I don't know why anyone would bring you "under fire" for these comments.

You're right on the money.
Many on here got Super Bowl fever overlooking the glaring weaknesses that are on this roster but that's understandable. We were 11-5 and in the playoffs so everyone was enjoying it. Now it should be back to reality and yesterday couldn't have shown off just how much rebuilding this team still needs any better.

THere are enough areas needing upgrading that I don't believe we'll be a finished product next year either and with the schedule it could be a very tough year.

 

I expect a lot of defensive front 7 moves in the offseason. I'd love if we could get Nhamndi from oakland and OJ Atogwe from St Louis, but both are likely pipe dreams (especially since I want Dansby and Kevin Burnett too :lol: )

 

Amen! Our LBs are adequate. Adequate won't win you any playoff games.

 

All good points. IMHO the schemes and the wildcat took a great deal of pressure off the OL and made them look somewhat more developed than they are. As the rest of the league catches up to the wildcat and our schemes, we will need to become a more physical team...although those roots have been sewn.

The defense is as you said adequate but by no means dominant or outstanding. I also agree that the lines will continue to be developed and we will make do rebuilding the skill positions as opportunity dictates until we see our lines become acceptable to management.

You might see a younger WR come in via FA or mid draft, as that is typically a position that takes development. We have our "developmental" QB for when we truly make our run, RB's are quick contributors as are LB/DB's. I do think that we saw yesterday what a team that controls the middle of the field can do scheme wise defensively so if their is someone this regime believes in as a Safety or inside LB then we may pursue them pretty heavily. I also think that we must evaluate and find a comfort level on our interior line offensively or go get someone there.

So IMHO priorities are inside OL (particuarly inside, which is why I would like to see Carey offered at guard salary if we are going to find a new RT), NT, and making a value judgement on Ferguson/Solai, Carey, Thomas and Satele. If there is a physical active ILB/physical SS available we may go there IMHO. WR probably in the draft as a mid round pick.

Overall IMHO the team is in much better shape and will probably have a worse record next year.....stick to the plan and best case ....our true run should be in 2010....IMHO.

 

Thank you for your thoughts.
Very much on the money, I think.

However, I could see us using a #1 draft pick on ROT if Vernon Carey is not re-signed, but then heavy on Defense after that.

 

Front 7 and OL heavy again this draft and FA I would imagine...and couldn't be happier about it..thanks a ton GRT8 I know your time is valuable.

 

True, Y Bell might hinge on price though, if he comes cheaply enough, they may retain him.

Pass rushing, large DE's are hard to find, another reason why I despise the 3-4..it requires the acquisition of 6 key, play making guys, that is a hard thing to do in a given period of time.

Only so many moves can be made though, even if the Secondary is need of an upgrade, that is 3 starters that must be found, add in ILB,DE, NT, maybe OLB...and there is only so much we can change and still have good results this season.

 

Nobobody's gonna rip on you in here brother, and its good as always to see you.

If it were "Another site" then yeah, maybe a few of the "Less informed" might strongly disagree.

I on the other hand, buy into what you are saying very strongly.
One thing to remember, this draft we still have mulitple patches to fix in the dyke.
I think we go after any of the following depending on who is left on the board;

DT- Furgeson was a great stop gap, but his days and playing time are limited. Have to secure a HUGE guy to complete the young Dline and anchor the NT spot.

LB- As you mentioned, ANY of ours are expendible, cept Joey (God it kills me to admit that :pity: and I actually think Roth sticks as he was solid for most of the year. As we have discussed, he IS Joey's Carl Banks.

Safety/DB- If an absolute stud is still there in the late second round, we swipe up a safety. If a first rounder slips to the second, we will snag a CB. Otherwise, I see them picking up some good athletes in the 3rd (CB) 5-7th at Safety. Also, anybody picked up at safety better be ready to compete on ST at an all-pro level or they wont make it through the season....actually same goes for Linebacker.

OG- Much of our trouble at OG was due to losing two starters. After that, it was damn the hole with whatever you can get off the waiver wire. We know that Smiley is a damn good Guard, and he should be back. We dont know exactly what we have in Donald Thomas although he did look good early on. We also know that a Les Franc injury can mean 6 months, or it can mean 2 years, we will have to see on him.

Anybody else picked at a skill position will probably be a luxery and/or a guy just plain slipping to us....nothing more.

 

One of the real questions that has yet to be answered is what do we really have in Soliai?

I thought he actually played well once he came back from that second suspension and the coaches seemed to have more confidence in him as well. If he actually pans out that is a huge lift.

