My thoughts exactly.....give Penny a nice fat contract and let him begin his coaching career, right here with us.
This crap is getting silly. As is the very thought that we should/would trade Thigpen. Competition is a good thing. Having "too many" capable QBs is a very good thing. How often in our history have we had that "problem"? And injuries do happen. I'm a "run the ball" kind of guy and even I have to admit that this is a QB driven NFL now. If Henne cannot beat out Pennington then we and Henne have problems. Thigpen and Pennington should then fight for the #2 spot although I really want Thigpen to get the reps at number two. Chad Pennington is so much a solid veteran that IMO he could come of the bench if really needed and run the offense without practice reps and without imploding. I'd offer him a sweet 2-3 year deal as a back up QB/QB coach. He is no Culpepper and will work as a true teammate to see that Henne, Thigpen and White improve. And I'd add incentives to his contract if they do improve from his working with them. As I've already stated, I'm pretty sure that Pat White would come in 4th in a real QB competition. He only was able to take the 3rd spot last year because we only had 3 QBs in camp. But this could be the best thing to happen to him and us. He and we get to see if he can really play QB in the NFL and if he needs to move to WR etc and also to see IF he can play another position. I've never heard of him even trying to run a route, catch a pass or return a kick. And one big thing to get here is that is he could be listed as a MLB and still come in as a QB whenever we needed him to. I still think that Thigpen is the much better Wildcat or spread QB. As as we know that Thigpen can play a little WR it only adds to our options if we run the Wildcat with Ronnie as triggerman and as Thigpen at WR. But also having White as a real threat at WR would also push open a few more trick play options. Or this could give us a Wildcat formation with Thigpen as triggerman, Ronnie as the sweep back and White as the WR/QB. This could really open it up in many ways. A little bit of logical thought and planning here could give us a good, capable and stable group of QBs for a number of years.
Great post. I agree with everything up until the wildcat stuff. I personally think the wildcat (as the Dolphins run it) is nothing but a power running formation, with an occasional trick play. I just really don't see reason to have a true QB back there for every play just getting killed. I personally think its a better idea to look for an RB who can throw, not a QB who can run.
The last thing this team needs is a QB controversy. We don't need Henne to have a bad game and Monday morning's papers being littered with articles of "Should Pennington get a shot?"
With a strong regime the media stirring up QB controversy should not affect anything. If Henne can't beat out Pennington/Thigpen in a true competition, then he should lose his job. Not wanting to have 3 competant QB's in camp, is like not hiring 3 good employees because one may get jelous. Competition brings out the best in everyone. No competition is socialism. The United Miami Socialist Dolphins.
I tend to think that other than the numbers game that would need to be sorted out, there's no downside to bringing back Penny. If Henne, going into his third season in the NFL and second as a starter, can't beat out Pennington who has had more injuries to his throwing shoulder in the last 5 years than Henne has probably had injuries total in his career, then he's not the franchise QB most of us think he is. I think he'll have no problem retaining the starting job however, and when Henne has a bad game (because he will, they all do at this point in their careers) Penny will be a consummate professional and reaffirm Henne's role as the starter and leader just as Ricky has done for Ronnie, I have no doubt about that.
I still think his presence on the team would be a win win for us. We all know he's a team guy. Roots and pulls for both offense and defense. There's not many qb's that go over the encourage the D, if any. Henne likes him, Tony likes and admires him so do many of the other players. IMO, he'd be a big asset for us, not a problem. With the stuff I've seen from him, I don't think he ever has an attitude , nor a "me" attitude. I'm sure the stinkin' press would make big deals out of it, but their going to do that anyway, so who cares? I'd love to see him back in our uni. Look how Strock worked with the team on the side lines. Could be, that might be one of the things to help us along.
I agree with the original post. Henne doesn't need someone who can do his job breathing down his neck. Coaching is a good idea.
I think Chad Pennington should be a QB coach or something. Someone who can strengthen Chad Henne's craft to perfect it and make him an even more dangerous quarterback.
