*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Jul 21, 1998: -- Training Camp Starts --
** Guard Randy Wheeler Seriously Injured in Car Wreck
Dolphins backup guard Randy Wheeler was seriously injured
yesterday when the car he was driving flipped over on I-95 in Stuart,
Florida. Wheeler was driving to Florida from South Carolina to report
to Dolphins training camp, which opens today.
Wheeler reportedly suffered a spinal injury in the accident
and was taken to Martin Memorial Hospital. He is currently in serious
but stable condition and was transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital
in Miami for long term care.
The cause of the accident is unknown at this time, but
apparently Wheeler swerved off the road onto the median, where his car
rolled over and hit a tree around 2 PM yesterday afternoon.
Preliminary reports indicate that alcohol and drugs were not a factor
in this accident.
** Training Camp Opens
The Dolphins summer Training Camp officially opens today when
the rookies and selected veterans will report to the Dolphins Training
facility at Nova University in Davie, Florida. All of the rookies
that have signed are expected to report to camp, along with certain
selected veterans.
Most of the veterans who are scheduled to report are either
recovering from serious injuries or learning a new position. Among
the veterans expected to be on hand today are WR Yatil Green, LB Larry
Izzo and WR Jerris McPhail.
Today, the training camp will consist mostly of team meetings
and there will be no practices sessions on the field. Starting
tomorrow, the Dolphins will practice twice a day until August 11th and
then will taper down to one practice per day.
Most practice sessions will be open to the public. A schedule
and directions on how to get to the Dolphins practice facility are
available by following the first link in my "Related Links" section
below and from the Dolphins Endzone website.
** More Players Agree to Contracts
Second round draft pick Patrick Surtain has reportedly signed
a 4 year deal with the team yesterday for about $2.4 million according
to the Sun-Sentinel. That deal includes an $800,000 signing bonus.
Also agreeing to terms yesterday was linebacker Brad Jackson,
one of two Dolphins' third round draft picks who agreed to a 3 year
deal for undisclosed terms. Those terms are probably in the $1
million dollar range, which would include a $300,000 to $400,000
signing bonus.
And last but certainly not least, Linebacker Larry Izzo, who
was an exclusive rights free agent, has agreed to a one year deal for
the league minimum of $198,000.
While not having finalized deals yet, draft picks WR Larry
Shannon and DE Kenny Mixon are both expected to close their deals
today for contracts of 3 and 4 years, respectively.
Quarterback John Dutton is the only draft pick that remains a
question mark in the signing department, but because he is a late
round draft pick, it should not prove too difficult to sign him in the
next couple of days.
Other players who are playing without contracts include Guard
Jeff Buckey, receiver Kirby Dar Dar, linebacker Anthony Harris, kicker
Olindo Mare and safety Shawn Wooden. All of these players are
exclusive rights free agents and have been tendered the required
qualifying offers by the Dolphins, but are looking for longer term,
higher paying deals.
However, all of these players will probably report and
practice with the team and will likely accept the Dolphins' minimum
contract offers. Since the Dolphins have exclusive rights to their
contracts, they have very little choice in the matter.
On the other hand, it now appears that agent Drew Rosenhaus is
prepared to hold Tim Bowens out of camp rather than have him play for
the Dolphins' minimum tendered offer of $2.8 million. Rosenhaus
believes that Bowens is in the top tier of defensive tackles in the
league and is therefore justified in getting a long term contract
worth $5 million per year.
The Dolphins have only offered Bowens a contract in the $3
million per year range and it appears that they are not willing to
budge significantly from that position.
My Comments:
Randy Wheeler played very well in NFL Europe this year and had
an outside chance of really competing for the starting left guard job.
Now he must fight for his own health and well being in the hospital
against a spinal cord injury.
To me, a spinal cord injury is about as frightening an injury
as you can sustain. And to a guy like Randy Wheeler, who's life is
built on his physical abilities, it must be extra hard to not know
whether or not you will even be able to walk again, let alone play
football.
As I said above, he is now at Jackson Memorial Hospital in
South Florida and that is probably the best medical center in that
part of the state, so he is in good hands.
You might want to take a moment today and think about
Wheeler's situation and offer whatever form of encouragement (be it
prayer or meditation or "positive energy") to him that you can. He'll
need all the help he can get.
I'm sure he will also appreciate your words in a letter or a
card or whatever method you care to send them. I'll try and get a
more concrete address for you, but Randy Wheeler at Jackson Memorial
Hospital (Attn: Neurology Ward) in Miami will probably get there.
On to more pleasant matters....
With training camp opening today, it appears that all of the
really important rookies have signed, with the exception of Kenny
Mixon. And, if rumors are to be believed, he will sign today or
tomorrow and miss little or no practice time.
My plans for training camp coverage are the same this year as
they have been in the past, with one notable exception. I will post
daily training camp reports from now until the end of August, when the
final cuts are made.
For those reports, I rely heavily on what the Herald,
Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post and Dolphins Endzone report, but because
those reports are freely available to all, that isn't what makes my
reports unique.
The thing that makes my reports different than all others is
my "Eyewitness Reports" section. This section is devoted to reports
that fellow Dolphins fans email me about what they've seen at training
camp. It can contain anything that those fans see and/or hear at
training camp.
In other words, I need your input. If you attend any of the
Dolphins' practice sessions, take a few moments and write down your
observations. Then email them to me and I'll include them in my
report, identifying you as the author and giving you full credit.
Normally, I include the reports verbatim, without any
editing, except for spell-checking. If you don't want credit or
don't want your email address given out, that's fine with me - just
let me know with your email.
This year, however, in addition to others' eyewitness
accounts, I will be spending 2 whole weeks in South Florida during the
first 2 weeks in August. During that time, I will be attending every
practice session that I can get to and will be providing you with my
own "eyewitness reports". This will be a first for me and I'm very
excited about it.
I also hope to go to the Tampa Bay exhibition game on
Thursday, August 13th, so watch out for me there!
Tonight, I will be writing up a full preview of training camp
and it will be posted before tomorrow morning. Also, I will devote a
full section of my website to the Training Camp Reports, so stop by
and see what you can see. I will also post a training camp roster
shortly.
And after all that, I only have one other thing to say -
It's about time!
Related Info:
[Return to Dolphins News]
Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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