Can we give them Indy's second instead?

 

I won't lie I started calling this guy Dennis Pittaful, before I cut him in fantasy.

 

question I have is whether Pitta is better than one of the top 2 rookie TEs, one of which you may either get with our 2nd pick or throw in a later round pick to move up a little to get him. Pitta is not going to be cheap. I'm perfectly okay not trading for Pitta and using our top 2 picks on CB/TE.

 

Isn't he just another Fasano? We could have kept Fasano without losing a pick.

I hope this is ploy to get Keller to come to back to earth.

 

pretty sure you have to give them your own pick, not one that was given to you in a trade

 

I wouldn't spend a second round pick of him over the other options left on the market. Or even trading for Finley.

 

In what way does that show up on the field, because their stats aren't all the different?

 

I'm not saying Pitta isn't more of a receiving threat (even if only somewhat), but it's really a shame how much Fasano was undervalued by fans here.

 

Yep, pretty sure this is true. One of the GM leaguers could probably chime in. They have to follow the same rules.

Not sure that Pitta is an upgrade over Fasano either. Maybe a little more athletic, but not a huge upgrade. Don't know I would give up a 2nd rounder for what we already had.....

 

I think that's because the TE position is evolving into the seam buster mold instead of the old prototype, of which, Fasano (and Pitta) are classic examples of.

 

I think it is very important to have some of both..


Best scenario would have been to keep Fasano, and have Egnew actually turn into a deep threat. THAT is how you build a powerful offensive threat IMO

 

I think it depends on the system you're running.

 

For a 2nd I would have liked to see him be a little younger. I actually like the potential of his team mate Dickson from Oregon. I really would like a drafted kid at this point. Get a veteran and draft a kid like Kelce.

 

Fasano was a good player, 2 of his 4 yrs he led us in Td's (iirc, 08 and 12), but he is more of a Shockey/Bavaro type of Te then the sort of seam busting Te we need imo.

IMO, Pitta is not worth a #2, it would be bad enough we would have to pay him well, we also lose a #2 pick for the pleasure of paying him well.

 

I'd rather get Brandon Myers for cheap and draft another young TE like Eifert, Kelce or Escobar.

 

I can't agree more with this. He was never going to be a Tony Gonzalez but he does a lot of the little things that don't show up on the stat sheet to help teams win. I even felt he was a little under utilized in the passing game. I can remember quite a few plays where he was open the last few seasons and our QBs never even glanced at him. I for one will miss having him on our squad.

 

I'm not sure how Dennis Pitta compares to Anthony Fasano except that maybe they're both white. I'm not even trying to say one is better than the other, I just literally don't know what aspects of their games are comparable. They certainly don't look the same on film.

I'm partial to Dennis Pitta. I loved him coming out of the Draft. He and Jimmy Graham would've been my top tight end targets because I had no real information about Rob Gronkowski's back condition so I felt I had to beg off judgment on him.

He's pretty durn athletic. At 6'4.5" and 244 lbs he ran a 4.68 at the Combine, did 27 bench reps, had 4.17 shuttle and 6.72 cone drills. For reference, only Tavon Austin, Quinton Patton, Markus Wheaton, Da'Rick Rogers, Stedman Bailey, Josh Boyce, Rodney Smith and T.J. Moe among the wide receivers group had better shuttle times this year. There were 18 other wide receivers that came in worse. And only 4 of them (Rogers, Boyce, Moe and Marquess Wilson) had better cone drill times. These are wide receivers. If I were comparing him to this year's group of tight ends, there wasn't a single guy that beat either his shuttle or his cone time. Though, Tyler Eifert did manage to tie him in the 40 yard dash.

What I loved about him though was that he was just such a natural in the passing game. Quick, extremely fluid, great hands, great route running. Very polished because BYU puts a lot of focus on the tight ends in the passing game. And I always told people his blocking was far better than generally given credit for. He's stronger than people gave him credit for. Mike Stock was the tight ends coach for his team at the Shrine game and I got to talking to him about his unit and he said people don't realize how physically strong they all are, including Pitta. I guess they got a better clue when he did 27 bench reps at the Combine. I figured Pitta would never be a "great" blocker, but he's not destined to be the kind of embarrassment as a blocker some imagined. But Stock and I talked about how fluid a player Pitta is and that's probably how I'd describe him overall, fluid.

Not a coincidence to me that Pitta has ascended above Ed Dickson in that offense. Don't know why they drafted Dickson above him to begin with.

Question is what else you could do with that 2nd round pick. It would probably have to be pick #42 as per league rules. Can you get a tight end at that pick? Which one? I'm not sure whether Zach Ertz will be available at that pick but even if he is, he's not a better prospect that Dennis Pitta. Travis Kelce...is a tougher call for me. Tyler Eifert won't be there, obviously. I don't think Gavin Escobar or Vance McDonald are in the same area code.

