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Dolphins News: Drayton Signed to New Deal
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Dolphins News: Drayton Signed to New Deal
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*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Dec 24, 1996: -- Drayton Signed to New Deal --

DOLPHINS NEWS:

The Dolphins announced yesterday that they had signed new tight end Troy Drayton to a 4 year deal worth approximately $6.3 million. The deal gives the Dolphins 42 players under contract for next season and leaves them about $2 million under the salary cap.

The team expects to restructure the contracts of some veterans in order to free up another 2 to 3 million in cap money. The Dolphins will probably use some of this money on free agents and the rest on the draft. According to the Miami Herald, the Dolphins currently have the 15th pick in the 1st round of the draft.

Drayton was acquired by the Dolphins in a trade that sent last year's first round draft pick Billy Milner to St.Louis. Drayton has caught 26 passes in 10 games with the Dolphins, including 5 each in the last 2 games.

Drayton seems to be very happy with the deal, saying "I think that this is a match made in heaven".

Also in the news, 3 Dolphins are planning on having surgery during the off-season. Bernie Kosar has already had surgery to remove bone chips from his throwing elbow, defensive lineman Shane Burton will have arthoscopic surgery on his ankle and center Tim Ruddy will have surgery on his thumb.

None of the surgeries is considered serious and all three players are expected to be able to participate in all aspects of the Dolphins' off-season conditioning programs and training camps.

RUMORS:

The Dolphins have been making public statements in the last week that seem to indicate that most of the rumors about trading Webb and firing Gary Stevens have been false. The word now seems to be that, instead of firing Stevens, JJ has decided to rewrite the playbook. And Webb is considered just too valuable to lose, according to Bob Ackles, the Dolphins' director of player personnel.

Also shot down are the Ricky Watters rumors. They apparently originated in Philly, because of Ray Rhodes' supposed dissatisfaction with Watters and didn't come from Miami.

That is, of course, the nature of rumors. More often than not, they turn out to be false. Personally, I think that there is still a remote possibility that Webb might be traded. Also, with head coaching jobs opening up around the league, Gary Stevens could always wind up somewhere else as a head coach. His name has been specifically mentioned in connection with the Detroit job, assuming that Wayne Fontes leaves in the off-season.

My Comments:

Drayton has the potential to be the best Dolphin tight end in many years. He has already demonstrated the ability to catch the ball and block well and can run over smaller defenders. He is well worth the money, as long as he plays up to his potential. Given a full summer of work with Marino, he should be a extremely potent addition to the offense.

Related Info:


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Curt Fennell, curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New England
     
   

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Curt Fennell
curt@phins.com
DOLFAN in New England