Dolphins Sign CFL DT Mitchell

"Pandarilla wrote:

Bartertown is the name of the coffee shop...

I thought he'd be "Master" to Jake Long's "blaster"?

"padre31 wrote:

True, and I drank the Tsoumpas kool aid in 2010, youneverknow with these guys, especially Lineman as the NFL game and CFL game are very different when it comes to line play.

Thigpen can do it, or he can't, Returners translate into both leagues.

Thigpen and Slaton are different types of players . Thigpen would not get carries like Slaton would, he is much more a return guy with "some" spread out plays possibilities imo. Thigpen has been dynamic for stretches to be sure , but hasn't been as much lately and if he has a chance he would have to explode in the return game imo.

"padre31 wrote:

I thought he'd be "Master" to Jake Long's "blaster"?

You're staring into my soul, but seriously Master Blaster latte'

"dolfan22 wrote:

Thigpen and Slaton are different types of players . Thigpen would not get carries like Slaton would, he is much more a return guy with "some" spread out plays possibilities imo. Thigpen has been dynamic for stretches to be sure , but hasn't been as much lately and if he has a chance he would have to explode in the return game imo.

Hmm, to me Thigpen was up and down, the same way the Ticats were, he'd flash great talent, then fumble at the worst time.

Slaton, was not Sparano's cup o' tea, but he did rush for 50 in the last game, and he did look good on returns early in the yr, difference could be Thigpen's base salary would be 465k, Slaton's closer to 800k as a 4 yr vet

"Pandarilla wrote:

You're staring into my soul, but seriously Master Blaster latte'

Skinny Aunty breve'?

:shifty:

"padre31 wrote:

Hmm, to me Thigpen was up and down, the same way the Ticats were, he'd flash great talent, then fumble at the worst time.

Slaton, was not Sparano's cup o' tea, but he did rush for 50 in the last game, and he did look good on returns early in the yr, difference could be Thigpen's base salary would be 465k, Slaton's closer to 800k as a 4 yr vet

Thigpen was really explosive 2 seasons ago , he had like 4 or 5 return , special team TD's in a ridiculous period of time. Slaton will get an opportunity next year I would think , and signing Mitchell would be a smart move just to improve the chances to sign the big fish imo.

"padre31 wrote:

http://www.bleed-green.com/blog/?p=12368

http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings/dsprofile.php?pyid=11546&draftyear=2009&genpos=

I have him as my #4 CFL to NFL prospect, when he came out of ECU he was not a very good passrusher, however playing in the CFL even when double teamed and held etc, he still was highly disruptive, even playing inside and 1 yd off of the football.

Eh, move well for a big man, gives us something to watch in Camp and OTA's, but if we also land G/T Olifioye then we will have beaten out 10 teams to sign him.

I may be wrong, but I think he used to be an LB many pounds ago... Keith Traylor type

"dolfan22 wrote:

Thigpen was really explosive 2 seasons ago , he had like 4 or 5 return , special team TD's in a ridiculous period of time. Slaton will get an opportunity next year I would think , and signing Mitchell would be a smart move just to improve the chances to sign the big fish imo.

Wasn't that Marquay McDaniel? He scored 1 Td 5 different ways?

That was the guy I had my eyes on for a jump, along with the Esks DE combo

"DOLFANMIKE wrote:

I may be wrong, but I think he used to be an LB many pounds ago... Keith Traylor type

He has really good movement for a large man, good hands as well, in the Grey Cup when the BC D needed a play he'd beast a double team and make a play in the backfield, he seemed to be able to be explosive when he wanted it.

"padre31 wrote:

Eh, don't agree Rafi, not with CFLers, they have a higher bar and just fitting into a system probably won't get them into the door, in some ways it is a bit like high school football scouting, you don't look for system fit, you look purely at football ability.

Qb's are sort of the cpu of the offense, they must be able to function well in virtually any offense, this is one of the things that the 'first rd pick Qb's have had success!" folks are not considering, sure they can come up and fit the system designed to fit them, however the training wheels have to come off sooner or later.

You obviously need a minimum of athletic ability, but thats not what I mean. You have to see some skill that translates. For example in Wake I saw elite get off and an ability to get low with power that translates well to the NFL. It's the same with QBs. With Luck you're seeing him do everything that he'll have to do in the NFL. It isn't a matter of "we won't know until we see him do it against NFL competition". That's what you say if you can't evaluate him a QB. And some QBs spend their whole career in a system that fits them. McNabb did that for most of his career. When he finally left Philly people tried to say that he had lost, but that's only b/c they couldn't see the importance of the system fit.

"padre31 wrote:

Wasn't that Marquay McDaniel? He scored 1 Td 5 different ways?

