The Future...NOW!!

Current first...the Dolphins have signed Joe Berger!

A glimpse into the (very) near future:

• TJ Houshmandzadeh signs with the Philadelphia Eagles.

• Renaldo Hill signs with the Denver Broncos.

• Bart Scott WILL sign with the Jets. The twist is, Ray Lewis WILL be a Raven.

• Andre Goodman will be back with the Dolphins in 2009.

Free Agency Friday

Renaldo Hill, Andre Goodman, and Al Johnson did not come to terms on new contracts with the Dolphins and are now looking for work.

Hill is reportedly on a plane to Denver to visit with the Broncos. Surprisingly there's been no news of Goodman, who I thought would be the most active of the three in free agency. Johnson will be lucky to be picked up near training camp to bolster an 80-man squad, possibly even back with the Dolphins.

I'm not going to go into the Haynesworth deal (Snyder and Al Davis should get together sometime and do something worthwhile with their money) or talk about the Jets picking up Bart Scott instead of Ray Lewis (but Lewis must be pissed).

Instead I'd like to focus on the Dolphins today and how it's been one surprise after another with this team. From the Quarterback situation of offseason '08, to the Wildcat unveiling in New England, to the amazing turnaround and eventual AFC East trophy, the emergence of undrafted rookie WR Davone Bess, the throw-first mentality of the offense, and the Parcells escape clause - none of us as fans, and likely none of the actual players saw these things coming.

In fact, a lot of the things that went right for the Dolphins in 2008 could not be foreseen by Nostradamus himself.

So as we enter free agency, and with the surprise re-signing of Crowder and Carey, and the sudden starting free safety acquisition of Gibril Wilson still fresh in our minds, let's look at what we may see in the next few days.

First of all, the Dolphins are going to work-out ANOTHER Dallas Cowboy - Joe Berger. A 26 year old, 6'7" 310lb Guard who also can play Center, Berger actually started his career as a Dolphin. He has zero starts and has only played in 7 games over 5 seasons according to NFL.com. He is what they call "competition" and will likely be brought in to push the Center that Miami eventually drafts, OR to push Satele, because one thing I've learned lately is not to trust the hype and the idea that Satele will not be playing Center in 2009 is just that so far - hype.

The next great aqua and orange hype is that recently expunged NY Jet wide receiver, Laveranues Coles will come running in search of Chad Pennington. And while there was chemistry and man-love between these two, I know from personal experience that reunited love after a break-up seldom works out. Also he would likely have to take a serious pay cut to play for the Dolphins who we know are more interested in getting younger, bigger, stronger and faster. Coles is older, smaller, feebler and getting slower by the month. Every year the drop-off gets bigger and bigger and he's already starting to slip. It might be because he's an excellent route runner and Brett Favre was more of a 'just get down-field and I'll sling it' kind of QB.

There's another Cowboy on the horizon in the shape of Kevin Burnett, a young veteran OLB, who would come cheap and provide an upgrade over the guy who's name I can never remember...so don't be "surprised" if we here his name tossed around soon.

Jason Brown won't be coming to Miami - our offer was too low. Bart Scott is gone to our bitter rival. Who else should we be taking a look at?

Crowder, Carey, Wilson and Bell - the new 'law-firm-sounding' ...thingy!

So Yeremiah Bell has signed a 4 year $20 million deal, and Gibril Wilson signed a similar deal, and Channing Crowder signed a similar deal, and Vernon Carey signed a similar deal...okay, so the deals weren't exactly alike but they do all provide certain similarities:

1. We will not be drafting a Tackle with our first pick.
2. We will not be drafting a Safety with our first pick.
3. It's become increasingly unlikely we will be drafting a Line-Backer with our first pick.
4. We are getting closer to having a team that will likely be together for the next three years, providing consistency and continuity that only the upper eschelon of NFL teams tend to enjoy.

