Anthony Fasano Out In Miami?

According to a report from Pro football Weekly, the Miami Dolphins are not likely to bring TE Anthony Fasano back for another season.  Fasano had 41 receptions this past season and scored five touchdowns.  As part of a pre-draft trade with the Dallas Cowboys in 2009, Fasano joined his former offensive line coach, Tony Sparano in Miami.

Fasano was supposed to be a TE in the mold of Cowboy’s TE Jason Witten but never came close to the same production.  Fasano was often kept in to block during the Sparano years, an indication of Miami’s inability to fix the offensive line.  While he had a career high number of catches this season, he was statistically worse in other categories compared to the previous years in Miami.

In 2009 Fasano had 7 touchdown catches, his most as a pro.  He came in second this season but for the first time failed to log double digit yards per catch and turned in his worst total yards at 332 since joining the Dolphins.  The Dolphins under Joe Philbin are expected to utilize the tight-end more often in the passing game but Fasano is not a seam TE threat and his inconsistency off the line hasn’t done the team many favors.

For a personal standpoint, Anthony Fasano is one of my favorite players on the team.  I love his gritty work ethic both in practice and on the field but he is not a veteran leader and I’m not 100% certain that has done anything to really help the younger guys on the team.  If in fact Fasano is not brought back into the Dolphins plans as rumored, I would have to believe that TE will be a top off-season priority.

The Dolphins currently are holding Jeron Mastrud and Charles Clay as his back-ups with last seasons rookie Michael Egnew not so much as denting the offensive production stats.  Egnew’s inability to get into the games as a 3rd round selection is concerning.  From a free agent standpoint, the Dolphins could make a splash by adding impending Steelers free agent, Heath Miller who possesses the ability to get open down-field.

The Dolphins have holes on both sides of the ball and while many fans have been clamoring for change at the TE position, it appears if this rumor is true, that the Dolphins are indeed going to make a change.