the Miami Sports Dude

With their first pick, the Dolphins selected Safety Jason Allen out of Tennessee. While I didn't see it coming, I do see why Saban went with this kid. They know each other from back when Saban recruited him at LSU. On top of that, the Dolphins fill a big need at Safety with a player that should be immediately competing for the starting spot.

For a more indepth scouting report and player grade, check out the MSD's Draft Day Coverage.

Labels: Miami Dolphins

One of the coolest parts after the draft is when the player selected poses for the photo with the team’s coach, holding up the player's new team jersey. Dreams come true, for both the player and the fans.

Come Sunday, we’ll have a photo like that, with the Dolphins’ 2006 first rounder posing with Nick Saban and giving renewed hope to all of DolphinNation.

And so as you prepare for your draft parties while saucing your baby back ribs, placing the Heineken in the freezer and dusting off your Mel Kiper Jr. impersonation, feast on this:

The MSD’s Complete Miami Dolphins Draft Coverage.

We have mock drafts, scouting reports, predictions … the works!

(Also, be sure to check out our friends at Orange And Teal on Saturday as they will be presenting a LIVE, REAL TIME running blog during the draft).

Labels: Miami Dolphins

I’ve often stated (and over stated) my belief on this blog that sports writers and columnists for major newspapers should not be allowed to have blogs. With the exception of two guys in the industry who have excellent blogs (Armando Salguero and ESPN’s Peter Gammons) it should be against the law for a guy who gets paid to cover local sport teams, have almost unlimited access to said teams and who has their crap read by nearly millions every day, to be allowed to step into the real fan’s realm of blogdome.

My proof, as usual, is the South Florida newspaper columnist version of Seinfeld’s Kenny Bannia – the Herald’s Greg Cote.

The latest evidence comes from his recent article on Ricky Williams. Strictly speaking, the piece itself is not a blog, but the guy writes one and this article is proof that he does enough damage with his traditional columns to begin with.

This sphincter suggested that the Dolphins use their 16th overall pick to select RB DeAngelo Williams to replace Ricky.

That’s right. Let’s select another running back for the second straight season, pay him first round money to be a backup and completely ignore our other needs at corner back, safety, outside linebacker, offensive line and wide receiver.

This coming from a guy who makes his weekly NFL picks with the help of an imaginary bird and a dart board.

Labels: Miami Dolphins

More random thoughts as Draft Day approaches ...

Former Dolphins GM Rick Spielman has apparently found work during his post-Dolphins-train-wreck days. Spielman dispenses his knowledge on ESPN’s daily SportsCenter Draft Specials. He joins the ranks of other luminary football minds like Sean Salisbury and Mike Golic.

Among their every day topics and musings:

• From Salisbury The Career Backup: What GMs Look For In Great QBs
• From Golic: How Players Stay Fit For Their Pro Days
• From Spielman: How To Fool Other GMs Into Trading Away Their 3rd String QB for a Second Round Draft Pick

The prudence on this show has no limits. And, apparently, neither does ESPN's propensity for hiring any one -- and we mean any one -- who is either A.) an unsightly ex-jock or B.) an ex-GM who was fired from his old job after nearly singlehandedly destoying a franchise. (ie: our boy Rick & the Mets' Steve Phillips).

The World Wide Leader will trot anyone in front of a camera these days. Not to mention blow hard sports writers, worn out novelty acts and guys who just scream at the camera. Oh, and lest we forget, this nimrod. What's the criteria for being hired by Disney/ABC/ESPN these days?

("If you can say the word 'boobies,' you're hired.")

Anyway, for more pre-draft fodder and fun, check out these sites the MSD has found surfing this thing called the world wide webs:

• Crtical Fanatic: Favorite NFL Draft Moments
• Deadspin: The Official 2006 NFL Draft Drinking Game
• The Phish Tank: 2006 Dolphins Draft Wishlist
• Dolphins In Depth: The Herald's Armando Salguero's excellent Dolphins blog is covering all things Dolphins Draft on a daily basis.