I think in all likelihood you're more looking at what ELSE you could do with that pick, not at the tight end position. The way they're steering in free agency picking up Mike Wallace and possibly even picking up Brandon Gibson as well, you really think they're considering a WR at pick #42? I don't. Not for a second. It's possible Giovanni Bernard makes it to 42 and he would be a nice back to pair with Lamar Miller. You could probably get Menelik Watson or Terron Armstead there. You might get a whack at Alex Okafor there. If you believe that Randy Starks leaves after 2013 then you might consider Brandon Williams or Sylvester Williams there (personally I would not). That is about where you'd pick up David Amerson, Jamar Taylor or Darius Slay. You could possibly pick up Eric Reid there.

There's a lot of hubbub right now about how the Dolphins are artificially lowering their 2013 cap numbers on the player contracts at the expense of the 2014 number. Naturally because people are inclined toward this kind of thinking, they think it's a naked attempt by Jeff Ireland to pull out all the stops and try and win in 2013 so that he can save his job, future be damned. In my experience, that kind of thinking is usually misguided. I don't like Jeff Ireland but I very much doubt that's what he has in mind. There's something else going on, and it could be that they're saving all the 2013 cap room in order to make an offer for a restricted free agent. The classic way of snagging an RFA away from a cap strapped team is to artificially inflate the player's first year cap number, the classic "poison pill" strategy. Well, Miami is in perfect position to do that. And they also have two 2nd round picks.

So it would make A LOT more sense to me if Jeff Ireland is artificially deflating these first year cap numbers in case he wants to make a bid at a restricted free agent. The worst that could happen is we decide not to go after the RFA, or the team actually matches the poison pill offer, and so we're left with a bunch of salary cap space in 2013...that happens to NOW be easily and freely transferrable to future years.

 

That would be Ed Dickson from Oregon.

 

We may or may not be able to get a tight end of equal or better talent at 42, but if we do keep the pick and use it, we get the player for a rookie contract. To sign Pitta to an offer sheet it may need to be in the Cook contract range, so not only do we lose the pick that could have went to a good player who'd be playing under a rookie contract for the next 4 years, (see Martin's contract for comparison), we also have another large contract to fit under the cap with what Pitta would cost. I'm not one bit convinced that Ertz, Kelce, or Escobar wouldn't be as good or better in the long run. IMO, keep the picks and use them and if we want a veteran to offset the loss of Fasano, then sign a UFA that costs no draft pick compensation.

 

Very good assessment. I think Baltimore has big plans for him. Whatever contract Miami has in mind for him would have to have some serious deterients to scare off the Ravens. I am still not sure about the draft pick, but if he is the best option at tight end I suppose you do it. I like Davis in Washington, but I don't think he comes to Miami for a visit.

 

I would do it. I like pitta. I think he is much more of a receiving threat then fasano. He's young enough that a 2nd wouldn't bother me

 

Adam Beasley ‏@AdamHBeasley Dustin Keller's brother, @Damien05Keller, announces Dustin signs with the Dolphins on Twitter, it appears.


Maybe we won't have to give up that 2nd rounder afterall ??

Edit:

Armando Salguero ‏@ArmandoSalguero The Dolphins are closing in on a deal with Jets TE Dustin Keller. Still working but looking good for both sides.

Guess we'll have to wait and see...

 

Would you believe he's only a year younger than Fasano?

 

Wow....damn fine post right there. Anyone else...thats a RFA besides Pitta..you might see us lining up?

 

Good point. Mormon mission and all that overage draftee stuff I guess?

 

Really liked Pitta coming out of College.

 

I corrected it on my initial post. Sorry.

 

With Keller signing I think Pitta is a after thought right now.

 

No problemo amigo. :)

 

I believe so. Then again Keller has 2 less years than Fasano in the league but is the same age as him.

 

I also was a big Pitta fan in that draft. I had him and Hernandez as my top guys after Graham. I see him as comparable to Eifert and better than anyone else in the draft. I have no doubt he's worth a 2nd. The question, as eloquently posed by CK, is what else would we use the pick for? It's not hard to imagine that Miami's plan is to go Austin in the first and use a 2nd on Pitta. That would certainly meet the goal of adding play makers for RT this offseason. If they added another pass rusher in FA (like Abraham?), which I believe was their other priority this offseason, I could see that area being the focus.

 

2nd Round Compensation: CB Sam Shields (Packers), FS Stevie Brown (Giants)
3rd Round Compensation: WR Emmanuel Sanders (Steelers)
7th Round Compensation: DT Clinton McDonald (Seahawks)
No Draft Compensation: WR Danario Alexander (Chargers), RB Isaac Redman (Steelers), TE Jeff Cumberland (Jets), OG Evan Dietrich-Smith (Green Bay)

 

Keller brother just tweeted... screw you D.Pitta!

 

Well if the reports of Keller signing are true, then that's that in terms of Pitta. I can't complain though. I like Keller and see him as a good stop gap and I love being able to retain our 2nd.

 

We could always trade with a team who has salary cap issues like Dallas (for example), and give up a 2nd maybe. Just as an example, I'm not saying it's likely.