*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Apr 22, 1998: -- Irving Spikes Waived --
** Dolphins Waive Irving Spikes **
The Miami Herald is reporting today that the Dolphins have
waived running back Irving Spikes. Spikes, who was a 4 year veteran
with the Dolphins, had briefly held the starting running back's
position, but was never able to stay as the designated starter during
his career.
His best year was in 1996, when he rushed for 316 yards on 87
carries and scored 3 touchdowns. He also returned kickoffs and was
ranked in the top 10 in the league in 1996 in kickoff return average.
Spikes became expendable with the drafting of running back
John Avery of Mississippi.
** Ray Nealy Goes Back to Fullback **
Ray Nealy was moved back to the fullback position yesterday,
after being moved from fullback to running back last fall. Nealy
originally joined the Dolphins as an undrafted rookie last spring and
spent the summer at fullback. He was converted to running back in the
fall when the Dolphins felt they needed a power running back, but with
the signing of Roosevelt Potts by the Ravens this spring, the Dolphins
were suddenly left with very little depth at fullback.
** Dolphins May Be Interested in Raymont Harris **
According to Armando Salguero of the Herald, the Dolphins are
having preliminary discussions with the agent for Bear's running back
Raymont Harris. The Dolphins are trying to find out Harris' asking
price to see if it would be worth opening serious negotiations with
Harris to try and sign him to a contract.
Harris was designated a transition player by the Bears this
winter, but had that tag removed when the Bears drafted Curtis Enis on
Saturday, thus making Harris a de-facto free agent. According to
Salguero, Harris is seeking a deal in the range of $2 million per
year.
Last year, Harris played in 13 games, rushing for 1033 yards
on 275 attempts. That gives him a 3.8 ypc average. He also scored 10
touchdowns and his longest run from scrimmage was 68 yards. He also
caught 28 passes for 115 yards and only fumbled once all year.
He only had 2 runs of longer than 20 yards last year, but both
of those were in the fourth quarter, including a 68 yard touchdown
run. In fact, even though Harris rushed for a 3.8 ypc average last
year, he averaged 6.0 yards per carry in the 4th quarter.
Harris is a good sized back at 6'0" and 225 pounds and has
played with the Bears his entire 4 year career. However, he has only
played a full season in 1994, which was his rookie year and in 1995,
he missed 15 of the games due to injury.
** Bowens to Sit Out Mini-camp **
Tim Bowens' agent Drew Rosenhaus says that Bowens will sit out
the Dolphins first mini-camp of the season this year because Bowens is
"not under contract" and doesn't want to risk getting injured without
a signed agreement with the team.
Bowens is the Dolphins franchise player and the Dolphins have
guaranteed him the required tender offer of $2.88 million. However,
Bowens wants a long term contract and the Dolphins say that they won't
be offering him a contract of any kind until after July 15th so that
they can take back the franchise player tag and use it next year.
** JJ Signs Contract Extension **
Lost in the shuffle of the draft over the weekend was the
announcement that the Dolphins have signed head coach Jimmy Johnson to
a contract extension of 1 year through the 2000 season. This contract
extension will pay him about $2 million.
This signing comes in the wake of rumors that JJ would retire
after this coming year because he was "tired of the grind" of being
the head coach.
My Comments:
The loss of Spikes was practically inevitable after he lost
his backup running back position to Bernie Parmalee and then his
kickoff return job to Corey Harris last fall. Spikes had his chance
briefly in 1996 when he was named the starter during training camp,
but his injury for the season opener ended that rather quickly after
Kareem Abdul-Jabar rushed 26 times for 115 yards against New England.
I can't say I'm sad to see him go. He has not been a model
citizen, nor an exceptionally effective running back. Perhaps he'll
catch on with some other team.
I'm afraid that moving Ray Nealy back to fullback is not a
good sign for him. His main strength is carrying the ball and he
won't do much of that at fullback in JJ's offense. If he can block
and catch, he might stay, but he didn't really make the cut last year
as a fullback, being cut and placed on the practice squad last summer
behind Dewayne Dotson and Stanley Pritchett.
You'll notice that I specifically attribute the Raymont Harris
rumors to Armando Salguero. I do this because if it turns out to be
wrong, we'll know why in advance. Salguero's accuracy over the past 2
years or so has been pretty low.
Still, it makes a certain amount of sense that JJ might be
interested in Harris. He is a power back who has proven he can
produce on one of the worst teams in the league. The only problems
with him are that he may want too much money and he doesn't seem to be
able to break the long runs all that often.
Also, Harris has a tendency towards injury. He missed all but
one game in 1995, missed 4 games in 96 and 3 games last year. That
means that the only year he has played the entire season was in his
rookie season of 1994.
Still, I'd rather have Harris on the squad than Lawrence
Phillips. Harris is a proven commodity and a legitimate starter,
while Phillips is still a question mark, both on and off the field.
JJ will certainly call his best friend Dave Wannestedt and ask
him his opinion on Harris.
As for Bowens - is he insane? Or has he merely been spending
too much time in the company of Drew Rosenhaus? Probably the latter,
I think.
(*Ring Ring*) Good morning, Mr. Bowens. This is your spring
wakeup call. Mr. Johnson says that if you prefer to sleep in this
weekend, you'll get to work a little extra in July to make up for the
lost time.
I wonder what Tim Bowens' Wonderlich test score was like. Do
they give negative numbers?
And last, but certainly not least, JJ has signed a contract
extension. While a guy like JJ is never completely free of rumors, at
least this will silence most of the latest batch about him quiting at
the end of next season.
Related Info:
[Return to Dolphins News]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
|