This Poll's For You

As many of you are probably aware, I had a very frustrating NFL Combine experience in that, despite the extended coverage by NFLN, I was unable to watch significant portions of it, including the first group of wide-receivers (the one with all the recognizable names) and the entire defensive back group. This was because my satellite receiver has gone ka-ploey! DirecTV assures me they will have a new one out to me within a month and that I can have the pleasure of paying for the time I'm NOT receiving any signal to my TV. All hope is not lost as I can still use my PS3 to re-imagine what the combine might've looked like.

But anyway, this post is to finalize all the polls we had during that time, including the latest one which I have to pull early due to unforeseen results. So here we go:

• Most bench reps at the Combine: the winner in our poll was Brian Cushing with 60% of the vote. He DID have the most for a linebacker at 30, but the top lifter was Texas tech Guard, Louis Vasquez with 39.

• Fastest 40-yd dash time: the winner is our poll was Captain Munnerlyn with 46%. Not even close. Darrius Heyward-Bey received just 7% in our poll but won the event with a speedy 4.30.

• Heaviest Player at the weigh-ins: Have to be honest, this was a gimme, and we still got it wrong. Ray Feinga won the poll with 30% of the vote, but Hermann Johnson, getting just 20% of the vote was a guarantee to win. Despite losing 19 lbs in a month, he was still 27 lbs heavier (364) than his nearest competition which was BJ Raji at a 'bulky' 337.

• Breakout Player of the Combine: To be honest, none of the players in the poll really 'broke out', but top vote-getters, Aaron Maybin (36%), Everette Brown (27%) and Brian Cushing (18%) di nothing to hurt their stock. Tied for third was Malcolm Jenkins who failed to impress scouts, and Max Unger (9%) who did not take advantage of the absence of Alex Mack. In my opinion, the 'break-out' players were: Aaron Curry, LB (proved he was worthy of a a top 3 pick); Connor Barwin, DE (put his name up there with the big ones) and Rich Eisen, Bench (scored a whopping 35 on the wonderlic!).

• Now that Vernon Carey is locked up, who will be the next Dolphin FA re-signed? In what can only be explained by pure luck, or insider trading, 28% of you chose Channing Crowder, despite everyone in the world with any sources saying that Crowder would not be a Dolphin this year. I think the voting went the way of a popularity-vote, with Yeremiah Bell receiving 39% of the vote. I cannot explain the fact that Al Johnson received 21% of the vote since it was reported here, there, and elsewhere that his agent said he wasn't being re-signed. I chalk it up to fans disdain of Samson Satele.

For the record, the Ravens have broken off negotiations with Jason Brown and told him he doesn't fit into their plans next year. Jason Brown will either be a Dolphin or a Buffalo come one hour into free agency.

Thursday Morning Coffee

• So by now you've heard we have our starting ILB Channing Crowder back. WTF! I've spent the last 4 weeks figuring out how to replace him through the draft! I want my damn time back! It's official, I'm no longer getting my news from the Sun-Sentinel or the Palm Beach Post. They have been wrong on everything in the last couple of months! I never bothered with the Herald because I can never find the magic 'blurb' of actual news there. So it's official, I will now get my Dolphins news from myself! LOL. Well, not FROM myself, but from my own research and that of my glorious readers and commenters.

• Speaking of the glorious ones, I want to take a special moment to thank all of you who take the time to visit and engage in the art of blogging with me. It is especially appreciated because of the timing of it. I used to really enjoy parking on the Ol' S.S. bus and riding it through the day but lately it just hasn't been the same. So while I know I will never be able to keep up with the false reports and typos, I will continue to try to make this blog something that I would read myself, and hopefully thus, other Dolfans would as well. And with that in mind, the following video is for you guys. You will want to drop whatever you are doing right now and just take it all in...

Ok, now that I've ranted AND raved, let's get to some discussion points.

• With the re-signing of Crowder, it becomes unlikely that we would go after an ILB in the first round of the draft. It also makes it unlikely we would go after Bart Scott in free agency. It's also not been reported whether or not Vonnie Holliday has restructured his contract (if that was even true, sun-sentinel). At the same time, the NFL increased the salary cap by $3 million today. So if this all pans out as being true, there is an increasing chance we would draft a defensive end with the first pick. But this is where it gets tricky. Unless they plan on converting Peria Jerry to DE (not a bad idea IMO) there really isn't any value in that pick. So if we scratch ILB, DE, DT (because only Jerry is at that level), RB, QB, OL, and S, simply because there's either no 1st round talent, the dolphins don't have a need, or we wouldn't draft so high (OL) for depth, that leaves cornerback and wide receiver as the best value picks.

