Just for my own curiosity, why do you think Miami would be interested in DT prospects elsewhere?

 

I'm not sure that its not by design. Or rather putting so much emphasis on stopping the pass.

 

The LBs had more to do with that than the DL, and Soliai's injury was a problem too. He's gone, and replaced with Mitchell, whos solid and healthy. Starks and Odrick are one of the best duos in the league, and rookie Johnson has a lot of potential. I like our unit.

On other positions, a lot of other teams have waiver priority over the Fins, so a guy would really need to make it through to becoming a free agent for the team to get a shot at him. Some may get cut for salary reasons, but I don't really see anyone coming onto the team and making an immediate impact. Maybe depth somewhere, but the team really already has good depth at a lot of spots.

 

Don't agree it's one of the weakest areas of our roster... I'd put LB, OG, S and RB above DT. The run defense isn't struggling because of the DT's, IMO, but mostly due to the LB unit. Soliai's absence may be felt during the season but we haven't had any indications that our interior DL is weaker against the run yet.

 

I don't agree that run defense a year ago was a big weakness relative to the rest of the league. I don't think Miami were GOOD run stoppers a year ago, but they weren't terrible either. Their biggest problem that I could see was stopping the run in the fourth quarter. But their averages on an overall basis were not terrible at all. People that think that way were obviously not exposed to very many Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas or Green Bay games. Those were bad run defenses. Miami's was right in the middle of the league.

In 2012, Miami had a top ten run defense, IMO. That was back when they had Karlos Dansby and Kevin Burnett instead of Dannell Ellerbe and Philip Wheeler.

I think the concern is that you've still got the same linebackers that took us down from a top ten run defense to a mediocre run defense, and now you take away the 350 pound 1-technique who was the previous running down specialist, and replace him with a 295 pound 1-technique that looks like he's going to be used as a running down specialist this year. In effect, you may have taken a mediocre run defense and made it even worse.

That's my concern.

 

You think Mitchell replacing Soliai can help with the interior pass rush, though? If it does, it would mean our pass rush may have gotten better overall, while our run defense has gotten slightly worse... remains to be seen, though.

 

I see our pass rush improving slightly with Soliai, but he was taken out on most passing downs. more interesting to see if our run defense improves by (1) just not having Ellerbe in MLB anymore (2) coupled with rotation with some of the newcomers at LB that will hopefully push the sub-par Ellerbe/Wheeler to play better.

 

It could, but not if they use him as a running down specialist and 1-technique a la Soliai. Or at least, it'll be hard to impact the passing game if used that way.

 

Incidentally since we're talking about players on other teams...

Matt Tobin now has a +8.0 grade as a left guard on PFF. The next closest rated guard has a +3.7.

Wish we'd have tried to trade for him last year. Too late now. Hell he's done so well it wouldn't surprise me if Evan Mathis was on the block and yes I would think hard about that trade so long as they weren't trying to rake us over the coals.

They might ask for Dion Jordan in that trade and that would be a tough one. They drafted Marcus Smith in the 1st round but he's got a pretty bad grade on PFF thus far in the preseason. Obviously it would be premature to conclude his career so early but Chip Kelly loves Dion Jordan so much he might still look to add him.

 

I worry about that Mathis dude, in terms of ped's.

 

Brandon Graham 28 pass rush snaps and has 2 sacks, 1 hit and 4 hurries. That's a pressure every 4 pass rush snaps.

And people mocked me when I said I'd jump all over a Dion Jordan for Brandon Graham plus a 1st round pick trade. And I'd have thought damn hard about the Dion Jordan for Brandon Graham plus a 2nd round pick trade that Miami supposedly rejected.

 

He ain't been caught yet. I'm not sure if that's the type of thing that ends up being a significant concern regardless of suspicions, especially if the player is smart. He's 33 years old and has been in the league a long time. At this point whether he's doing them or not is irrelevant because he's got a track record of at the very worst not getting caught.

 

Wonder if Seastrunk becomes available...

 

I didn't mock you on that, and to some degree I had trouble with Coyle's handling of the situation. Then Omar reminded everyone of Rodgers status as one of the best DL coaches in the league. I could live with Jordan going to Philly for a combination of guys, including Graham. However I am concerned that won't happen now under the circumstances. I like Tobin by the way. I would send Jordan for Tobin and Graham, or at least give it consideration.

 

If he is the Dolphins better drop a claim on him.

I watched his preseason carries. He's the SAME guy. There's no difference. He's dynamic. Makes something out of nothing.

 

Need RBs badly and fortunately a lot of them get cut around now. Teams to watch for: Chargers, Bucs, Patriots, Skins, Lions...all pretty deep in the backfield. Heck the Eagles fringe guys looked good last night too.

 

Indeed.

I agree. I'm always looking at the Eagles for who they're going to cut. They have an unusually talented group when it comes to spots #30 to #60 on the roster.

 

I didn't see the game but he had no carries in game 3. I wonder if a trade is in the works or if they're planning on trying to sneak him onto practice squad

 

could well be the skins are stacked at RB morris,helu,thompson,redd,royster [royster and redd done well in preseason]], could be a toss up between thompson and seastrunk for a spot?

 

i noticed the eagles cut 3or 4 off lineman [anyone of interest???]