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Dolphins 2009 Training Camp: Day 8 - Mon, Aug 10th |  | ||||||||
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Injury Reports | Future Schedule | My Comments | Related Links The Dolphins started Monday's first practice at 9 AM after being given Sunday off to allow them to rest up and to allow the coaches some time to evaluate the results of the scrimmage on Saturday. The team wore full pads on Monday morning and moved into the bubble on Monday afternoon, practicing in shorts shoulder pads and helmets. The first depth chart was released, with Eric Green listed as starting cornerback opposite Will Allen, Phillip Merling listed as the starting right defensive end and Shawn Murphy as the number one right guard. Davone Bess was listed as the starting wide receiver opposite Ted Ginn, Jr. However, the results of the coaches analysis' of the scrimmage on Saturday painted a slightly different picture as rookie CB Sean Smith lined up with the starters on defense opposite Will Allen and in place of CB Eric Green. The other change was moving defensive end Randy Starks over the right side and letting him line up at right defensive end with the starters. The team has been rotating several players in and out of the right defensive end position, but apparently are not totally satisfied with what they see in Tony McDaniel and Phillip Merling. Starks is one of the better defensive linemen in the rotation, but the coaches like to use him more as a rotational player than as a starter. On offense, there were no major changes from Saturday, with Shawn Murphy staying at right guard and Davone Bess playing in front of Greg Camarillo. The issue seems to be that Camarillo rrehabilitated knee is slowing him down a bit as training camp wears on. There is no indication that it has been re-injured, but as his rehabilitation continues, the strain of 2-a-days is wearing on him. Cameron Wake was put in at the starting weakside linebacker position for several plays, while Joey Porter took some time off. Wake has picked up his play over the course of training camp and has been more impressive as time has gone on. Donald Thomas continues to get more work in full contact drills and looks better each day, but is still working behind Shawn Murphy. In the afternoon, the players moved into the bubble and worked out of the sun. The Dolphins added a new kicker on Monday - former Kansas City starter Connor Barth was signed to complete with Dan Carpenter. Bill Parcells has a reputation for not having much patience with kickers and Carpenter has not had a great training camp, although he has not kicked that badly. Carpenter and Barth had a kicking duel of sorts in the afternoon, with Carpenter making all his kicks and Barth missing one from outside of 40 yards. But the star of the afternoon was rookie safety Chris Clemons, who picked off two passes and dropped a third interception, all off of Chad Henne. Clemons was impressive during the off-season camps, but had been relatively quiet since the start of training camp - until Monday. In addition to the 3 picks in the afternoon session, Clemons had a sack in the morning. In fact, in addition to Clemons' picks, the defense dominated the afternoon session, getting a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks. One report says the defense had at least half a dozen sacks of Chad Henne, Chad Pennington and Pat White. Brian Hartline had a highlight reel catch in the afternoon session, snagging a deep pass with one hand. Chad Henne had a tough afternoon, overthrowing receivers, tossing interceptions and generally playing poorly. While he has a big arm, he still needs work to get to the point where he can be a regular starter. Quentin Moses continue to make his case for a backup spot at outside linebacker, tipping a pass and getting at least one sack during afternoon drills. Coach Sparano mentioned Moses as one of the players who is continuing to "flash". Matt Roth continues to work with the trainers on the sidelines and does not appear to be close to returning.
Sean Smith is getting his chance to claim the starting spot at the cornerback position, but it is not his yet. The reports on his performance on Monday were generally good, but there is a long way to go. Eric Green and Vontae Davis worked as the second string cornerbacks on Monday. Shawn Murphy is working as the starting right guard again, but Donald Thomas is getting increasing amounts of work in team drills. Davone Bess is still working with the first team offense, but the difference between him and Greg Camarillo is very small. At right defensive end, Randy Starks is being given his chance after Phillip Merling and Tony McDaniel have gotten their shots. This battle is probably one of the most surprising of training camp as it was assumed that Phillip Merling had the job, but the coaches are now on their third player at that position.
FB Matt Quillen left the team after only 4 days on the roster, becoming the 4th players to either quit or not show up to training camp. In his place, the Dolphins signed WR James Robinson, a 6'3" speedster who played last year in the CFL. The Dolphins also signed K Connor Barth, who was cut by the Chiefs last week. Barth started for Kansas City and played well last year, but was beaten out by the Chief's last draft pick this spring.
Matt Roth is still not ready to participate in practice yet and there is no indication when he will be ready.
The Dolphins have a single practice at 2 on Tuesday afternoon, followed by two practices on Wednesday. The late Wednesday practice will be a night practice starting at 8 PM that will be open to the public.
In one of his columns on Monday, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald says that Vontae Davis continues to "puzzle" him. He goes on to say that Davis is the least impressive of Miami's rookie DBs. While I find Mr. Salguero to be the least reliable and most obnoxiously self-congratulatory beat reporter covering the Dolphins, he is right about this: Vontae Davis needs much work. I believe the reason that Vontae Davis is not impressing more is that he was able to excel in college on his natural physical talents and could recover quickly if he made a mental mistake. However, in the NFL, everyone is fast and has exceptional physical skills, so when Davis makes a mental mistake, his natural gifts aren't enough to compensate at this level. What that means is that Davis is going to have to improve his mental game to be able to play at the NFL level. Perhaps he will be able to do that and perhaps he won't. Until Vontae Davis can elevate his mental game to the level of his physical game, he will not be able to compete at the starting level.
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