The Miami Herald reports ESPN’s Matt Williamson, a former Browns scout, expressed concern about the Dolphins free safety position, where FS Chris Clemons is the favorite. “I don't know that any of their options are starter caliber,'' Williamson said. “I question if FS Reshad Jones has the range to play over the top. He's a backup at best.'' Lets hope their wrong, but I must admit if I was playing the Dolphins and looking for weaknesses to exploit on their talent studded roster it would be at FS. Clemons is talented but we could have used an upgrade.
I don't think I'd ever take the advice of a "former" Browns scout. In all likelihood there is a reason he's no longer employed. Also, who thinks Jones is being pegged as the FS anyway? I thought it was assumed he'd eventually be the guy to replace Bell @ SS.
In OTAs Jones was playing Free Safety. Of course there is some concern. I think everyone who is a Dolphin fan is concerned. It would be nice if Miami had a hall of fame player at free safety. However they do not. Right now Miami is in a position where a low draft pick, an undrafted free agent and a last year low draft pick have to step and play the position.
As far as I am concerned, it will be nearly impossible to play worse than Gerbil Wilson did there last year. I mean how many more plays can be given up over the top, really? How many more tackles can be missed? At least Clemons is young, has speed and rudimentary ball skills at the worst.
This guy is freakin Nostradumbass. Like this is news? His next article will more than likely be telling us we are young as hell at OLB?
Instead of sticking with Gibral all season long, maybe Clemons should have received more playing time last season so we wouldn't be in the position we are right now.Not knowing what we have. Terrible foresight by the Dolphins
Think about it for a moment. If Gibril Wilson sucked that much and NO ONE got the nod over him, everyone must have reeeaaallly sucked.
Reshad Jones is a backup at best already? Hook it up with the next 20 Super Bowl winners, we can make a lot of money with this guy's ability to know the future
I think they will go w/experience @ the position giving Jason & Will Allen a legitimate chance to secure the start Clemons can be brought along during the course of the season no way to get around it the FreeSafety has to know the game, experience is not an option calling plays as he sees them develop is an acquired skill any mistake, more than not, ends in opposition points on the board this is the Miami 2010 Achilles's heel will be interesting to see how Nolan proceeds w/ the resolution of this critical issue
Just callin it like I see it.. Furthermore, why the hell is he "Expressing concern"? Does he have a stake in this? If our FS gets torched again this year is a meteor going to land in his swimming pool?? Anybody else find this odd?
He's a former browns scout, honestly, i dont respect the guys opinion. That being said, we are definitely unstable at that position right now. To say that none of our guys could be starting caliber is a dumb statement honestly because clemons is a 2nd year player and jones is a rookie. At this point last year would anyone have said Jairus Bryd was of caliber of a starting safety in the NFL? I think not.
Amen; I couldn't agree more with that. I have always thought that the Dolphins probably have more foreskin than foresight.
I think it all has to do with how you look at the situation. If this guy is looking at us from the stand point of a super bowl lock, then yes FS is a concern, however if he is looking at the team as still building and improving (as we do) than there should be no concern at all. I think we all knew that all the holes weren't going to be filled overnight and there is more work to be done upgrading a few positions, but I hardly think we should hyperventilate. There is also the possibility that what he said was taken out of context just to fill a news article as real team news is pretty quiet right now.
My guesses would be: 1. Coat-tail riding 2. Nepotism 3. ***-kissing Or some combination of the three. Remember, this league has had some colossal buffoons in significant positions. Rich Cotite, anyone?
There are definitely former scouts I trust. Michael Lombardi. Daniel Jeremiah before he accepted a position to be a scout again. Tom Marino, it was obvious why he wasn't scouting anymore the guy was old. But Matt Williamson is a guy I wonder about because I always hear that scouts and GMs hate certain former scouts that give opinions and criticize their scouting, because some of them are former scouts because they can't get a job scouting. I always wonder who they're talking about, and Williamson has offered some questionable opinions before. I wonder if they're talking about Russ Lande sometimes, too. Lande seems well connected to have angst being brought against him, but he does have a big ego.
Yeah last I checked the Dallas Cowboys are thought to be one of the strongest contenders in the NFC and their free safety position is virtually identical to ours. Alan Ball (veteran former 7th Rounder) ==> Tyrone Culver (veteran former 6th Rounder) Michael Hamlin (2009 5th Rounder) ==> Chris Clemons (2009 5th Rounder) Akwasi Owusu-Ansah (2010 4th Rounder) ==> Reshad Jones (2010 5th Rounder) I'm not going to say you never hear about their safety position because I'm sure Dallas fans hear about it all the time. Fact of the matter is the nature of what everyone's writing tends to require that you come up with negatives to talk about and when there's a glaring one, you're going to hear about that negative as many times as someone dares tread on the topic of your team. But obviously nobody feels that safety position is getting in the way of Dallas being not only a great team but a great defense.
We will be alright. Vontae and S. Smith are no longer rooks and will be much better, and Y. Bell and Clemons are going to be solid. Gabril just couldn't tackle, couldn't cover and he dropped the easiest INT last year, that I have seen in my 35 years of watching the NFL. A better pass rush along with LB's like Dansby having better pass coverage ability should cut down on the ridiculous amount of yards we have been giving up. Clemons and Jones will get it done.
You make a VERY good point about Dallas CK. If what they are saying here is correct, they are returning 49 of 53 from last years roster, and I believe that includes 20 of 22 starters. The two that aren't are Flozell and Ken Hamlin. Hamlins replacements are exactly as CK outlined...and no, they really aren't even as good as what we have IMVHO.
two questions to be answered: 1) to what degree can coaching off-set the importance of the FreeSafety in a game? 2) to what extent can coaching improve/develop the FreeSafety position from the talent we sport on the roster? Simple truth: 1) if you don't have a NT, you develop one or change the alignment to a 4-3 2) if you don't have a starting Caliber FreeSafety, you develop one or change the system to not allow the QB time to pass & hope this will work Nolan must resolve the problem of FreeSafety for Miami. I don't care about Dallas or what the pundits say. it is what it is, a problem
Screw FS, am I the only one concerned with the NT position? -Ferguson is a thousand years old and has become injury prone -Soliai is hot and cold and at best average -Tony McDaniel is a joke at NT .....and now we are banking on Randy Starks?? Oddly, these positions effect each other a great deal. If we don't get a NT that can collapse the pocket and clog up two linemen so we can get a pass rush on their QB, there won't be a FS on earth that can help us. We SHOULD have drafted a NT!!! Good NT's are very hard to come by and when they are out there you need to grab one if you are in need, and we blew it. We had better hope they fixed this lingering issue from last year or FS will be the least of our concerns as they throw over their heads. God, I hope I am wrong but I don't think that I am.........
would reaching on Dan Williams really have solved that problem? While he's the guy i wanted, i admit he would have been a reach for us all the way. Theres also the wide belief that its going to take him 1-2 years to be ready for the NT position. And i'm happier with Starks at the position than i would have been with any other draft pick being there. All in all I think we played the cards we were dealt very well. We have one major hole on defense, and who knows, we got some young guys who could surprise us.
I liked Starks where he was. I thought that he was too good to move around. Drafting Dan Williams would not have been an answer this year, BUT, getting him on the squad would provide great depth for the next 4+ years. He would have been a long term solution, Starks is not. With that said, I was disappointed that a NT didn't find his was onto the roster, but the talent studded roster that we have has many such possibilities. This will be one of the most interesting seasons the Dolphins have had in over a decade.
