This kind of slipped under the radar yesterday but it could be significant. http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolp...een-in-practice-today-cornerback-dimitri.html Here's the thing. Davone Bess is gone. He's not able to share time with Mike Gillislee as a punt returner. Who could share time with Marcus Thigpen as a punt returner? Who would they trust to do it? I don't want to go into 99th level analysis here but this preseason there have only been three players that have gone back there to catch punts. They are DeAndre Presley, Marcus Thigpen and Chad Bumphis. Presley did the enitre first game, Bumphis did the enitre second game, and the third game was the exact "committee" approach that Rizzi talked about between Chad Bumphis and Marcus Thigpen. So I'm going to say if we get to this Bucs game and we see Chad Bumphis back there for any of the punt returns, I think that's it. He's in. On the other hand, if the Dolphins have Rishard Matthews or Brian Hartline back there with Marcus Thigpen against the Bucs, that would be a big blow to Chad Bumphis' case for making the team. Chad Bumphis did have that muffed punt return that he recovered on his own against the Jaguars. His 17 yards on 2 punt returns during the Jags game aside from the muff was not bad. Darren Rizzi could have just said to hell with him for the rest of the preseason on punt returns because of the muff...but he didn't. Bumphis once again was back there for punt returns against the Texans. He fair caught a 37 yard punt at the Miami 36 yard line. Nothing bad stands out about that. He fair caught a ball at his own 9 yard line but the punt was even noted in the gamebook for having an outstanding 4.91 second hang time. He returned a 42 yard punt 4 yards for a 38 yard net. Finally, he fair caught a 47 yard punt at the Miami 21 yard line. If I recall right, and I might not, I thought that one might have actually been returned. It just seems to me that Darren Rizzi wouldn't say that they'll be going with a committee approach like last year on punt returns unless he already had in mind which player is going to share those returns with Thigpen. Maybe he's thinking it'll be Brian Hartline or Rishard Matthews, but the guy he's been having get all the work to the point where he's hardly even working on offense is Chad Bumphis.
yeah that would be nice if bumphis makes the team, i hope he gets more snaps on offense though, if you are right that they tried out each player at WR on back to back weeks, lets see who will get the first snaps at WR, when the starters come out
Egnew on returns. Lord knows they need any excuse to keep him on the team Sent from my phone using Fapatalk 2
Hmm. I love watching Thigpen in the return game, not sure why you take him out of those situations even part-time. Does this point to more offensive snaps for him? But if Bumphis is on the team, I'd think any Thigpen slot snaps wouldn't be available. Is this just a case of not wanting Thigpen to shoulder the entire return load? I've never heard of that kind of thing.
I would like to see Bumphis get under the ball bettter to catch the punts and basket catch them vs. reaching out and catching them with his hands...
I'm not sure he's as effective on punt returns, I remember last year getting a bit frustrated at something, I mean, yes he returned a punt for 6 but is he consistently good, gotta check his punt return average.
They had a committee last year on punt returns because they felt they couldn't trust Thigpen to make good decisions or catch and secure the football in certain punt situations. They got Thigpen the choicest of punt return opportunities so it's not surprising he had a good punt return average. You could probably plot punt return averages by position on the field on a graph and you'd see a pretty clear pattern for average return based on position on the field where the offense is punting from. That's what I mean by Thigpen having the most choice punt return opportunities.
Its a good point... but I wouldnt take it to the extreme that you are taking it in regards to being the being the "choicest of punt return opportunities". Last year, Thigpen had 26 punt returns while Bess only had 4. So, Thigpen still got the far majority of the return opportunities. However, those 4 that Bess had were no doubt near our own goalline (the scary ones that require great decision making)... and not exactly choice opportunities for big yardage. But even if you add those 4 attempts to Thigpen and assume he'd have to fair catch all 4 of them for zero return yards, that would still put him at a 10.5 yards per return average, which would be 10th in the NFL. If you give him the 30 yards Bess was able to get on those 4 attempts (which I realize is kinda hard to assume), that would put him at 11.5 yards per return which would put him at 8th in league. Regardless... Thigpen was one of the better punt returners last season no matter how you break it down.
Those 4 Bess returns don't include any fair catches or touchbacks, I don't think. There were 4 when he actually returned it, not just caught it. I don't think we forced/received 30 punts the entire season...that'd be some bad defense right there.
I seem to recall Nolan Carroll catching punts during practice. But I wonder if Will Davis could do it? He certainly has the hands for it.
How is what I said extreme, in any way whatsoever? Yes you are correct that Thigpen got the far majority of the return opportunities. But your numbers omit fair catches...which is kind of the point. Davone Bess was actually back to return a total of 22 punts to Thigpen's 32 punts. Bess fair caught 18 punts and returned 4. Thigpen returned 26 punts and fair caught 6 of them. The extreme disparity only further illustrates my point that Thigpen was given the best return opportunities.
what makes you think they're so desperate to hold on to Egnew that they'll use excuses ? is this a normal practice ? kick returns ? nevermind. You may have missed the possibly revealing analysis here. I sure hope Bumphis doesnt beat out Matthews for spare punt return reasons though.
I'm really pulling for Chad to make the team, but I can't help but think that right now, the coaches are really wanting Brian Tyms to be the guy that steps up and take that spot. In the last game, it seems like Tyms got more opportunities and got into the game earlier than Bumphis. We will have to see what happens in the next game. Chad Bumphis only played 7 snaps on offense against the Texans while Marvin McNutt played 19 and Brian Tyms played 17.
I'm rooting for this kid Bumphis so the more he can do I'm all for it. Even though Thigpen was one of the best returners in the NFL a season ago, so I'm not sure we should mess around with that but coach knows a lot more than I do.
I see Thigpen in both roles on kr/pr. Bumphis needs to make the 53 as a receiver, not as a ST back up.
You could look at it one of two ways. It's true Chad Bumphis has not gotten many offensive snaps the past two games and you could think of it as them not giving him opportunities to make the team as a receiver. However, the past two games he's been the primary punt returner, and from Darren Rizzi's words they have it in mind that they're going with a committee approach at punt returner this year. So one could argue they're giving Chad Bumphis as much opportunity to make the roster in the way that he would make it, as they are Brian Tyms in the way that Brian would make it.
That is what I'm thinking as well, not that Bumphis is a poor prospect, it is more the realities of a part time punt returner only is not very likely to make the squad based on it. He'd have to standout all around on ST covering kicks and he'd probably also need an injury to open a legit roster slot, when Rishard Matthews came back it really dented his chance.
