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| 2016 Division Standings | | Team | Rec | PF | PA | | New England Patriots | 1-0 | 35 | 10 | | New Jersey Jets | 1-0 | 13 | 7 | | Buffalo Bills | 0-1 | 7 | 13 | | Miami Dolphins | 0-1 | 10 | 35 |
| | 2016 Schedule | | Week | Opponent | Result | | Wk 4 | Buffalo | W 27 - 24 | | Wk 5 | at San Diego | W 17 - 6 | | Wk 6 | Denver | L 0 - 27 | | Wk 7 | Bye Week | |
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Dolphins backroom looking to get creative
Posted by Stuart on 2 Feb 2010 at 07:32:56 [1 comments]
The Miami backroom staff are gathering and hoping they can get creative. A roll of the dice saw Miami bring in several highly paid veterans in the off-season in a bid to make a real push for the Championship. The realisation of that now though starts to show as both QB Palmer and WR Kornbluth decided to hold out as the franchises players started to return to Miami for the pre-season.
The Fins have just 22 of their players under contract beyond this year, something rare in itself for the franchise. The GM was approached to see if he could shed any light on the current situation .....
"Well it's about taking a gamble. This league has a lot of fine coaches who are doing great things with their franchises and here we have a good group of players who have already shown they are capable of making the playoffs, now it's time to try for the next step.
Yes we're disappointed that Carlton and Jim have both decided to hold out. After all Jim has been with the franchise for all 9 of his seasons and been paid well along the way. The supporting cast have been put him place to give everyone a chance at the big one.
We're a little susprised by some of the wage demands that others at the organisation are making looking forward but that's something we'll have to deal with. A few players should maybe remember that we have 51 signed players at the moment, 3 draftees who will most likely be given a contract and the fact we need to sign a 3QB. They can do the maths as well as me on that front.
As always we'll find a way to move the franchise forward and we've maintained it's about really giving everything this season. The odds are we'll wait and see what camp brings and then move forward from there.
We're confident we'll have everyone on board for this season, and hopeful that many will be back for next season as well."
Certainly looks like interesting times ahead in Miami !! 8)Click here for more... | Fury in Miami at Draft Administrative Howler
Posted by Stuart on 24 Jan 2010 at 23:59:56 [5 comments]
The Dolphins have put a lot of effort into the off-season in it's early stages looking to bring in talent for a big push at the playoffs with it's veteran stars. Today though you'd be forgiven for thinking the wheels are coming off the Dolphins wagon earlier than expected.
After watching the draft for two days and paying keen attention to how the draft developed the Fins GM returned late on Sunday to find that Miami were on the clock.
The single useful pick of our draft (2.26) was of course to be an important one. The GM had entered a list of all 40 players that Miami had scouted into the franchises draft utility, but hadn't assigned any priority to any player given that 58 players were to be drafted before Miami were on the clock.
So the time comes and the Miami GM takes a look at the list. There are plenty of players left that we scouted so it was time to sort through the reports.
The GM started looking at FB's initially out of interest and having looked at the top two assigned a rating of 20 to in his view the 2nd best FB. He then saved that rating to the draft utility and sat it shock as the league office was automatically notified that Miami wished to select the FB Norman McCaughey !!!!
It appears that a default setting in the franchises draft utility was set to automatically pick a player from it's queue the moment a rating was assigned to the player. Basically whichever player had of been assigned a rating at this exact minute would of been selected.
The GM was furious at the time of writing !!! A draft utility should not have such a default setting on but maybe the GM should of checked everything. The team had so little to be involved in during this draft but this really was an horrific incident that has left the GM and franchise realing.
Trying to salvage something from the wreckage the GM could just be heard noting that McCaughey could probably block a bit and even catch the odd ball. The despair was clear for all to see though as the GM looked to be considering his future.Click here for more... | Miami Roll the Dice
Posted by Stuart on 2 Jan 2010 at 23:16:32 [1 comments]
There was to be many a meeting in the Dolphins Front Office this season about the future of the franchise. Veterans like WR’s Kornbluth and Jones must surely be getting to the twighlight times of there careers, but they were not alone, C Spencer, K Scobee, DT Askew and ILB McConnell were all entering double digit seasons of experience and all of them spent in Florida after being drafted by the Fins. Elsewhere QB Palmer looks to enter his 13th season as does S Mike Doss, many have 7 or 8 seasons behind them.
The team recorded its first AFC East title in 2010 and barring a strange 5-11 season in 2012 has one it 4 times in 5 seasons, it’s even made it to the Bowl game, where it lost to the Seahawks. Was it worth another roll of the dice with these same veterans or was it time to reshape for the future. It didn’t need to be a complete rebuild, after all the Fins had bought in RB Bradford and S Sanford to add a more youthful look to the team and had a developing DL that it hoped would serve the franchise for many seasons to come, but was it maybe time to initiate the reshaping.
The dice could of gone either way but then the staff started working on a deal with Dallas, one that would maybe turn heads and make the decision for the rest of the Dolphins loyal players who are held in such esteem by the franchise. Dallas had pulled off a huge trade to send franchise QB Vince Palmer to the Falcons in a deal that turned many a head in the league. Miami though looked deeper at the opportunity maybe they could do something to help themselves. The Cowboys had built a fine team but with no obvious QB to lead the team maybe a full rebuild was to be initiated and this could raise some interesting options. The listing of some key Dallas veterans was to follow and the Miami Front Office swung into action.
Veteran receiver Fitzgerald was an obvious draw for any team, but others too were made available. Tackle Roos is one of the best in the league while the Miami faithful knew only too well the talents of Safety Collins after his two seasons in Florida before he joined the Cowboys last season. If Miami could strike a deal for these player it would be something, but was it a huge gamble, these players could destruct in camp, maybe it needed some extra insurance. One player that caught the eye was that of CB Watkins, a former 1st rounder with excellent coverage skills, surely an excellent insurance policy for Volk and Crawford. Is this what the deal was about to be about though, insurance policies? After all Miami had great WR’s, good Tackles, two good CB’s and two great safety’s. What could it offer to tempt Dallas as surely lower round picks along would not be enough.
Then the staff spoke closely with the coaches, what about the defence, how would it line up in 2015. It had started in a 3-4 in 2014 but changed to a 4-3 in the final weeks of the season to try and get a better balance and get more quality on the field, with both DT’s then fit and DE Raymond out for the season. It was decided a 4-3 was the best route forward to maximise the skills of the DE’s Raymond and Buckner. Jewtuch would be one DT, but could veteran Askew hold his own for an entire season after 11 tough seasons? If so it could surely only be for one final season and then what? The answer was sat there in Miami, DT Herrlich, a 309lb, 6ft 5, former first rounder, who had all the strengths of a quality DT. Could the Fins move to bring in the player, who was about to enter his 7th season, surely with many more ahead of him?
The package was put together and a deal offered that included the Fins first round pick. It was though the 27th pick of the round and Herrlich had been drafted 15. Yes he had played 6 seasons but he’d proved his worth. Miami had also pulled a similar deal last season for RB Bradford who went on to have a steller season for Miami last year. Dallas were keen on the 1st round pick and Miami could see the benefit of getting the proven quality onto it’s DL. It would be a deal not only for this season but for seasons to come, while the lower round picks were a shirt term gamble and the Fins could never expect to get such proven talent with lower round picks in the draft anyway.
It looked to be a deal that worked for both parties. It filled an area for Miami and gave them some very interesting veterans for the season ahead. It also gave Dallas extra picks with which to rebuild its team for the future. The Miami staff are also delighted as Herrlich had been the key to the whole deal and they felt they had bought real value to the franchise once again. Yes it will be a nervous Training camp when everyone arrives but these veterans should all make the roster and the experience will count for everything as Miami strengthens for not only next season but the seasons ahead.Click here for more... | Dolphins pull off unexpected Trade Moves
Posted by Stuart on 16 Mar 2009 at 01:17:43 [1 comments]
[size=18:ea11c62e93][b:ea11c62e93]No second Round pick, not a problem !!![/b:ea11c62e93][/size:ea11c62e93]
Miami had been overloaded with Trade offers on Day 1 of the draft and in the end decided they would instead keep there 1.6 pick and select Kyle Buckner, whose awesome speed means he can lineup at either DE or OLB.
Miami explained that with aging DE's this was an opportunity to hopefully stabalise the line for years to come with DE Raymond arriving just prior to the draft for Miami's 2nd and 3rd round picks.
So with the deals done it all looked set to be quiet in Miami until the 5th round. That is until the Front Office staff appeared late on Day 2 of the draft.
Aware that the Bengals were looking to possible trade pick 2.19 the Miami staff received an offer for Hetrick. After some hurried but interesting negotiations the team had secured pick 2.19, 4.17 and the services of 2nd year ILB Shawn Vance.
The press office explained that Hetrick had been pencilled in to move to WLB in a new look 3-4. The Miami scouts were aware of Vance and that he offered some skills that fitted well into the new look Miami system. His name was thrown into the deal and the Bengals agreed to include him in the package. The picks could be used to maybe pick up some new talent.
Within minutes of the Trade completing Miami were in contact with New England over Trading up, with thoughts being they might be after a running back. This deal didn't happen though but that wasn't the end of it.
Next stop Dallas where the 2.19 pick was offered in return for 4th year RB Dustin Stephens, a previous first round selection who had fallen a little way short of his potential. He has however though started 46 of 48 games, rushing for nearly 3,000 yards at 4.15 yards a carry.
On agreeing the deal Miami announced he bought a touch of speed to the position that the team had not found since Onterrio Smith had moved on from the franchise in his final season.
On the whole a busy night in Miami who have potentially picked up two starters who fit well into there system, plus a 4th round pick into the mix. All of this for a MLB who despite threatening to deliver plenty had started just 6 games in his 3 years after being drafted in the 3rd round in 2010.
A busy and pleasing night for the DolphinsClick here for more... | Dolphins shake Secondary
Posted by Stuart on 13 Jan 2009 at 21:58:30 [1 comments]
After an unprecedented collapse on defence this season the Dolphins Front Office staff have decided enough was enough and changes had to be made.
It had been noted that Secondary leader Ahmad Carroll was taking little interest in the unit after being placed on the inactive squad. This week he was cut and Dominque Foxworth signed to slot in as a nickel / dime back with his experience and coverage skills. He will also help Mentor any young players in the group as well.
Following Carroll's departure Nick Collins took leadership of the unit, a move that immediately angered Isaac Roberts, who claimed he was far from happy with the move. Roberts was advised that his place on the roster had been based in part on his special teams skills and others could fill those roles, more unrest would not be tolerated, and he was released.
3rd year man Bryant Welborn was picked up and will be given a chance to develop into a solid backup to the starters in the new look unit.
Will any of this have any influence on the shocking Dolphins pass defence? Well only time will tell this, but the moves do appear to hold more hope for the future at the very least.Click here for more... |
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