IMO people are too obsessed with rushing the passer. We lost 16 sacks last year between Porter and Taylor. They really were nothing special last year. If we only get back half of that from their replacements (8 sacks) we're still pretty good. That would have been good enough to rank 12th in the NFL. I don't see that see that as all that difficult. I know sacks aren't the only metric for pass pressure, but we were pretty good at QB hurries and hits as well.

As for the speed WR, I do believe that's important in order to create spacing for both running and passing. We have guys that attack the short and medium zones well. I do think Hartline has the ability to attack the deep zones (on the edges) against single coverage. He won't scare anyone, but I do think he can make them pay on a consistent enough basis. I would like to add one more potential deep zone threat (maybe RGM will be that guy). The one zone we can't attack well is the deep middle zone. IMO a seam busting TE is a bigger need b/c I don't see much on the roster that is likely to fill that role.

I'm mildly curious about Carroll. I've never watched him play, but he's an athlete. While +95% of the athletes with limited production or injury histories bust there's always a chance.

 

With all of the big body receivers on the roster there are plenty of possibilities for someone to fill that role. Other than having a definite #1 TE there seems to be a lot of diversity in Miami's wide receivers which will give Miami a lot of options.

 

Phillip Merling......" find yer game lad"...

boy better step up, hopefully his *** has been in the weight room all offseason, if not, he wont get better...

 

I still love Fasano and think he'll be a much higher contributor this year. Sparano said most of it last year was scheming and requiring him to block more. This year we'll see him more like 08'! I'm still curious about Wallace to see what a big, fast guy can bring to the table. Hope he has a good preseason because that addition to our already improving offense could put a little fear in some people!

 

Caplan is usually a pretty good writer. He, at least, won't talk about what he doesn't knwo about teams...

My concern for the fins this coming year is very similar tho. Adding Marshall was great, but I still think having Ginn opposite him would have made this WR corps special. I'm not saying that Ginn was a great WR, but his speed still has to be accounted for, opening up even more opportunities for Marshall, Bess and Cammy. Hartline now fills that role (I would presume), but let's face it, a burner he ain't... That brings this WR corps back to just above where it was last season. The catches that Marshall get will come from Cammy and Bess, but can Hartline be that other force to counterbalance Marshall ?? I just don't know...

 

I like Fasano and think he's an important part. I just don't think he has enough speed to consistently threaten the seam. I think we need a TE with speed to pair with Fasano (in rotation or as part of a two-TE set) that forces the FS to decide between protecting the middle and the edges. With just Fasano in there a FS will most likely drift to the outside WR and bet that Fasano can't get to deep middle over the LB and before the FS could get back.

 

Hartline has pretty decent speed. IIRC he was timed at a 4.49 at his pro day and a 4.52 at the combine. It's not scary Ginn speed, but it's fast enough to threaten deep.

 

I hope so, because only if we can threaten to throw successfully to someone else will Marshalls' full benefits be realized. He'll get his catches (Marshall), but if we show that Hartline can't get open opposite him, they'll start to shift the coverage and slow/shut down Marshall...

 

Hartline and Bess are fine. I think you are mixing up the problems here.

We didn't have a great #1 WR who needed a #2 guy and slot WR to help him.

We had the #2 and #3 guy that needed a #1. We got that, our WR problem is fixed. Bess is established. Hartline is poised for a breakout year.

I am willing to put money that, provided healthy, Hartline catches over 70 passes this year. Besides Henne, no player will benefit more from Marahsll being on the team than Hartline.

 

Not saying Taylor was lights out but for the weak side, he did pretty good in the sacks dept.

 

He had 7 last year.

 

Hartline's 16.3 YPC says otherwise.

 

IMHO FS, TE and RB are our areas of concern on this team now. FS could turn out to be not as big of a need depending on how Culver, Clemons and Jones work out. But as has been mentioned in this thread, TE is a real concern. I know that Sparano said in his presser during rookie mini camp that Fasano was kept in to block a lot more last year, but I still don't see him as that explosive seam prescence that we lost with David Martin. As for RB, I don't know if we have our future RB on the team between Hilliard and Sheets, but this is a position we will have to address next off-season if those 2 guys don't pan out.

