Tight End David Martin has been forgotten, but the loss of his production has hurt us a great deal. Last year, after 7 weeks Martin had 16 receptions, 233 yards and 1 touchdown. This season, his replacement, Joey Haynos, has 3 receptions for 38 yards and no touchdowns over 7 weeks. With Fasano's regression we *really* are suffering without Martin as a TE pass-catching threat. He was a quarterback's best friend, pressured the deep seam and backed the LBs off the LOS to create more running room for Ronnie and Ricky. CHad Henne is suffering from a lack of receiving targets. Martin has not been signed by anyone. He knows this offense, including the Wildcat. With the losses to injury we have had recently, I would consider re-signing him until Fasano shakes out of his slump.
OKay... guess he is injured. http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/story/1221215.html But is it possible that his hernia and knee have improved a lot by now? Keep in mind, he was practicing through training camp etc. with those injuries instead of resting them. Perhaps the last six weeks of complete rest have let his body heal up now.
We do need some kind of threat at TE. I wonder if he is even in playing shape? He probably wont get a chance unless one of our TE's get injured.
Yeah... it's pure desperation on my part to even bring it up. When you are hanging your hopes on an injured David Martin to get back into football and turn your season around... well, that sort of says it all.
Come on BPK. You're a Dolphin fan and have over 10,000 posts in less than 2 years... And you didn't know David Martin was injured ?
Forgot... remembered cutting him... because, pretty much we seemed to not WANT him more than he had anything. He did not have an MCL or anything. His hernia was just healing slowly since he was trying to play through the recovery period with it in training camp. I thought he might be recovered by now... but I think we put him on IR, so that'd end that discussion. For the record, I felt the injury was a borderline IR injury which the dolphins used to move Martin off the roster to clear space for Nalbone. More about the Dolphins being okay with letting Martin go than with him really having a year-long injury, imo. I think he filed a grievance, in fact, no?
Let me clear this up a little. Martin was never waived/injured. There were reports of that, and his agent hinted that there were some negotiations. But the Dolphins ultimately placed him on IR. http://www.thephins.com/2009/09/16/tight-end-martin-has-knee-surgery/ No grievance, because he wasn't released and is being paid in full. If both sides had agreed on an injury settlement, the Dolphins (and only the Dolphins) could not re-sign him this season. At any rate, I've harped on this since the day he went down. Really hurts us. And I expect to see the position addressed in the offseason. Martin is 30 and will be a free agent, so it's likely he has played his last down for the Dolphins. But I would be happy if we brought him back.
Simple solution, get him a power scooter so he can get out on his patterns... think how tough he would be to bring down after he kicked the scooter into gear!
Thanks Muck!!! I knew it was more about the Dolphins not WANTING David than about his injury truly wiping out the whole season for him. In retrospect, I wish we had the option now of putting him out there. I don't want him for next year, just the remainder of this one. Since he was IR'd that's not possible.
They didn't just dump Martin because they were looking to get rid of him or thought they had better.He got put on IR like a week before the season started, and was the #2 TE on a team that uses tons of 2-TE sets. I don't think their attempts to reach a settlement means they didn't want him for this season, I think it was out of respect for the fact he was a Free Agent they weren't likely to resign after this year. If they came to a settlement, he could resign with whomever he wanted late in the season, rather than being stuck on the roster until March. They are going to be going hardcore for a TE in '10 draft, I think. Btw, I think it is also worth mentioning that Joey Haynos is doing a hell of a job blocking as well. Not quite as dominating as Fasano has been, but Haynos has turned into a nice H-Back. I wouldnt mind seeing him kept as the #3 TE and bulking up to like 280+.
Plan A We ride out to oakland. slip something into what Al Davis is drinking. Convince him to release Zach Miller. Sign Zach Miller. Plan B We ride out to Dallas. slip something into what Jerry Jones is drinking. Convince him to release Jason Whitten. Sign Jason Whitten. Plan C ????
Maybe a month ago... not now that he's catching fire. I've seen him in the highlight reels two weeks in a row now.
this is not the time to deal but to develop: we could conceivably run the board in this final set of games but that will require more than talent & effort alone, it will require tremendous luck. what does not require luck is the decision to develop & evaluate our fledgling franchise. these directions are not necessarily diametrically opposed. should be a great game against the jests.