Nuggets from breakfast with Sparano [UPDATED]
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."on Jason Allen --
POSTED BY ARMANDO SALGUERO AT 9:47 AM