Roster Rewind: Brandon Fields
By Brian Miller
This is the first of a series that will rewind the 2010 season to review the Miami Dolphins roster and what lies ahead for the off-season and the 2011 season. This series will be designed to grade out each player based on their contributions to the team. It will not be a graded article as I will leave that to all of you to discuss in the comments section as well as the forums.
The series will go in order by uniform number and will not cover players that are not on the official Miami Dolphin roster.
Today we start with Number 2: Brandon Fields.Brandon Fields was not able to duplicate a return to trip the Pro-Bowl following last seasons replacement invitation. However, he did have an identical statistical season compared to his 2009 campaign.
Fields racked up a total of 2,835 yards on 73 punts. Last season he punted for 2,983 yards on 75 punts. However this season he 31 balls inside the 20 compared to only 25 last season and only had four touchbacks compared to 6 in ’09.
He did however have 2 punts blocked and one punt returned for a touchdown this season.
Fields finished the season ranked 17th in total net yards and 13th in the league in total yards.
Fields has become a valuable asset to the Dolphins special teams but his punting style allows time for defenders to get into his extension. He does not take the traditional 2 or three step motion to punt but often relies more on a 4th step.
The Dolphins found value in Fields who is one of two players remaining from the Cam Cameron/Randy Mueller draft of ’07.
The 2011 season will be interesting in terms of Fields’ numbers. If the offense struggles like it did this year, it will be no surprise to see him posting 75 punts or even more. If the team can move the ball then it’s possible that his number of punts inside the 20 will increase. Fields has become a reliable punter who has good control over the ball and his placement.
Regardless, Fields will be under contract and will add some continuity to an special teams unit that really needs to improve.