Our RB and WR and QB upgrade choice for this offseason and why them ?

Hey, that's a line I like to use. Thief!!

 

Good point. I hope we get a respectable OC in here prior to FA. I could see Vernon Davis wanting to come home to be with Vontae. He would be my target choice. If I were Sims Walker, I'd want to come here. He's from Orlando, and he would thrive as a #2 opposite Marshall. If I were him, I'd be salivating at the chance to see more 1 on 1 opportunities.

 

Cmon man, get your facts straight. In 2008 Palmer only played 4 games. In 2008 the Bengals line SUCKED!! They allowed 51 sacks that year!! Do I need to remind you the numerous injuries he had....... or would you like to google them all, but I must warn you--- it could take a while!!! Carson has NOT been the same since the beatings his line subjected him too. Next you'll be telling me the world is flat.

Silly boy, the QBs I mentioned couldn't process information b/c they were too busy watching the game from the ground while constantly pulling pieces of turf from their face masks. All they could process was: "Where the f#$# can I run so I'm not sacked by this big, scary, mother-******!?" Some of them might have busted regardless, but they were all doomed for failure b/c they had NO PROTECTION to throw the ball.... and a QB can NOT develop w/o protection.

I don't care what you said about Brady. I was referring to 1st round QBs who bust, however you had to lump NE in with them. Buffalo spent a 1st and 2nd round pick on Oline in 2009.

 

Why does it not shock me that you're the one saying this?

 

Birds of a feather flock together !!!!!!!!!!

 

I feel like I am debating with a third grader,I am done with you time to focus on the raiders game.Peace out.

 

that's a response from someone who has no rebuttal.

I'm gonna say this politely Mr. Dogpumper...... Carson Palmer and now Matt Stafford are the poster boys for what happens to QBs when they have horrible protection. Stafford's career might be over before it even has a chance to begin (yet buffoons like you will end up calling him a bust instead), and Palmer has been so injury plagued that he doesn't even look like the same guy who was taken #1 overall.

Have you met my whip yet?

Now for your education: There's a reason Cincy took LEFT TACKLE Andre Smith with the #6 overall pick, and then took one of the best Center's in the draft, Jonathan Luigs in the 4th..... and it's not b/c they wanted the guy with the flabbiest boobs on their roster. IT'S BECAUSE PALMER WAS TAKING A BEATING AND IT WAS DESTROYING HIM, just as the beatings helped destroy the 1st round picks I previously mentioned.


You thoroughly enjoy being taken to the shed don't you?!
**Since 2000, IIRC only 14 QBs have ranked in the top 10 in Passer Rating when being sacked 40+ times..... and over half of those are from scrambling QBs who like to make things happen like Roethlisberger(2), Rodgers, McNair, Brunnell(2), Culpepper, and McNabb.

**However, 52 times (since 2000) have teams ranked in the bottom 10 when their QBs were sacked 40+ times.

** When Peyton Manning was sacked a career high 29 times in 2001, it was also his lowest QB rating of his career (84.1).

**During Brady's 1st 3 years starting, he was sacked a career high 31, 32,& 41 times, and these were consequently the lowest 3 QB ratings he's ever seen. His best QB rating during this time was never higher than 86.5.

**When Brees was sacked a high 27 times in 2005, it was also his lowest QB rating of his past 6 years.

Are you starting to get the moral yet?..... or do I need to go full out in a new thread entirely dedicated to you?

 

I live in Baltimore and listen to the sports radio all the time up here and the one thing they say about this guy all the time is that he has NO work ethic, that he is lazy. Right now he says he is hurt and his back is hurting him they cant find anything wrong with him. He just doesnt want to play. If we got this guy it would be a big waste of money

 

Just say your wrong

 

At running back I've got my eye on Kendall Hunter of Oklahoma State. I think he can inject the combination of vision and elusiveness, big play ability that the offense could really use, and teams might shy away from his size in the 1st round so we could get a crack at him even if the Dolphins do what everyone suspects they will, trading down to try and re-claim the 2nd round pick they gave up for Brandon Marshall. He has good balance after contact, though not much of a power player I suspect. He's more a stay-on-his feet guy that breaks arm tackles. His explosion after a cut is really something to behold, that 0 to 60. As Simon recently put it to me, the ability after his cuts is Barry Sanders-like. He's got the long speed and open field instincts to break off true homeruns where nobody catches him from behind.

