News & Notes from the NFL Owners Meetings

[DolFan619]

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_seasonticket/2008/04/fins-nfl-owners.html

Fins: NFL Owners Meetings (2)

Tony Sparano met with the media today, for 64 minutes, at the AFC Coaches Breakfast at the Breakers in Palm Beach.

His table was the second-most crowdest of the 16, with only Bill Belichick drawing more attention. That was due to the location of the meetings (South Florida) as well as the Dolphins' location in the draft (first).

Some quick hits.

-- Straight talker, tough talker. No talking in circles. No surprises there. He's the anti-Cameron.

-- When asked by Charley Casserly, Sparano said his defensive front-seven looked like Matt Roth, Jason Ferguson and Randy Starks across the front, with Jason Taylor and Joey Porter at outside linebacker, and Channing Crowder and Reggie Torbor inside. Later, I asked if he'd meant to omit Vonnie Holliday. He hadn't. He said Holliday would be starting, and one of the team leaders.

-- Best line? When asked if he had soft spots for small college players, because of his history at New Haven, he said: "I have very few soft spots."

-- He said he wasn't upset about Jason Taylor appearing on Dancing with the Stars, and even admitted to watching him at least once. He said it wasn't a problem that Taylor was missing offseason workouts, and echoed Taylor's sentiment that Taylor could be doing worse things to get himself ready.

-- He said he needed to change the culture. Even so, he was pleased that, as he watched tape, he saw players competing hard late last season. 

-- He said he saw more upside in some of the young cornerbacks that he anticipated upon arrival.

-- Travis Daniels will work at cornerback and Jason Allen will work at safety, at least initially. He called new safety Keith Davis "one of the toughest players" he'd coached.

-- While everyone is referring to the free agents as special teams, Sparano said he's been telling those players that he plans on them competing to start. He did say that special teams is the one area that his team plans to start by winning.  He said Charlie Anderson can play inside or outside at linebacker, even though Anderson has primarily played special teams.

-- Again, he's harping on competition at every spot. "At some point, every player on our team, no matter who they are, will have to show me."

-- On the roster composition: "It may not be the best 53. It will be the right 53."

-- He said he planned to be involved in every phase, even if it requires staying at the office until 1 a.m. or beyond.

-- On the draft: "There's no one position that's more important for us going into this draft. There really isn't. We have a lot of needs."

-- If you read Pro Football Talk today, just remember that the date is April 1st. I just checked it out myself, after I was sitting here typing and overheard Jeff Ireland asking someone on the phone whether that person "had seen PFT."

-- If the NFL is getting squeezed financially, as it claims, that sure wasn't apparent at the Monday night party, which featured mermaids walking on water in transparent spheres.

-- 11:10 a.m. update on the Jason Taylor hoax, mentioned above: here is the Pro Football Talk admission that it was an April Fool's joke. PFT is missing the point on this. What was interesting to me? Not that a couple of media members briefly fell for it. Rather, that when one of those writers approached Jeff Ireland, the GM didn't just laugh it off. He said he had to check it out. That should tell you something about the nature of the situation.

-- The owners passed the resolution, by a count of 25-7, to apply the Coach-to-Quarterback communication to the defensive side. A team may designate two players each week who may wear the coach-to-defense radio, but they must never be on the field at the same time with the receiver in their helmets.

-- UPDATE: We will not hear from Jeff Ireland this week. We thought that he might speak tomorrow, but he has decided to hold off for two weeks, arguing that there's nothing he would say now that he couldn't simply say then.

-- I asked Mike Tomlin, who interviewed for the Dolphins' job before 2007, what would have happened if he had inherited the Dolphins' situation instead of the one he inherited in Pittsburgh. His answer: "I'd like to think if I'd gotten the job, it would have been different. But that's just me." In other words, he would have made it different.

> Posted by Ethan J. Skolnick at 8:42:45 AM


http://dolphinsindepth.blogspot.com/

Nuggets from breakfast with Tony Sparano

Tony Sparano talked with the media for 64 minutes today. Interestingly, the Dolphins rookie coach had a small mob of reporters around him even as established coaches like Mike Tomlin and Jack Del Rio had only a couple of guys around them.

Some nuggets:

Ronnie Brown, recovering from a torn ACL, is expected back by training camp.

On if Ronnie will be ready for training camp:

"We'll see how the thing goes right now but I think in our minds Ronnie should be ready for training camp," Sparano said.

Sparano admitted the team has no starting RT right now. He said the team has Vernon Carey penciled in at LT and Drew Mormino at LG. Yikes!

His front seven on defense were LE Matt Roth, NT Jason Ferguson, RE Randy Starks, OLBS Jason Taylor and Joey Porter and ILBS Channing Crowder and Reggie Torbor. When asked about Vonnie Holliday, Sparano corrected himself and put the vet in the starting lineup.

Starks is having a bad day, having been benched in favor of Holliday in the span of one hour.

Sparano said he still isn't certain whether the team will run a 3-4 or 4-3, although its obvious they want to run a 3-4.

He said no one other than Jason Taylor has missed the conditioning program that began last week.

He said Lorenzo Booker "jumps off the film," when he studies the player. He said Ted Ginn and Derek Hagan are having a great offseason and added that Ginn "has great ability," and is improving his route-running.

And he insisted the Dolphins want to keep Jason Taylor rather than trade him because he's a good player.

