Well in one week, the Dolphins will be holding their 2nd mini-camp.  Though it is "voluntary," it's expected that most of the veterans will be in Davie for the camp.  After all, with Bill Parcells in town, "voluntary" means "you better be there."  This will be our 2nd chance to see the rookies and our first opportunity to see the other new players that this regime has brought in. 

So what I wanted to do was just talk about some of the players I'm most excited/anxious to see in a Dolphins uniform as we head towards training camp in July.  Today we'll look at the offensive side of the ball and then we'll talk about the defensive side of the ball some time next week.  The list isn't in any particular order and I'm sure everyone's list would be different, which is why I encourage you all to tell us who you are most excited to see.  My offensive list is below:

Chad Henne - Just because I'm a very vocal John Beck fan doesn't mean I hope Henne fails.  It's just the opposite.  I'd love to see both become very good players.  After all, it's only fair that after so many years of not having a really good quarterback, we can now have two.  It's been widely reported that Henne struggled at the final practice of the rookie camp a few weeks back, with the coaching staff even making Chad run a lap.  But his first 2 days were reportedly solid and I'm very anxious to see him progress from day to day once camp rolls around.

Jayson Foster - If watching the many highlight videos of Foster's college career doesn't excite you, then you might not even have a pulse.  Sure, he's pretty damn small, but it tells you something that Foster was one of the few players that Bill Parcells said a word to at rookie camp.  I'm curious to see how his speed and quickness translate to this next level once the pads go on.

Davone Bess - Bess opened some eyes at rookie camp, catching everything that was thrown his way.  He lacks ideal speed and is on the short side, but his route running and feel for the game really translate into potentially big upside as an NFL slot receiver.  I'm looking forward to hearing the camp reports on how he does getting open once the veterans arrive.

Ernest Wilford - Wilford comes to Miami from Jacksonville and will likely have the inside track to winning the starting receiver job opposite of Ted Ginn.  And he's really the ideal complimentary receiver to a player like Ginn.  As I discussed right here, Wilford is going to be a major upgrade over Marty Booker.  He's got reliable hands, moves the chains, and is a great red-zone target.  I'm looking forward to seeing how he works with the Dolphin quarterbacks in camp.

Jake Long - For obvious reasons, all Dolphin fans will be closely keeping watch on Long and how he does transitioning from the college game to the pros.  I cannot wait to hear the camp reports on how Long is doing in pass protection against some of the speed rushers off the edge (Jason Taylor, Quentin Moses, Joey Porter, etc...).  He's going to learn very early on in camp that dealing with NFL pass-rushers is quite different than dealing with those in the Big 10.

Justin Smiley - There are many reasons why I'm anxious to see Smiley take the field.  One, the Dolphins did pay a decent amount of money to him.  Two, he's coming off of a torn labrum.  And three, Smiley seems to be a very intense player who is also not afraid to speak his mind.  He plays with a nasty streak and that's the kind of play this team needs.

Just missed the list:  Boomer Brigsby, Shawn Murphy, Tab Perry

So those are my top 6 new Dolphin players that I'm most excited/anxious to see on the offensive side of the ball.  We'll get into the defensive side next week. 

Be sure to tell us all which new offensive players you are most excited to see in aqua and orange.

Thoughts below...

With all this talk about the rookies recently, I think that there's one new acquisition that might actually be getting overlooked in many fans' eyes.  The signing of former Jaguars WR Ernest Wilford is really going to have a nice positive effect on this Miami offense.  At 6'4, 233, he may not be flashy.  But he's big and physical and will provide our quarterback (whoever it happens to be) with a reliable target on key plays.

Reliability is something that the Dolphins lacked a lot of last season.  Consider that there was no wide receiver on the Dolphins roster last season who caught more than 50% of the passes that were thrown their way (excluding Greg Camarillo, who was only targeted 10 times, catching 8 passes).  The receiver with the highest catch percentage last year in Miami?  Derek Hagan, with a success rate of 50%.

Last season with Jacksonville, Ernest Wilford had a success rate of 61%, catching 45 passes on 74 total targets.  That's rather impressive when you consider some of the success rates of the game's top receivers:  Randy Moss - 62%, Braylon Edwards - 52%, Terrell Owens - 57%, Chad Johnson - 58%, Steve Smith - 58%, Larry Fitzgerald - 60%, and Torry Holt - 63%; just to name a few.

But it's not all that fair to compare Wilford's success rate with the above because the players above were also targeted much more often.  But if you take a look at the success rates of players who have around the same amount of targets, you'll still see Wilford's figure stands superior: 

Ernest Wilford:  61% (45/74)
Donte Stallworth:  61% (46/75)
Brandon Stokely:  56% (40/71)
Drew Carter:  51% (38/74)
Drew Bennett:  45% (33/73)

As you can see, Wilford's numbers remain impressive when you talk about other wide receivers in his class.

But this is only part of the impact (and improvement) of the acquisition of Wilford.  The man is also a first-down machine, something the Dolphins sorely lacked last season.  And for comparison's sake, we will look at Wilford's numbers as compared to the player he's replacing here in Miami, Marty Booker.

And before we get into anything, I did want to point out one key stat.  Last season, following the trade of Chris Chambers to San Diego, most of us figured that this meant Marty Booker would really have to step up and play well.  After all, he was now starting opposite of a rookie wide receiver.  Instead, Booker went on to struggle.  Rather than being the reliable set of hands that Miami's quarterback could turn to, Booker "officially" dropped 7 passes (though, as many Dolphin fans know, that's being generous).  Wilford, for comparison, dropped just 2 last season.

Moving on to my "moving the chains" point, one of the most important stats you can look at for a wide receiver is their 3rd down production.  And this is where Ernest Wilford is really going to make a big impact in Miami.  Below are the stats for both Wilford and Booker on 3rd downs in 2007:

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