*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***

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Aug 21, 1996: -- Stoyanovich Traded to Chiefs --

DOLPHINS NEWS:

ESPN is reporting this afternoon that the Dolphins have traded Pete Stoyanovich to the Kansas City Chiefs for an undisclosed draft choice. Stoyanovich, who has spent his entire career with the Dolphins is the 4th most accurate kicker in the history of the league.

Last year, however, Stoyanovich did not kick as well as he had in the past and was struggling to get his kickoffs deep enough to pin the opposing team back.

This spring, the Dolphins signed free agent kicker Joe Nedney, who, at 6'4" and 207 lbs, has a distinct size advantage over Stoyanovich that has translated into much deeper kickoffs. Also, during the last preseason game against the Vikings, Nedney nailed a 48 yard field goal in the rain, while Stoyanovich saw his 42 yard attempt bounce off the upright.

In fact, during the preseason, Nedney has been perfect, not missing a field goal and putting about half of his kickoffs deep in the opposing endzone.

In other news, the Herald reported this morning that the agents for both Eric Green and Johnny Mitchell had contacted Jimmy Johnson and had said that each of these players wanted to be rehired by the Dolphins. The articles made it clear that the player's agents had initiated the contact to JJ and Coach Johnson has acknowledged that he spoke to them.

According to Green's agent Drew Rosenhaus, his client's injured knee is healing much faster than expected and he may be ready to play as early as mid-September.

My Comments:

Trading Stoyo is a tough decision for JJ and it remains to be seen if it is the correct one. Everyone in Miami remembers letting Reggie Roby go and keeping Dale Hatcher two years ago. That ranked as one of the worst decisions in Dolphins history.

As to whether or not Nedney can cut it, that remains to be seen. But I do have one thought on the general topic of kickers - JJ has never payed much attention to who his kicker was. And when I think back on it, it seems to me that too much reliance on a kicker to win games is a bad thing. More often than not, teams that live by their kickers also die by their kickers.

So consider this - even though the Dolphins may be losing the better kicker, perhaps it is better to not think you can rely on your kicker to win it for you. Perhaps it is better for the team to not think that you can expect your kicker to drag it's ass out of the fire when needed.

Personally, I don't remember any recent SuperBowls that a kicker has won. But I do remember at least one that a kicker lost.

As far as Mitchell and Green are concerned, if I were a cynic, I'd say that Mitchell just took a vacation and then figured he could come back after training camp was over and pick up where he left off. Mitchell should definitely NOT be allowed back.

Green's case is a little tougher to decide, because he was definitely injured, but unless he's willing to come back for league minimum, I don't think he should be allowed back, either.

Personally, I doubt if we'll see either of them in Aqua and Coral come September.

Related Info:

ESPNET SportsZone:

Dolphins ship Stoyanovich to Chiefs