How interested are the Dolphins in Atogwe?

I knew I was up until 5 AM for a reason haha.

This guy is a stud a true ball hawk, and still has 4,5 years of pro bowl worthy seasons. I have no doubt that there’d be interest in the the player, and i’d be absolutely wrapped if the dolphins decide to get him.
Also its clear that the dolphins aren’t happy with the current safeties on the roster (evident by their failed pursuits of Rolle and Clarke) so this is their chance to get some real talent and consistency at the FS position.

I also can’t believe no one is showing interest in him.
So, if we’re the only ones left….PAY DA MAN!

While we have a couple of very promising rookies back there … We might still be in position to lock this position up for this year. If we wind up with OJ Atogwe, and Y Bell as the starters we can still keep Chris Clemons and Reshad Jones as the backups. Culver would be the odd man out then. I also think at some point we will be seeing the end of Jason Allen here in Miami. He is a special teams guy, but Sparano has said that in order to keep somoene around as a special teams player they need to have a clear vision for the guy’s role on the team. What would the vision be for his role be with Vontae Davis, Sean Smith, Will Allen and Nolan Carroll just being drafted this year? There is also the dilemna of Jonathan Amaya … but we could just as easily sneak him onto the practice squad this year and keep him for when Bell’s contract is up… Then again, he has only been impressive in shorts .. so we will see what decisions they make here…

As you said Matty, it echoes what Sparano said publicly and Darlington then opened a window of possibility that for me canceled out the first statement.

I just can’t see him having the inside scoop and mixing it into the middle of a Twitter Q&A while sitting in a waiting room. It’s just not what I imagine the surroundings to be for someone that’s getting a true heads up from the FO.

While I agree that Atogwe is one of the best at his position. I just think Chris Clemmons has a bright future here. Overall I’ll be happy with whatever the FO decides, because the change in defensive scheme will benefit whoever is back there. And honestly Chris can’t be any worse than Gibril IMO.

I knew there was a reason I forgot to take that down last night, sorry TCP.

However things are not as cut and dry as they may seem. Remember – this is a regime that publicly said they were comfortable with their current group of receivers…before going out and trading two second rounders for Brandon Marshall. This is a regime that gave a public vote of confidence to Gibril Wilson…before releasing him just days later.

We ought to expect Clemons to be cut today & Atogwe to be signed tonight :-) :-)

Seriously though, it seems obvious to me that given miami’s offer to ryan clark, that merely adding Rashead Jones as a mid-round pick with no other changes….is hardly enough to close the books on the FS spot. The dolphins i’d think are players, maybe not the ones flashing the most money at the table, but definitely in the game.

You are def. right about what the front office says and what they do. It’s almost like Parcells favorite move is the “Kansas City Shuffle”. It can be smart and it can backfire. Players dont like being told one thing and then finding out that they were a few million dollars away from being replaced.This is not my belief based on personal experience, but rather just some good ol’ common sense.

I’ll create a new post like the one I did yesterday as soon as I see something news worthy. If you find it before me and want me to use it then post it here or in the thread from yesterday and I’ll see it right away.

For now the latest news from a credible source is this.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/06/lions_priced_out_of_market_for.html

As in orange juice lol

This FO as a history of doing one thing, then telling the media the other. And honestly, as a fan I love it. They get me all down =(, we never gonna have a true number 1 receiver and then, BAM!!! Brandon Spaceman Marshall is a Phin.

Im just curious about Jonathan Amaya, Ive been hearing good things from him. Cant wait to see if he can keep it up with pads on.

because OJ had two surgeries on his shoulder to end the 2009 season, and he’s not making visits to teams to help ease fears that his injury was substantial. That’s pretty sketch.

Pro Football Focus ranks players on a variety of metrics for their position (think run stopping, coverage, turnovers, penalties, etc).

Well as you can guess they have metrics for safeties.

Atogwe was ranked 32nd out of 88 safeties.

For comparison, Ed Reed, a no-brainer as always, was ranked #1. Yeremiah Bell was almost exactly in the same spot as Atogwe, rated at 33 out of 88.

But guess who was ranked 17 spots (in #15 overall) ahead of OJ?

The Gerbil himself, yes, Gibril Wilson.

We know Atogwe had a down year last season. So a perciptious drop in rankings seems plausible. But we also know what Wilson did here, yet he was rated higher than OJ.

So now, do they or don’t they lie….statistics that is :-)

It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they pass on him……..we have some talent and the ones we have will never have a chance to get better without the playing time….I see the comments about how another shoulder injury guy that we passed on won the SB…..different staff in place now! Also lets consider some of the list of players we have picked up because they were good but had some injury issues…Smiley? Dante?…….etc…..don’t waste the money on OJ, develop the talent we have in house!

Let the guys on the roster develop into a starting safety. O.J could elevate the Fins defense, and could be worth all the money, but last time the Fins signed a FS to a big contract they released him the following year. They got lucky there was an uncapped year, and were able to dump the contract, next year they may not be so lucky.

they both came out from teams that ran a 3-4. its generally thought that it takes 2 years to learn the 3-4 system. bringing in atogwe is not a guaranteed immediate upgrade. he would need time to learn the defense.

remember gibril wilson? he was actually pretty good when he played FS for the giants the year they won the super bowl. we all saw him playing out of position and blatantly missing assignments last year. whos to say that it wont take atogwe just as long to learn the 3-4?

i think if anything, the FO should give ken hamlin a 1 year deal to either prove himself as the viable longterm starter, or to serve as the stopgap and give clemons another year to learn and develop.

Including us.

The FOs all saw what happened with Rolle, and nobody wants to see that bar get pushed even higher (or solidified where it is). Everybody’s gonna kick back and wait, trying to avoid a bidding war, then there will be a flurry of interest at the eleventh hour.

That’s how it looks to me, anyway.