That was the guy I had my eyes on for a jump, along with the Esks DE combo

Thigpen scored by punt and kick return and receiving and rushing and I believe he had a missed FG return too? Anyway he was really explosive for a stretch , so much so that he had that Devin Hester effect, he was avoided to the benefit of fiels position. He is a long shot , but worth bringing in ...it never seems we keep a "return guy" anyway...but hey new coach so we'll see.

While I like the signing, I have to ask WTF is going on why are we signing ANYONE when do not have a coach in place. What if he doesn't fit our new coaches defensive system? This leads me to believe that we are not getting any big time coach as they don't have any say in talent evlaulations it would seem.

This organization is just plain lying to fans about trying to put the best team organization on the field..

"dolfan22 wrote:

Thigpen scored by punt and kick return and receiving and rushing and I believe he had a missed FG return too? Anyway he was really explosive for a stretch , so much so that he had that Devin Hester effect, he was avoided to the benefit of fiels position. He is a long shot , but worth bringing in ...it never seems we keep a "return guy" anyway...but hey new coach so we'll see.

You're right:

HAMILTON -- It was a record-breaking rookie season for electric return man, Marcus Thigpen.

He scored the first time he touched the football in a regular season game - taking the season-opening kickoff back 93-yards for a touchdown - and he became the first player in CFL history to score a touchdown five different ways over the course of one year; rushing, receiving, punt return, kickoff return and missed field goal return.

In the return game, Thigpen hit pay dirt on four different occasions, but as he doubles his years of CFL experience, he also plans on doubling his number of kick return touchdowns.

“I always have goals, I’m wearing number eight again this year so I’m going for eight returns... kickoff returns, field goal return, punt return. I’m going for eight,” Thigpen said.

“Last year he made a lot of plays by himself and we’re working hard to create more opportunities for him with better blocking schemes,” Ticats head coach Marcel Bellefeuille said after another back-to-back practice session at McMaster University.

The key to busting a big return is finding that one hole to pop through and breakaway and, for Thigpen, the vision to find that hole is natural.

http://www.cfl.ca/article/crazy-eights-thigpen-targets-eight-return-tds

8 return Td's is impressive in any league, and let's be honest here, Gates was not very good the early part of the yr, and offered nothing as a wr, of course he was not used very often in Sparano's Miami, which was sort of how things went.

Thatis what a dominant performance looks like, 8 return Td's? That's better then Stefan Logan.

"Dorfdad wrote:

While I like the signing, I have to ask WTF is going on why are we signing ANYONE when do not have a coach in place. What if he doesn't fit our new coaches defensive system? This leads me to believe that we are not getting any big time coach as they don't have any say in talent evlaulations it would seem.

This organization is just plain lying to fans about trying to put the best team organization on the field..

If you are talking about Jeff Fisher they did interview him and do have an idea of what his system would be. Hell, Fisher during the interview could have mentioned that part of his plan would be to sign him.

"Dorfdad wrote:

While I like the signing, I have to ask WTF is going on why are we signing ANYONE when do not have a coach in place. What if he doesn't fit our new coaches defensive system? This leads me to believe that we are not getting any big time coach as they don't have any say in talent evlaulations it would seem.

This organization is just plain lying to fans about trying to put the best team organization on the field..

lol Why wouldn't we sign players we thought had talent?

What coach in their right mind wouldn't want as much potential talent to work with as possible?

Yikes.

"Dorfdad wrote:

While I like the signing, I have to ask WTF is going on why are we signing ANYONE when do not have a coach in place. What if he doesn't fit our new coaches defensive system? This leads me to believe that we are not getting any big time coach as they don't have any say in talent evlaulations it would seem.

This organization is just plain lying to fans about trying to put the best team organization on the field..

Nah, the practice squad is the organizations' call Dorfdad and it you notice, there has been no official announcement made, the show goes on so to speak, can't miss out on talent...ever.

Colts had a shot at Jovan Olifaye, but fired Polian that day so his workout never came off, if he develops into something that will go into NFL lore so to speak, like Wake's agent being called by another GM while negotiating with Ireland.

"padre31 wrote:

This is the CFL baby, no way to convert Super 8 film to youtube...

:shifty:

:lol:

These sorts of signings are one of the reasons why I still like Jeff Ireland's approach, these guys are low risk, high upside players, if you can find a DT/DE/NT who can rush the passer, and a stud kick returner, for less then 100k in signing bonuses, that is as good as GM work can be.

I give Ireland credit for the Cam Wake signing. All other, (low risk, high upside), players he has signed over the last four years from the CFL have done absolutely nothing, once they showed up at Dolphin training camp. Ireland is a bottom rung GM and that is the reason the Dolphins are 20-28 over the past three seasons. His approach, as you call it, has kept the Dolphins in the bottom tier of teams in the NFL for the last three seasons.

