I’m not arguing that Shockey is a great player. But who would you rather have, Jeremy Shockey, Jeron Mastrud, or Dedrick Epps? That’s a no-brainer. Has nothing to do with this, at least to me.
Yeah, it's cool; no problem. We don't need to sign anybody or anything. We good. After all, we were 14-2 last season and made the playoffs. Oh, wait...that was our division rival, the Patriots. Well...we were 11-5 and played for the AFC Championship. Oh, wait...that was our division rival the Jets. Yeah, no...we good. 7-9 and all. 'Sall good. Don't need no one. Or nothin'. You stay that course, Jeff Ireland, you magnificent bastard you.
That's not the choice, by any means. Passing on Jeremy Shockey does not mean they are disinteresting in getting another good tight end, considering there is the virtual entirety of the draft and free agency for them to do so if they are inclined. It's not a zero-sum game by any means. Not to you know mention the loads of legitimate reasons to pass on him.
I’m not looking at this in a vacuum. We’ve been looking for legitimate tight end depth since David Martin was let go. As a reminder, here are some of the names we’ve shuffled through: Jeron Mastrud, Kory Sheets, John Nalbone, Mickey Shuler, Joey Haynos, Sean Ryan, Matthew Mulligan, Aaron Halterman, Ernest Wilford in a desperation “he has to be worth SOME of that money…” move, resigned and cut David Martin, etc etc. And then there’s the 2010 draft. Loads of tight ends. Enough to rival a strip club. The Dolphins had a legitimate shot at several, and didn’t draft a single one. So all we have is Anthony Fasano and a revolving door. In this context, passing on a one year deal for Jeremy Shockey is defensible to you? I don’t understand that at all. You have not actually made any sort of compelling case for rostering Jeron Mastrud or Dedrick Epps over Jeremy Shockey.
I'm not sure why you think this is such a big issue. Having a high quality 2-TE set is not such a critical issue that we need public lamentations over their inability to consistently field one. It would be nice to have a tight end who could challenge the seams a bit better than Fasano, but Jeremy Shockey wouldn't have done that unless you went back in time and pulled him out of circa 2006. I'm pretty well convinced they're willing to run a base 2-TE offense and spend resources on another guy, but it's got to be the *right* guy. Someone who can block as well, and given the commitment you're making resource wise and snap wise, that's not unreasonable. Actually, yeah, there's a quite compelling case... Doing the same things out of different sets. Jeremy Shockey isn't remotely close to the kind of receiver Davone Bess is, and him eating into passing options and driving the offense away from a 3-Wide sets is not good. Likewise, even with his down year, Lousaka Polite is a whole hell of a lot more positive influence as a blocker than Shockey is.
Good. I never wanted that overrated injury prone blowhard anyway. Draft a good rookie prospect and develop our own TE for once in franchise history for cryin' out loud. When was the last time we drafted a quality TE and turned him into a Pro Bowler? It's about time we did that, don't you think?
The problem with Shockey is that he is a "name." People see the name, and don't look at his last season. Just because we have struggled to fill a second TE slot doesn't mean we need to rush out and claim everyone else's trash. Sometimes players are released simply because they aren't that good. The lack of signing Shockey doesn't indicate AT ALL that we are planning to ignore the TE spot. It just means we brought in an overrated washed-up has been, realized he was an overrated, washed-up has been and decided to explore other options. Now if we decline to draft one during the upcoming Draft, and make no move to sign anyone in FA? At that point I would be concerned. But passing up one overrated, washed-up has been is not, actually, the end of the Dolphins franchise. I can almost guarantee we will go through this same thing with Kevin Smith. I mean really folks, the gold from free agency generally comes from finding undiscovered talent that another team couldn't maximize, not in rushing out and grabbing aging, injury prone vets because they went to "The U" and were drafted in the first round years ago.
Jeremy is clearing much better then what we have now,Who ever does not see that needs to start watching the games.
