*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***

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Feb 16, 1995: -- Jeff Cross signs 5 year deal with Dolphins --

Cross played in 13 regular-season games in 1994, starting 10. He lead the team in sacks last season with 9.5 and had 40 tackles (31 solo), one interception, a fumble recovery and one forced fumble.

1995 will be Cross' 8th season with the Dolphins.

In other news, the Dolphins lost QB Doug Pederson, OT Jeff Novak and LB Brant Boyer yesterday in the expansion draft. Novak was picked up off the NY Giants practice squad last season, while Boyer was a 6th round draft pick in 1994.

Doug Pederson was the third string quarterback for the Dolphins last year and had been with the team for 2 years.

Pederson went to Carolina, while Novak and Boyer were taken by Jacksonville.

In the rumor department, Mark Ingram has reportedly asked to be released from the final year of his contract so that he can become a free agent. His 1995 salary would be about $700,000.

Also, Dan Marino is reported to have spoken personally to Deion Sanders about coming to play for the Dolphins on both offense and defense.

And last, but not least, for anyone who hasn't heard, John Sandusky has retired as the Dolphins offensive line coach and been replaced by Monte Clark. Clark has been the head coach of the 49ers and Lions and was most recently the offensive line coach for Stanford University under Bill Walsh.

Clark's connection to the Dolphins goes back to the early 70's, when he was the offensive line coach from 1970-75, during the SuperBowl years.

My Comments:

Cross was obviously signed just before the free agent market opened in order to avoid a bidding war for his services. Cross is a good defensive end, but he's not "great" and this is indicative of the scarcity of good defensive ends in the free agent market.

IMHO, Novak is the biggest loss in the expansion draft, but at least we were able to hold on to Muhammad Oliver and Dion Foxx.

Ingram had 7 touchdowns this year, but 4 of them were in one game against the Jets. Overall, I think that the Dolphins would be better off letting him go and spending the money on someone else.

On the Deion Sanders front, obviously the Dolphins are making a serious effort to sign him. Personally, I doubt that we'll get him, but it's clear that he's a major priority.

I think that the selection of Monte Clark as offensive line coach is probably a good decision. In the effort to develop a running game, Clark certainly has good credentials, having coached the 70's Dolphins' offensive lines that basically ran over everyone in the league. Perhaps he can help the Dolphins create a new ground attack.