*** DOLPHINS TRAINING CAMP ***
Jul 22, 1997: -- Day 11 - July 21st --
TODAY'S REPORT:
The big news out of training camp yesterday was the release of
a new depth chart that displaced left guard Keith Sims with second
year man Jeff Buckey. This is the first time since he's been in Miami
that Sims has not been the designated starter.
JJ cautioned the press against reading too much into Sims
demotion and flatly stated the Sims was not a candidate for a trade or
release. When asked where he thought Sims would be playing this year,
JJ said "Miami".
The stated reason for Sims' demotion is that he played very
poorly during the last two scrimmages. However, the underlying reason
is to light a fire under his butt and get him to play up to his
potential.
In fact, the coaches have said that they aren't particularly
happy with the play of any of their offensive guards. Nobody has
really impressed the coaches this spring and JJ and Larry Beightol are
disappointed with their play.
As of Monday, Chris Gray and Jeff Buckey are the starting
offensive guards, but that could change overnight with Sims and McIver
being the backups.
Other than the offensive line, there were no surprises in the
depth chart and no other changes were made. I've included the whole
depth chart in a separate section below, but here is the current
starting lineup.
OFFENSE DEFENSE
QB - #13 Marino RDE - #96 Stubbs
RB - #33 Abdul-Jabbar RDT - #92 Gardener
FB - #36 Pritchett LDT - #95 Bowens
WR - #80 Barnett LDE - #93 Armstrong
WR - #81 McDuffie WLB - #51 A.Harris
TE - #84 Drayton MLB - #54 Z.Thomas
LT - #78 Webb SLB - #50 Hollier
LG - #77 Buckey RCB - #38 Jackson
C - #61 Ruddy LCB - #27 Buckley
RG - #62 Gray sS - #22 Wooden
RT - #76 Brown FS - #25 C.Harris
P - John Kidd
K - Joe Nedney
Right now, the backups race is more interesting than the
starters. If you look closely at this list, the only guy on it who
didn't start at some point last year is Corey Harris.
However, the rookies are making an impact on the second team.
Rookies who are currently listed on the second team are LB Derrick
Rodgers (behind Anthony Harris), TE Ed Perry (behind Troy Drayton), WR
Brian Manning (behind Fred Barnett), DE Jason Taylor (behind Danny
Stubbs), LB Ronnie Ward (behind Dwight Hollier), LB Mike Crawford
(behind Zach at MLB!), and CB Sam Madison (behind Calvin Jackson).
If all these rookies make the team, as seems likely, that will
be at least 8 draftees who will contribute this year.
Veterans who seem to have lost ground (besides Keith Sims)
include Irving Spikes (dropped to 4th on the RB list behind
Abdul-Jabbar, McPhail and Parmalee), O.J. Brigance (dropped behind
Ronnie Ward at LB), and Lamar Thomas (dropped behind Brian Manning).
And while not a veteran with the Dolphins, tight end Walter
Reeves has been around the league a long time. Reeves, who was signed
as a free agent this spring, now finds himself on the bottom of the
depth chart at tight end.
Joe Nedney retains his lead over Olindo Mare at the kicker's
position, but Mare has been getting the better of it in camp, making a
higher percentage of kicks. Yesterday, in particular, Mare outshined
Nedney while kicking from outside the 40 yard line.
In practice yesterday, the absence of Troy Drayton allowed
Perry to continue to shine at tight end. Drayton's ankle remains
swollen after a sprain last week, and it isn't clear when Drayton will
return to practice.
In the first mention of Ronnie Ward, JJ has said that Ward is
making steady progress. Ward is currently the second team strong side
linebacker behind Dwight Hollier, where he is teamed with Mike
Crawford at middle linebacker and Derrick Rodgers at weakside
linebacker.
Speaking of Derrick Rodgers, he hasn't been as dominating
since the team starting practicing the full defensive schemes.
Apparently, he's hit a wall in his development and is having a little
bit of trouble adjusting to playing pass coverage in the full defense.
The Dolphins aren't worried about this, but it does mean that he may
not crack the starting lineup as soon as had been reported.
In practice yesterday, Bernie Parmalee bounced off of Zach
Thomas in the middle drill and the proceeded to score, while Mike
Crawford got into JJ's doghouse when he got into a fight with tight
end Walter Reeves. JJ is reported to have said "If you want to fight
somebody, fight me."
If I were Crawford, I think I'd stick to tackling from now on.
TODAY'S EVENTS:
The Dolphins continue to practice twice today, from 9 to 10:45
AM and from 4:15 to 6:00 PM. The next major event is the pre-season
game against the Packers on Saturday.
INJURY REPORTS:
Tight End Troy Drayton continues to nurse a sore ankle and
will sit out for the next few practices.
Yatil Green (knee), Kirby Dar Dar (knee) and Larry Izzo
(achilles) have all had surgery and will all probably be out for the
year.
DEPTH CHART:
And here it is. Please, please, PLEASE don't take this too
seriously. It's very preliminary and at least part of the reason that
it exists like it does is to motivate guys like Sims to play better.
Also, remember that guys with serious injuries (like Yatil Green) will
be at the bottom of the depth chart.
If you have a burning need to compare this depth chart with a real roster, my roster is Right Here.
OFFENSE
WR: Barnett Manning L.Thomas Dye Green(inj.)
LT: Webb B.Smith
LG: Buckey Sims Wheeler
C: Ruddy Bock Elmore
RG: Gray McIver Young
RT: Brown Sheldon Daniels
TE: Drayton Perry Wainright Reeves
WR: McDuffie Jordan Dawsey Miller Stanley Dar Dar(inj.)
QB: Marino Erickson Fischer Huard
HB: Abdul-Jabbar McPhail Parmalee Spikes Bennett
FB: Pritchett Wilson Dotson Nealy
DEFENSE
LDE: Armstrong Anderson Lopez
LDT: Bowens Burton Sturgis Mohring
RDT: Gardener Hand Tanner
RDE: Stubbs Taylor L.Jackson
SLB: Hollier Ward Brigance
MLB: Z.Thomas Crawford Fiala Izzo (inj.)
RLB: Harris Rodgers Lillibridge
LCB: Buckley Jacobs Wilson Davis
RCB: C.Jackson Madison Holmes Cunningham
SS: Wooden Teague Little
FS: Harris Hill Anthony Ismaeli
SPECIALISTS
P: Kidd Deignan
K: Nedney Mare
snapper: Wainright Elmore
Holder: Kidd Erickson.
My Comments:
The depth chart news is always interesting. I think that the
demotion to Sims is long overdue and hopefully this will shake some
sense into him. If he wanted to, he could be a great blocker, but he
hasn't seem to have wanted to recently.
The more disturbing news about the offensive line is that no
one wants to step up and play well at the guard positions. Perhaps
with a little motivation from JJ and Larry Beightol, they can improve
their play.
I am not in the habit of making suggestions to JJ about how to
run his team, but perhaps they should try Jerome Daniels at guard. He
isn't showing much promise right now at tackle, being essentially last
on the depth chart at that position, but he did play well as a guard
in the bowl games.
Otherwise, though, the depth chart looks pretty good right
now. The depth at linebacker and the improvements in the secondary
are particularly striking.
It still looks like a good year ahead...
Related Info:
[Return to Training Camp]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New England
|
