Training camp begins today

[MikeO]

If I didn't know better I'd say the Dolphins were keeping Tannehill out of practice on purpose. They know there is absolutely no way that Tannehill's agent can agree to this. It would be career suicide for him.

So here's a theory. They already know that Tannehill is NOT going to be the opening day starter, but they don't want the fans pressuring them into making him the opening day starter. So do something that keeps him out of training camp long enough that you can point to and say well he's not ready because he wasn't there for all of training camp. I know crazy right? That's still the best explanation I can come up with. Remember that Tannehill already knows the offense, so being a couple days late to camp really isn't going to change much. Everyone can tote the company line and all that missing a couple days of camp will set you back and all and that might be true if it were somebody who didn't already know the offense, but Tannehill does. This isn't going to prevent him from knowing the playbook, all it's going to do is prevent him from getting reps with the receivers and prevent him from looking good in practice for all the fans to see. Maybe that's what they are afraid of.

Putting too much thought into it Pappy. Ireland/Ross are just flat out stupid.  They just are screwing this up. If Tannehill isn't signed by Monday this is a disaster and a total debacle of the highest level. And of course it will be played out in front of the nation on HBO. Instead of putting your best foot forward to try and change the image of the team into a more positive light on Hard Knocks. Use it in a positive way! They do the opposite and will come off looking like total jackasses and just re-enforce the image they already have. Of being total idiots who have no clue how to run a team.

If this ends today or tomorrow, whatever. Only a couple days in, no big deal really. He didn't miss much!  If this goes into Monday and next week... that is laughing stock of the league material right there. That even with a "rookie wage scale"  who is it  that can't sign their 1st round pick ...the Dolphins!

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

All of the guys picked AHEAD of Tannehill THAT HAVE SIGNED don't have it in their deals.

Corrected for you.  Dolphins aren't the only team that hasn't caved. 

Plus I wouldn't use teams that habitually have top 10 draft picks as my model for smart ownership. 

The salary cap not draft picks are what limit the building of the team.  Look at it this way if the magic gene was to offer the Dolphins one of two wishes which would be better:

A) An extra $15 million dollars in cap space.

B) An extra first round draft pick but no extra cap space.

A is clearly better.  That means you can dump a scrub (or two) and replace him with a top notch vet FA (or two).

With B you get an extra rookie, but you need to cut a top notch vet to make room for him.
 

[MikeO]

Corrected for you.  Dolphins aren't the only team that hasn't caved. 

 

The ONLY guy picked ahead of Tannehill that hasn't signed is Blackmon and that is because he has been tied up with his legal issues.

You are making a paper thin argument. Tannehill is asking for what everyone else got. He just wants a regular deal like everyone else.

[Pappy13]

^^^ Pappy that is a bit nuts.

I agree it is. You know what ELSE is NUTS? To have your 1st round pick out of camp because you are holding out for something that his agent CANNOT give you. His hands are completely tied. So either the Dolphins are even more stupid than everyone thinks they are OR they don't want Tannehill in camp. There's no other way to explain it.

This year all of them want it.

But no one has gotten it. Not one. No one. Zero. Zilch. Nada. And they want Tannehill to give in? That does not compute.

[Phishfan]

If he drafted a player that cares more about money than being a successful football player, then Ireland did draft a bust. 

Nice try on filling JTEX's shoes.

[MikeO]

Armando Salguero actually made sense for once..

It’s a bad start for the Dolphins because they’re being fiscally wise but pragmatically unreasonable. You see, the reason the sides were not agreed Friday even as practically every other NFL first-round pick had already signed is that Miami wants to include offset language in Tannehill’s contract.

Offset language allows a team to recoup some of the guaranteed money it pays a particular player in the event that player becomes a bust and is cut before his contract expires.

The Dolphins are trying to add safeguard language to the deal in case they royally blew this pick. That’s smart. Other NFL teams have tried the same approach.

The problem is every team that tried the approach so early in the round has eventually dropped the cause. More importantly, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers abandoned their reach for offset language in Mark Barron’s contract and the Carolina Panthers similarly yielded on the issue with first-round pick Luke Kuechly.

Barron was drafted seventh and Kuechly went ninth. That means there is virtually no way the agent representing the eighth overall pick can agree to offset language without risking it being used against him by other agents when he’s trying to recruit clients next year.

And Tannehill is that eighth overall pick.

Tannehill, it’s fair to say, is painted into a corner and if his representative caves rival agents will say he committed a form of malpractice.

 http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/28/2916897/unsigned-ryan-tannehill-miami.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

[suck for luck]

For anyone online right now nfl network is getting ready to show some fin action from Davie.

Edit, well that was only about 5 minutes. More at 7 eastern, hopefully not the same thing.

[Pappy13]

I'm really liking what I'm reading about training camp so far. The offense does not seem to be overmatched against the defense as they usually seem to be. Defense is still holding their own, but offense is making them work hard for it. I'm not as worried about our WR's as many of you seem to be. I think you'll see a lot more passes going to TE's and RB's this year than in previous years and passes to WR's will be shorter with the emphasis on WR's getting yards after catch on their own. Certainly they'll have to hit some down field passes as well, but the bread and butter of the west coast offense is keeping the chains moving with an up tempo offense and keep the opposing teams D on the field and yours on the sidelines. Conditioning will be HUGE. I think you'll see a better conditioned team on both sides of the ball this year. Smaller, faster, quicker guys as opposed to the lumbering giants that Parcells and Sparano favored. I think that works into Miami's favor more in September. Remember last year's opening game when NE ran rings around Miami's D and players were sucking wind in the 3rd quarter? That shouldn't happen this year. Now that may not translate quite as well when you get into December and have to travel to cold weather sites, but it should work better at home and Miami sure could use a boost at home. I'll take looking good at home over looking good on the road any day.