Games from 3 years ago sure. Last year? Not so much. Maybe he would have upgraded our #2 spot, but I would much much rather fill that with Zach Miller or through the draft. We aren't talking a premium free agent here. Especially considering his injury history - I don't see him helping us from the trainers room.
Then you swap roles, or, gasp, adjust your offense to fit the players. Isn’t that the point of running the “Patriots offense”? I doubt they’re going to magically have a decent tight end fall into their laps this year in the draft—or, in a parallel with Aaron Hernandez, one will be available and they’ll pass—so at what point is a tight end the “*right*” guy? When an undrafted free agent takes every single reception to the house for a touchdown? A backup tight end does not eat into 3 WR sets.
I really hope they have a plan at TE then. Not that he's the best scenario for us, but he's certainly better than anything we presently have.
Its frustrating how the fron office is doing nothing to bring in players....another pitiful season up ahead.
There's not a huge list of quality players they've passed over. Hernandez is on it, but there's a reason like he dropped like he did, and the assessment is clearly shared by a decent amount of the league for good or ill. This offseason, if they don't show any interest in the two potential guys who are pretty much completely in their mold, then you're on to something. It's a different mismatch when they are on the field, but those two sets are basically mutually exclusive, and often a team with a good "oversized WR" type tight end will run a 2-TE with one split out in lieu of a 3-WR set. Davone Bess is a better matchup vs. a slot receiver in the passing game vs. Jeremy Shockey and a linebacker. Hell, Davone Bess blocking a slot WR in the run game might be a better mismatch than Shockey blocking down on a linemen or linebacker too.
I would have hoped most of the people who have the personality to do this kind of thing would have, you know, learned from last off-season, or at least let the off-season actually start first.
I mention Hernandez because you brought up the topic of a seam-busting TE. That’s what Hernandez is. Arguably it’s Hernandez’s exclusive skill, which would explain why he fell to the 4th in the first place. One dimensional players who are really good at that one dimension are prototypical mid round picks. But the exact type of player you brought up as being a good fit with Fasano was available right there for the picking… and we passed. The cumulative evidence is that there’s one hell of a blind spot for the position. Just because Bess might be more of a mismatch doesn’t mean Shockey doesn’t present his own unique difficulties to an opposing defense. 3rd & 5. Marshall, Shockey on one side of the field. Hartline and Bess on another. Where do you roll coverage? To Marshall and Shockey, specifically Marshall with a guy in Shockey’s neighborhood. You can throw a jump ball to Marshall, the possession reception to Shockey, or look at the other side of the field at your YAC options in Bess and Hartline. I don’t see a downside here.
Or, you know, the marijuana thing, and the character concerns? There were legitimate reasons for them to pass on Hernandez, nor does he by himself represent some sort of blind spot. Shockey isn't that kind of mismatch and hasn't been for years. He came into the league as an oversized WR type who was too fast for LBs and too big for DBs, but he's lost it. He's just a guy who can't block and does a pretty good job underneath, and that's fairly redundant when when Fasano did a better job as both a blocker and a receiver here.
I’ve already given you the context of the blind spot comment. Thus a backup. The argument isn’t Fasano versus Shockey as the #1 TE on this team. Again: Shockey, Mastrud, or Epps? Shockey, easily.
It's totally arbitrary and not at all reflective of what has actually gone on? That's not in any sense the choice being offered to the Dolphins. It's not Shockey or what we have, and considering that Shockey didn't resign with the Saints who were said to want him as a #2 and signed with a team as a clear starter, it's not clear they could have signed him without a commitment inappropriate to his talent.
A list of transactions at the TE position under the current front office is arbitrary. Okay. Ah, it becomes clear. You think Shockey wanted to be the #1. This explains everything.
I would have loved the Shockey of four or five years ago. This version of Shockey is often injured and seems to be more interested in off the field activities than on the field activities. While I agree with those who feel we need an upgrade at the tightend position. I think the Dolphins were wise in deciding not to spend money on a player who has seen his best days in the NFL already come and go.
