 AM

    True and injuries will play a factor as well.

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  20. Very Interesting from ProFootball talk:

    "
    But there's another possibility that we'd be remiss not to point out.

    Consider this Rosenhaus tweet from May:  "Matt Roth is also in the last year of his contract and would like to sign a long term extension with the Dolphins before the season."

    Roth still hasn't gotten that extension.  So in lieu of holding out and risking daily fines in the neighborhood of $17,000, Roth possibly showed up and claimed he wasn't able to perform.

    And Roth and Rosenhaus possibly didn't have their stories straight as to the reason the player was providing to the team as to why he couldn't practice yet.

    At this point, we don't know what the truth on this one is.  But it's got the potential to become pretty damn interesting."

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  21. I'll wait till Dotson's going up against someone other than Ndukwe to get
    too excited, but that's his second mention in two days and obviously being
    second team playing both inside and outside, according to reports, shows
    that the Coach thinks he's got something there. He was lousy last year
    though.

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  22. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 9:14 AM

    He was getting one of those body makeovers. 

    ReplyDelete
  23. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 9:15 AM

    That's shady stuff. I hope that's not the case.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 9:16 AM

    Nice rabbit teeth!  *DONT_KNOW*

    ReplyDelete
  25. knowno, interesting angle. Wasn't there another player who did this -
    Braylon Edwards I think? If it turns out to be true, and I was in Sparano's
    shoes, I'd kick the guy to the curb. But I think it's highly unlikely that
    Matt Roth would do something like that. It seems completely unlike the
    hard-working team player from a small town in Illinois. if I were to wager
    a guess as to what's up, I would think think it wasn't a groin injury or
    anything like that. Surely that stuff would show up on an MRI. His
    bloodwork came back clean. It sounds to me like maybe he has swine flu, or
    has partying too hard and is out of shape.

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  26. I'm going in for one of those next week.  I have a coupon.

    ReplyDelete
  27. he wasn't stoic in games at all.  he wasn't a screamer or anything, but was always jumping up and down with excitement and pumping fists, doing scissor kicks, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  28. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 9:29 AM

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
  29. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 9:33 AM

    Wouldn't the team have had an idea that Roth was out of shape? He participated in the offseason workouts and they saw him at OTAs and minicamps. How does he all of a sudden get out of shape right before camp? That doesn't fit his reputation either.

    Maybe he has Lyme disease, that taps your energy.

    ReplyDelete
  30. or a brain tumor. It could be something else, maybe he's on water pills, he
    did drop a lot of weight...I think he's supposed to redo the conditioning
    test today. We'll find out in a few minutes anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I totally agree, i think it's way out of character for Matt Roth (this was a PFT story) and I think more than likely Roth has swine flu.

    However, I do think this is inline with something Drew Rosenhaus would do.

    ReplyDelete
  32. agreed, Rosenhaus is a jerk-off

    ReplyDelete
  33. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 9:44 AM

    Indeed!

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  34. Name the kid "Guy", after the Sesame Street muppet game show host.

    ReplyDelete
  35. lol. talk about a flashback, Guy SMiley!

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  36. Tin
    Sent photos from at&t coporate store all went well
    30 minutes later got text said "sending failed Tin"   
    WTF?

    Hope U got

    If not  try again WED

    ReplyDelete
  37. Home SuperBowl 2010August 4, 2009 at 10:49 AM

    Rapped with Donald Thomas today
    DT signed team flag

    Says he will be ready soon
    Says he is benching over 400lbs

    Arms are ginormous biggest on the team
    Size of Omars head

    Roth tried to hide his everlasting groin injury
    Tried to buy more time saying he was sick and cover it up
    Fact is he has STILL NOT recovered from groin injury and must be devastated

    ReplyDelete
  38. The Knight who says Ni!August 4, 2009 at 10:51 AM

    Tin, Starks and Merling will try to apply pressure in those 4 man line nickel and dime situations, but there job is to not allow the QB to step up in the pocket.

    ReplyDelete
  39. If it really is a recurring groin injury, he needs to have surgery and go on
    IR. 3 years in a row is ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete
  40. why would it say that? I did not receive anything. can't you send it from
    home/office??

