What is the likely hood he makes the roster? I can't see them keeping 4 Running backs. PS candidate?

 

Agree 100% on all your suggestions. Definitely do NOT try to sneak him on the PS. That is the most certain thing we should not do.
PUP for the first half season or carry him inactive as the 53rd player on the roster till his knee is 100% ready.

 

I agree with keep him talent is talent but I'm worried we are talking about Ireland. I'm still not convinced with that guy :lol:

 

Loved the Jonas Gray clips and would like to give Mike Mayock an honorable mention for how he covers the Notre Dame games. I love how he explains what is happening on each play. I know he is an ex Giant, but I wonder if he would consider covering the Dolphin games? ;)

 

reminds me a bit of thomas jones.

 

Maryland has ugly uniforms.

Jonas Gray looks interesting. I look forward to seeing him in preseason.

 

Was very happy when we signed him... His injury turned out to be a great fortune for us IMO. Looking forward to seeing us be able to run the ball no matter who is in the backfield.

 

I would keep Jonas and trade Thomas and one other player for a legit wr even though i may end up giving up something else.

 

i'm interested in seeing thomas healthy this season and in our new offense which may really fit his running style.

 

He looks better than Daniel Thomas, IMO. If Ireland is willing to admit he made a mistake in selecting Thomas, as he should. I can easily see Jonas beating out Thomas for a running back position with the Dolphins.

 

I am too. DT was much less effective after he was injured. IMO he is clearly a more well-rounded back than Gray. He is better as a receiver and pass blocker. I would say that Gray showed more power and a top end speed, but that DT showed more quickness and better vision. I tend to favor shorter backs since I find the lower center of gravity desirable, but there have been several taller backs that have been successful. Hopefully, these guys will both be healthy and we can see a good competition. Making a guess at this point, I'd be inclined to keep five backs (Bush, DT, Miller, Gray and Messam (FB)) and have Clay listed as a TE.

 

Nuff said. If Bettis having a word in your ear about North/South running and you dont listen and put it into practice then you dont deserve a place in the NFL. Glad he listened. :-)

 

Would like to see him high step those ankle tackles. Hes seems to predict the tackle and protect the ball which isnt a bad thing but if he can high step when hes outside the Tackle and ride the hit he can gain more yds. Am i too picky?

 

Your not to picky. Theres a reason hes an UDFA, not just injury. Im very limited to what ive seen from Gray live. However, after watching the videos CK put together. Im very impressed with quickness, feet, and how fast he gets up to top end speed. He plays fast. What he doesn't do well IMO, is anticipate a hole, he doesn't break many arm tackles for a guy his size, and he really does a poor job, when in open field, or getting that extra yard or to upon contact. He simply runs into someone and gets stoned. He does a good job on the goal line with this. But its like once he gets 5-10 yards he just simply gives up.

There are some impressive things in those videos that get me excited. Then a lot of blah feelings about his play that I am unimpressed with. There is certainly potential there. I certainly wouldn't bank on anything with him. I also would try and stash him on the PS unless he shows in preseason he would be a good STs player. But again, thats simply my views based on the videos ive seen and all of 2 games live.

 

I disagree. Thomas will get his chance this season. Last season should be a wake up call for him. Up to Thomas what he does now in Pre-season. To say Gray is better is pie in the sky right now. Players are graded coming into the Draft for a reason.

 

I agree players are graded coming into the draft, but that doesn't mean that the people doing the grading know what they are doing. Perhaps if you will go to the post on all the draft picks of the Dolphins over the last 45 years, you will see how often bad players were drafted by the Dolphins based on a certain grade. The vast majority of those players over the last decade deserved a grade of "F".

You are obviously high on Thomas and I am not. I liked Gray in college and while he may not be a great back in the NFL. I prefer him right now over Thomas. The coaches will make the final decision and because he was a second round draft choice last year, Thomas is likely to be given more of an opportunity to make the team than Gray, because he is merely an undrafted free agent.

Perhaps Thomas will prove to be a better NFL running back then I think he will be. I just haven't been high on him since he was taken in the 2011 draft. Hopefully he can prove me wrong in 2012.

 

I have an extremely hard time seeing Thomas not making the final roster. He fits much better in a zone scheme IMO.

 

Im actually NOT that high and sold on Thomas. I will see how he does in his 2nd season. Thats where he has no excuse to me if he fails to show up. I wont go overboard on Gray purely due to the fact where in the draft hes been taken and he hasnt taken a handoff in the NFL. just for those reasons alone. I hope Gray does well but Thomas has the advantage right now imo.

 

I have no problem with the Dolphins keeping him on the final roster if he ends up being one of the top running backs in camp. I just hope they don't keep him and release a better back because Ireland doesn't want to admit he messed up another 2nd round draft pick.

