*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Jul 13, 1999: -- QB School 3 Begins --
** QB III Begins
The Dolphins begin their 3rd quarterback camp of the 1999
season this afternoon at 3 PM at their training facility in Davie,
Florida. The camp continues tomorrow at 10:30 AM and at 7 PM, with a
final session on Thursday at 10:45 AM.
All camp sessions are open to the public and will be at the
Dolphins training facility at Nova Southeastern University in Davie,
Fl, except for the Wednesday night session, which will be held at Pro
Player Stadium in conjunction with the Dolphins' annual
"select-a-seat" night.
All players are expected to be in attendance at these camps,
but OJ Brigance and Todd Doxzon will be unable to practice because of
recent surgeries and Shawn Wooden and Brian Walker will be limited
while recovering from knee injuries.
It's also likely that JJ will not work Yatil Green too hard in
an effort to keep him healthy.
Like previous quarterback camps, the team will have limited
contact and will concentrate mainly on learning the playbook, the pass
routes, the pass coverages and on getting acquainted with their
teammates. With their first scrimmage coming up on August 1st, the
players won't have a lot of time to learn the playbook after camp
starts.
Full training camp starts on July 26th for rookies and on July
30th for veterans, with the first scrimmage scheduled for August 1st.
** Webb To Get Contract Offer
Jason Cole is reporting in today's Miami Herald that Richmond
Webb will likely get a long term contract offer this week as soon as
the July 15th milestone is reached. July 15th is significant because
if Webb signs a long term contract after that date, the Dolphins can
re-use the franchise designation next year. If Webb were to sign
a long term deal before the 15th, the Dolphins would be unable to
apply the franchise tag to another player for the duration of the
contract.
There are no figures yet on what the Dolphins might offer
Webb, but comparable players around the league are getting anywhere
from $3 to $5 million per year and Webb is reportedly looking to get
at least $5 million per year in any long term deal.
If he signs the one year franchise offer the Dolphins have
made him, he will receive about $3.5 million this year but will be a
free agent again next spring.
Rumors:
The Jamal Anderson rumors are running hot and heavy in Miami,
but all the "official" sources are denying them. If you haven't
heard, some unnamed source has stated that the Dolphins have offered
Karim Abdul-Jabbar, Cecil Collins and several draft picks to the
Falcons for Jamal Anderson.
However, both the Falcons management and JJ deny that there
has been any contact between the teams at all and that there is not
any interest in such a deal on the part of either team.
While denials such as these don't necessarily mean anything,
the possibility of a swap like the one mentioned isn't very high.
Anderson wants way too much money to fit under the Dolphins' salary
cap without a lot of juggling and JJ is loath to play those kinds of
salary games - especially while he's trying to sign Webb and extend
McDuffie's contract.
More importantly, Anderson is much too important to the
Falcons' to trade, no matter what his salary demands might be.
And if that wasn't enough, it's still way too early to tell if
JJ might already have a franchise running back in his group of rookies
and it wouldn't be like him to trade away somebody like Collins even
before he gets a chance to look at him.
So, all in all, this trade (while it might be a nice fantasy)
doesn't make a lot of sense in the real world.
My Comments:
As I said, QB camp is about having the players learn the
playbook and get to know each other. Without any serious hitting,
there is very little you can tell about how the players actually
perform on the field.
I'm sure that JJ and the coaches will be able to get a feel
for how much effort each new player will bring to the field and about
their general athletic abilities, but until the pads go on and the
gloves come off, there is no way to tell if James Johnson can break
tackles in the NFL or how good a back Cecil Collins could be.
As I've said before (and will say again - so get used to it),
if you can attend any of the camp sessions, I would recommend that you
do so. It's a lot of fun and very enlightening.
As far as Richmond Webb's contract is concerned, I would be in
favor of a big, hefty, long term deal for him. I know that a lot of
fans don't think he is as good as he used to be, but very good left
tackles are hard to find - and he's still very good.
Brent Smith (or Mark Dixon) might be able to take Webb's place
on most days, but when the playoffs roll around, I would rather have
someone with more experience at left tackle than either Smith or Dixon
can provide.
Webb will play for the Dolphins this year, but I think it
would be better if they could get him signed to a long term deal.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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