I’m most excited about Henne going forward, and the two corners quickly becoming an elite tandem. Starks was great this year, and the DE position might be the deepest on the team (Langford, Merling, Starks, and McDaniel).

And I agree that we are one go-to guy at WR away from having a nasty WR corps. Ginn as a complementary WR, Bess working in the slot, Hartline and Camarillo are both solid possession guys. We are still missing that stud that completes the group though, and I hope we get that guy this offseason.

and LOL@ the “Polite isn’t very Polite” joke. I now have to murder a broadcaster. lol

Matty, What about Lex Hilliard providing relief to find a RB after Ricky retires next season.
Lex has not disappointed since he was thrusted into action

I agree that Bess, Camrillo and Hartline really showed great potential. I know a need for this team is a true WR, however I think the FO will pass on this position this year. I mean who knows who is going to break out in 2010… Hartline or Turner as other WR have… Miles Austin…?

LB, and DT I think are a little more pressing.

Agree with you on all points matty .. great post

The main thing Iike is that our O-line and D-line is just about set and we have a young QB that can work with our young WR’s during the offseason. Yes we still need a nose tackle that can eat up blockers but that will come this offseason and we still need to find a RG to stick with all season errr game long .. hopefully Donald Thomas will make good progress this offseason.

All in all it does look positive, the main thing is that this team has been much deeper than any other team I have personally seen. The last time we lost our starting QB, RB, and CB we went 1-15 .. this year we finished 7-9, I can live with that as a fan.

Look forward to all the offseason talk this year

I get pissed when we lose, especially the close ones the last few weeks. The best thing is that most of that talent was “grown” by Miami. Polite was a scrap heap player and has become the best FB in the league,

Denver would be very foolish to let him go…I wouldn’t mind seeing him in aqua & orange!
A true #1 Receiver…..together with Hatline, Bess & Camarillo that would be incredible!

this was a great post and made me realize that this was one of the best seasons of football I’ve ever watched by this team (next to ‘09). One helluva emotional roller coaster from week 1 to week 17. There’s really only one loss about this season that absolutely kills me (Buffalo in week 12). Otherwise I saw some of the best games as a Dolphin FAN despite coming out on the losing end. The win against the Jets on Monday night was so close to the happiness I felt of seeing my son born (not even kidding), just unreal…

I look forward to the offseason chats and analysis. And now that I’ve expressed my feelings on the positives, the greatest need for this team is at the LB position specifically in the middle, guys that can stop the run yet be able to cover the pass when needed. WR is also a need but not worth spending a first round pick on (IMO). Whatever the case, I’ll trust the front office.

Thanks for an excellent seasons worth of analysis and opinions. It made figuring out the first thing to do when I got to work a lot easier.

DC$ was good as his name – 4th in FG% (89%) in the NFL among kickers with 20 or more FG attempts.
Brandon booted some boomers – 6th in the NFL with punters with 10 or more punts, and 4th in punts inside the 20. Both young guys that will be solid for many years to come.

Also on special teams:
Ginn is 5th in the NFL in return yds with 1296.
Bess at #44th is not the answer for punt returning though.

I think other than O-line, RB and QB, this is the other place we are locked and loaded for 2010.

Interesting note: ex-fins O. Mare is number 2 FG and KO kicker and Donnie Jones is #4 punter.

i have been thinking the same things about the season. Our CBs will be a strength next year and should continue to improve over the next few seasons, if we can give Starks some help in the pass rush. No Corners can lock down WRs with the opposing QB has 10 seconds to sit in the pocket and survey the field. And how about a FS who can cover? With better pressure on the QB and better help from a FS, considering the depth we will have when W. Allen comes back, our secondary is could be among the best in the league. BTW, speaking of depth at DB, i thought Jason Allen played his best season at DB so far (not counting his STs contribs). And Nate Jones is pretty solid.

I’m with you on Manning and Brees. I almost posted the same thing. Both those guy struggled for the first season or two. Give Henne a better deep threat who can really beat coverages and another year as starter and see how he does. Speaking of WRs, I think Hartline might just have the most upside of the guys currently on the roster. He certainly seems to play faster than his 40 time would suggest. He runs a very low 4.5, and it doesn’t look like he loses much with pads on. And if you remember the break down I did of our WRs early in the offseason, Hartline is the quickest WR on the roster (yes, even quicker than Bess):

40 times are only one indicator of ability, and there are other metrics that are important at the WR position. The Short Shuttle, or 20 Yd Shuttle, for instance, is a good indicator of whether the WR is going to be able to come out of his breaks quick enough to create separation from the DB. Wes Welker runs the 40 in the mid 4.6s, but his short shuttle was a blazing 4.01 seconds. As a comparison, the quickest WR short shuttle time from this year’s Combine** was 4.08 by a kid named Kevin Ogletree.