I've also got my eye on Vick Ballard of Mississippi State. He's a very impressive runner, but only a junior. Reminds me of Curtis Martin. Like his vision and really like his ability to make people miss and make yards happen in a physical space. I think he's got some wheels as well.

At quarterback I don't think Miami can possibly upgrade Chad Henne but I've got my eye on Pat Devlin of Delaware. He doesn't have a cannon for an arm and his size is at about 6'3", so being from a small school, you might not see him gain the kind of traction that his predecessor Joe Flacco did. Without getting technical, what I love about him is that the football seems to be his tool, he takes ownership of it, it goes where he wants it to go. Most guys at the college level look like they're in a loose partnership with the football at best. If you do want to get technical, he's got a very quick over the top delivery without much wind-up. He lacks the arm to consistently fire the ball 25 yards from an awkward position with no back foot (shooting from the hip) like you see some guys doing. He'll get about 20 yards off the hip with arm alone from an awkward body position, but you really don't want your guy doing that anyway so I'm not sure I see it mattering. He regularly throws 25 to 30 yards as the crow flies. He regularly uses his eyes aggressively, as a weapon to manipulate the safeties. He can make his reads very quickly. He gets the ball out quickly and before the receiver makes his break. He's a smart and savvy improviser. I can think of one pass right off the bat that still has me shaking my head, pocket collapsing and a guy draped at his waist, he flings the ball forward 5 to 10 yards with just his left hand, the kind of ball you're SURE just ends up intentional grounding, except the pass had a target, a runner that was crossing the middle, and it was caught for a good gain. That's improv. His ball location on short passes seems good. He throws with touch. The big weaknesses are his arm, which is more an open question than a weakness, I just want to see the guy in All Star and Combine settings before I can conclude one way or the other, and his mobility in the face of pocket pressure. He ran for some yards at Delaware, not sure how much of that he'll do at the next level. He seems like he can take sacks at times from what I've seen of him, although his overall sack statistics do not suggest that it's too big of a problem. He takes most if not all of his snaps from the shotgun but I think with his style and execution-oriented play, he's begging to be dropped from under Center. How he measures at the Combine is going to be important to his draft value. If he measures over 6'3" as he's currently reported to be 6032, then he'll be ok draft value-wise. If he's just over 6'2", or maybe under it, then he'll drop some. He's supposedly 222 lbs.

It speaks somewhat well of him that his backup this year was 20 of 32 for 199 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, with 3 sacks versus the 32 attempts...whereas Devlin was 179 of 266 for 2158 yards, 14 TDs, 2 INTs and 15 sacks versus the 266 attempts. It doesn't matter what measuring stick you want to use, be it completion percentage (67.3% vs. 62.5%), yards per completion (12.05 vs. 9.95), TD/INT ratio (14/2 vs. 1/1), TD percentage (5.26% vs. 3.33%), INT percentage (0.75% vs. 3.33%), or Sack Ratio (18.7 Dropbacks vs. 11.0 Dropbacks)...Pat Devlin was better than his backup in every measure. Devlin was a very highly recruited QB, ranked the #4 QB in the country by Scout.com, Parade All-American, Pennsylvania's Gatorade Player of the Year, member of the Big 33 Classic squad, Elite 11 invitee. He's a high GPA guy. He committed to Penn State and lost the QB competition to Daryll Clark, who went on to lead Penn State to an 11-2 record, tie for the Big 10 title, and a berth in the Rose Bowl. But Devlin played that year as well, going 25 of 47 for 459 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs with 2 Sacks, and also running for 2 more TDs. That's superb work. He took over for an injured Daryll Clark in the Ohio State game in 2008, and led the team to a 13-7 victory, leading the offense to two of its scores. With Daryll Clark set to return in 2009, Devlin set off for Delaware so as not to waste any more time sitting on the bench. While at Delaware, he's gone 399 of 610 (65.4%) for 4822 yards (12.1 yards per completion), 30 TDs (4.92%), 11 INTs (1.80%), 41 Sacks (15.9 Dropbacks per Sack), with 136 rushes for 237 yards and 5 TDs. They've got a 9-2 record this year, with a last second loss to William & Mary, where their field goal kicker tried to kick a reasonably-distanced game winner but missed. They lost to Villanova 21-28. They're tied for 1st in the Colonial Division.

At wide receiver, for a little injection of big play ability, I might look toward free agency to see what shakes loose. I don't know what the St. Louis Rams plan to do with Laurent Robinson, they have to be disappointed since they traded for him because he keeps getting hurt. But it's no coincidence that he's feeling the healthiest he's been in years and he contributed 4 catches for 58 yards in a nice victory over the Denver Broncos. Danario Alexander and Danny Amendola seem to be panning out nicely for them, and they've got Donnie Avery and Mark Clayton on injured reserve. Seems like Laurent could be the odd man out when those two return. But if he's healthy, he's tall, fast, and can make big plays vertically. Of course, the way Marlon Moore broke that big 57 yard TD you wonder if he can put the dropsies behind him and start contributing some more big plays. Still, as tempting as it is to get a young guy and develop him, veterans that are itching to prove themselves can be low-hanging fruit that provide more immediate returns...and Robinson's always had the talent to prove himself, he's just rarely been healthy enough to do it, or in the right situation. He'll have the rest of the year to show his stuff.

There are of course no shortage of Wide Receivers in this NFL Draft, or potentially if the juniors come out that I expect. From the juniors Julio Jones, Michael Floyd, A.J. Green, Jon Baldwin, and Greg Childs, to seniors like Leonard Hankerson, Dwayne Harris, Titus Young and Autin Pettis, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Niles Paul, Greg Salas, and Armon Binns...I'd hate to forego this WR class. They seem talent-laden.

The Tight End question is unfortunately a much, much harder one. I'm not seeing many guys I like. I suppose Kyle Rudolph could come out and he'd be my favorite, but I might like to go a different direction at the top of the draft. I like what I've seen of George Bryan the junior from NC State if he comes out. I guess it boils down to who our next OC is and how he feels about non-traditional types like D.J. Williams and Lance Kendricks. But I'm not really a big Luke Stocker or Charlie Gantt fan, haven't watched Rob Housler yet.

 

pffffft...... as if you know anything about running backs from Oklahoma.

 

For a second I thought you were 23rd writing this....... and I about spit up my beer from an unplanned laugh.

 

So I guess it's unanimous that we all like Kendall Hunter then?...... great, now we're not gonna draft him.
Actually, we were pretty unanimous about Edds so maybe there's hope.

IMO our defense will improve just by staying in tact and letting the youth gain more experience, so I'd prefer to focus on offense early in the draft and FA.

My ideal offseason/draft as of right now would be to nab Vernon Davis in FA to free up any potential 2nd rounder to use on Hunter rather than a TE (Kendricks or Williams). A secondary FA target if salary cap/checkbook permits: Carl Nicks at LG.

In the draft I'd love to see:

1. RT/G- DeMarcus Love (start out at G) then move to RT when the time comes. I know he needs some refining, but I love the potential that I've seen from this kid; he seems to play with strong passion and intensity. Considering he's a LT who's asked to play all across the line, his versatility would make him a hot commodity here IMO, and if Jake is ever injured, we'd have an eventual decent fill-in.

2. RB- Kendall Hunter

3. WR/returner- Jernel Jernigan- to replace the speed/return skills we lost from Ginn (I like this kid a lot. He's a competitor who has the extra gear when the game is on the line. And unlike Ginn, Jernigan has some wiggle. He can be our DeSean Jackson 2.0 to help stretch the field and open up more room underneath and steal some coverage from Marshall. It killed me to see us pass on Jacoby Ford whom I believed would be the 2nd coming of Carolina Steve Smith, so Jernigan would be a nice consolation prize.)

4. WR- Greg Little- I know this would be stock-piling WRs, but IMO this kid will be a better pro than college player. He's a very similar receiver to Hakeem Nicks but plays with the intensity of Hines Ward or Anquan Boldin. He's like a Dez Bryant in the sense that we'd just need to find ways to get him the ball and let him go to work..... plus he's a freakin beast in the blocking game! Little & Jernigan could share return duties, and Greg would be a stud on Special Teams.

I understand this could eventually push Hartline to the #5 spot, but I don't play favorites. Little could be one of the elite #2s in the league with Pro-Bowl potential if playing opposite to Marshall. There's no way I could pass on this opportunity just b/c Hartline is on our roster..... especially if we're only talking about a 4th round pick. just my thoughts.

 

Is Vernon Davis a FA next year? If yes, I'd like him. As for the draft, Christian Ponder and Leonard Hankerson.

 

Vernon Davis will not be a FA at the end of the year. He signed a 5yr extension with the 49ers in Sept.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5559531

 

That's how I feel too.

 

Justin Blackmon is draft eligible as well (RS-SO). I'm not sure I wouldn't take him over all the JRs if he came out. Certainly most of them (most JRs, not just the ones you mentioned).

Devier Posey (of Ohio State) is a JR too, and has been pretty good when I've seen him.

 

Comparing our situation to the Detroit situation is an interesting one. I think it's safe to say that these two teams were at a somewhat similar talent level going into the 2008 and 2009 respectively. Meaning the Dolphins coming off a 1-15 season and the Lions coming off an 0-16 season. Since Miami started Pennington year 1, you basically have to compare the 2009 and 2010 seasons for both teams to see what decision may have had a better impact on the team overall.

The Dolphins were 7-9 last year while the Lions couldn't win more then 2 games. Unfortunately, Stafford got hurt and that could have been alleviated if they had given him some protection.

The Dolphins are 6-5 this year while the Lions are sitting at 2-9. Why again, b/c Stafford has not been able to stay healthy.

I think anyone that says drafting Ryan would have been better is not seeing the importance of having a stable line (especially LT). That's not to say that Henne will be good, b/c he has looked shotty at times this year, but I still believe that Long was the right pick considering how much of a sure thing he was and now proving that 3 years later. If Henne fails, we try to find a QB in the next draft or two, but drafting Ryan over Long would not have been the better solution - just ask the Detroit Lions.

 

Vernon Davis isn't available man. He's locked up.

As for Carl Nicks, can we count on him being available? This is only his 3rd year in the league. I guess that means he'll be a Restricted Free Agent next year...would you really give a 2nd round pick for the guy, if that's how he's tendered? I doubt he gets anything less than a 2nd round tender, he might get a 1st round tender.

If you want someone it had better be Logan Mankins, if he manages to escape from NE without a deal. Jeff Ireland called the Patriots up before the trade deadline and asked them about trading Mankins here, so I imagine there could be some interest. Would Mankins be interested in us, though?

There are some linemen I like in this draft. I like Stefan Wisniewski. I love John Moffitt. I love Orlando Franklin. I like Rodney Hudson. Moffitt or Franklin could probably start immediately.

I don't know if I like drafting two more WRs and then waiting while they develop. I'd rather get some immediate returns. If Laurent Robinson gets free I think he could provide immediate returns, and you have to consider the possibility that Marlon Moore continues to excite, and maybe stops dropping so many balls.

I like Greg Little but I'm not nearly as sold as you are on him.

There could be some real good WRs available in this draft, and I agree that for some of them, at some point, it becomes a value question. If guys like Michael Floyd, Julio Jones, A.J. Green, Jon Baldwin and Justin Blackmon all come out...there's going to be TALENT available in those 2nd, 3rd maybe even 4th rounds...guys like Leonard Hankerson, Armon Binns, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, maybe one of those big five juniors I mentioned.

 

Ooooooo. Forgot about Johnson-Koulianos. Dude always seems to make big plays this year.

 

Hey! What happened to my funny joke thread? You guys are mucking it up with relevant football talk. I want to see more about how Henne sucks. Bring back the funny posts. Pump? 23? Anybody?

 

Awwwwww........ s#%t!!!! That's a bummer. Can we trade Carey, Fasano, Moses, and Crowder for him?

 

I thought I heard that NE was going to prioritize signing Mankins.... so I figured Nicks would be the 2nd best bet b/c I didn't think they could afford to pay him, nor will they franchise him & pay him LT money for a year.... but then I completely forgot that we don't have a 2nd rounder, and I definitely wouldn't give NO a first. Ok, scratch Nicks. grrrrr. Is there a chance that Mankins previously said "No way in hell am I going to Miami!!"?

