*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Oct 01, 1996: -- Milner Traded; Byars Cut --
DOLPHINS NEWS:
The Dolphins announced today that they have traded tackle
Billy Milner to the St. Louis Rams for tight end Troy Drayton. In
addition to the trade, the Dolphins have released former fullback and
tight end Keith Byars and guard Bert Weidner.
And if that wasn't enough, the Dolphins have extended the
contracts of center Tim Ruddy and safety Sean Hill. Ruddy has had his
contract extended through 1999 and Hill's was extended through 1998.
Hill was re-signed because of his special teams play, as he leads the
team in special teams tackles again this year.
Milner was the Dolphins' number one draft pick last year and
started 9 games for the Dolphins at right tackle in 1995 after Ron
Heller went down with an injury. However, this year the Dolphins
traded for James Brown and Brown had beaten out Milner for the
starting position at right tackle due to his superior run blocking.
TE Troy Drayton is in his 4th year in the league after being
drafted in the second round of the 1993 draft out of Penn State. He
has spent his entire career with the Rams, where he started 32 games
in a row during 94 and 95 before being sidelined briefly with a knee
injury this fall. His best year as a player was last year, when he
caught 47 passes for 458 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Drayton says that the trade came as a surprise to him, but
that he's looking forward to playing for JJ and catching passes from
Dan Marino.
Keith Byars had joined the Dolphins in 1993 after 7 years with
the Philadelphia Eagles. During his tenure with the Dolphins he made
the Pro-Bowl as a fullback, but injured his knee two years ago and has
never quite recovered his previous form. This year, Byars started all 4
games at tight end, catching 4 passes for 40 yards, but was replaced
as the starter by Brett Carolan yesterday.
My Comments:
Another bolt from the blue from JJ - or should I say a bolt
from the aqua? JJ never ceases to surprise me and this trade is
certainly a surprise. JJ is apparently very unhappy with the tight
end situation and moved to fix it.
There are a couple of unanswered questions about this move,
not the least of which is who will back up James Brown at right
tackle? I presume that Jeff Buckey is now the guy who has that job,
because he's really the only offensive tackle on the team after Webb
and Brown.
I don't know much about Drayton, although the word is that he
is a better blocker than a pass catcher. At 6'3" and 255 lbs, he is a
pretty big guy, but not huge for a tight end. Presumably, he'll come
in and compete with Brett Carolan for the starting job right away.
The extensions for Ruddy and Hill are not particularly
surprising, because JJ wants to keep his best players around and not
get caught losing a lot of people like he did this year.
As for Keith Byars, all I can say is this - he is an old
warhorse who always gave his best effort and played very well for the
Dolphins. But since his knee injury in 1994, Byars has not been as
good as he used to be. I assume that he'll retire and I wish him the
best, because he was a fine football player, but his days as a force
in the league are over.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New England
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