**Not all prospects ran, but of the ones that did, Heyward-Bey (the 1st WR drafted) was the 6th quickest with a time of 4.18, and our own Brian Hartline was 4th, with a time of 4.12 seconds. Not bad huh? Hartline was also the 2nd quickest of the WRs that ran the 3-Cone drill, with a time of 6.65. Wes Welker? He ran the Cone Drill in 7.09.

He is also the biggest WR we have, and other than Ginn, he is the fastest overall. IMO, the kid is a solid #2… maybe better with another season under his belt.

I would like to see the Fins try to pick up a quality FA this offseason. With major needs at WR, LB, and FS, I don’t see how we are going to be a serious playoff contender next year by trying to fill all these needs through the draft. Since WR is probably the most difficult to step into as a rookie, I guess I would hope that we would try to get that position filled in FA and draft to the other two. However, if the Triad doesn’t decide to purchase a quality FA at at least one of those positions, maybe two, this offseason, it is going to be another building year next season as well.

BTW, i still think Soliai is not the answer at NT, and i still place a priority on that position as well. the quicker we can collapse the pocket on every play, the better our LBs will play the run, and the better our young DBs will play in coverage. But i would be willing to go another season (assuming Ferg comes back for rotational duty) with what we have at the position if we could solve those other three deficiencies.

Happy new year Matty!

for Brandon Marshall. Second on wish list is Vincent Jackson. Matty, your posts are so god dam classy it makes me sick. (in a good way)

Or are the Phins static for the time-being?

I think you listed all of them.

it is without a doubt that we are cutting gibril wilson!

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/rumors/post/Dolphins-losing-Jason-Taylor-?urn=nfl,211596

Jason Taylor is Mum to whether he is coming back in a Phins uniform next season.

Although the direction of the offense had to take a turn once Ronnie Brown was hurt, I was very excited to see the consistent success of the Wildcat formation in the first half of the season. More than a gimmick, more than trick plays, both the running backs and o-line showed their ability to DOMINATE on the ground! The Atlanta game was total ineptness on offense then we give up a long TD to start the Colts game… I’m sure I wasn’t the only fan thinking it could be a very long disappointing season at that point. Then we start running Wildcat plays and completely man-handle the Colts D. I feel that success in the 2nd game of the year was critical to the direction of the season at that point. Imagine if the offensive play was as unproductive against Indy as it was at Atlanta. Ronnie Brown’s success in the Wildcat allowed this team to get their footing and get something done early in the season. As noted a few posts ago, the Red Zone offense was very good this year… 7’s were so much better than 3’s. A big part of that success throughout the year was the Wildcat running plays… even direct snaps to Ricky on a few occassions. The prevalence and success of the Wildcat also gave an opportunity for Henne to ease more gently into the starting role.

but I didn’t see it as a disappointing season at all really.

If I’d said we’d lose our starting QB (CP) + our best offensive player (Ronnie) + having a super hard schedule + our top DB (will allen) lost for the year very year + our biggest FA acquisition (Wilson) would be a big bust………..well you would think we’d be on our way to a 4-12 disaster.

As is the team was competitive in almost every single game. The only exception being that abomination of a game we had in Buffalo where we tanked in the 4th quarter.

Plus as Matty outlined above – think of what we know about our players now….vs at the beginning of the season. Henne went through some ups & downs but that’s to be expected for his first year starting. He has got enough game for me to say, he’s the real deal & the solution to our woes at the position.

And if you have been vaguely paying attention since #13 retired, the ‘when will we get a franchise QB’ question has only been the biggest question we’ve had that gets asked every season and hasn’t been answered………till now.

Our 2 young corners showed up & held their own despite having to step in sooner than expected due to will allen’s injury. Hartline was productive & a nice surprise. Camarillo & especially Bess, were both reliable & solid. The offensive line lived up to it’s billing and gave us a dominant running game. Heck, even Ricky Williams got 1000 yards despite being thought of as over the hill by some in the league.

We were in contention for a playoff spot until the very last weeks of the season. When at 7-6 it was possible actually but not realistic. That’s why I’m not disappointing with the season. THis is a young team that still learning how to win, still developing/finding its identity & grooming leadership. That’s part of the growth & maturation process that young teams go through on their way to achieving some real success.

Everybody here knows the upgrades we need to take the next steps. If the front office makes that happen (WR, LB, NT, FS, etc) and the guys we have on the team already keep developing, then this is going to be a playoff team for sure in 2010.