If I had the choice between Little and Wallace or Moore, I'd take Little in a heartbeat..... but that's just me. I wouldn't mind Wisniewski or Hudson either. Haven't seen enough of Moffit to agree or disagree with you. lol.

I agree with you on grabbing a quality vet WR and bypass the learning curve.... I just wasn't keeping my hopes up. Did you give up on Sims-Walker or do you feel there's no way Jax lets him walk?

If we could grab Robinson or Sims-Walker, then I'd definitely want to use our 4th on Little.

What are you honest thoughts on DeMarcus Love and Jerrel Jernigan? I wouldn't mind Blackmon...... but I have too much of a fondness for Little and would rather use a 4th on him than a 2nd on Blackmon.

 

Sorry....my bad, Tacos. I forgot to let Pump outta the shed.

 

Owen Daniels will be free this year. Coming off an injury I think the Texans will be willing to part ways with him with Dressen and maybe a rookie project. I'd like to snatch up Daniels if that's the case.

 

I was thinking about that too. They still have James Casey, so maybe Daniels hits the market. I'd love to get Zach Miller though. We've gotta land one nice FA this year to fill one of our needs so we don't have to use all our draft picks to fill holes. I can't wait till the year when we can afford to draft BPA in virtually every round. That's when we'll know we've "arrived". lol.

 

I don't think the Raiders will let Miller walk. I think Davis makes a play on him early. I do like the prospect of snatching up Marcedes Lewis if the Texans do keep Owen Daniels. Tony Scheffler might make an appearance because of Brandon Pettigrew's surge in Detroit and maybe in a new system with a solid QB Dante Rosario could make some waves.

As for WR, I like the Mike Sims-Walker possibility and Laurent Robinson comes second. I know he has ability but I'm not sold on his health or consistency. Looking at the Chargers situation with Jackson, Gates, McNeill and Floyd being FA's, I think Floyd may not be getting a deal and if he does, not the one he wants. He was threatening a holdout as well. He runs a 4.4 40 and is 6'5''. Imagine him in the stable:

1. Brandon Marshall - 6'4''
2. Brian Hartline - 6'2'' (Also fast)
3. Roberto Wallace - 6'4'' (Pretty fast)
4. Marlon Moore - 6'0'' (Also fast)

It would be in my opinion a menagerie similar to what San Diego put around Rivers and NO put around Brees. A bunch of tall guys that can run around and catch passes. I think the scenario of getting Floyd and snatching up Scheffler, Rosario, or Lewis cheaply is more appealing to me. Somehow I forgot Davone Bess. One of those guys would have to go probably. Maybe by some stroke of luck, the active roster get's increased to 56. (Wishful thinking).

Also, consider the implications for Henne's development with those guys running around. We could even draft a quality RB or Offensive lineman. Trade back and acquire a lineman in the first and RB in the second. Secondary help in the third and maybe another coverage LB of Edds caliber or better in the 4th.

It seems that I like editing this. I added this edit just to say that.

 

I can grasp all that. How about the beastly 6'2 220 Greg Little? We still need some real speed though IMO, which is why I like Jerrel Jernigan. He seems to separate from the rest of the field almost how DeSean Jackson did at Cal.

I really hope we can land Sims Walker and Mankins. Then I'd be jumping for joy if we could trade our 1st back 2 times and end up with 3 2nd round picks to use on something like: 2nd- TE DJ Williams, ILB Mark Herzlich, RB Kendall Hunter. 3rd- NT Kendrick Ellis. 4th- WR Greg Little.

Then I'd trade Crowder, Moses, Langford and next year's #2 or even #1 to get an extra high 1st to use on DaQuan Bowers.

 

Bowers is such a monster. I don't think i've seen a man amongst boys like Bowers in college in awhile.

Though I'm an LSU fan, so if we're trading up for anyone, it's Patrick Peterson.

 

Say Marshall in the slot with Fasano-Bess-Hartline and whoever is playing RB works out and Miami turns out to be a heavily run oriented 3 WR team I don't think you draft a WR, especially with Moore and Wallace developing.