On specific players:

Nate Jones -- “Honestly, one of the things that we did when we came here and watched all this film is we saw a lot of young players back there that we were really excited about. When we watched them, that they had a lot of upside and they got us curious. So we thought when we were watching these guys, that maybe there were a few more pieces back there than we thought. So we’re interested and excited to get them out on the field. Now Nate is a guy that has played for us and again, he’s one of those that people think you signed a special teams player but for us, he’s a guy who’s going to compete to be a corner. And one thing I know about Nate Jones is that he competes and he competes hard every single day.”

S Keith Davis and S Chris Crocker -- “Keith Davis honestly is one of the toughest players that we’ve had the opportunity to coach. This is tough and he brings toughness to your team. And Crocker is a guy I’ve played against several times in our league and we think he’s outstanding safety, cover guy. He always gets some hands on some balls and it’s no secret there’s guys hurt in our secondary right now. And that can’t be an area where we have guys hurt and have success in our league.”

On LB Charlie Anderson -- “Charlie Anderson we’ve had the opportunity in Dallas to play against an awful lot. We played him in the preseason, we played him once or twice in the regular season. And we get out on the field and he just jumps out at you because he’s this big, good looking guy that can run and he presents some problems that way. He’s a young player, like a few of these guys we’ve signed that’s looking for an opportunity. But he gives you that big linebacker we need in our league to be durable that maybe can help in some pass rush but can still play in coverage and do some things that way.”

Is he outside or inside?

“Charlie has the ability to play in two spots for us and we’re not sure where we’re going to be with him, but we’re going to start him outside.”

On WR Ernest Wilford -- “Our history has been that we have those kind of receivers – Keyshawn, Terrell – those big physical receivers. But Ernest, honestly, he’s a guy that jumped out at us as a guy that could really make a difference for us and complement some of the players we have right now. So he’s coming in and he knows he has a great opportunity to compete as well.”

Is Travis Daniels a CB or S -- “Right now we’re going to look at him as a corner, with the safeties we brought in. We know he has the ability to play two positions back there and on game day that’s important. On game day you’re looking for guys that can do more and Travis is a young player we feel can do a few things back there. He’s one of those young guys we’re excited about watching, but we’re going to start him right now at corner.”

Where to play Jason Allen -- “He’s played both and that’s a luxury for us. Right now as the process goes on we’ll look at him at a safety spot and then we’ll see where we go from there. But the more things you can do back there, the better off we’re going to be.

[CF DolFan]

The Jason Taylor thing is funny.  The Viking Update people bought it so hard they still have it posted as news on their web site.  Most people don't trust them on a regular day so I'm not sure as to why they would on April 1st.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/04/01/taylor-story-creates-a-stir/

TUESDAY NOTES

* Tickets for the 2008 Vikings draft party will go on sale today at all Vikings Locker Room stores or Ticketmaster locations. Tickets are $15 and the party will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 26. A special section called the Red Zone will have tickets for $70 that will include a private autograph section and free food and beverage coupons.

* The NFL set an attendance record for the sixth straight season with a total paid attendance of 22,256,502 fans – the second straight year the league drew more than 22 million fans.

* Vikings Vice President of Sales and Marketing Steve LaCroix has been named as a member of the NFL’s Internet Working Group.

* The announcement that the Vikings will play on the season-opening Monday night doubleheader will be the second time in the three-year history of the MNF doubleheaders that the Vikings will be involved. In 2006, the Vikings also had the early game, traveling to the play the Redskins.

* Some media sources are reporting that Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor, currently testing his dignity on ABC-TV’s “Dancing with the Stars,” will announce his retirement from football on tonight’s show – increasing the odds that the Dolphins will select DE Chris Long with the first pick in this year’s draft.

* It appears as though the ballyhooed topic of player hair length won’t get voted on at this year’s

[DZA]

The Jason Taylor thing is funny.  The Viking Update people bought it so hard they still have it posted as news on their web site.  Most people don't trust them on a regular day so I'm not sure as to why they would on April 1st.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/04/01/taylor-story-creates-a-stir/
TUESDAY NOTES
* Tickets for the 2008 Vikings draft party will go on sale today at all Vikings Locker Room stores or Ticketmaster locations. Tickets are $15 and the party will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 26. A special section called the Red Zone will have tickets for $70 that will include a private autograph section and free food and beverage coupons.
* The NFL set an attendance record for the sixth straight season with a total paid attendance of 22,256,502 fans – the second straight year the league drew more than 22 million fans.
* Vikings Vice President of Sales and Marketing Steve LaCroix has been named as a member of the NFL’s Internet Working Group.
* The announcement that the Vikings will play on the season-opening Monday night doubleheader will be the second time in the three-year history of the MNF doubleheaders that the Vikings will be involved. In 2006, the Vikings also had the early game, traveling to the play the Redskins.
* Some media sources are reporting that Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor, currently testing his dignity on ABC-TV’s “Dancing with the Stars,” will announce his retirement from football on tonight’s show – increasing the odds that the Dolphins will select DE Chris Long with the first pick in this year’s draft.* It appears as though the ballyhooed topic of player hair length won’t get voted on at this year’s

OMG im blind now!

[fyo]

The leg warmers quote was a dead give-away:

“I’ll start from the bottom.  I’ll show up for every audition.  I just need to find a good set of leg warmers, because I’m kind of tall.”

[Matt McGuire]

Taylor's "retirement" doesn't affecting the dafting of Chris Long at all.

They are drafting Chris #1 it doesn't matter what Taylor does.