Ernest Goes To ... well, who cares where he's gone to...

The Miami Dolphins have finally bitten the bullet and a massive salary cap hit and released former wide receiver turned wannabe tight-end, Ernest Wilford. I really won't go into a big spiel on why Ernest should never have been signed and why he should never have been given a full year of chances to prove why he should have been signed. The reality of the situation is that 99% of us have wanted this day to come for a while now, and now that it has, we should just move on to more important things.

Tuesday's Early Bird Special

Well it's Tuesday again, and later today we're going to continue our breakdown of the training camp roster. I will try not to get too long-winded in discussing the defensive backfield. But before we get to that here are some of the best 'bits' from around the league.

• Saints long-snapper scams team-mates, gets kicked off team, is wanted by the FBI, oh yeah, and he lost a lot of money on a bad investment too. It really makes me feel like I'm not trying hard enough...

• In what could become a tradition here at Tin's Fins, I'm offering up this link to help connect Dolphin fans from the Maryland/Washington D.C. area. I was at an amusement park the other day, wearing a dolphins jersey when a complete stranger (hot chick) came up to me and told me 'great jersey, I have the same one!' then wiggled her butt in my face and disappeared into the bleachers. It made me realize how isolated we displaced fans can be and how good it feels to 'connect' with each other once in a while. So thanks to reader/commenter WOOD for starting this group and I will gladly post any 'connection' info for Dolfans everywhere.

• NFL.com's, Jason La Canfora, a guy who has somehow managed to get a job where he works from home, and writes about absolutely nothing, has crowned the AFC East as the best division in the NFL, beating out the NFC East. Still, Miami is represented as "slipping up" yet Parcells is once again labeled as a great mind. If Parcells is such a football god to everyone in the media, why do they have so little faith in the team that he runs?

• It seems like all the NFL beat writers are on vacation at the moment, so we have to find alternate sources of information. Here a blogger writes the case for Ernest Wilford making the Dolphins roster.

• And, finally, I got a lot of flak when the schedule was released for not being willing to drive to San Diego in September to watch the Dolphins play the Chargers. Well, it turns out that the ticket prices in San Diego are absolutely insane, and the entire trip would cost me well over a thousand dollars. Not to mention I will be preparing to move at that time of the year. So I think I will watch it for free on TV instead. However, I will try to plan my next trip to NY or Boston around the games up there and there's still an outlying possibility that the Dolphins will have to play at Oakland in the playoffs. ;)
  

Back to the Grind

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Holiday Weekend.

The Miami Herald's Barry Jackson once again pulled a rabbit out of his hat and claimed that Ernest Wilford was NOT working exclusively at tight-end and the only way he was going to make the roster was if he played the role of BOTH the 3rd TE and the 6th WR.

I have to be honest, if I were Wilford, I would be undeniably depressed by this classification. This would also likely eliminate someone like Brandon London, Brian Hartline, and Anthony Armstrong from the roster not to mention Joey Haynos or John Nalbone.

It sounds utterly ridiculous if you ask me. Why would the coaches eliminate two players who are BETTER than Wilford at each position in order to keep him just so they could save one roster spot. In 2008, having Wilford on the roster meant that we wasted a roster spot. But now keeping him would save us one? That's a two roster spot swing. What are the odds of that happening? What do you guys think?

p.s. how is it that Wilford ran with the WRs during mini-camp which was open to the media, and no one noticed it until two weeks later when he mentioned it to a reporter?

Drew Rosenhaus says:

“Ernest Wilford is excited about this season — he has been in the Dolphins workout program and is ready to bounce back strong this year.”

To be perfectly honest, Drew, Wilford's issues last year had nothing to do with his workout routine. He was in excellent shape physically. His issue is ability. I suspect he was an overachiever in Jacksonville and in college and once he got his big contract in Miami, he stopped being an overachiever, and came back down to Earth, where his skills, speed, and natural talent are simply not good enough.

And as his agent, you should realize that he will not be able to beat out Ginn, Bess, Camarillo, Turner, Hartline, London, Armstrong and the two undrafted rookies Williams and Marion. He MIGHT be able to outperform Lowber, who I don't understand how he even got into the NFL.

There are 11 wide receivers on the roster right now, and Wilford is, at best, #8. But maybe he's #11 because the other 10 can play special teams. It's likely we will keep 6, with another one or two on the PS. Guess where that leaves Wilford? So, as his agent, you need to be out there looking for a job for this guy. At this point, I have more confidence in Pat White being a WR than Wilford, and I've only ever seen White catch one pass in my lifetime and it wasn't exactly awe-inspiring. Hell I have more confidence in Jy Bond being a WR for the Dolphins this year.

You know, now that I think about it, "bouncing back strong" could mean he gets 5 or 6 catches this year!

This guy should be fired.

Wilford is so 'hungry' he tries to steal Oreos from a starving family (gotta be honest, Momma doesn't look like she's starving). And when did Oreos become 'healthy food'?