Long Day One Ends Quietly For Miami Dolphins

Oh the buzz of day one.  More media and coverage talk than actual substance.  That’s not to say that the Miami Dolphins didn’t have a busy day.  They did indeed.  Just a rather quiet one.  Today marked the first time in over 120 days that football business could be conducted and the Dolphins along with 31 other teams didn’t waste time getting down to the business of doing business.

My morning started off with a couple of Email exchanges with a friend from the team…I sincerely hope that his day went well and his week goes better.  Unfortunately, I doubt that will be the case, in fact, I’m pretty certain he is likely still at the office as I type this.  That is the nature of the beast.

The Dolphins opened the doors to the facility at 10:00 AM and one of the first to arrive was Brandon Marshall who was actually an 90 minutes early.  He camped it out in his car while the media camped out across the street.  The Dolphins, in typical fashion were very quiet today.  Media was was not granted access to the players and the players weren’t talking.  The only information that would leave the offices would actually come from those not there.  The agents for the players the Phins signed.

The top name that landed in Miami is Delaware QB Pat Devlin.  A solid prospect who would have likely been drafted in the upper half of the draft if not for a poor season in 2010.  Devlin has very similar attributes to Chad Pennington.  Methodical, smart, accurate, and also has the similar lack of big time arm strength.  Still, he highlighted the morning un-drafted free agent signings.

The Phins also have agreed to deals with several other un-drafted guys according to the Palm Beach Post.

"RB Nic Grigsby, Arizona (6-0, 203): Struggled with shoulder and ankle injuries last two years, but can run a 4.4 40 and has added 10 pounds since college.TE Brett Brackett, Penn State (6-6, 248): 39 catches for 525 yards and 5 TDs in 2010, his only year as a starter.OL Garrett Chisolm, South Carolina (6-5, 312): Former walk-on guard was named second-team All-SEC in 2010.OL D.J. Jones, Nebraska (6-5, 310): Started 14 games at right tackle in 2010 and has also started at guard.DE Jonathan Freeny, Rutgers (6-2, 250): Margate native had 0.5 sacks in 2010 but 9 in 2009, and will be converted to outside linebacker in Miami’s 3-4 scheme.CB Vince Agnew, Central Michigan (5-10, 192): Only started one year, but ran on the track team in college (4.4 40) and can return kicks.WR/KR Phillip Livas, Louisiana Tech (5-8, 180): Tiny speedster (4.46 40) returned eight kicks for touchdowns in his college career."

As the rest of the day went forward, nary a word came out of Miami, in fact Omar Kelly of the Sun-Sentinel found it difficult to dig up anything at all.

The rumors persisted throughout the day with the main focus being on a trade with the Denver Broncos for QB Kyle Orton.  Orton has become the hot topic as several teams look for a veteran QB in a rather slim market.  The Vikings, Cardinals, and Titans seem to be leading the list along with the Dolphins.  Earlier today, the Seattle Seahawks agreed to a deal with former Viking Tarvaris Jackson.  The Vikings are closing in on a deal with the Redskins for Donovan McNabb and the Titans appear to be the front runners for Matt Hasselbeck, formerly of Seattle.  That leaves Miami and Arizona still looking.

The Cardinals are rumored to be very close to dealing for Kevin Kolb of the Eagles and it’s possible that reason we didn’t see a move from Miami on Orton today is that the team can take a bit more risk in waiting for Denver to lower their price.  Vince Young is also still available but the Dolphins have not been rumored to have shown interest.

The other position of major need is the RB slot.  This morning started out with a lot of DeAngelo Williams talk but it now appears that he has priced himself out of Miami and it has become a two team race between the Panthers and the Broncos.  The Dolphins are still reportedly interested in Ahmad Bradshaw of NY and it’s possible that something could be done tomorrow or early Thursday.  The Giants have gutted their starting offensive line today waiving three of their starters.  Not sure if Bradshaw will find that as appealing as he did this morning.

A lot of talk today also centered on the hopes of Miami possibly looking at LB Paul Posluszny.  He has agreed to join the Jacksonville Jaguars on Friday.  The New England Patriots added LB Tully Banta-Cain to the free agent list and it’s very possible that Miami will take a long hard look at him.  Teams can not officially waive players until Thursday so it’s very unlikely that the Dolphins would remotely show their cards if the were interested in a player from their own division.  Stay tuned.

As the dust settled on Miami’s first day, it’s safe to say that what went on behind the scenes was more important that what went on around the NFL.  No big time moves were made, and despite the addition of former Buffalo Bills LB Posluszny to the Jaguars, most player either agreed to terms with their own teams or have done nothing.  Today was more about un-drafted rookies and getting talks moving along with the agents.

It’s unknown if the Dolphins spoke with the agents for any of their own free agents.  Ronnie Brown said that he was excited and that “it was finally time”.  But did not elaborate.  The Dolphins have to make a decision on both Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams and a lot of that will depend on what they are able to do with what is available on the free agent market.  Darren Sproles, Kevin Smith, Ahmand Bradshaw, and Reggie Bush are all options.

Today, it’s likely, and this is simply my own summation, that the team spent most of the day re-acclimating players to the team.  Getting down to the business of getting the players ready for the start of training camp on Thursday.  They also likely held talks with their rookie class agents in order to get those deals done and it’s very likely that we see all of the rookies signed tomorrow or early Thursday morning.

Tomorrow should be a little quiet as well, but with teams wanting to get ready for camps, it’s likely that the Dolphins may find it possible to get some deals in place tomorrow rather than wait until Friday.  So it would not be out of the question to learn that Kyle Orton will be traded or that Bradshaw could be signed.

The week is one day old and was crazy despite the lack of noise coming from Davie.  Stay tuned tomorrow.