    ReplyDelete
  41. Home SuperBowl 2010August 4, 2009 at 10:58 AM

    Thought Mc Daniels was doing ok
    Saw him get in a few times 
    Gotta remember the defense pulls up when approaching QB
    We dont Kill our own QBs
    Looks huge and hustles hard to see his every move in line on field #2 60 feet away in skirmish

    Hartline continues to impress
    See Hartline and London making this team

    Cobbs is a standout
    5.8 slippery bowling ball  (see photo)
    ALWAYS MAKES BIG POSITIVE YARDS

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  42. Home SuperBowl 2010August 4, 2009 at 11:37 AM

    Tin will send again and wait for confirm WED
    Sorry dude
    They went thru
    30 minutes later  and 15 miles got "sending failed tin"
    Pissed me off

    Called rep
    will resolve WED

    Hey good things come to those who wait

    Got short video pictures of Donald thomas after he took gear off

    Massive mean mountain of a man
    He is coming back

    Armstrong shows nothing in pads

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  43. Home SuperBowl 2010August 4, 2009 at 11:41 AM

    Thankful Trifecta signed Jason Taylor

    Taylor looks like himself 
    A six time probowler sack machine and yes he is stopping the run

    Roth does not look like he will be part of this active team

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  44. Home SuperBowl 2010August 4, 2009 at 11:48 AM

    Sean Smith has not shown me much to date
    Is he in position?
    Yes

    Is he shutting down corner?
    No

    Saw little Chris Williams beat him long if throw was on would have been TD
    Couple plays later S Smith got beat short and was slapping the ground unhappy with his own performance

    Dont know why Omar does not see much in Turner

    Complete package
    All GOOD
    STARTER!

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  45. Omar didn't say anything negative about Turner, just that he hasn't WOWED
    him yet. To be honest, I wouldn't hold up hopes to see a lot of WOW moments
    in practice, especially this early on.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Home SuperBowl 2010August 4, 2009 at 12:14 PM

    Catching a nice bullet throw first down pass and challenging CB
    Hitting him Turner dazed CB
    Then CB fell backwards onhis @SS
    Turner kept going for mor positive yards
    Then was whistled to stop play

    All u could say was
    WOW
    WOW
    WOW

    man was I WOWED!

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  47. Sounds good to me

    ReplyDelete
  48. Have you guys noticed the personal bias for certain players from certain writers?  I was laughing yesterday after I got home and read the updates.  Omar would say so and so got beat bad, Edgar would say something similar, but excuse it becuase of something else someone else did and Armondo would see the play a completely different way! I'd have to go back and read them again to give specifics but I thought it was funny.

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  49. I remember now, it was about Wilford. One of them said that he didn't even raise his hands in an attempt to catch a well placed ball frot the QB, looked as if he quit on the play, an other one says it was a terrible overthown ball, etc, etc, etc.

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  50. Oh, it was a million times worse last year. I'm sure someone will back me
    up there. We all know Armando has a personal vendetta vs Jason Allen, but
    last year he kept calling for his head on the same week that PBP reported JA
    had 3 picks in two practices. I think Allen had about 7 in one week, plus
    his performance in the KC pre-season game. The only knock from Sparano was
    that Jason wasn't consistent, he'd have a couple of great practices followed
    by a lousy one. But Armando is constantly attacking JA's mental ability,
    etc.
    Last year I followed the PBP for updates because the guy who did them, Ben
    Volin, was a master at just writing what he saw. The updates were quite
    long as well. Unfortunately he left to cover the Gators.
    Anyway, now that the papers are 'sharing' they seem to be much more
    congruent. Except of course when Armando reported that the Clemons deal
    should be done on Sunday, when it had been done about 4 hours earlier on
    that Saturday.

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  51. I noticed that one. They MIGHT have been talking about a different rep, but
    I thought the same thing you did when I read it. Last year there were 4 or
    5 instances like that a DAY.

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  52. Finally, rookie Brennan Marion has a knee issue. He missed the morning practice and has gone for tests on it. Marion is still recovering from ACL surgery. Do not expect him to make the team, people.

    Why do I need to talk like this? As if there is a long line of people who thought Brennan Marion was a lock to make the team.

    Sometimes I'm just a $%&##$%@@&&*%$!!!!!!

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  53. Home SuperBowl 2010August 4, 2009 at 1:46 PM

    Wilford for what little I( and everyone else) have seen of him seems to be (hate to say it)
    a head case
    Does appear to quit on plays
    Hear comments from others tha say Wilford " just does not want to be here"
    Head is only in the game focusing half the time

    Monday at camp
    Wilford was heckled by apunk
    Wilford kept looking over at him from 30 feet away
    Not paying attention
    Not focusing

    Wilford was more intersested in staring down heckler than practicing
    Wilford is a waste of space with so many good football players in the NFL
    Time to admit  it
    COMPLETE BUST

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  54. "Roth still hasn't gotten that extension.  So in lieu of holding out and risking daily fines in the neighborhood of $17,000, Roth possibly showed up and claimed he wasn't able to perform."