THE MSD ON DEADSPIN.COM

P.S. A very hardy and special thanks to whomever sent this blog into Deadspin.com today! We love Deadspin -- it is the Dude's favorite non-Dolphins website -- and we appreciate that you actually waste three or more minutes of your precious time to read our crap on a daily basis. Seriously. Thank you, dear readers and fellow Dolfanatics! We are because you make us so.

Much love!

Labels: Miami Dolphins

We’re just days away from the NFL Draft and we’re already getting the pre-draft trudge coming from the local fish-wrappers. Like this piece from the Sun-Sentinel about Nick Saban’s draft board. Not sure if I got anything out of it except that we still don’t know who the hell Saban will draft with the 16th overall pick.

So, expect these types of pre-draft articles every season as long as Saban is Sheriff ‘round these parts. Long winded, somewhat insightful, sometimes boring, and always empty caloric fillers (sort of like a Three Musketeers). As long as the Nick-Tator is in charge, we won't ever know who the Dolphins will ever draft until the NFL commish walks up to the podium and announces it. We at the MSD will have our own version of empty caloric fillers later this week (sort of like a Moon Pie) as we’ll be providing more scouting reports, analysis and mock drafts to fill your need, leading up to Saturday.

But before we delve deeper into the mysteries of the Dolphins draft, we take a look back at Nick Saban’s pre-draft press conference from last week. You can find the entire transcript on MiamiDolphins.com:

The press conference was the usual non-informative, cliché-filled rant that Saban likes (and has) to do. But the best part of it came at the end when he was asked about evaluating players objectively given the swarm of media coverage on most players.

Saban: "I just got into it with the scouts upstairs that all of a sudden I've got this thing from the [scouting] combine of what every guy ran the 40 in, and it's electronically timed. I'm looking at a guy and we have a different time on him than he ran in Indy." A scout told Saban "this is our time" for the prospect. "I say, `You mean, we're sitting in peanut heaven timing a guy in the 40 and we don't trust the electronic timer, but we think that we can time him better from 200 yards away?' And you know what their answer was? `Well, they even start that with a button.'"

But MiamiDolphins.com omitted the best part of this quote. The last part:
Saban asked his scouts, “So I should take this [scouting report] and wipe a certain part with it because it really doesn’t mean anything? I’ve been going by this thing the whole draft and you guys are telling me we don’t trust it?”

First of all, we love the fact that Saban believes in a Peanut Heaven. Secondly, this statement justifies our non-sexual, non-homo man-crush that we have on the guy. Not even team scouts are immune from the wrath of the Nick-Tator. The man has a championship franchise to build, people! Let’s get on the ball here!!

We love Nick Saban!

We hope you’ll log in during the week to read and peruse the MSD’s Miami Dolphins draft coverage. Until then, we gotta run. The mid-afternoon coffee break coffee & brand muffin just kicked in. We’re out of Charmin, but we just printed out this blog and will be using it after concluding our business …

Labels: Miami Dolphins

''I think value is really important to the organization overall. If you get position specific, sometimes you can reach out of a category and take a lesser player to satisfy a need. And, I think, long term, that is not philosophically what we'd like to do.'' -- Nick Saban

In Nick Saban’s pre-draft press conference today, the coach continued his mantra of drafting players according to their overall “value.” Of course, anything anyone says at this point – especially Saban – has to be taken with a grain of salt. And that salt comes in heavy doses.

But if we are to believe that Saban will look to use the No. 16 overall pick in terms of “value,” then we need to believe he will take the best player on the board and that could be any number of guys.

My gut still tells me it will either be Santonio Holmes or Chad Jackson. While the needs of this team are plenty, much if it has been met with some prudent free agent signings. And while a safety or corner back is a big demand, the fact that the secondary class of prospects is somewhat deep this year leads me to think the Fins will target this need in the 3rd round and beyond.