 

I will agree that Thomas has the advantage right now because of where he was drafted and the fact Gray was not drafted at all. It is certainly much harder for an undrafted free agent to beat out a player who was drafted a year earlier in the second round. I just hope that Gray gets a fair shot to make the team and if he does and Thomas beats him out, I can live with that.

 

Eh. Its what I see. I just don't see him run with any power. When he runs into somebody, he simply is stopped there. Yes I seen him spin off a couple times and fall forward for a couple yards. But realistically, he should be bouncing off tackles and gaining extra yards. something he doesn't do. When someone gets his hands on him, he goes down. Power backs in the NFL bounce of sideways tackles and rarely run head up into tacklers. Something he did in those videos. He honestly reminds me of another #25. One already on our roster. Considering he runs like Reggie without the top end speed, doesn't bode well, regardless if hes 230 pounds or not.

I think to many people, probably not you CK, look at his build and his weight, and assume hes a power back. He simply does not run like one. I am just giving my honest opinion on this guy.

To anyone who thinks he is better then Thomas, that is absurd. Granted, he may better quickness, but Thomas has great feet as well. Thomas runs behind his pads much much better. I was not a fan of the Thomas pick when we made it, but to say he will not make the roster and Gray is better is ridiculous. There is absolutely 0 evidence as such.

 

What makes you like Gray over Thomas?

 

Daniel Thomas looked VERY good his first couple games until the hamstring injury really flared up. Once that happened he became ineffective. As long as it's fully healed now and with a full camp he should break out quite nicely.

 

Now, in the real world, why would Ireland do that? How can anyone objectively think his ego overrules his keeping the best players? There have been numerous times since 2008 that we've doubled up on a position in the draft and the lower drafted player makes more of a contribution.
2008, we took two DEs, and the 2nd one, Langford, was the one who played and contributed so well that after 4 seasons we couldn't afford to keep him. We took 2 guards, and the 2nd one, Donald Thomas, started over the higher drafted one, Shawn Murphy.
2009: Same thing with Patrick Turner and Brian Hartline
2010: When both Austin Spitler and AJ Edds were healthy and on the roster in 2011, he cut Edds who was taken 3 rounds higher.

Ireland has done nothing for which you to rationalize your line of thinking that he'd keep Thomas, even if Gray was better, other than you always using anything you can come up with as means to attempt to denigrate his ability as a GM. It's quite sad really. Take heart though. Somewhere out there in Dolphinland, your predecessor here, DolfanJake, is probably giving you cyber high fives.

 

I'm 100% in agreement with this. I was not impressed at all with the video provided. I don't see the quick feet or any explosive ability really.

 

I think it was more that he wasn't worth keeping at that price. Though he's making 24 Million over 4 years, he's only making $2 Million this year with St. Louis. That contract looks heavily back-loaded. I think if the Dolphins really wanted to keep him, they would have. I know he wanted to stay here, just by what he's said on Twitter in that past.

I was a little surprised Gray wasn't drafted. I thought he'd be a 5th/6th round type just from watching some of his games this year. He averaged about 7 ypc this year with 12 TD's. Not bad. (I know that doesn't mean dick in college football, but it's not like he had a horrible year)

 

I think part of the issue with what people see is that Gray seemed to improve after the early games. Early on in the video there appeared to be more instances where he would stop moving his feet. Later in the video, he seemed to more consistently keep driving his legs after contact. In my experience, most people tend to go with their first impression and are loath to adjust it.

 

I say PUP the guy, by the time he is ready they should know how Messam and Thomas fit into the equation. Messam may not make the team and Thomas may not make it the whole season. So this puts them in a great situation if somebody gets hurt by mid-season.

 

The thing is that I believe if you were to do a thorough comparison with other college running backs you would see similar stats of YA-Contact. I'd even venture to say most major backs would be better. The alarming thing I see is a lack of balance after contact. He doesn't keep his feet well. That is more important to me than falling one yard forward.

 

I wasn't saying he falls forward for one yard every play. I'm saying he stumbles forward for a FEW extra yards every play. In college to me, that means absolutely nothing. I'd much rather use the eyeball test and ask myself: Does he seem to have vision? Does he have quick feet? Does he run with balance? There are way too many variables for a stat like yards after contact to mean too much in college football. Unless the number is jaw dropping of course. I'd almost guarantee you'd find similar stats among most college RB's....but until someone actually does it obviously I can't say.

Watching the video he fails just about every one of those tests....in my eyes. You could very well be right, it's just the way -I- see his game.

 

I think when you see a back at 230 lbs who continues to bouce plays to the outside with good lateral agility and balance, then have the speed to turn the corner on defenders continuously, then the gear to house it from 80 years, you gotta take notice, if you can get him for nothing in UDFA, you sign him..

When I read the thread title, I try to keep the player in context with that fact, and use some perspective,relatively speaking.bottom line for me, is he's got some serious talent to do some of the things he does, so the signing is a good one, just like I felt Fuller was an excellent signing.