Dolphins OTA Notes

Today the Miami Dolphins held one of their first OTA (Organized Team Activity) days, marking one of the first times that Miami’s rookie class would take the field with the team’s veterans. Most of the Dolphins taped up and took the field in front of the media for the first time in the new season earlier today, some were just riding stationary bikes and some didn’t show up at all. How like life. We’ll have updates throughout the day (you can find them right after the break) so check back frequently to see what’s going on…

–Brandon Marshall is wearing Ted Ginn‘s old number. Though Omar Kelly wonders if this is only temporary, it at least provides a little insight into what digits Chad Henne will be locking in on next year. Is 19 cursed? No, probably not. Would it be nice for all the people who got duped into buying Teddy’s jersey to just be able to go get the name-plate restitched? Yes. Do I think Marshall sticks with 19? 50/50. Last night, for the first time I saw links to Marshall’s jersey on NFLShop and it had the number zero on it. That, I thought to myself, would be a badass number. Or hell, 42 in honor of the great Paul Warfield. But receivers don’t get to pick those kinds of numbers anymore so it’s 19, I guess…

UPDATE: Maybe hold off on ordering that jersey as apparently Brandon Marshall said he would have his “real number” at camp. Stay tuned.

-Incidentally, Marshall, Jason Ferguson, Channing Crowder, Patrick Turner and Reggie Torbor all rode stationary bikes and sat out from practice. Justin Smiley and Nate Garner were not in attendance, Smiley is not surprising but Nate Garner is going to have a shot to compete for a starters spot at guard, he should have been here on day one barring something unfortunate or unforeseen.

-As it stands Donald Brown worked at left guard with Richie Incognito taking reps as the first team right guard. Though this will undoubtedly be the first of several line-ups, it was the first to take the field this year.

–Ronnie Brown is back and participating in practice, though according to a number of different journalists in attendance he doesn’t look to be at full strength yet and seemed to be shaking his foot out after putting any kind of strain on it. He was limited in what he was allowed to do today and didn’t take any handoffs. It’s really refreshing to see Ronnie Brown on the field again but you have to hope Miami doesn’t rush him back or he doesn’t take it too quick. Miami has the luxury of being able to rely on Ricky Williams if Brown doesn’t start the season at full strength. It would certainly be preferable to Brown rushing his comeback and re-injuring himself.

–Patrick Cobbs did some light work but didn’t do anything too intensive as he recovers from a season-ending injury last year.

–Chris Clemons took the majority of the snaps as the starting free safety with Reshad Jones backing him up. Tyrone Culver was playing behind Yeremiah Bell.

-For those interested the Dolphins will be streaming press conferences from their newest acquisitions on their website starting at 11:30 AM. You can hear Richie Incognito, Karlos Dansby and Brandon Marshall speak on their first team activities as a Fin, followed by Tony Sparano speaking at 1:30 PM.

UPDATE: Brandon Marshall will now speak at 12:45 followed at 1:00 by Coach Sparano. Apparently Dansby and Incognito won’t be at the podium. I’m sure it’s not much of a big deal to Incognito as he’s a lineman and isn’t exactly high profile on the level that Marshall and Dansby are. I do however wonder how this sits with Karlos Dansby, though. Think about it, Dansby is a big acquisition, arguably the best available free agent this past year. His acquisition along with Marshall’s are, in my eyes, 1 and 1a in the Dolphins off-season. Yet when Brandon Marshall arrived he received a swell of fanfare including an “unofficial” press conference at a local hotel that despite not being “affiliated” with the Dolphins featured Dolphins security and was presided over by Dolphins senior VP Harvey Greene. Conversely when Dansby got here he was told Miami didn’t hold pressers for free agent acquisitions or trades. Now on the first day of team activities the team keeps Marshall’s press availability and cancels Dansby’s.

Maybe it’s much ado about nothing. Perhaps Dansby doesn’t like addressing the media or doesn’t have the type of ego to even consider this all an issue. I hope so. Because if not, Miami isn’t exactly starting off on the right foot with Karlos by clearly favoring fellow high-profile acquisition Brandon Marshall over him. Just an observation.

It’s good to have a little football back in our lives, isn’t it?