Cameron (Dolphins) continues roster purge (McMichael, Welker, Harrington)

[Scurrilous]

The Dolphins traded Wes Welker and waived Randy McMichael and Joey Harrington. They have parted with seven players who started at least once on offense in '06.

<snip>

"Dolphins coach Cam Cameron already made it clear he would be using his own offensive plays next season. Turns out, it will be his own offensive players, too.

In an aggressive overhaul that took a climactic twist Monday, the Dolphins waived tight end Randy McMichael and quarterback Joey Harrington, while trading wide receiver Wes Welker to the New England Patriots for two draft picks.

The Dolphins have parted ways with seven players on offense who started at least one game last season -- including last year's two leading receivers in McMichael and Welker.

"It is always hard to part ways with individuals who have helped you win in the past,'' Cameron said in a statement. "But it's part of the business, and it's the most difficult aspect of this job.

"I want to thank Randy and Wes for their years of productivity with the Miami Dolphins."

http://www.miamiherald.com/588/story/32480.html

[TSIAS]

1. We just signed Joey Porter

Seems kind of odd, considering they've been in the business of clearing cap room. Porter's getting $20M guaranteed.

[Phredicles]

2. I thought Harrington was their best quarterback,

just like Frerotte was the year before. Are they planning to turn things over to Culpepper again? Talk about turning things over.


As for Joey "Megadickhead" Porter, maybe they're hoping he'll be the second coming of Bryan Cox. He at least has the personality down.

[Awsi Dooger]

3. Joey Harrington is the definition of incompetent

He's a tunnelvision goof who thrills to throw safe dump off passes short of the first down marker. That's how you achieve a laughable 6.0 lifetime yards per pass attempt. Nick Saban certified how overrated he is by trading for and actually playing Joey Blue Skies. I posted on many sites since Cameron was hired that his first litmus test is whether he dumps Harrington immediately. He passed, unlike Joey.

As a lifelong Dolphin fan I love the recent moves. Our roster has been mostly garbage for more than a half decade. That's how our over/under on season wins has never threatened 10 or higher in modern history. I've followed the team since I was a kid in the late '60s and 2006 was BY FAR the least interesting and most worthless season in team history. Not a threat of a foundational move, especially after Culpepper got hurt. You've got to stop pretending a bit of new crap to blend with the established crap will make us slightly less shitty. Purge the roster with a dozen major decisions and maybe you'll hit more than you miss. And the hits may have championship caliber base, not mush like Randy McMichael.

The only players I hated to lose are Kevin Carter and Wes Welker. They play full blast and make plays. But Carter is 34, and we have so many needs it made sense to jettison Welker for great value, a #2 and #7. Plus we picked up an additional #6 for 33-year-old Dan Wilkinson. GM Randy Mueller has a history of investing late picks in developmental quarterbacks and he has a knack for it. Expect interesting selections like that from Miami in the late rounds, not flawed camp fodder.

[Awsi Dooger]

4. Apparently the Dolphins will dump Olindo Mare also

That has been posted in the Sun Sentinel. Supposedly in favor of Jay Feely from the Giants.

Gad. This one I don't like. Mare may be less than he was but his kickoffs help camouflage a less than stellar coverage unit. I could give plenty of stats on field position and point expectancy but let's just say I don't think Miami is valuing all those touchbacks properly. The defense has proven vulnerable enough in clutch time over the years. Last thing you want to do is send a flutter ball to the 15 yard line and allow the opponent to start near midfield.

[Phredicles]

5. Jay Feely? I will always be grateful to him for his clutch

performance in the 2005 Seahawks-Giants overtime game.:evilgrin:

[Awsi Dooger]

6. That was funny

I wasn't laughing at the time since I had the Giants +5 and wanted the darn game to end. But Feely was forgiven once Seattle only won by three. Giants fans should take that into account.

I just read a subsequent article in the Sun Sentinel and it's even more definitive that Mare is gone. I hope he catches on elsewhere and does well. He's a local Miami guy although he played collegiately at Syracuse.

The Dolphins are also supposedly battling for WR Dante Stallworth of the Eagles. Miami GM Randy Mueller drafted him with the Saints. But the Patriots are also pursuing Stallworth.

Regardless, this already shapes up as a very intriguing Dolphin season and I haven't felt that way since Jimmy Johnson took over in '96.

[Phredicles]

7. With Randy Mueller you have a GM who knows what he's doing, which

I understand has been a problem for the Phish the last few years. I was sorry to see the Seahawks let him go. Twice, if I'm not mistaken.

Mare didn't have a great season last year, but I still don't see where Feely's an upgrade, though.

[Awsi Dooger]

10. We finally have a GM with some power

It's been a franchise run by the head coach for decades. That was fine with Shula in the '70s but even his personnel decisions slipped badly, like the stupid Freddie Solomon trade to the 49ers and trading three 3rd round picks to Buffalo to move up in the first round and draft a hard trying LB with no instincts in Jackie Shipp.

Jimmy Johnson made some very good defensive picks but his offensive choices bombed, and that set the imbalance of our team in place, yet to recover.

Mueller is the closest thing we've had to a Bobby Beathard since the early '70s, someone who will make bold moves and not always click, but interesting picks and the payoffs are big when he does connect including the late rounds.

