Tuesday Morning Meanderings

Whenever it gets to this time of the year when we are within 2 weeks before training camp kicks off, my mind tends to wander a bit during the day and I often find myself pondering various football-related issues - and in particular, Dolphin-related issues. 

And there have been two things recently that I've been pondering more so than usual.  So I figured I might as well address them here and get some thoughts from you guys and gals.

CHRIS HENRY: WORTH THE RISK?
I've been going back and forth on this issue, and following the recent news that his latest issue, an assault charge, has been dropped, I find myself thinking more and more about the potential of bringing Chris Henry to Miami.

Now to be clear, there is still one hurdle that has to be cleared.  Henry, who was suspended for the 2008 season following his arrest for this assault charge, still has to be reinstated.  ProFootballTalk reports that the league is still reviewing Henry's situation.  However, if the state dropped the charges, then it's hard to imagine the NFL not reinstating Henry - at least for now.

And that's just it.  The obvious issue facing any team that has any interest in Henry's services is that his past seems to make it clear that he's a huge off-the-field risk.  The kid just can't stay out of trouble.  For that reason alone, many Dolphin fans will probably think I'm crazy for what I'm about to say.

But here's the thing.  How often is a 25 year old, 6'4 receiver with speed and strength going to be available?  There's no doubt that when Henry is on the field, he's a very good receiver.  Consider this: Henry has 17 touchdowns in just 35 career games.  In 2006, Henry had 9 touchdowns in 13 games.  He's a playmaker, plain and simple.

So here's my modest proposal.  The Dolphins should look into signing the free agent wide receiver to an incentive-based contract.  There likely won't be a team in the league that will sign Henry to any kind of guaranteed deal.  So if the Dolphins come in with a competitive offer that is heavily incentive-based, Henry could very well decide to come to Miami.  Why?  Because he'll understand that there isn't too much competition for him down here compared with other teams.  And if anyone can help turn around this kid's life, Bill Parcells is the guy to do it.  Besides, this is without question Henry's final chance.  If he gets in more off-field trouble, it's likely his NFL career will come to a premature conclusion.

So I say the Dolphins should go out and make a play for Chris Henry if, indeed, he is reinstated.  Am I crazy here?  Let me know.

TED GINN: TO RETURN OR NOT TO RETURN?
This is something that I've been pondering all off-season long.  And to be honest, I regularly flip-flop on this issue.  So other opinions on this issue are highly encouraged.

So should Ted Ginn be our primary kick and punt return as well as being a starting wide receiver?  Right now, I think he should be.  And here's why: we need to get the ball into Teddy's hands as much as possible simply because he can make things happen.  After all, I don't think Ginn is going to catch 80+ passes or so this year.  So until he becomes a true #1 receiver (which I think will happen in the future), I think we need to keep him back on return duty for both kickoffs and punts.

Sure, this regime really has no loyalty to Ginn's draft status because, after all, they didn't pick him 9th overall.  So one might argue that this regime doesn't have to use Teddy on both kickoffs and punts as a way to make it seem like Ginn was worth that 9th overall pick.  But the reason I just can't take Ginn off of his return duties is because he has the ability to become a top 3 return man in the NFL.  Just think, Teddy had 2 return TDs called back due to holding calls that really didn't effect the outcome of the play.  So he should have had 3 return touchdowns as a rookie despite playing with a horrid special teams unit.  Now with the emphasis this regime has put on special teams, Ginn could potentially have a monster year as a returner. 

Down the road, maybe Ginn should be relieved of at least one of those return duties to lessen his load.  But right now, there's no need to replace him - not when he has the potential to be truly great.

As usual, leave all your thoughts below...