[Dolphster]

I'm trying really hard to be optimistic for this year.  The best I have come up with so far is that although their schedule doesn't look particularly easy, it doesn't look like a total killer either. 

[EKnight]

IMO, 8-8 is reasonable. I don't see enough improvement in the secondary or at QB to expect more, even with a softer schedule than last year. I feel like NYJ and Buffalo both improved more than Miami did. The following year, depending on Tannehill's development could be a 10 win season, but I don't belive next year will be. Before I get flamed for any of the above, Vegas's odds for Miami wins is 7.5, with the Jets at 8.5 and the Bills at 7... so I don't think my assessment is particularly unreasonable. -EK

[Pappy13]

I'm not looking for improvement in the win-loss column, I'm looking for improvement in the execution on the field. Better +/- turnover margin. Better TD production, fewer FG's from the offense. Fewer long passes given up by the D. Able to close out games by making a stop on D. Offense is able to come from behind on a team (even if they end up losing the game). Fewer big plays given up by the special teams and more created. ETC.

If some of those things start to happen the wins will come evenutally.

[MikeO]

I'm not looking for improvement in the win-loss column, I'm looking for improvement in the execution on the field. Better +/- turnover margin. Better TD production, fewer FG's from the offense. Fewer long passes given up by the D. Able to close out games by making a stop on D. Offense is able to come from behind on a team (even if they end up losing the game). Fewer big plays given up by the special teams and more created. ETC.

If some of those things start to happen the wins will come evenutally.

The AFC East after NE isn't that tough. The Jets aren't any good, I'm sorry. Their QB is nothing special and they are now a "ground and pound" team with NO RB worth anything on their roster. The Jets went to 2 AFC Championship games and keep regressing year after year. After Holmes their WR corp sucks as bad as Miami's! And Holmes can't be trusted one bit! The Bills front 7 on defense is nasty, after that they aren't anything to write home about. Their QB play is mediocre at best. I'm not a huge Stevie Johnson fan, he's alright. They are on par with Miami.

If Miami's offense does anything this year at all, this team could win 8 or 9 games with our schedule.  I mean Jax, Indy, Seattle, Arizona, Oakland, St.Louis, Bills/Jets TWICE....this schedule can't be any easier. If Miami can score any points at all they will be at or above .500 easy.

It's all about the QB play and RED ZONE offense. The 2 things that killed Miami last year. Miami would have won 8 or 9 games last year if the RED ZONE Offense (TD over FG) and QB play was better (Cleveland, Denver, Dallas are 3 wins right there off the top of my head that were lost by Red Zone offense and QB play.)

[Spider-Dan]

The Bills front 7 on defense is nasty, after that they aren't anything to write home about. Their QB play is mediocre at best. I'm not a huge Stevie Johnson fan, he's alright. They are on par with Miami.

"Front 7" is not exactly a small part of your D.  And I would also say that BUF is clearly better than MIA at safety (both), and probably better at 2nd CB, which doesn't leave a whole lot.

Offensively, they are clearly better at RB, better (to a lesser degree, but still superior) at WR, and roughly equal at QB.  BUF is in a MUCH better position than MIA right now.

[MikeO]

"Front 7" is not exactly a small part of your D.  And I would also say that BUF is clearly better than MIA at safety (both), and probably better at 2nd CB, which doesn't leave a whole lot.

Offensively, they are clearly better at RB, better (to a lesser degree, but still superior) at WR, and roughly equal at QB.  BUF is in a MUCH better position than MIA right now.

While their Front 7 is very good (aka "nasty" as I said) I dont think its head and shoulders better than Miami's. If anything its slightly better.  The secondary I give the edge to Buffalo. We just disagree on the offense. Fitzpatrick was awful the second half of last year. Their WR's are not much better than Miami's its probably a wash, even with Stevie Johnson. And we disagree on the running backs. CJ Spiller has done nothing and while Fred Jackson is a nice player who had 1 good year till he got injured, he is still a 31 year old running back coming off a leg injury. This year Buffalo might be in a slightly better position than Miami. Long term they aren't because they got that big Fitzpatrick contract around their neck and no young guy behind him being groomed.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

As the thread as evolved into a discussion of the AFCE.  Here is my take.

NEP - Brady and crew are the obvious preseason favorite for the division.  Won the conf last year had no major losses.  No major upgrades either.

Bills - second best team in the division.  Steadly improving in all aspects of the game.  I predict they will be playing week 17 for a playoff spot. 

Jets - I think the Jets success will come down to what magic Tony S call pull off with Tebow and Sanchez.  Jets will be solid on defense, so it is really up to the offense.  Sanchez/Tebow >>> Pennington/Brown if they can make it work, e.g. line up with both of them and Sanchez actually be able catch a football thrown by Tebow, Jets could shock the league and win the SB.  OTOH, after week 2 there could be a divide in the lockerroom over who should be the QB and the team go 4-12.

Dolphins - Not very good last year, no real upgrades, 1st round pick used on a player that is projected to sit on the bench.  5-8 wins.