*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Sep 22, 1999: -- Avery Traded To Denver --
The Dolphins announced yesterday that they have traded running
back John Avery to the Denver Broncos for wide receiver Marcus Nash.
Both Avery and Nash were first round draft picks of their respective
teams in 1998 and both have been a disappointment.
Nash is a 6'3" and 195 pound receiver who played at the
University of Tennessee with Peyton Manning. He was Manning's
favorite target, catching 81 passes his senior year for 1,223 yards
and 13 touchdowns.
However, after the Broncos drafted him in the first round of
the 1998 draft, he has only caught 4 passes for them in 10 games.
In other news, the Dolphins will have several punters in today
and tomorrow for tryouts. Among the players likely to try out are
Gabe Lindstrom and Chris Dolan, both of whom are rookies and Greg
Montgomery, who played for the Lions two years ago, but sat out last
season with an injury.
My Comments:
I don't think think that the trade of John Avery had as much
to do with his performance as with his attitude. His performance was
disappointing, to be sure, but I think the thing that did him in was
his comments after the Broncos game. Instead of taking responsibility
for his dropped pass, he shrugged it off.
And if there's one thing you don't do to JJ, it's to ignore
what he says and does - especially in public.
Admittedly, Avery has been a disappointment in some ways, but
his talent was obvious from the beginning and it's not like JJ to dump
a kid this talented in this much of a hurry, unless the kid has a bad
attitude.
If you remember, Jerris McPhail stayed on the team a lot
longer than Avery and he had less talent and didn't play on special
teams. Karim Abdul-Jabbar is less talented than Avery, but KAJ never
complains and always takes the blame himself for a poor performance -
even when it's not his fault.
So I believe that Avery was traded mainly because of his
attitude. Perhaps if he had reacted better to his benching, he would
have stayed.
Now, the other question we have to answer is why pick up
Marcus Nash? Of course, you never know what JJ has in mind, but Nash
really doesn't sound like the kind of guy who will make it with
Miami. He also has consistency problems, like Avery, and he doesn't
return kicks or punts.
In other words, it doesn't sound like he can contribute
much to the team.
Still, if Avery isn't going to play for the Dolphins this
year, then it doesn't matter who the Dolphins get in trade for him.
For more info on Marcus Nash, I have links below to pre-draft
information on him from the 1998 draft.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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