"rafael wrote:

You obviously need a minimum of athletic ability, but thats not what I mean. You have to see some skill that translates. For example in Wake I saw elite get off and an ability to get low with power that translates well to the NFL. It's the same with QBs. With Luck you're seeing him do everything that he'll have to do in the NFL. It isn't a matter of "we won't know until we see him do it against NFL competition". That's what you say if you can't evaluate him a QB. And some QBs spend their whole career in a system that fits them. McNabb did that for most of his career. When he finally left Philly people tried to say that he had lost, but that's only b/c they couldn't see the importance of the system fit.

Then do explain the Sam Bradford&Josh McDaniels fiasco in St Louis?

Bradford more or less ran that offense at OU, McDaniels supposedly coached up Kyle Orton, but failed with Bradford?

"jw3102 wrote:

I give Ireland credit for the Cam Wake signing. All other, (low risk, high upside), players he has signed over the last four years from the CFL have done absolutely nothing, once they showed up at Dolphin training camp. Ireland is a bottom rung GM and that is the reason the Dolphins are 20-28 over the past three seasons. His approach, as you call it, has kept the Dolphins in the bottom tier of teams in the NFL for the last three seasons.

Most longshot guys don't amount to much JW, all the GM cando is find the most talented ones they can, and the coach has to do the rest, and we are 31-33 over the last 4 yrs.

"Paul 13 wrote:

If only we'd kept Frank Kearse around. :pity:

Yeah, but we got Will Yeatman instead and he must be good, since the Pats signed him as a UDFA. ;)

"padre31 wrote:

Most longshot guys don't amount to much JW, all the GM cando is find the most talented ones they can, and the coach has to do the rest, and we are 31-33 over the last 4 yrs.

Yeah, but if you just mention the last 3 years, it makes Ireland look worse to the uninitiated reader.

"padre31 wrote:

Then do explain the Sam Bradford&Josh McDaniels fiasco in St Louis?

Bradford more or less ran that offense at OU, McDaniels supposedly coached up Kyle Orton, but failed with Bradford?

Bradford is on a poor team, but I expect he'll come around. He has enough ability that his odds of becoming elite are decent. That's the part you seem to miss. No prospect is a guaranteed franchise guy. They all have different odds of success depending on their talent level. A guy like Luck is the closest thing I've ever seen to a sure thing. A guy like Bradford has decent odds but is nowhere near as good. When I say a QB has a first round grade it's b/c I think he has a decent chance of becoming a franchise guy. The more confident I feel, the higher I'd pick him and the more I'd trade up to get him.

And I don't think that the McDaniels' system is as good of a fit for Bradford as it was for Orton.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Lions+Khalif+Mitchell+leaves+Leos+deserts+agent+Dolphins/5958771/story.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Well, Mitcehll fired his agent, and has signed with the Dolphins, but no official announcement has been made

"rafael wrote:

Bradford is on a poor team, but I expect he'll come around. He has enough ability that his odds of becoming elite are decent. That's the part you seem to miss. No prospect is a guaranteed franchise guy.

System was designed to fit him, they had added offensive lineman, Kendricks, Lloyd etc.

They all have different odds of success depending on their talent level. A guy like Luck is the closest thing I've ever seen to a sure thing. A guy like Bradford has decent odds but is nowhere near as good. When I say a QB has a first round grade it's b/c I think he has a decent chance of becoming a franchise guy. The more confident I feel, the higher I'd pick him and the more I'd trade up to get him.

I don't doubt that Rafi, and first rd pick Qb's will bust, it happens, my contention is more that once the system is designed to suit one specific Qb, if that system changes, that Qb is in trouble, they have to be able to adapt.

And I don't think that the McDaniels' system is as good of a fit for Bradford as it was for Orton.

But..but..Orton was a "journeyman Qb" and Bradford the #1 overall "franchise' Qb, how can this be?

Tavis Lulay, the CFL MVP in 2011, is a FA at the end of 2012, he was in NO with Brees, will be interesting to see if tries to make the jump back to the NFL, reminds some of Jeff Garcia.

"djphinfan wrote:

Padre is happy happy happy...

Deucez2 Jovon Johnson
Whats goin on MIAMI

Now me likey Deej, if we add Johnson and Jovan O, to go with Mitchell and Thigpen, we will have landed my #1, #3, #4, and #8 CFL to NFL guys, and all could contribute in 2012.

Mitchell for Ryan Baker or Merling
Jovan O for Garner
Thigpen as the Returner
Jovon Johnson for Nolan Carrol

All 4 have practice squad eligibility as well.