Talking Akin Ayodele

by Matty I on May 1, 2008 1:00 PM EDT in News Comment 15 comments

I recently got the chance to catch up with Dave Halprin of Blogging The Boys, SBN's Dallas Cowboys blog, to get his thoughts on Akin Ayodele. After all, he's watched Akin more than any of us have over the past couple of seasons. So who better to tell us a little bit about him than Dave.

Below are his thoughts on Ayodele:

Akin Ayodele was a solid player for us but he wasn't very dynamic. He started at WILB for two years and was the kind of guy who made his 4-6 tackles in a game but never did anything that stood out after it was over. There were no big hits that fired up the defensive or caused turnovers, only occasionally did he make a play in the backfield of the opponent and his blitzing wasn't very effective.

On the other hand he was usually where he was supposed to be on his assignments and in combination with Bradie James controlled the middle of the field well against the run. Both years it seemed to me that he was better early in the season but as the games rolled on into November and December he became less effective. He's an athletic guy who can move but he didn't particularly impress in terms of shedding blocks. If the Dolphins run the 3-4 defense under Parcells/Sparano that we ran in Dallas two years ago (a two gap scheme), he will have to take on blocks from guards a lot.

I never had any major complaint about Ayodele on defense; he was never the guy who I thought was terrible or blew the game for us. But he was never the guy who I thought helped us win the game or did anything special. All in all, an average player but not a playmaker.

That works for me. I'm not expecting Ayodele to be a play-making ILB in this 3-4 defense. All I'm looking for him to do is be consistent and stop the run. At this point, the Dolphins just need players who will be in position to make plays and then actually make the play. Ayodele strikes me as a player who will be effective against the run, and that's all I'll be asking out of him.

As it stands now, Ayodele will enter camp in a battle with Channing Crowder and Reggie Torbor to be one of Miami's 2 starting interior linebackers. In the end, though, I'd expect Ayodele and Crowder to win the starting jobs.

Again, a big thanks to Dave for his time. For more Cowboys insight, head over to Blogging The Boys.

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Keeps in line

with what Bill has been doing. Another solid, consistant player that knows his job and does it. Isn’t that what the Patriots have? Players that know what they are suppose do, knows where are they suppose to be, and just plainly does thier job. Wish we had more of them last year.

Are you picking up what I'm putting down?

by Neo on May 1, 2008 1:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Considering how dreadful we were last year...

an average player at the position is an upgrade.

We had what, the 4th ranked pass defense last year? This even though everyone in the league (and this blog) knows our secondary is not very good.

Why would teams bother having to pass when they can just run it on us all day long. I still remember that infamous Raiders game here in Miami last year where Pepp threw for < 100 yards but the Raiders won going away with something like 300+ yards on the ground.

Stopping the run is going to be job 1 on defense this year, followed by pressuring the QB.

by Natalya on May 1, 2008 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

agreed

after zach was out crowder was out of position and missing tackles, we need smart guys not flashy players trying to get the FF or big hits. just someone who comes in and makes tackles and stays in position

What happend to the Killer BEEs

by FinfanT on May 1, 2008 1:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

He sounds a lot like an older Channing Crowder.

Jim Mandich used to rave last year about how good Crowder was, but I failed to see it. What I saw was a guy who made a few tackles, but never made the big play. He was also out of position or let himself be taken out of the play too many times. I guess we’ll see this year how good Crowder really is.

by dab415217 on May 1, 2008 1:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Crowder

Should be able to step up this year. He had a nice, 100+ tackle season in 2006 when they had all those big bodies and ran out of a 3-4 a lot of the time.

Last year the defensive line was abysmally bad.

www.thephinisher.com

by The Phinisher on May 1, 2008 2:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

agreed

but still I can’t think of a game, off the top of my head, where I though crowder had any impact on the final score… At his best it seems he makes most of the plays he should, but never seems to rise above that…

by W NY Fins Fan on May 2, 2008 4:15 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

agreed

he had a great rookie season, i honestly thought he was a sure replacement for zach, but watching him out of position and getting juked last year made me jump off his bandwagon. i just hope he didnt give up and accept losing. This year should be a make or break for him

What happend to the Killer BEEs

by FinfanT on May 1, 2008 3:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

A player who makes other players better!

This is what is see in this kind of player, AA.

If he has a solid season, Crowder will have a great season. And so will Porter. They were going to cut him and fill his place with Zach. I love Zach to death, but I feel like this move is better for our team.

Imagine the 3-4 with Joey WLB, AA WILB, Crowder MILB, and JT as the SOLB. Great LB core immediately!

by JGray on May 1, 2008 3:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

When did you herar that?

Besides Zach is a MLB

by Patssuck456 on May 3, 2008 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Better?

i guess for the cap. i would take a healthy zach over any other mlb in the nlf, with the exception of ray lewis and urlacher.
everything looks good on paper remeber last year
porter, crowder, thomas,taylor…Thats a dream team ..on paper

What happend to the Killer BEEs

by FinfanT on May 1, 2008 4:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Will do a lot of work off the field

With Ayodele & Fasano being brought here, it’s an indication that Parcells (& Sparano) like them. Parcells has a history of bringing in “his guys” as a way to help the players in the locker room get to know what to expect & how to behave in order to thrive. I’m sure Sparano feels the same way. They’ll probably be like Richie Anderson early on with the Cowboys. Parcells brought him in to work with the younger players who’d never experienced Parcells. Anderson did creditable work with many of the young’uns. (It’s really too bad what happened with him in Arizona.)

Anyway, I would think that Ayodele will be a solid locker room presence. Parcells always spoke well of him in Dallas & clearly liked him. He’s one of those Joe Lunch Bucket Guys that Parcells likes.

by Kittymama on May 1, 2008 4:41 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Does anybody know how long his contract is?

I can’t decide whether he’s here to help us make a run at a Super Bowl, or to hold the position until we can draft a player in that spot…

http://canemutiny.blogspot.com A fans view of Miami Hurricanes Football and Basketball

by Little Nicky 21 on May 1, 2008 4:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

He's signed for 3 more seasons

through the 2010 season. So if he plays well, he could be here for the long haul.

The Phinsider: SBN's Miami Dolphins blog

by Matty I on May 1, 2008 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hey Matty..

I have to desagree with you on who are going to be the starter of the middle linebaking corpe. I have a frined that is a Giant fan since the 80’s, he told mi that Tubor is a great kid and that he wasn’t an starter, not because he was bad, but because he was behind some great LBking corpe in NY. He told me he could be an starter in almost any team in the NFL. By how Crowder has been playing latetly, i think Crowder will be warming up the bench for Tubor and Ayodele

I will see the Dolphins win a SUPER BOWL before i die(20 years and counting)

by Aleta on May 1, 2008 5:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs