News, A Signing, And Submission Number 14
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins have signed a TE. O.k. it’s not a new tight end, but they did ink Anthony Fasano. O.k. that is a bit stretched. Anthony Fasano signed his 1.7 million dollar tender offer for the 2010 season.
Fasano will be the starter once again and this will officially become his contract year. Fasano wants to get paid, and said as much during the lead up to free agency as he hoped a new CBA would be approved and he could hit the open market. We will see if he plays well enough this year to stay in Miami or well enough to get “paid” somewhere else.
Ronnie Brown has told some of the local media that he will be signing his tender in the next couple of days. On the 15th, the Dolphins will have the right to reduce his tender offer.
Have you seen the Marlins new stadium spec’s? While I haven’t seen a rendering of the new stadium in whole, they will have two 400-600 gallon fishtanks off-set behind home-plate. I wonder why the Marlins get a new stadium to play baseball in? The Dolphins should have got a new home and the Marlins could have stayed in Sun-Life. Oh well…cool feature though.
Now on to our next writers’ contest submission!
By: W.T.
Will the Dolphins enter a bidding war for Atogwe?
Plain and simple, No! The dolphins will NOT be overpaying for a guy who’s 29, coming off a shoulder injury missing the final four games of the season. Meanwhile he also played for the St. Louis Rams who only won one game last year. One! Why is this relevant? It is because their offense was abysmal with Bulger taking a beating and choosing not to resign Holt depleting their passing attack while only having Steven Jackson as a weapon. The Rams defense was always on the field! Eventually someone has to make a play on defense! Don’t get me wrong the guy is a good football player but the kind of money he’s asking for is way, way too much. Parcells already tried the Free-Agent safety signing last year, see Gibril Wilson experiment, and doesn’t need to sign a soon to be 30 year old to the lucrative contract he’s seeking. Atogwe is no Charles Woodson mind you, as Woodson as maintained a high level even at his age. No way will the dolphins sign him.
I honestly believe the dolphins secondary will improve greatly this year. Sean Smith and Vontae Davis will combine to form one of the best up and coming CB duos in the league. They already have a year under their belts and the sophomore slump does not apply to CBs, that’s reserved for quarterbacks and wide receivers. Yeremiah Bell will man the Strong Safety position again and the Free-Safety front-runner at the moment is Chris Clemons but that is subject to change. The Dolphins drafted Reshad Jones in the 5th round and signed Jonathon Amaya to a free agent contract for the competition factor at safety. The sleeper here is Jones even though in college he played Strong Safety; the dude had 9 INTs in 2 years playing in the SEC! The SEC, hands down, is the best college football conference in the country! The guy can play and he’s known as a ball hawk. He also possesses great size and speed for a safety listed at 6 foot1, 214 lbs. The knock on him is he is a head hunter and will miss a tackle or two going for the big hit, however this can be corrected by Mike Nolan’s coaching.
Simply put, the Free Safety question mark will be decided by the current players on the Dolphins roster in training camp. You definitely can’t read too much into the voluntary camps in the off-season as we’ve found in the past the coaches try all kinds of combinations in order to see what fits best. Plus when the pads go on, it’s a different kind of game. Heck, maybe Jason Allen will actually decide to play football this year and slide in at the free safety position meriting his first round selection in ’06? Probably not, wishful thinking I know. All hail Bill Parcells!