Scott? Brown? Neither?
By Brian Miller
The Dolphins executives want to give the Phins the bird. The question is which one. Bart Scott? The 240 pound running back eating line backer. Or Jason Brown? The 300 plus gut ripping center. Both from the Baltimore Ravens, both only days away from becoming free agents. Now, it appears that only one will actually hit the market.
Both are going to be expensive and the Phins like them both a lot. Today however the agent that represents both men told the Baltimore Sun that he is working on deals for both players prior to the Thursday mid-night deadline. He believes that one of his clients will get a new deal and the other one will get to become a free agent.
For the Phins, Jason Brown is the better option. He clearly improves an offensive line that struggled at times last season and is young at 26. He will command the largest salary for a center in the NFL and there will be more than Miami ready to do it should the Phins balk at the price tag.
On the other side of the ball is Bart Scott. Scott is a very good inside LB who is just now reaching his potential. For the next 5 years Scott will be wreaking havoc on opposing RB’s and should he hit the market, a likely landing spot could be with the NY Jets. New HC Rex Ryan was Scott’s DC in Baltimore.
That doesn’t mean the Phins couldn’t land him but let’s face it, the Phins don’t get into bidding wars with anyone…see Calvin Pace. Scott however seems like the more likely candidate to be inked prior to Thursday although I believe that Brown is more important to the team as a whole.
Scott’s departure could put the Ravens in a very bad defensive situation. With Terrell Suggs franchised, Ray Lewis is heading to the open market and losing Scott would further deplete the linebacking corp. Losing one is bad enough, losing two in the same year could potentially change the make-up of one of the best defenses in the league.
The Ravens could decide that to be the case and let Brown go. If that happens, the Phins will take a very long hard look at him and try and get an initial offer in before other teams can start poking around. Either way, the Ravens and not the Cowboys appear to be the team that the Phins are targeting this year.
Thursday is going to bring an interesting morning.