Senior Bowl, Free Agency, and The Draft Is Fast Approaching
You all know that we at Phinfever are just as active in the offseason as during the season. Just like the Dolphins organization, there is no downtime for us and that is just how we like it. Just this past week VP BILL PARCELLS was seen at Senior Bowl all decked out in Miami Dolphins attire. Seeing Parcells at the Senior Bowl is a rare siting as he has made it a point to avoid it, but he wants to see the NFL hopefuls up close as the Dolphins have a lot of holes to fill. By the way, the Senior Bowl is played today at 7pm EST.
Starting next week I will have the NFL Draft Central page updated with everyone’s mocks. Of course, free agenct signings usually change a mock draft upside-down as teams fill their important needs with high-priced free agents. A team can send itself into Salary Cap Hell very easily by overspending, but then again, there always seems to some kind of barely legal trickery done to stay within the cap. So, I will work on our draft page Friday night over a couple of Coronas.
Huizenga Is Now A 5% Owner of the Dolphins
The sale of the Dophins went through this week and STEPHEN ROSS is now the majority owner of the Dolphins. Due to the economy, it took him a little longer than he expected to get his finances together to buy the team. Somehow Huizenga figured out that President Obama was going to milk the rich to take care of the poor, so, he was not as thrilled about the changes that were getting to happen in this country. Some people will say that the rich will now pay their fair share. We will see how this affects an all ready weak economy.
It really is too bad that this happened at the point where Bill Parcells is running football operations of the Dolphins. For the entire time that he owned the team, Huizenga has done his best to try to get the best football minds running his team. He has been the perfect owner. Unfortunately, the people in charge did not always make wise football decisions. DON SHULA (I love this guy) spent a lot of money his last year on failed first round draft picks of other teams and ended up with a team that bickered all year. At least he was smart enough to get the Dolphins into the playoffs, unlike Wade Phillips of the Cowboys. Jerry Jones should fire Phillips and then himself over at Big D. JIMMY JOHNSON tried to do all the work and ended up flaming out. Before he left he stuck it to Dan Marino and to the fans by talking Huizenga into hiring his buddy DAVE WANNSTEDT as our next head coach.That was as big a mistake as hiring CAM CAMERON.
People should remember Huizenga as being a huge Dolphins fan who brought in Bill Parcells and spent money liberally. He was a class act all around as everyone could see in the last days of the NICK SABAN regime. If you get a chance to check out the Practice Bubble he built for the Dolphins so they can practice indoors in poor weather, you would be very impressed. And whenever a free agent appeared that the Dolphins had to have (Junior Seau, Joey Porter, and Chad Pennington come to mind), he was quick to to tell his football men to spend what was needed as the wallet was wide open.
BILL PARCELLS said this week that his being vice president of the Dolphins is not about the money. In fact, when asked about his commitment to the Dolphins, he said the following in classic Parcells speak:
“What does it look like I’m doing? What do your eyes tell you? It isn’t about money. I have more money than I can spend.”
What that means that if Ross overrides his football decisions, does not allow him to spend up to the cap limit, and is slow about coming up with the finances to sign a surprise free agent (such as Pennington last year), he will not stick around. Parcells knows that it is not his team, but he also does not want an owner who will get in the way of building a top franchise. Parcells wants to win a Super Bowl as a football executive and I am with Parcells on this.
What has Ross said about Parcells? Well, he has come out and said that Parcells is running the football side of operations and he has been given a blank check to do what he sees fit to build a championship team. What Ross is going to concentrate on is the marketing side of the Dolphins. It all sound good to me.
Miami Has Not Been Quick To Sign Their Free Agents
Why has Parcells been slow to resign ILB Channing Crowder, RT Vernon Carey, S Yeremiah Bell, CB Andre Goodman, and S Renaldo Hill? It looks like they will be testing free agency.
A lot of fans think that S YEREMIAH BELL should be Miami’s top free agent signing. He has been excellent in run support and patrols the secondary with a lot of savvy. He batted down some key passes in some big games this year. With his agent Drew Rosenhaus asking for a 3 year, $15 million contract, you can understand why the Dolphins have not bit on that. I’m not sure if I could invest that kind of money in someone that has had a couple of serious season-ending injuries. And, where are the interceptions at?
My number one project would be RT VERNON CAREY, but for some reason Parcells does not believe that he is worth the money that other teams are going to pay him in free agency. While Carey did not have the big year that people thought he would playing in a contract year, perhaps he would have done much better having someone of quality like Smiley lined up beside him.Still, Parcells and Coach Sparano know what it takes to build an offensive line, so, I definitely trust them on this decision.
What about ILB CHANNING CROWDER? He is obviously disappointed and frustrated with the whole process and is taking it personal as you can tell by this comment this week about his situation with the Dolphins:
“I’m a system guy. Tackles are easy. You get paid off big plays. [I have] no big plays.”
Crowder has had some injury issues, and even though he had 119 tackles this year, the Dolphins are dragging their feet on our 4 year starter. I like Crowder, but I understand why the Dolphins are balking at paying him top dollar. He is a tremendous hitter when he has the time to size up the ball carrier, but he has had some injury issues in the past and he overruns the play at times and is out of position. I am not sure that he has the instincts that Parcells is looking for to run the inside of defense.
I like CB ANDRE GOODMAN. Finally, he showed the promise that he showed us before his injury a couple years ago. He seemed to improve as the season progressed, but what is his agent asking for? I would not mind seeing Goodman returning with us next year.
RENALDO HILL? Please let him hit free agency.
Julius Peppers?
There is a good possibility that DE Julius Peppers will hit free agency. He told the Panthers that he wants out, and you can believe they will franchise him to keep him or to trade him. SI’s Peter King said this about Peppers:
Julius Peppers wants to go elsewhere. The Panthers aren’t going to let him, not without significant compensation. Look for this one to last a long time, for the Panthers to franchise Peppers and try to entice an offer of at least a first-rounder for him. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Miami offer its first-round pick for him. It’d be a fair offer. Peppers and Phillip Merling would be a nice combo in the Dolphins’ 3-4 scheme.
That is a tough call. What I will say about Peppers after watching him here at UNC and with the Carolina Panthers is that he is a unique talent and can be explosive. He just turned 29 and can do some game-changing things in a game. There will be other teams interested in Peppers as Denver and Green Bay are going going to the 3-4 defense this year.It is doubtful that Scott Pioli will want to give up a first round pick or pay the kind of money that a player like Peppers will demand.
The first round pick satisfies the Panthers, not Peppers. Peppers will want what is his and I’m am very sure he wants to be one of the highest paid defensive players. You cannot blame him for that. As good as Peppers is, I would be almost be willing to go with trading our first round pick and paying the money. I think Peppers is extraordinary and Parcells likes disruptive players like him.
I don’t think Parcells has the attention span to stick around for 7-8 years. He has the 2-3 year plan going on. After seeing how disruptive Lawrence Taylor was for him, I would bet you that he is looking over film closely to see if Peppers can be close to that.
I really am intrigued with Peppers. He is one of those freakish players that you do not want to pass up if you have the opportunity. Just because he wants out of Carolina does not mean that he will get his wish. He won’t be the first unhappy player to play for a team he didn’t want to play for and was franchised one year at a time. We will have to see. The last time I was this excited about gaining a player was when there were rumors that Phillip Rivers may fall to us in the draft. Since I’ve seen them both play I know what they are capable of. Peppers does disappear at times though, but so does Porter. Peppers could have just been unhappy there for years.