Other than that, I would like to see us add another playmaking WR to the mix, but I honestly think that by the end of the season we could be regarding Marshall/Hartline/Bess as a top 10 WR trio. If Patrick Turner can step up his game and become a dynamic 4th WR and red zone threat our passing attack could flourish. And that's not even counting Camarillo who was our #1 last year and figures to be our #4 or #5 this year.

 

Dudes, that article was sparse on information. And I don't even know why people keep creating needs. It seems like as soon as we fill a huge need, we are already undermining it with speculation without even seeing anything on the field to the contrary.
I'd have to say this is one of the more overly fastidious offseasons for fans IMHO.

 

Yep, and thats not disgusting for the weak side. I think if they switched he and Porter, JT would have surely reached double digits.

To me where they were most average was stopping the run on either side/

 

Pandarilla, LMAO! Nice name and Avy!

I would have loved to see Ireland trade for Greg Olsen but I think Fasano is better than the credit he gets. David Martin couldn't hack it...

 

The point is that replacing that output is hardly insurmountable. People make it sound like we have this huge hole and inability to rush the passer. The reality is that even with journeyman level production from OLB and similar production everywhere else (not even any improvement) we're still a top 10 pass rush. If Wake does make the step many believe him capable of then our OLB sack production may improve.

 

The problem with losing Ted Ginn is he took the speed of the wr corps, and ST with him, we do have some UDFa's and RGM to look at, but outside of Wallace and Julius Pruitt, the UDFA/Practice Squad Wr are sorta average wheels imho.

Of course, I could be wrong about that, could be we are waiting for the Cowpokes to cut Patrick Creighton.

Pass Rush and Kick Returner, two key areas that just have to be hashed out in Training Camp, I do feel we are undermanned in the passrush, as we lost two proven Vets and only have Wake and Hope as our passrushing plan at the moment.

That is a part of the reason why I feel we should look at A Thomas or Derrick Burgess, or Ogun...don't fool around we open with 6 tough games, that is not the time of OJT..

 

There's another TE at Notre Dame that I'm keeping an eye on, Mike Ragone. Dude has the speed to bust it up the middle, good size, too. And they have Kyle Rudolph as well. Not a big ND fan over here, but they do have WR Floyd, and a LB named Teo or something like that, seems like they have some talent to work with over there.

 

Yeah I don't think Hartline's speed or his ability to get open is an issue
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb39qlJEwXc"]YouTube- Universal Draft Presents Miami Dolphins WR Brian Hartline '09[/ame]

 

Nice highlight video! Gets me excited to watch him and Marshall light some people up! Henne will be hitting some of those misses this year... Besides that awesome bobble and catch in Tennessee he appears to need a little work concentrating in traffic though.

 

Hartline is the answer, not to worry

 

THat was a fairly skimpy draft review. Either i'm spoiled from the contributors here or Kaplan just doesn't have much time to write about many teams. But since he gets paid for it, i don't think that should be an excuse.

The whole reiterating moving starks inside, he failed to mention we have Ferg comming back after the suspension, and Solia has stepped up to help play NT.

Half our draft picks were OLB. And we added Dansby to the inside. Failed to mention that too. I bet at least one or two of the rookies we took will play better than Porter did last year.

And we acquire the most talented WR in the offseason and now we don't have a number 2? Problem was Kaplan we had too many number two's. We have a terrific number one now and a incredible slot WR in Bess. That's 2/3'rds of the wideout corp. right there. Not to mention Hartline who is trending upwards, Cammy who is reliable and turner who obviously hasn't been written off yet or he'd be gone. Thats lots of comp. for the number 2 spot and depth.

If anything we need a seam busting TE and our Safety issue could be better. But not all areas are going to get fixed every off season.

Just my opinion but that was a poor poor article about our draft review.

 

I'm with ya. I want to think that #2 and #3 are just a matter of lacking experience. Hopefully this training camp and preseason allows him to get completely comfortable with his role as starter, his receivers, the offense, his OL, etc.
Once that happens, I think his performance will sky rocket.