In FA, I think we go for one major signing and then a bunch of blue collar guys (including our own like Goodman, bell, etc.) Similar to last year, we went for one big time guy in Pace and when that didn't work we added several guys. Maybe this year it's Danby, or Scott, but I imagine the approach will be the same.

 

The only areas of the offense that I see being targeted as priority are the interior O-line (assuming we re-sign Carey) and getting a tall jumping WR who can take advantage of being covered one on one by a teams 2nd CB.

My personal feeling is that the key to making a 3-4 really click is getting at least one dynamic play making ILB. It may be the OLB racking up the stats and getting all the press but it's the spine (NT and ILBs) that make the 3-4 work.

What we need is a mad scientist to do a brain swap and get Y Bell's brain into J Allen's body and our secondary needs will be fixed.

 

Good point. If you look at Soliai on paper, he's the absolute perfect physical specimen for a 3-4 NT. I mean how often do you run across a man who stands 6'4" 355 lbs and has the quick feet of a 255 lb man? I know he's got some problems, but you gotta wonder if there's not something telling about them keeping him on the roster. They must see something in him. If he lacked the ability to be a NT down the line, wouldn't they have moved on without him? Starks could have filled in at NT if Fergy went down. I say they see him as their developmental NT guy and that by the time Fergy runs out of gas, Soliai will be ready to rock.

 

If we go defense heavy in FA and Draft I'm going to :hammertime:

 

I think Bell qualifies as a playmaker. He made the play of the game several times this season and really stood out on defense IMO.

 

I agree.
Bell's fine if he can stay on the field now.
He's the least of our problems and one of the few positives IMO.

I have to concur with the focus on Defense crowd. That's where they'll foucs unless a potential WR knocks their socks off or a Center if the rumblings about Satele are true.

On defense you could pick any number of areas.
OLB, ILB,NT, Safety,CB are all needs.

 

I was thinking CB or WR with the first pick but you are making me see the light .I agree it will probably be a defensive front 7 player as the top pick .

I expect we will double up on other positions of need as has been the pattern with this regime .

Maybe even a Center if there is one available that they like.

Why would we flame your posts ? Our only regret is that you dont post enough :yes:

 

while i agreed with most of what you said, i gotta strongly disagree with Bell being able to be replaced and the DEs needing more speed. In a BP 3-4 the DEs need not have more speed at all. In fact a BP 3-4 is more about controlling the line of scrimmage and less about penetration then all the other 3-4 schemes.

Langford, Merling and Starks have plenty speed for DE in our defense.


Also Bell being replaced would be the worst decision possible. his ability to deliver a hit, cover TEs, blitz and help in run support is HUGE considering our LBing play and our inability to get to the QB.

 

By the way, GRT8 is a scout in the NFL.

I mean no offense, but I think he probably has good idea of what he is talking about, even with regards to BP 3-4.

We didn't actually run a vintage BP 3-4 last year either.

 

Nothing to get ripped for bro as its all good stuff.

Only thing is we need on Offense is a WR or 2 and Oline depth.

 

Thanks for reporting GRT8

 

First off, thanks for posting, GRT8. I always liked your stuff and echo Crunchtime's sentiment that it would be lovely to have you drop by more often.

Two questions regarding your post:

1) If our pass coverage needs help, especially on deeper routes, wouldn;t it be a higher priority to focus on upgrading at Free Safety to provide greater range, speed and deep pass Defense, or is Bell really that much of a liability at SS in pass coverage?

I feel like Goodman came on strong and has just enough speed to get by. Will Allen, hampered by an injury late in the season, couldn;t keep up on the deep routes nor change direction properly by the time the Ravens game happened. I don;t recall Will getting toasted deep too often when healthy, though.

I am guessing much of our deep pass defense problem, then (and the Ravens' assumpton they could go over the top of the Miami secondary) had more to do with poor quality safeties. If so, I'd expect a rangy Free Safety to be tops on our list of 'Secondary Needs' instead of a replacement for Bell, no?


2) I felt like our team never established a dependable, traditional inside running game all season and it caught up with us in the playoffs. The reason, it seemed, was the interior line lacking size and power at the Point of Attack. Especially Satele at Center and the flavor-of-the-week at RG.

Do you see the Dolphins trying to get either a bigger run-blocking center or guard type in the mid to later rounds of the draft?

 

You should not come under any fire for your comments.

I don't agree with most of what you said but it is obvious to just about everyone we need a 3rd down rusher to go a'long with JP.

As far as what you said about the Ravens not having respect for Miami on covering go routes.............Well they didn't have any respect for our Oline ether.Bart Scott was on Jim Rome's radio show and said he knew Miami couldn't line up and run on them, lol and we couldn't.