    That's not a good game to play with this management team.  I'm thinking more down the lines of if Roth wants to stay here it's not in his interest to do some thing like that.  They want the players on the field not in the training room from what I remember.  I would imagine a contract dispute that boils over to the field is a good way to get traded.  At this time all we as fans have to go on is speculation and guesses.  This one we have to wait out.  :(

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  55. try sending the photos through an email message if you did not do it that way.  Maybe that will help.  ATT can be really strange at times, and if your using an iphone you may need some type of app to send photos.  Good Luck

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  56. I had the same issues last year when I went down to watch a practice.  Omar would see things that I didn't see on the same play.  The only thing I can say about that is we see things in real time and only once with no replays, and from different angles.  So some times a play can be seen differntly.  Also some players do things with such grace they may look better than what they really are.  It's about results not looks, I know that I have problems seeing the overall results when someone is so smooth.

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  57. here's an example today:

    Edgar: "Kicker Dan Carpenter suffered a rare miss, hitting a 52-yard attempt from the left hashmark wide right. But he lined up on the right side and nailed the next one down the middle."

    Mike B: "<span style="font-family: Calibri; ">Dan Carpenter finally missed. He hit a pair of kicks from 42 yards, but missed two from 45 yards, I believe. Not always easy to tell distances from where they make us stand in the bubble. Theismann was blocking my view."</span>

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  58. ...they may put Marion on the injured reserve list and let his ACL fully heal for next year ...he offers a LOT of potential and costs them very little to be patient ...in the meantime he get the benefit of a full year in their conditioning program and the best rehab possible.

    ..I would think Wilford has to show something early or not make the frst cut ...Sparano has given him every chance and more ...if he's not going to make the 53 why keep him any longer and cut some rookie they still have questions about ...but saying that, I discount any fan chatter re Wilford ...Sparano is the only voice that counts andso far he's kept him.

    ...JA isn't doing enough to hold a 53 slot ...an occasional flash of atleticism followed by bonehead mistakes that no vet should be making ...he's lost out there when he has to think.

    ...the Roth thing is a real mystery ...just not his rep ...hate to lose him but Sparano isn't going into the season with a starter who has serious limitations ...another possibility for the IRL ...good thing JT is showing his old form ...only question I have there is can he play every down and still be strong at the end of the season ...he is an old man in a young man's game ...but then he has always done what others could not.

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  59. 17 yrs ago + a couple mnths KNIGHT missed a day of work to witness the birth of his daughter,
    her name hasn't been revealed to protect the innocent... JUSMESSING W'YA,LOL!!!

    ReplyDelete
  60. So JT's gonna LS afterall,YEAAAA I've been petitioning for a versatile LS'er for yrs!!

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  61. That's a fine example.� Not only that.� But do these reporters really know what they are looking at ?� I have plenty of respect for Omar, he does a great job of keeping us informed about what HE sees.� HE being the point as are the rest of the reporters and fans bloging in, it is no more than there perception that they pass on to us, for which I'm grateful I really am.� I'm not able to see many practices, so I enjoy the reports even though they see things differently.

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  62. On ROTH,I don't know so I ask, as far as ELIGABILITY goes is there a difference b/t
    (PUP NON football illness,and  PUP football inj)??
    Does he count against the roster in one and not the other??
    Can he become eligable quicker as a(NONfootball PUP)??
    IF SO to any of the above,MAYBE TS and the organization are in on it...

    Otherwise,maybe it's a personal issue that needs to be kept private,(maybe he 's got the drips)??

    I'd doubt that he's trying to play hardball w'his contract,(as a staff fav already,pre this incident),
    it'd be far wiser/lucrative for him to be on the field performing!!

    Doubt NALBONE would get poached off the PS,or make's the 53...
    Schissh, he didn't even make MY draft-board,and Bronson did.. LOL!!
    Fasano,Haynos will make the 53,and probably Martin now that he's healthy,IMHO!!

    I think we need to keep 6 WR's(3 BIG BL,PT,BH),and (3 SMART,QUICK,FAST GC,DB,TG),and 3 TE's..

    ReplyDelete
  63. The Knight who says Ni!August 5, 2009 at 7:32 AM

    That would be over 18 years ago.  :)

    ReplyDelete
  64. I'll admit I had Bronson scouted, and had never heard of Nalbone pre-draft.
    I didn't have either on my board because I didn't think we'd draft a TE,
    thought we'd just pick up FA and UFA for camp bodies.
    A player on the 'active' PUP list is not allowed to practice but IS allowed
    to attend meetings, use the training room, etc. HE COUNTS against the
    80-man roster limit. The player has to be placed on the PUP list BEFORE
    practices start (i.e Aug 2nd). He can be taken off the PUP at any time, but
    if he's still injured at the start of the season, he can be placed on the
    'reserve' PUP list. At this point he WOULD NOT count against the 53-man
    roster, but he wouldn't be allowed to join that roster until week 7. after
    week 6, the team has 3 weeks to decide if they add him to the 53 or release
    him.
    As far as I can tell, there is NO difference between football injury and
    non-football injury. There might be some impact on the player's contract,
    i.e. they probably withhold some workout bonus if you come to camp with a
    pre-existing condition.

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