Looking at the rankings provided by nfldraftscout.com, the following players are within the range of 15 to 35 (a ten point swing either way, IMO, the furthest any player would swing at this point in the first round:

CB Vontae Davis (15)
CB DJ Moore (19)
WR Percy Harvin (24)
WR Darrius Heyward-Bey (28)
CB Alphonso Smith (31)
WR Hakeem Nicks (33)

So it's possible one of these guys, based on my logic, will be the next Miami Dolphins draft choice. We know the Dolphins have already invited Harvin to workout and rumours are they invited Heyward-Bey as well.

Of course, my logic could be twisted to say since Peria Jerry is the only non-CB/WR of value in a position of need, then HE is the next Dolphin draft choice.

Thursday Wake Up Call

Had you told me yesterday that the reported Dolphin signing would be Channing Crowder, I would've scoffed since every Miami Dolphins writer in the last month has flat out said that Crowder would not be back. Now it seems Yeremiah Bell will be re-signed by the end of the week as well. Goes to show that sometimes reporters have no credibility at all on half of their so-called NFL sources, league insiders, what have you. I make no bones about it, if an outside source other than myself tells me something, I'm taking it with a grain of salt. Besides, they can't seem to get the information I can get with my bluetooth super deluxe mouse.

For example, Channing Crowder's contract. I can tell you it is a three year contract worth about $20M with less than half that guaranteed. It is not the 5 year deal reported by Miami newspapers. He took a hometown discount to stay with this regime.

Update: The papers have now corrected the 5 years to 3 years but aren't reporting the value.

Wednesday Wumor!

I've just gotten wind through one of my 3 illustrious rumor-mongering sources that a Dolphins' free agent will be re-signed today. He said expect the announcement within the next 3 hours. He wouldn't tell me who it was but hinted that it was a defensive back. What an ass!

More on this later (maybe)!

Update: When asked about this rumour, Omar Kelly of the Sun Sentinel had this to say:

"I see either bell or goodman being signed before Midnight because their agents should have already identified if there is a market for either, and they've probably realized stays is what's best for each. But they might be bold and go out there."

Talk about total commitment to a statement. Ok, so it's obvious Omar doesn't know the story on this, and to be honest, I disagree with his statement (the first part) because with the non-spectacular performances at Indy, free agent cornerbacks just got a pay-raise. With Asomugha and Robinson tagged, that leaves Goodman in a small group of affordable FAs. Still, my source has a stellar 50% accuracy rate so far in the off-season, so I'm not discounting the story yet.

If it does come true, this would mean the big 3's contention all along that all of our free agents would be allowed to test the market would be less than accurate.

Tuesday's Kibble and Bits

• Buzz in the combine is that Miami is buzzing about Jason Brown. I hesitate to believe any of these rumours because, well, because they are rumours spread by rumour mongers. Unless someone from the Dolphins organization says it, it's no different than one of us fans speculating about it. If Jeff Darlington has a source, he should present a full story.

• Albert Haynesworth joins Jason Taylor in Washington on Friday. No one will match this contract.

• Baltimore Center, Jason Brown, could be very available come this weekend according to his agent.

• The NFL Combine is really shaking up the mock drafts out there as well as teams' draft boards. Top guys either aren't working out by choice (Matthew Stafford, Andre Smith) or have gotten injured and thus aren't completing the work-outs (Michael Crabtree, Rey Maualuga, Brian Orakpo). Then you have people coming in undersized, slower or weaker than advertised. For the most part the group of 300+ has held its own, but some of the bigger names have not been able to blow anyone away. If you're expected to be amazing and you turn in a 'pretty good' performance, that's a bit of a let down.

