Thoughts On Eifert - great hands - seems to drop it when there's a guy draped on him... unless it's a jump ball - average run blocker (he won't be blocking DBs as much in the NFL as he did in college. hen he blocked LBs or DEs he was not as good) - on shallow passes, curls, ins, outs, he does not have the mental awareness to cut the DB off from the ball with his body, consequently doesn;t help prevent the DB tipping or intercepting the pass (a great TE or receiver can help the angle, which makes up for a late throw by a QB by stepping towards the ball and cutting off the DB. Eifert fails to do this) - great length when ball is in air and he goes up to get it - should be deadly in seam and endzone - at his best in the MIDDLE of the field. Stronger on high vertical balls, not cutting to sidelines. (Tannehill started by preferring the sidelines, but will Eifert help Tannehill a great deal in the middle? I suspect so.) - struggles to catch passes that are right on his numbers, actually better when it's away and up due to his long arms - The kind of target a QB grows to like and trust
Post #24 was solely and exclusively about FA TEs. It says nothing about the draft. You quoted it and said in typically condescending manner that "the answer is so obvious . . . ." Yes, your post talked about the draft AND free agency, thus clearly including free agency. And now you are incredulous that someone might ask what great FA TEs we missed out on? Classic.
Clark wasn't available until this offseason. The Dolphins decided to go with a young guy in the draft instead of 33 yr old Dallas Clark coming off two injury plagued seasons. Does that really seem unreasonable? Cooley hasn't done anything in years. Winslow has 1 catch for 12 yards this year. Is there really a lot of room for criticism for not picking him up?
I didn't expect it to be obvious to other people although it should've been for anyone with enough attention span to actually read the quote he quoted of me and his response. But it should have been quite obvious to slickj himself.
Dallas Clark is playing pretty good ball this year after one bad season. He also signed for cheap, to be a backup TE. . Cooley hasn't done anything since setting career highs in rec and yards in 2010, we then could have picked him up the next year. Any reason not to? As for Winslow, he went to a loaded team in SEA, then a loaded team in NE. Did he have the best year of his career last year? No, but the dude is far from done, if nothing has changed from last year other than his team. Oh, and then of course we have Zach Miller.
Dallas Clark is on his last legs. Why do you think Denver and Manning brought in Tamme and Dreesen and let Clark go to TB? Why not bring in Cooley? How about his knees are made of jello and his job was taken away by Fred Davis. Winslow is a combination of the previous two. All awful options, imo.
I wouldnt be happy if they took him before the 3rd round. Eifert is one of the most over rated players in this draft...
One of the things that is kind of uncool about this whole question around the TE issue this off season is I feel in many ways it may be self-inflicted. Arthur Brown is probably the 2nd best linebacker in this Draft behind only Manti Te'o. Some believe might even be the best. In 2011, this is what Michael Egnew did to him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscGqtOU8ag&feature=player_detailpage#t=159s But it's not like that's the only time he beat him. Here are some more instances of Brown matching up on Egnew, on tape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscGqtOU8ag&feature=player_detailpage#t=91s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscGqtOU8ag&feature=player_detailpage#t=96s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscGqtOU8ag&feature=player_detailpage#t=103s But that's not all of course. Lavonte David is currently the star rookie weak side linebacker of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is currently ranked by PFF as the 8th best 4-3 OLB in the NFL with an overall rating of +7.9. He leads the Bucs in snap count among linebackers. Here are some of the things Inactive Eggnog did to him in 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diclp2_25ys&feature=player_detailpage#t=230s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diclp2_25ys&feature=player_detailpage#t=255s And here are a few more meat and potato plays against Lavonte David: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diclp2_25ys&feature=player_detailpage#t=184s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diclp2_25ys&feature=player_detailpage#t=219s And this was on Dejon Gomes, who has played 400 snaps at safety for the Redskins this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diclp2_25ys&feature=player_detailpage#t=242s And since it's kind of apropos to the AFC East, here's a play where he spins out of a Tavon Wilson (400 snaps at SS for the Patriots this year) would-be tackle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diclp2_25ys&feature=player_detailpage#t=40s And finally, as I've already posted, here's a play he made in preseason which to this point in the season still has to figure as the 2nd most impressive play made by a Miami tight end all season, preseason and regular season included: http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/0ap2000000048683/Pre-WK1-Can-t-Miss-Play-Devlin-31-yard-pass Maybe the guy is dumb as a box of rocks. I don't know. He certainly sounds relatively intelligent when I've seen him interviewed. But I've seen some dumb dudes put on the field and put in position to succeed. The guy needs a chance before he gets a fork stuck in him. He made great plays against NFL caliber players in college.
