08 questions as Dolphins open minicamp

By Joe Mayes  |   Thursday, May 01, 2008  |  Comments( 7 )

Miami Dolphins
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With the NFL draft completed and the year’s first mini-camp set to kick off Friday, the time has come to stop looking back and begin to look ahead to what the new season will bring. Coming off a one-win campaign in 2007, and with approximately 40 new players in camp, there are more questions surrounding this year’s Miami Dolphins than there are skeletons in Bill Belichick’s closet.

So, to kick off the 2008 season, here are 08 burning questions as the new Dolphins come together for the first time:

01. People, I just want to say, you know ... can we all get along?
Reports of tension between Dolphins football capo di tutti capi Bill Parcells and defensive end/outside linebacker/mambo king Jason Taylor just won’t go away. Parcells came to Miami to change a culture of which Taylor is an unmistakable part. Taylor has given his heart and soul to Miami -- on and off the field -- albeit in a largely losing effort. Taylor will have to bend to Parcells’ will and until/unless he is traded or retires, there doesn't appear to be any peace in sight.

02. Joe Thomas or Robert Gallery?
With No. 1 draft pick Jake Long already penciled in as the starting left tackle, expectations are that he will perform as well as the Browns’ Thomas did last year. Of course, the Raiders had the same expectations of Robert Gallery when he was taken No. 2 overall in 2004. The Dolphins are banking on Long being more Thomas than Gallery to shore up an unstable offensive line.

03. Beck, McCown, Henne, or wait until next year?
Everyone seems thrilled at the hard work second-year quarterback John Beck has put into improving his game. Free-agent pickup Josh McCown believes Miami gives him the chance he needs to be a successful NFL quarterback. Many are hailing second-round draft pick Chad Henne as the Dolphins’ quarterback of the future. The question is whether any of them are going to be ready to lead the team in 2008.

04. Whoever throws the ball, who’s going to catch it?
The Dolphins drafted no wide receivers or tight ends, meaning either they are comfortable with the returning receivers and free agents they’ve brought in or they don’t expect to throw the ball much in 2008. At 5-foot-11 and 178-pounds, Ted Ginn is not a prototypical Parcells-type wide receiver who is expected to block for the running game at least as much as he catches passes. Ernest Wilford, at 6-4 and 220 pounds, is more the type favored by Parcells and, by extension, head coach Tony Sparano. At tight end, it appears the team is content with free-agent addition Sean Ryan ... or it's waiting for the Giants to drop their asking price for Jeremy Shockey.

05. Are the running backs back?
With Ronnie Brown coming off knee surgery and Ricky Williams coming off years of self-destruction, the Dolphins’ ball carriers remain a huge question. The Miami brain trust obviously agreed, using two of its nine picks in last weekend’s draft on running backs. Jalen Parmele is a 6-0, 222-pounder from Toledo with sub-4.5 speed. Lex Hilliard is a 6-0, 240-pound bruiser from Montana with 4.66 speed who can carry the ball or block for the man who does. Parmele is tentatively slated to be the No. 3 back behind Brown and Williams, assuming either or both return to form in '08.

06. Will the Dolphins be able to stop the run?
The offseason additions of Jason Ferguson, among others, plus drafting Phillip Merling, Kendall Langford and Lionel Dotson show the commitment Parcells, Sparano and general manager Jeff Ireland have to fix a broken defensive front seven. How all these new pieces come together to stop the rush and pressure opposing quarterbacks will be a major factor in determining the team’s success in 2008.

07. Will fixing one problem reveal another?
Assuming Miami's run defense improves -- and frankly, how could it not improve on last year’s 153 rushing yards allowed per game? -- questions remain about the secondary. Behind proven starters Will Allen and Chris Crocker, the Dolphins have plenty of depth at both corner and safety, but most of it is either unproven, coming off injury or new to Miami. At this point in the reconstruction, Sparano and company would probably be thrilled to find out there are holes in pass coverage. At least that would mean that opposing teams are being forced to throw the ball for a change.

08. Will the Dolphins hire a staff chiropractor?
Finally, with Parcells already wandering the weight room, striking fear into the hearts of new Dolphins and veterans alike, it’s only a matter of time before Sparano develops cervical radiculopathy from continually looking over his shoulder. The fact that Sparano was brought to Miami from Dallas indicates that Parcells has confidence in the new coach. The question is how long this confidence will last if the team continues 2007’s losing ways.
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About Joe Mayes

Joe Mayes is an award-winning writer with credits ranging from national sports columns to local newspapers and commercial and technical writing. Joe is the host of "The Morning Wrap," a morning drive-time sports talk radio show on WTKE-FM in Northwest Florida.
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CommentsComments: 7  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Fish		09:24 AM
05/01/2008
#2- I think Jake Long will fall somewhere between Thomas/Gallery - he will not quite be the pass blocker Thomas is, but I beleive...
No.2
jgranger		09:50 AM
05/01/2008
I think the Dolphins will be active in the annual garbage-picking that happens after final cuts are made in training camp. There...
Avatar
No.3
Joe Mayes		09:52 AM
05/01/2008
For clarification, if marijuana is banned by the NFL and will result in another suspension for Williams, yet he "smokes some...
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