P.S. Do you have any in insight into why Miami fired their offensive line coach Mike Maser??? i thought he did a good job with what he had to work with....

Also what is it like working for a man.... that from the outside looking in, doesn't seem to think much of draft picks having any real value.It seems like to me the only worst person to work for as a NFL scout would be the guy in Dallas.

 

When we lined up in a 3-4 we played a 3-4,,,,,,,,,,,,,we were not playing a hybrid like Nick did when he was here.So i guess what i'm trying to say is " what you talking about Willis?

 

In an old school BP 3-4 the DL aways 2 gaps..but like Wade Phillips in Dallas and what they do in Diego..We play with a few different alignments even tho its mostly 3 DLs they don't always play with 2 gap responsibilitys like an Old school 3-4.

 

Its subtle but its a pretty significant difference.

 

ahh ok , well i remember VH saying in camp saying that Miami was going to be a 2 gap team that played some one gap.I just thought that would only happen when we were in 3rd downs and had 4 DL on the field.So i didn't think it would happen when we were in the 3-4.

 

So are we in the One gap when Roth or Porter are playing behind and inside the DE they most of the times play on the shoulder of???

 

For the first few picks, I would like to go: OLB / C or G / FS. ....Dansby would be a great FA pickup.

 

No fire here Gr8t...in fact I whole-heartedly agree with you. I would add as my opinion (not that I have any rep as a draft or even football guru), that perhaps Tunaland and co. were caught a little aback because of Penny dropping into their laps so late. I can't believe that they'd have thought that McClown, Beck or Henne were going to take us this far, this soon.

Now that we have Penny on board, I'd further speculate that not only will they go defense early and deep in the draft, but I think they may open the purse-strings just a little more in the FA field...Last year they made safe, basically moderate additions thru FA and perhaps even avoided paying Smiley more than they did simply because they targeted him and jumped him early...It wouldn't surprise me to see a couple of bigger FA signings this year from the Trio...offense or defense...

After all, wouldn't an upgrade from Ayodele to Bart Scott look good in aqua and orange ?? Just a thought...to add to yours...

 

sorry i even replied then. i mean, whats the point then?

 

I hope your joking bro , everything you said made 100% since to.

Just because the thread starter is a scout, doesn't mean he knows any more then any of us when it comes to trying to think what Miami will or won't do in FA or the draft.

It wasn't the D that was making Bill look like he wanted to vomit it was the oline,but it's more then just the oline's bad run blocking.It's Martin being a very bad run blocking TE and Polite isn't that great at it ether.

 

GRT8, as an overview on this draft, do you see any positions that have a surplus of really good looking prospects, and a dirth of prospects at different positions.

A good group of Db's, and a shallow group of ILB's for example?

 

By trading your center.

 

Dialing the Cowboys switchboard and asking for Jerry Jones?

 

Absolutely.

Every time I look at this team I feel like even just ONE more pick somewhere in the top three rounds would make this an AMAZING draft to stock up our shelves.

No matter how I look at it: NT, OLB, MLB, S, OG/OC , WR... we simply have too many needs that are all important, and while having three picks i the top 64 is great... just ONE more in the top three rounds would be enough, imo.

I can;t see how we'd get that, though, short of trading Porter and I don't think that's a great idea at this point.

Perhaps we could move someone for a 7th or something, but that's only one step removed from an undrafted free agent anyways.

Say, GRT8, are you a Dolphins fan or what drew you to these boards?

 

I think it's a very viable option. If we could recoup a second for Satele (since he has playing experience, and would flourish in a non-power run system) I'd be ecstatic.

Then I'd turn around and target whichever of Max Unger, or Alex Mack were still hanging around in round 2. To ensure some redundancy on the line, I'd nab Dallas Reynolds late as well.


Of course, Maser's firing may indicate that Sparano feels some of the O-line players were not properly coached this year, and they may explain Satele's regression *that* way. Me, I still think he was undersized and too weak against that big ravens front.

 

GRT8 is long gone bpk, you have to be quicker on your keyboard 40 character time to catch him...

Well, you can trade people for picks, you can offer to trade out of a round and pick up selections, or you can sell 2010 picks in exchange for more picks in this draft, or you can lose some Free Agents and pick up compensatory picks.

Or you can use the Supplemental Draft to pick up players.

Two of whom, Oliver and Gaithers played on playoff teams this year.

I'd like to see us use what the draft offers and rebuild the secondary this draft..

 

I'll start training to improve my time.

Re: the secondary... sure, that'd be great. Along with...

- better pass rushing LBs
- better, bigger MLB,
- young NT
- bigger, stronger Center and/or Right Guard
- big-framed WR

Heck, we need about 6 picks in the first two rounds to address all our needs.