Rookie Camp Offers Little

Say what you want to say as John Mayer would say but rookie camps don’t give much insight into what rookies will do, or can do.  For one, they are out there competing with other rookies, practice squad players, and Cameron Wake…an “NFL rookie”…and two, they ain’t wearing pads and hitting anyone.  Oh, it’s fun to talk about, mainly because right now, there is little to talk about.  So when you open up the morning edition of local papers you will read what great speed and agility this guy has and how this guy couldn’t stay onsides with no noise surrounding him.  It’s not useless journalism it’s simply all there is.  

"“I just want to see them moving around, changing directions … see the things athleticly that make you feel like you bought with the drafted guys and the other guys,” Sparano said."

Yes, these are those kind of days.  Take Pat White for instance.  He had a jammed finger and couldn’t take snaps from the center.  A jammed finger.  Let me say this again.  A jammed finger.  Not a broken finger, a jammed one.  You know those.  The one where your friend walks up and says, “let me see it”.  Then grabbing it and pulling it hard towards him, seems to “un-jam” it.  O.k. so really I’m not picking on White, he hasn’t signed a contract yet so why risk anything.  From the Dolphins side as well.

He did however throw two interceptions one of which went to first round pick Vontae’ Davis.  He also threw a very nice pass to Anthony Armstrong (a practice squad player) according to the Miami Heralds’ Armando Salguero.

Salguero also points out that LB Cameron Wake looked very sharp and said, “Wake is just a strong-looking dude who obviously has as much as five years on a lot of the youngsters on the field.”

Speaking of Cameron Wake, it appears that he is the one the Dolphins are paying the most attention to in terms of Jason Taylor’s future.  When the words “Progress stopper” is used, they may mean him.  The Phins, according to a report will be watching Wake to see if they need to invest in Taylor.  Personally, why would you not want Wake learning from JT?  Rotate them and see opposing offenses cringe.

With two practices today, the Dolphins will begin at 10:00 AM and then finish with an afternoon of work as well.  Yesterday, again according to Salguero because I haven’t heard it myself, Tony Sparano made a comment regarding the rooks ability to learn the playbook stating “if they don’t have it down yet they better study because they aren’t waiting for anyone.”  Apparently they will be adding more today.

In what I find more interesting that the bomb that White threw or the two gloves that he wears, or the Jason Taylor watch, or anything else was a small blurb at the bottom of Ethan Skolnick’s article in the Sun-Sentinel that the Dolphins have had some discussion on whether they will bench one of their QB’s during games, making them inactive.

"Sparano acknowledged that the Dolphins had talked about the “third quarterback” dilemma before the draft. Iblogged on this on draft day. Sparano said that White would be the second quarterback in that scenario, but that the situation would be fluid, and needed to be further considered. The question is whether to activate Chad Henne as the third guy, or to make him the “third quarterback.” There are advantages and disadvantages to both. If Henne is inactive, and he enters before the fourth quarter, then Chad Pennington and White wouldn’t be allowed to play anymore. If Henne is active, that means that the Dolphins would need to deactive another player, to get to eight. And that guy might be valuable on special teams."

This to me is important because as the Phins talk about “progress stoppers” when referring to Jason Taylor, keeping Chad Henne inactive in favor of Pat White means Henne isn’t progressing.  Should make for an interesting training camp this year.

And so the rookie camp will continue.  Offering glimpses of speed, hip movement, and false starts.  Cramming playbooks and south Florida heat.  While they don’t offer much into whether a player will develop into a solid contributor, at least they will get a glimpse of the hell they have in store for them…good luck!