Here in Ohio, someone got the bright idea to announce on a talk radio show for the fans of the Browns to all send in a Postcard to the Front office…. all that was to be written on the Postcard was “Redo Cribb’s Contract”. From some reports here they got well over 10,000 or so postcards, as some fans took it to blogs and message boards and it really spread.

I wonder if we should do the same and have it say “Sign Brandon Marshall”. Hell for $1.50 or whatever the card would cost with cheap postage…. I’m all in.

The most important thing to come out of the ’09 season is Henne getting significant playing time and being productive. That is HUGE for this team going forward. QB is by far the most important position on the field and it is not even close. Everything that I have seen from Henne this year points to him being a good to very good QB for the Phins for the forseeable future.

I can’t agree with your majority of your statement on the O-Line. Long is a stud, that part I agree with. And I guess they have good depth, but the Phins didn’t shell out a ton of money (the most expensive OL in the NFL for ‘09) for depth. They paid that money to dominate, and they didn’t this year. And you can’t dominate when you rely significantly on back-ups. With Grove and Carey, you need back-ups because they are injury prone. Grove has a history of only playing 1/2 to 3/4 of the games. Carey is always “nicked up” and not playing to his potential. The Dude at Finsnation sums up the OL play nicely:

One thing I can tell you, the Trifecta showed some weakness of judgement this last off-season. From the aforementioned Wilson signing to all the shitloads of cash we threw at a so-so injury-riddled offensive line, to the weird-ass bizarro mysterious Matt Roth episode. All in all, when your lone Pro Bowl selection is your left tackle, it pretty much means you’re going to finish every season 7-9 until that shit changes.

As far as the rookie CB’s go, Smith is a stud and by far the best CB on the team. Davis, from what I have seen, I am not sold on. He had some INT’s, granted. But just about every big TD pass allow this year was a result of his coverage. And you can’t make the argument that he covered the other teams best WR every week because he didn’t. I went to two game this year, NO and NE. By the middle of the 2nd Quarter in the NO game and the middle of the 1st Quarter in the NE game, I could point out where Brees and Brady were going to throw the football and that was away from Smith. In those games Smith lined up over Colston, Meachum, Moss and Welker and those WR’s weren’t targeted when he was in coverage, whoever Davis was covering was. That tells me all I need to know.

I wholeheartedly agree with your assessments of Polite and Starks. Those two players are very good and young enough that you can build around them. The WR’s are a mixed bag to me. I still think Bess, Camarillo, and Hartline are all the same guy. Are they good players, yes, but I don’t think you need all of them. Of those 3, which one catches a pass and makes people miss? None. Which one can score from anywhere on the field. None, I have seen all three caught from behind this year, rather easily. They all run good routes, catch the ball effectively, and don’t hurt you with their play. But they also don’t do anything great. On a good WR Corp. how many of these type of guys do you need?

he sucks. I don’t care what anyone wants to say about his KRs, I have watched him play every game and my opinion is the same as last year:
- he can’t beat the jam
- he has slow short speed
- he has no lateral movement/he’s not quick and can’t juke guys
- he can’t break arm tackles
- he has poor vision and runs right into guys when he could run around them
- he is inconsistent – at best – catching the ball when it is a catchable ball.

Oh, and I’m over the whole Pat White at QB experiment. Try him at WR/KR/PR.

i knew that the season was over, but it just hit me. shit, this sucks.

…but let’s take a look at what the pass defense stats say:
1. tied for 7th worst in points allowed (390)
2. 9th worst for yards allowed (3754) and yds/game (234)
3. 5th best in completion percentage allowed (57.5)
4. 3rd fewest passes attempted against us (30.6)

What does this all add up to? We allowed too many big passing plays. Not that that surprises anyone, but that is how we can have so few passes thrown against us and so few actually completed against us, yet still be at the top in yards and points allowed. Those stats are glaringly pointing out our biggest problem all year – giving up the big passing play.
Now I actually really like the 2 new corners, but to be heaping such praise on them could use a bit of a reality check. They got burnt, smoked, missed tackles, and out run all year. Were they totally responsible – no. We have Gerbil and our lack of LB coverage that heaped onto those stats. I think they will both get better and did a good job most of the time, giving up the big passing plays is why we are not a playoff team this year. The fact that we were 5th best in completion % against us (281/489), yes 200 incompletions, is very promising. The tackling and getting beat for long plays has to change. Promise – yes, but I am not for applauding these guys quite yet.
Go Phins!

Rec’d. I’m a bit of a lurker here, but as a long-time Dolphins fan I look excitedly forward and enjoy your work.