 

Peterson was actually my 2nd desire for trading up. Bowers on the edge is like Suh in the middle..... and they play with the same intensity. DaQuan is a great kid-- super competitive and an awesome teammate to boot. If we let him play at 270, he'd be better than Woodley IMO. Thy physicality of our defense would definitely go up a notch. If I'm Detroit, I'd be absolutely salivating over the chance to line Bowers up next to Suh. Could you imagine those 2 next to each other for the next 10 years?..... especially with the huge Sammie Lee Hill starting to bloom.

 

IMO our run oriented offense won't be as effective unless we can add a legit deep threat to it AND Henne is allowed to change the play at the line. I like Joe Gibbs run style: Combine a dominant ground game with speedy receivers...... when the safeties creep up, throw it over the top; when the safeties are back, run run run.
I'm not particularly fond of resting our #2, #4, & #5 receiver spots in the hands of Hart and 2 FA rookies, especially if Brandon is ever injured. I don't think we can use Oakland as validation that we're ok at the position. One, Nnamdi's ankle was progressively getting worse. Two, IIRC they were w/o their starting nickle corner.

Someone with playmaking ability should be brought in to compete with them, and if someone loses their job, so be it. IMO this draft is too deep at WR to not grab a bargain in the 2nd-4th round. I'd like to get our money's worth from Marshall, and adding a burner who can stretch a defense can let that happen. Plus, guys get tired and need breathers......or they get injured........ and we also need an upgrade in the return game.

 

I really think Mankins could escape. There's definitely some animosity there between he and ownership, and the fact that his holdout managed to get all the way into the 10 games into the season mark may get quieted but that's a pretty big deal. At this point if I'm a New England fan and I see them re-sign Mankins for a big money deal, I'm saying why the eff didn't you do that 6 months ago you dumb pricks? And that's totally valid. If you're going to pay him the money anyway, why are you letting him go through a 10 game holdout?

Those are two big reasons I think Mankins will make it out of New England, the animosity between he and ownership, and the fact that New England has backed itself into a corner, needing to either let him go or sign him to a significantly discounted deal in order to justify their allowing him to hold out. He's a man of very strong principle, so I've heard. He saves his money, and before the hold out occurred we heard that he would be totally content to hole up on his farm for three months on principle, not playing for the team. That's exactly what he did. I could totally see heads continuing to be hard on this issue, and it ending with a split, especially since teams like Miami are probably unofficially feeding him signs that they'd pay him.

It's not as simple as that, you know that. There's also the pick you have to expend, and the chance that a guy coming off a full year layoff, that was already raw at the position to begin with, can't even see the field or contribute in his first year with the team, whereas if Moore keeps making plays like this, he could be making plays for us immediately.

The way he and Garrard are performing together, I think the window of opportunity is shut.

I haven't looked at Jerrel Jernigan much. A guy of that size has to be special to get me to like him, and even then I won't spend a pick much higher than the low rounds like a 5th or maybe 4th. You know I liked Jacoby Ford, I felt he was special enough in the speed department and had just enough natural receiver skills to make that special speed shine. Is Jernigan's speed really Ford-like? I really don't think it is. From some of the things I've seen, I see the guy being outrun all the time. Even at times by big bodies. What makes Jernigan so interesting is his ability to break tackles and be physical despite his obvious stature limitations. But, that's only good if his speed is for real, and right now I'm not sure it is. Not like Jacoby's was, anyway.

DeMarcus Love I haven't looked at much but I've been given high recommendations.

And about Blackmon, if he comes out I'm not sure he'll make it to the 2nd round. Also, we don't currently have a 2nd rounder anyway.

I don't see us using a 1st rounder on a receiver. I think they might like to go with what we have, and figure out a way to incorporate Brandon Marshall and everyone else in a way that makes us effective.

ONE way we can do that is to add a true homerun threat at tailback. The reason I say that is because Brandon Marshall can be a devastating downfield blocker. We've seen it. And Brian Hartline is no slouch, neither is Davone Bess. Anthony Fasano is currently being rated by Pro Football Focus as the 2nd best run blocking TE in football. We have all this perimeter and downfield blocking talent, but no back to take advantage of it. Ronnie Brown does not have the wheels he once did. Look at that long one he broke against the Vikings. He got caught at the 50 when he should have been gone for a TD. The only time we break a real long run is when the defense is crowded to the line of scrimmage, throwing the kitchen sink at our ground game for some situational reason, and somehow our blockers manage to create a big lane anyway. We could be doing so much more than that. Our ground blocking is not great but it's not as bad as people try to say. The thing that is missing is the big play, there are big plays that could be had multiple times in every game if our guys could either make more people miss, or had the speed and open field ability of a young Kendall Hunter, someone like that.

That's one way I think we can really make this offense fit better within itself. I don't know that I believe we need to re-vamp the WRs unit. I'd like to add a highly motivated, veteran role player like Laurent Robinson...to add some elements that aren't here currently. I'd like to see what Marlon Moore has for us, because he really made an excellent play the other day. Two, actually. I'm not convinced Roberto Wallace has anything for us. I think what I'd ultimately like to do is add a Laurent Robinson, and then draft someone to compete with Moore and Wallace. If we need to carry 6 at that spot, I have no problem with that. If Greg Little is your guy in the 4th or 5th round, hey so be it. He's as good an option down there as any. I have to think that Armon Binns is going to gain traction as the draft process plays out. But, if he doesn't, then he's one guy I would rather draft than Little down around that area.

If you REALLY want to add some jitter bug nonsense to this offense, then Jock Sanders might be your cheaper alternative to Jernigan. I think he's faster on the football field than Jerrel. He explodes out of his cuts more quickly, he's got the more explosive long speed. If you're tossing size constraints out the window then Jock Sanders is a guy you want to try and stick back on your kick and punt returns, then have come in the game and either take outright handoffs, or screens, or just have come in and work the slot and make people miss.

 

When it comes to the running backs I wonder how much style matters to the evaluators.

Kendall Hunter could walk into Mike Shanahan's scheme and be a 2,000 yard back. Could he do that in Miami's blocking scheme?

Noel Devine's got a lot more experience making plays behind the kind of blocking scheme that Miami runs, lot of power, pulling, draw plays.

 

IIRC, Mankins has said or intimated that he will not sign a long-term deal with the Patriots due to the way they treated him this season. He signed his tender just to accrue the credit towards free agency, and intends to leave and get paid what he feels he deserves on the open market. You can basically count on Mankins being available in March.

By the way, Bowlen reiterated his support for McDaniels, and then came out a couple hours later and basically threw McDaniels under the bus. You might be right about Miami Dolphins OC Josh McDaniels.

 

Bowlen isn't typically quick to fire a coach and despite everything, I imagine McDaniels is going to get one more year, with Tebow as the starter, to see what happens.

 

Gore is getting franchised....

 

Bowlen said a month ago and a day ago that McDaniels would be safe for 2011. Then he came out 2 hours later and basically threw McDaniels under the bus.

McDaniels can now be considered up in the air for 2011.

 

I'll probably just have to give up on the idea. Too many challenges. Getting Bowlen to fire a guy after his second year is definitely a big challenge. I mean the guy is begging to be fired. He's losing football games left and right, now lost 16 of his last 21 games. His decision to let Mike Nolan go is looking like an outright tragedy. Trading Peyton Hillis for Brady Quinn also looking about as tragic as the fact that he couldn't figure out that a talent like Hillis might deserve featuring in his own offense, prior to the trade. Now you have his coaching staff supposedly turning on him, with one guy saying to Pro Football Talk that if McDaniels didn't treat everyone like a piece of sh-t then he wouldn't have problems with his staff turning to reporters and outing him like they did to Jay Glazer about the locker room speech he gave where he admitted that they cheated in New England. He's begging to be fired but for some reason Pat Bowlen seems intent to stick by his side. So be it.

Even if he does get fired, there's a chance that he could decide that with Mike Nolan and Brandon Marshall here, he wouldn't want to be here. I'd previously not heard about any animosity between McDaniels and Nolan, but this latest bit from PFT about his coaching staff turning on him because he treats everyone like crap...has me thinking maybe there was animosity there after all, a lack of respect. Same could be true with Marshall. If that's the case, then I don't think I want the guy here. He thinks the world of himself and he needs some humble pie, and just being fired might not be enough. Someone's got to break him, and I don't know if I want to go through that in Miami with him having just been an equal of Sparano's the year before. He doesn't sound mature enough to handle that. That would already be a delicate situation because Sparano is going to insist on having some input in the offense and playbook.