While not dismissing the team’s needs in the secondary, Saban did remind the press that some of those needs have been filled this off-season. ''You can kind of put two-and-two together and know what's been solved to some degree,” he said. And while he also stressed that “the front-seven people, big people, especially those who can affect the quarterback are always a top priority,” he kept coming back to the mantra: value.

And that’s why I think the Fins will go with one of the two best receivers in this year’s class. Throw in the recent draft spot swap (say that five times fast) between the Broncos and 49ers, and I now think that Denver has its eye on RB DeAngelo Williams out of Memphis, with the 15th pick.

We’ll delve deeper into what the Fins may or may not do in the MSD’s in-depth Draft Coverage next week. But for now, I’ll leave you with this:

In terms of player value and needs, factored into what the teams picking ahead of the Dolphins are projected to do, Miami’s war-room draft board will probably look like this by the time they’re on the clock:

1.) WR Chad Jackson (assuming Denver does take DeAngelo), Florida
2.) WR Santonio Holmes, Ohio St.
3.) DB Donte Whitner, Ohio St.
4.) CB Tye Hill, Clemson
5.) CB Jimmy Williams, Virginia Tech
6.) LB Ernie Simms, FSU

All six are projected to be great players in the NFL. All six can make an immediate impact on the Dolphins this year.

The debate rages on …

( Feel free to throw in your two cents in the MSD Forum )

Labels: Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins and Lions QB Joey Harrington have agreed, in principal, to a two year contract that will pay him $2 million each year. This will bring a young, talented – albeit somewhat troubled – QB to serve as backup to the still rehabbing Daunte Culpepper. But Harrington is not a free agent.

And this is where the trouble begins.

The Genius that is Matt Millen is asking for a 4th round draft pick from the Fins. This after Nick Saban talked Millen out of asking for a 3rd rounder. Talked out of … more like laughed at him and hung up the conference call.

There’s no way Saban parts with his 4th rounder. Not when there are so many needs to fill. Not for a backup quarterback. Not for Joey Harrington.

You can bet that the reason this deal has not yet happened is because the Genius Millen is holding out for a better offer. Unless a team hires Rick Spielman as their new GM in the next few weeks, or unless Millen finds his counterpart in another GM who thinks “out of the box and onto incoming traffic” like he does – no one is going to give up a 3rd or 4th rounder for Harrington.

A 4th rounder. This demand coming from a guy who is the front runner for the Isaiah Thomas Award in the NFL.

Saban’s options are a bit thin after Harrington. There’s the Rams’ Jamie Martin, who did a serviceable job for St. Louis last season when Marc Bulger went down. But it’s a big drop off from Harrington (if that’s possible). Then there’s Kerry Collins, who has hit the proverbial wall in his career and is currently holding out for a starting job somewhere. Still, he would be a decent fill-in for Culpepper.

Harrington brings a lot of baggage, to be sure. He is a first round bust. His hype never matched his talent and it never will. But it’s hard to imagine him not meeting with some moderate success as Culpepper’s backup down here. With the offensive coaching staff that the Fins have in place, as well as the system, and the protection of having a world-class runner in Ronnie Brown, a rising star in Chris Chambers, a solid possession receiver in Marty Booker and a great fail-safe TE in Randy McMichael, Harrington would have zero excuses. Plus, there’s the added bonus of the fact that he is no longer being asked to “save a franchise” as well as an opportunity to try and prove he’s worthy of starting elsewhere.

My guess is that this deal will get done sometime before Draft Day. Millen will have no choice but to accept Saban’s offer of a 5th or 6th round and no more. The Genius Millen has already dug himself into a hole by signing two quarterbacks in the off season. That’s right. Two. The man is a certifiable genius.

With Jon Kitna and Josh McCown on board, he has one too many quarterbacks on his roster and will be forced to deal away Harrington. Right now his best and only option are the Dolphins.

Your move, Genius.

Labels: Miami Dolphins