Mare has declined for several years. My opinion is his alignment is off. I have tapes from his best years and he used to stand about six inches further to the left before beginning his approach. I liken it to a golfer whose alignment is off and therefore you get misses to both sides while trying to compensate with your swing. Dolphin fans have been increasingly impatient with Mare because his salary implies a premier kicker but he's been less than that, other than kickoff depth.

We have a new kicking coach, the guy who was with Dallas for about 15 years and thrilled to bring in a young kicker who would do great for a year or two and then bomb. So it's not certain Feely will be our guy. He might have an erratic youngster in mind for camp audition.

[Forkboy]

8. Cool,the Pats could use Welker

Especially if Troy Brown retires (which will suck.He's one of the great Patriots of all time,not so much for talent but the willingness to anything and everything to help the team.Pay cuts,playing on defense,offense,kick returns.Never a peep from him about anything. A truly great team guy.)

Do the Dolphins actually have a game plan for all these moves? I don't see how draft picks will help them right away,so are they looking further down the road by rebuilding?

Personally I would've kept Harrington over Culpepper,who has never impressed me,especially in any kind of important game.Though Harrington is no great player either.

[Awsi Dooger]

9. You'll love Welker

A clutch and versatile team-oriented guy. He was like a throwback to the glory year Dolphins of the early '70s. I'm sure he'll be even better in a more sophisticated passing game with a QB like Brady.

Miami's personnel is subpar and has been for years. In my thinking, that's Cameron and Mueller's game plan, to acknowledge that and rectify. Not to pay premium dollar for garbage offensive linemen like the ones on our roster. Nor to limited players like Randy McMichael.

If we were close to title contention no doubt we would have kept players like Kevin Carter and Welker. They will be missed. But right now the priority is to go back to the traditional way of building through the draft. Every year in the Pro Bowl roughly 80-90% of the players are with the team that originally drafted them. Miami has ignorantly eschewed that proven method for years, junk like trading next year's #2 for a #3 pick in the current draft. Believe it or not, they did that more than once. We also were bluffed by the Vikings in 2004 and gave up a #4 to move up ONE spot in the first round, to take Vernon Carey. The Wannstedt/Rick Spielman era was a triumph of personnel ignorance, like shipping a #3 to the Rams for a dime-a-dozen RB like Lamar Gordon. We're still trying to recover from those years.

Saban was only a slight improvement. He didn't trade away picks but his use of the ones he had was disappointing, at best.

Culpepper is not ideal in pocket smarts and now mobility, but he gets the ball down the field. His lifetime yards per attempt is a superb 7.7, compared to Harrington's inept 6.0. Culpepper has been above the baseline 7 yards per attempt in more than 70% of his starts, while Harrington is below 20% in that regard. Give Randy Moss to Harrington and not Culpepper and the numbers would have tightened but not reversed. Harrington is a classic example of someone who moved up the draft board late in his Oregon career but was never worthy of that level. Give me the long established guy every time, as opposed to a collegian who shoots up the chart late. That's how you get nonsense like Ronnie Brown with the second pick in the draft, which still irks me.

[Forkboy]

11. Great rundown of the team.

I didn't quite realize how bad Wannstedt was down there.I knew he was bad,but not THAT bad. :)

I also didn't know Culpepper yards per attempt was that high.It seems like in the handful of games I've him in he's struggled,though I know in a couple he was less than 100%.

I totally agree that Harrington wasn't even close to deserving where he was drafted (Rick Mirer anyone?).I was wondered that about Young last year,but he looks like he might have deserved it after all.

Now,if the Pats could just sneak one of my favorite players in the league,Zach Thomas,away from you guys I'd be a happy camper!

[Awsi Dooger]

12. Well, Miami generally plays well against the Patriots

Especially on defense. We have Brady's number, for some reason. So the Dolphins probably looks better to Pats fans than to the rest of the league.

Wannstedt wasn't a bad coach, IMO, but his personnel decisions were horrid. They weren't even the type that looked good then turned out abysmal. You were shaking your head immediately, like drafting an injury plagued and nondescript LB like Eddie Moore out of Tennessee with our #2 pick a few years ago. We had no #1 as part of the Ricky Williams trade so that gaffe was magnified.

There's actually been talk of shipping Zach and/or Jason Taylor. I doubt it will happen since they are the cornerstones of the team with no one comparable behind them at those positions. Zach's market value probably isn't very high due to age. But it wouldn't shock me if the team started out slow and basically gave up on 2007, that Zach were suddenly shipped to a contender for a 2008 draft pick. A #2 might do it.

Culpepper will be given the benefit of a doubt this year but if he doesn't regain form no doubt a QB change will be made in 2008. Miami might even take a flyer on Brady Quinn with the 9th pick in April.

[nickgutierrez]

13. What do you think about Quinn?

I'm unimpressed. He was awful in the bowl games, and I thought he really struggled against tougher competition.

[Awsi Dooger]

14. I like Quinn

Admittedly my criteria is somewhat strange. I love players who were rated very high and then are over analyzed and downgraded at the end of their career. Give me that every time above the flavor of the moment. When Miami took Ronnie Brown I could not have been more sick. He was rated as a second rounder going into his senior year. To me that's reality, the early evaluation. The late stuff is mostly scouts pretending they need to keep fiddling. Ronnie Brown was a second round caliber back who went #2 in the draft due to idiocy.

A year ago many analysts and scouts were saying Brady Quinn was better than Leinart, Young or Cutler from the 2006 draft. I'll default to that. But I doubt the Dolphins will get lucky enough for Quinn to be there at #9.