I don't know why we can't do both. Re-sign Fasano and bring in a high talent TE. Fasano would make for a fine 2nd TE doing what he does best....block and catch TD's. In fact with the right TE beside him......Fasano could be the new 2008 David Martin. Make Egnew/Clay have to outplay him to get more then the 3rd spot.
WE CAN ONLY HOPE , for some reason i am having nightmares about next season i wished we had a tightend or even two tightends that were great I liked the Steelers tigh.tend , by the by what is his name ? i cant seem to think of his name rightnow
but we're assuming Bennett would choose us over the superbowl champ Giants? only if we overpaid for the guy, which isn't worth it with Bennett. we can throw free agent names out there all day, but not relevant unless they want to play here. Now that we're showing promise with a young gunslinger and (FINALLY) an offensive minded coach, maybe the FA ground for offensive weapons gets to even ground. I'd rather not draft a TE early in the draft. Go after Dustin Keller. Keller and Fasano is a very good combination for Tannehill. would be a very nice 2 TE set. develop Egnew to give us Fasano, Keller, Egnew as our 3 TEs, Clay as the 4th. then spend our 1st on a pass rusher. get a DB, WR and another Olineman.
I thought he had a chance to contribute as well from what he looked like in college, only thing I can think of is when I saw him in camp, he was just soft, body was definitely not well developed, and he just had no explosion in the practices that I saw, nothing off the line where you took notice, I was trying to find something to write about that was good, but couldn't.he looked lethargic.. We know he's very athletic, maybe it is upstairs.idk.
They have some pretty big FAs iirc. I think we could promise him a bigger role than he has in NY and it's pretty clear Tannehill is pretty damn good. Not like asking Larry Fitz to stay in AZ.
Or it shows the value placed on that position by Tuna and Sparano. Why else would he call Payton and give him the thumbs up on Jimmy otherewise? Tuna knew he was good but did not value the TE position enough to go after him.
I think Ertz will be available for us in the 2nd round, and my only wish is that Ireland pulls the trigger, and not try to be cute and wait for better value with a later pick.
None of those guys were a candidate to start over Fasano. Clay and Egnew are being developed for the #2 or pass catching role. So we're talking about ditching our young guys for washed up back up types who are useless on ST and not much better than what we already have but far more expensive. Its ironic that people bash the GM for not making idiotic moves.
I think the Dolphins best option at tight end is probably in free agency. They're probably not going to be huge players in free agency, and any of the signings would represent I think about as big as they are willing to go, but they've got a chance to fill a hole with a player who may have their price depressed just by virtue of the number of available players Free Agents: Martellus Bennett Fred Davis Dustin Keller Tony Gonzalez Jared Cook Brandon Myers Dallas Clark Potential Release/Trade-Bait/RFA: Jermichael Finley Antonio Gates Dennis Pitta Ed Dickson Not all of these guys are likely going to available, but I'm sure some of them are, and there are a couple names I think would be very appealing for the Dolphins. Personally, I'm about Bennett, Cook, Myers, and maybe Gates depending on circumstances.
speaking of tightends I really like Heath Miller from the Steelers , Brandon Pettigrew who is injured and is having a bad year bu he is still one of my favorite tightends . I liked Hunter Goodwin back inthe day because he was one hell of a blocker . I liked Donald Lee and Randy McMichael because they were athletic yet they were not as good of blockers back then as they are now, I just wished we could use a three tightend one rb and one wr on some plays and if it was me i would draft one big tightend and bring in aother f/a tightend and cut Eggnew . If I had per sae Pettigrew as the main target and Fasano as a blocker and Clay as a target / blocker then i would be satisfied at the posistion
