Frayser, you're stuck on this plan. I'm not saying anything that Jared Odrick wasn't plan A. He could have been plan Z for all I know. That has little affect on how the Dolphins view Jared Odrick. There had to be enough good juju towards the guy that made him the 28th pick overall in the draft. Enough to pay him the contract they did. And enough to complete a full time move of Randy Starks to NT for him to earn a starting gig. Was the Starks idea to move full-time to NT thought well before the draft? I'm sure it was. I don't think Ireland would lie about that. Did the drafting of Jared Odrick and his play during practices help facilitate that? Absolutely. Had Jared Odrick been terrible out of the gates, what do you believe the plan would've been? I'm going to speculate to move Starks back to DE, while allowing McDaniel & Soliai to play NT. So again, Jared Odrick played as much a role into the full time move of Starks to NT as anything else. The plan or predetermined stock put into Odrick really means nothing. Because, when it's all said and done, they drafted him, they signed him to big money, and they started him on Day 1.
The timing of the announcement was not a coincidence. Ireland didn't even announce their intentions after Day 1 when they drafted Odrick. He did it after Day 2. It was all subterfuge for the Draft. Jeff Ireland felt if he announced their intentions with respect to Starks at Nose Tackle before the Draft, other teams would be able to figure out their draft strategy. He said so openly in that press conference I'm talking about.
It wouldn't include the cut players though. The only two it would include is Ronnie and Ricky, and maybe Pennington. I'd just have to adjust when I'm not as lazy.
And hey this one's for Al13 who is apparently convinced that I will trash anything that Jeff Ireland does: If they sign Ahmad Bradshaw, that will be a good move.
Interesting thing to me is Merling is in the same situation as Soliai in Camp 2010, little regarded and likely to be jettisoned, good time for him to show what he has to offer ala Big Paul.
I don't think there is really room for him to do so unless they are going to replace Ikaika Alama-Francis with him.
Ive said many times this offseason, He was Irish's baby, scouted him, targeted him, traded for him, and he's true.. I don't think you give up on that when the guy is coming into his own..What I think might happen is a trade with one of our other dline players later in camp when other teams are drooling over our dline..Maybe someone makes us an offer for a nice draft pick..We have the talent and depth to force us into a tough decision..thats not a bad thing..
Could this involve Merling instead of those two? If Merling was to leave the rotation is still viable. You keep Starks, Langford and then you have Odrick and McDaniel as the guys coming in and or playing certain formations. But, to just assume that it will be either Starks or Odrick without considering Merling may a case of oversight. I'd think Merling is more likely on his way out, than Starks or Odrick - those two can actually play. Or it may be that should the regime decide to take a wait and see attitude with Soliai they can bring Odrick along to play that position. I've since he was drafted that I could see him getting kicked inside as he can shed well and can play with leverage. If they do that, then McDaniel's signing is understandable and important.
The point of the exercise is to 2nd guess and bash the front office for not being as astute as the fan base. Waiting for events to play themselves out takes the fun out of it, and objectivity is a definite no-no.
Or maybe we can allow Merling to slim down to traditional 4-3 DE size and be a situational edge rusher in our nickel packages opposite Wake. Let's face it, Merling's transition to the 5 technique has not gone well. Give the guy a fresh start and let him specialize in what he does best. I don't see him beating out any of the 4 guys ahead of him for 5 tech snaps, this would be a way to at least get something out of him.
I'd rather let another team figure out what to do with him. What I mean is use him to trade for someone else if we can. If we're talking to Denver about Orton we should try like all hell to get him into the deal - it should save us some value with regards to draft picks. I think we should just trade him if possible and then we do have something from him, rather than trying to squeeze more from him. Let the other guy do that.
I don't see signing McD at that amount as a bad move. The only caveat would be if McD is a player that won't stay motivated, but that's a question with probably 80% of signings. I like a 4-man rotation at DE, in fact, I prefer it to a 3-man rotation there. I think that's important with all the 4-man lines that we (and everybody else) plays in passing situations. I also like McD's versatility (DE/DT). And while I have been very vocal about my belief that it was a mistake to trade down in that draft instead of taking Earl Thomas, I think it's a bit of a jump to assume that this signing signals anything negative about Odrick. BTW this was not a move I expected at all. I thought it was a foregone conclusion that he was gone.
thank you, thank you....its all for nothing it seems, appreciate though...if you just could finish that one sentence for me and i´m kind of a happy man, even with the bradshaw not signed disaster