• I have not seen Sparano or Ireland during crowd shots. They might've been there during some of my satellite outages but I've seen mostly Tennessee, San Francisco, New York Giants, and Chicago reps.
  

• At about 11am eastern, 8am pacific, the defensive backs will save the combine by turning in at least 6 sub-4.4 times in the 40. I'm calling it here now before it starts ;).
  

Monday Combine Summary

• Connor Barwin ran a 4.66, jumped a 10'8" broad, a 40.5" vertical, a 6.87 3-cone, and a 4.18 second shuttle. At 6'4", 253 lbs, this Cincinnati DE/TE/Basketball player kicked ass today.

• The other impressive guys were Aaron Curry and Clay Matthews, who bested Brian Cushing in nearly every drill with the exception of the 3-cone drill.
  

• Vontae Davis put up 25 reps in the bench press. Pretty impressive for a cornerback.

• Connor Barwin, David Veikune, and Aaron Curry were among the standouts in the 'front seven' workouts today. Barwin was strong, athletic and showed he will be a defensive player, not a tight-end as over-exaggerating NFL network analysts have been saying since day one. Veikune interests me. He's a bit smaller and will likely end up as a 4-3 end. I believe the Bills are VERY interested in Barwin so we might see Pennington running away from him next season. Curry is considered by some to be the top player in the draft. He did nothing to hurt that standing today including the top 40 time of 4.56. Clint Sintim on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment.

• Lawrence Sidbury, not exactly a household name, had a huge Senior Bowl week and at 6'3", 257lbs and running a 4.64, is making a strong case for a first day pick.

• Rey Maualuga pulled a hamstring and is done for the combine. He apparently has been nursing a hamstring injury leading up to the combine. He ran a 4.83 in the 40 drill before he felt a "snap" in his left leg.
  

• Brian Orakpo pulled a hamstring as well but had completed most of the drills already.

• Brian Cushing ran an unofficial 4.64. He ran a 4.74 officially. So if you've wondered what the difference between unofficial and official are, no you know. 1/10th of a second.

• Clay Matthews ran a 4.67 officially.

• Update on the official/unofficial times. I've looked at all the times from the linebackers today, and in an uncanny pattern, all the fast times went up and all the slow times went down. So, to put it into music terminology, the 'official' aspect of the 40 is like compression on a recording. I have not checked this pattern on the WR/RBs, etc. but would not be surprised if it held up there as well.
  

Sunday Combine Summary

• Percy Harvin was taller than expected, slimmer than expected, and slightly slower than expected. I don't know what to think about the idea of drafting him. I guess I feel it would be a step in the wrong direction.

• Kenny Britt continued to be a bad-ass, even winking at someone as he decelerated after his 40 yard dash, which timed at a 4.48. This guy is a beast and would be a huge value at #44 but he'll possibly be gone by then.
  

• DE/OLB Everette Brown shrank by more than two inches. At 6'2" 256 LBs however, he'd still be a steal if he dropped to #25.

• Brian Cushing with all his supplements managed 30 reps at the bench press. Respectable but I thought he would do 40ish.

• A couple of USF Bulls are at the combine, Taurus Johnson is a WR that lifted 18 reps, and ran a 4.47. Tyrone McKenzie, remains one of my top prospects, and he lifted 27 reps and will run tomorrow.

I won't go into how bad the weather here is affecting my viewing of the Combine, but at times it feels like I'm watching a Tetris competition. I think I need a bigger Satellite dish.

I missed the first group of WRs altogether since the NFL Network only showed that group once and the replayed the next group 6 times today. From now on I will try to watch it online instead, though it will be tricky on Monday morning explaining to my boss that 'it'll have to wait cuz I'm watching the broad jump!'

Bottom line, my take is, I like Britt, and Heyward-Bey and Maclin actually looked bigger and stronger than I expected. I wish I could've seen their full workouts but NFL Network is obsessed with the 40 and only replayed that portion.

The best part of the day was when they showed Beanie Wells' broad jump. I think at one point the guy jumped clear off the screen but one of his nose hairs fell out onto the ground and they made him re-jump.