As a rookie last season, center Samson Satele started 16 games and was one of the few bright spots during a 1-15 season. But Satele hasn’t been quite as impressive as a second-year player and could find himself fighting for a job he’s held ever since he arrived in South Florida. Recently acquired center Al Johnson not only is going to push Satele, Johnson could unseat him. Signed recently off waivers as he’s recovered from two knee surgeries, Johnson played four seasons under Tony Sparano and Bill Parcells. This week, Sparano called Johnson, “the smartest lineman I’ve ever coached.” Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach & Treasure Coast news, sports, entertainment, jobs, cars, homes
Not sure I buy this. Comes off as an article trying to make something out of nothing. Johnson is about to turn 30 and has been in the league for 6 years. If he was such great shakes, he wouldn't have been free agent fodder this late in the season.
Exactly what I thought. First thing I did when I opened it was check to see if it was an ArMANdo article. One thing that is certain, Johnson will have his chance to participate with our depleted situation
When he's healthy he's pretty solid. Better than Satele has been so far because he can anchor to some degree.
lets see. ayodele -> played for sparano and parcells -> now starts for dolphins fasano -> played for sparano and parcells -> now starts for dolphins ferguson -> played for sparano and parcells -> now starts for dolphins pennington -> drafted by parcells -> now starts for dolphins al johnson -> played for parcells and sparano -> you fill in the rest
I think it was the injury more than anything. He played thru the knee all last year, then had two surgeries on it this year. Got hurt in preseason and landed on IR when AZ couldn't get him to reduce his salary. That and he was in the middle of an injury grievance with Arizona after they released him I believe. I would guess that perhaps that needed to play out first before we wanted to touch him.
Keith Davis -> played for Parcells and Sparano -> signed this past March and then promptly cut this past August I think they cut another ex-Cowboy as well, but you get my drift. Parcells and Sparano aren't going to just give this guy a starting gig because he played for Dallas at some point...especially since he's several years removed from being an effective NFL starter.
He's a pretty good player overall though. At 6-4, 305 he's quite a bit bigger than Satele who I think may have left his weight training regimen behind. He looks smaller and smaller every single week. Johnson won't get pushed back like a rag doll but he can't take a NT one-on-one either (few can, basically Kreutz and Gurode off the top of my head, Hartwig too). Johnson has much more pedigree than Davis and Nate Jones. Muck's point was fair.
No doubt that injuries played a role, but as you all know, Sparano doesn't feel sorry for guys with injuries. If anything, his injury track record makes it that much less likely that this guy is being pegged as the team's center of the (near) future.
Keith Davis-> gone Nate Jones-> pretty close to irrelevent Johnson being signed by us def doesn't guarantee that he starts. He probably wouldnt of been signed without injuries anyways.
Far from it. On the other hand a combination of the two may be seen as a possible solution considering what they did in Dallas as well as the fact that we are going to most likely be going SOLB-NT with the first two picks this year. Alex Mack, etc are not likely.
One year removed. Previously he has had regular playing time since his sophomore year. Whenever he's healthy he either starts or rotates in.
I don't know that he's the 'future' at the position. But he knows the system up front and is more of the type of player they like. If nothing else, he upgrades the depth up front. Heck, he might be our starting left guard next year. Who knows. Russ Grimm thought enough of Johnson that AZ would make him a $4 million/year guy. They look for similar lineman out there.
Even though to some Samson may be having an off year alot of it I feel has to do with the guard play to his right and you can add Vernon Carey to that also. I believe if you reinsurt Thomas into the line up everyone ends up looking and playing better. Just looking at this: FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Football analysis and NFL stats for the Moneyball era - Authors of Pro Football Prospectus 2008 Although the ol has regressed since the start of the year VC is still ranked #3in run blocking. While its true stats don't tell the whole story it says alot to me about Vernon's effort.
Boomer had a great thread going in the Draft section re: the Gator/Tide game and made a lot of good points about Antoinne Caldwell. He was very, very impressive. He's powerfull, smart, disciplined, and has almost unique feet and quickness for his position. I still think that a masher like Mack suits us better, but if Caldwell is there in the 2nd I would be thrilled to get him- he's that good- think Dwight Stephenson ability, at least so far. Satele- either pick it up big time at C, move to Guard (I don't really see him being the power Guard they want) or get traded to a finnesse OL team like the Broncos. Barring injury excuses I would take a 4th for Satele based upon his play so far. Yuck.
That's true. He had very solid numbers in 2007: washingtonpost.com That said, he has dealt with some potentially career-ending injuries and the fact that he's an ex-Cowboys does not guarantee him anything. Hope he works out and helps take this line to the next level, but I'm not holding my breath.
My prediction is that if Al Johnson stays healthy, he will be our starting center in 2009. I'd like to see what Satele could do at the OG position. If he can excel there, we'd find ourselves in a very nice position with 3 OG's that are solid to very good, including one with the flexibility to play OC.
We are not getting as many opening up the middle and when I watch Satele he seems to be getting pushed around by much bigger nose tackles. Maybe Satele would be better off at the Guard spot? There was a guy who played high school ball here in Colorado named Phil Loadholt...he now plays LT for the Oklahoma Sooners, and he is a beast, 6' 8" and probably 330. I would love to see him maybe at the LG position next to Jake. There would be nobody getting to the QB from the left side.
The Fins definitely need a center who can hold his own and at least slow up the NT so the QB can adjust. It would be nice to have a center who can not only hold his own, but can make penetraition some times when needed. I was excited for Satele last year but he is getting pushed around quite a bit this year. I don't know if he has regressed or maybe it shows how very bad our OL was last year. I love the fact that Ireland/Parcells are continually looking for talent and are always trying to find players who are diamonds in the rough or have slipped through the crack.
