more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/#storylink=cpy Well at least eat the contract for Naanee .He is the invisible man and Tanny needs receivers he can trust beside Bess and Hartline .I suspect it hasnt been done so far because of orders from the FO to save as much cap as posible.This has been a frugal free agent class and it shows. We cant blame it all on Ireland .He may be following orders. What are your thoughts on the matter.
The one among those that makes the least sense to me was Jacoby Jones. When the Texans got rid of him I talked about him a lot. He would have been a good return man as well as a decent receiver, and he was cheap. I mean if you didn't think Vincent Jackson was worth a $26 million gamble because of his past, I could understand that. And if you thought Reggie Wayne was too old for a rebuilding offense, I'm not sure I agree with that, but whatever. Brandon Lloyd wasn't going anywhere other than NE. But it doesn't just end with those guys. Considering Miami's only speed guy was Clyde Gates, and Joe Philbin seemed pretty reticent about that guy from Day 1, why aren't you considering Devin Aromashodu, Donnie Avery or Brandon Tate? Any of those three would be contributing here and you had the chance to sign them in time to participate in training camp, unlike Anthony Armstrong whom you had to wait until an hour before the season started. You can't tell me guys like Steve Smith (the lesser), Jerome Simpson or Mario Manningham wouldn't be welcome here right about now, as well. Any of these guys are one Tony McDaniel excision away from being fully paid-for.
I agree with CK. The Dolphins have great 3 and 4 receivers in Hartline and Bess. The Dolphins just don't have any legitimate 1 and 2 receivers. To me this has been Ireland's biggest weakness as the teams GM. He has been unable to upgrade the receiving positions on the offense and the secondary on defense. The WR's, TE, and secondary positions are the three major weaknesses on this team. While Ireland has done a decent job in building the offensive and defensive lines. Millions of dollars were spent, along with high picks to upgrade these position. The Dolphins now have quality defensive and offensive lines. What they don't have is anyone on offense, except Bush, who is a player the opposing team has to worry about. Hartline, Bess, and Fasano, have been with the Dolphins since Parcells was running the Dolphins. Ireland has yet to select a single receiver who is better than any of these three players. In fact Gates, Egnew, Clay, Cunningham, and Matthews are the receivers selected by Ireland over the past two years. Gates and Cunningham were cut by the Dolphins. Egnew and Matthews have been on the inactive list all regular season. Clay has been a major disappointment and appears to be taking steps backward, instead of forward. The receivers Ireland has signed as free agents have so far been non-productive. The fact Naanee was signed to come in and be the replacement for Marshall is a joke, While I was no big fan of the Marshall's antics. At least he was a quality receiver most of the time and a player other teams were concerned with. Naanee on the other hand has a grand total of zero catches in three regular season games. This just is not acceptable.
I see what you did there..and you are correct sir. I just find it offputting that we don't have youngsters battling for position 3 thru 6.
Unfortunately that has been Hartline's problem since he came to the Dolphins. So far this season, he has had 13 catches and 9 of those were in one game. I think Hartline would be an excellent third option on a team with two quality receivers. Right now though, Hartline has trouble getting separation from the better CB's in the NFL. The Raiders didn't have quality CB's and therefore Hartline was able to have a great game. The Jets and Texans have quality DB's and Hartline was only able to catch four balls total on these two games. As a third receiver, Hartline would be going up against a backup DB and not one of the starting CB's. I think he could be very effective each week in this scenario. I just don't see him being a consistent threat with the present situation he finds himself in with the Dolphins. This isn't his fault. He just isn't a true # 1 or 2 WR, IMO.
He dropped a TD and got open against the Jests multiple times. As I recall he was open to seal the game late and Tannehill just missed him. You can say that if he was faster it's a completion, but you can say that about any WR on an overthrow. He can get open and has great hands, just needs to show both more consistantly. I don't see him beating double teams, or world class corners, but that isn't a #2 job IMO.
We brought in four youngsters in Jeff Fuller, Rishard Matthews, B.J. Cunningham and Derek Moye, and had them compete with other returning youngsters like Marlon Moore, Roberto Wallace and Clyde Gates. It just so happens that of them, only perhaps one (Matthews) is truly worth a damn.
He's a sub-optimal #2 and an optimal #3 on a team whose #1 or #2 is a guy that regularly works the slot.
The problem with this line of thinking is that Brian Hartline is probably legitimately the only Z receiver in the league that has 4.52 speed. He's a little bit of a contradiction as a player and that's why he's not optimal. He's good, don't get me wrong I have always liked him (well not always, I didn't like him as a draft pick but was quickly impressed with him as a rookie), but to say he's a good #2 in this league, I'm not sure I would go there.
I think the idea is to develop Ryan Tannehill this year, and I suspect Joe Philbin wants two guys out there who are smart enough, focused enough, and run routes well enough to be exactly where they're supposed to be on passing plays. Jabar Gaffney and Plaxico Burress may offer things Bess and Hartline don't, but if they fall far enough short of them on what I've mentioned above, which is what in fact may be most important to Joe Philbin in Ryan Tannehill's developmental season, Philbin may not believe it's worth the trade-off. Philbin is too smart not to have fully analyzed this. Chris Chambers is talking about personnel decisions made with the goal of winning, whereas Joe Philbin may be making personnel decisions with the goal of developing Ryan Tannehill in the most effective way possible.
I think Chris Chambers is just a little more focused on what Jabbar Gaffney and Plaxico Burress have to offer than LEGEDU NAANEE and ANTHONY ARMSTRONG don't...not Davone Bess and Brian Hartline. I mean, that was stated pretty explicitly in the article.
You think Jabar Gaffney and Plaxico Burress are going to sit on the bench behind Davone Bess and Brian Hartline without causing a stir?
Why wouldn't they? It's either sit on the bench (which is debatable anyway) and collect a paycheck or sit on their lazyboys and collect nothing.
They're freaking unemployed right now. I'm pretty sure they'd welcome the chance to come onto a team and be the #3 and/or #4 guy. Besides, Gaffney's played just about his whole career as a #3 or #4. He could hardly object to it now. Plaxico has played second fiddle before. If he wants a job he has to be OK with being a #3 or #4. Simple as that.
You see him as a 2 and I see him as a very good three. The fact is that I could live with him as a 2, if the Dolphins actually had a very solid # 1. I just think that he would be that much more effective as a 3. He wouldn't have to constantly be going up against the best two CB's on the opposing team. Last week he was going against the Jets second best CB for the majority of the game and he had a tough time getting open. The reality is that neither Hartline or Bess can be expected to be consistent until Tannehill develops more, and the Dolphins actually add a true number one receiver to this roster.
Well I would take Chambers ,Plax ,and a 45 year old Lamar Thomas over this group of invisable wideouts. we could have traded up just one spot and taken Blackmon and then next season take qb what his name now , damn it al what the heck,
I think you are in the majority on this forum. Why Naanee is even still on an NFL roster, much less the Dolphins is a major mystery to me.
I am sure that Gaffney and Burress would gladly come in as backups. Seeing our receiver situation they would probably both feel confident that they could step in and contribute and let the results speak for themselves.
