*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Apr 20, 1999: -- Eight Undrafted Rookies Signed --
The Dolphins signed 8 undrafted rookie free agents yesterday
in the wake of the draft, bringing the total of new players on the
roster to 16, which is the smallest incoming class since JJ took over
for Don Shula in 1996.
The players are WR Siaha Burley, DT Travis Darden, DE Eric
Davis, OG Justin Glasgow, TE Frank Leatherwood, S Jackie Mitchell, OG
O'Lester Pope, and LB Derik Stevenson.
WR Siaha Burley attended Central Florida in 1998, and is 5-10
and 163 pounds. He led the Central Florida receivers in catches in
each of the last 2 years, catching passes from QB Dante Culpepper.
Last year, he caught 88 passes for 1142 yards and 8 TDs. He is
speedy, running a 4.45 in the 40, but is what we used to call a
"stringbean".
DT Travis Darden is 6-1 and 280 pounds and played his college
football at East Carolina. Darden played both nose tackle and
defensive end in a 3-4 alignment, with him starting at defensive end
in 1998. He was considered one of the two best defensive players on
their team.
DE Eric Davis played at Georgia Southern and weighs in at 260
pounds while standing 6-3. He made the Walter Camp Division 1-AA
All-America team as a starting defensive end after getting 12 sacks in
1998.
OG Justin Glasgow is referred to as a "wide-body", standing
6-5 and weighing in at 308 pounds when he played at Kansas. He
started for 3 consecutive years for them at guard.
TE Frank Leatherwood played for the Appalachian State
Mountaineers and caught 28 passes for them in 1998 for 364 yards and a
touchdown. He is listed as being 6-2 and 259 pounds.
S Jackie Mitchell started out as a basketball player and
didn't join the football team at Southern until 1996. In 1998, he
had 68 tackles, 11 passes defensed and 3 interceptions.
OG O'Lester Pope is so big at 6'5" and 354 pounds that it takes
a week to run around him. He played at Southern Miss, starting every
game in 1998. The biggest concern about him is his physical
conditioning.
LB Derik Stevenson of BYU, is 6'4" and weighs 235 pounds.
While at BYU, he played outside linebacker and on special teams, which
is probably what JJ is expecting out of him with the Dolphins.
To make room for these smiling, happy faces, JJ has cut
running back Jay Johnson, formerly of Grambling University.
In other related news, the Dolphins will hold their first
mini-camp of the 1999 season this weekend, starting on Friday, April
20th and running through Sunday. This will be the first chance the
team and the rookies will get a chance to look at each other.
My Comments:
Most of the players signed as undrafted rookies have virtually
no chance to make the team, especially this year, with most of the
roster already filled with starters. Odds are that everyone on this
list will be looking for another team by the end of August.
The most intriguing of these players (to me, anyway) is WR
Siaha Burley. As Dante Culpepper's leading receiver for the last 2
years, he must be doing something right on the field. But his small
stature may work against him and his speed won't save him in the NFL
the way it did in college.
The rest - well, I think they are training camp fodder. I'm
not trying to put down their efforts, but they've got a huge hill to
climb to even get noticed by the coaches this summer.
And one thing I noticed last summer when I went to training
camp is that the coaches have no compulsion against throwing the
rookies right into the fire against the veterans. They'll put a brand
new defensive back on the field in one-on-one drills against OJ
McDuffie and ask a rookie guard to take on Darryl Gardener.
Still, Anthony Harris is still on the roster from the free
agent class of 1996 and Derrick Steagall is still here after last
year. So each of these guys has a chance and you can't ask much more
than that.
And, as JJ makes it clear every year, if you're the best
player on the team, no matter how long you've been there, you're going
to start.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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