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M. Jones-Drew - RB 
J. Posada - C 
I can think of no better way to sum up the rest of the NFL’s thoughts on the Dolphins and the use of the Wildcat than by quoting Vince Vaughn’s character from The Break-Up: “There’s a real big gap between getting your ass kicked and having a dancing, singing sprite fool you with trickery and then strike you in the throat before you even know you are in a fight. But I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand that, because all you do is make moves from up in your ivory tower”.
Key Additions: WR Brandon Marshall, LB Karlos Dansby, G Richie Incognito, DT Jared Odrick, LB Koa Misi
Key Departures: LB Jason Taylor, LB Joey Porter, LB Akin Ayodele, WR Ted Ginn Jr.
GM Bill Parcells and Coach Tony Sparano’s use of the Wildcat is still giving opposing defenses fits after two seasons, so there is no reason to expect a few new wrinkles this season as well. Until teams stop them on a consistent basis, they have no reason to stop. I do however feel their usage will be down this year, mainly because of the splash the Dolphins made by trading for the team's first legitimate No. 1 receiver since the 80s when Dan Marino was chucking passes to Mark Clayton and Mark Duper.
Passing Attack
How can we talk about anything besides the addition of WR Brandon Marshall to start? His size and speed combination makes him an absolute terror in the secondary, as evidenced by three straight 100-plus receptions seasons. He can make plays deep downfield or go over the middle for a tough grab. There is nothing he won’t do, and a quick look at his stats show a guy who by all accounts is still improving. He missed three games last season and still hauled in 101 receptions and 10 touchdowns. Had he played a full 16-game season he most likely would have finished second in fantasy scoring at the position behind only Andre Johnson.
| Fantasy draft-worthy Dolphins | |
|---|---|
| The following players are worth a look in these corresponding rounds of a 12-team non-PPR draft. |
|
| Player, Fantasy Pos | Proj. Rd |
| Brandon Marshall, WR1 | Rd 2 |
| Ronnie Brown, RB2 | Rd 3-4 |
| Ricky Williams, RB3 | Rd 7 |
| Davone Bess, WR4/5 | Rd 13 |
| Chad Henne, QB2 | Rd 14-16 |
QB Chad Henne has to be ecstatic just thinking about how much Marshall will open up the rest of the field. The main gripe I had coming into this season with him was he only threw for 6.38 yards-per-attempt (23rd in the league). This was largely due to the fact that the Dolphins lacked an intermediate passing game. On pass attempts of 21-30 yards Henne completed just 49.5 percent and threw six interceptions against one touchdown. This is a glaring sign that his receivers could not separate in coverage unless they ran straight downfield. Marshall can, and will improve these numbers, making Henne a nice QB2 option with upside on draft day.
Right now, Brian Hartline looks to be battling Greg Camarillo for the honor of starting opposite Marshall, with Davone Bess slated to work out of the slot. I give the edge to Hartline, as he has more big play potential, but he is going to have to earn the job in camp by doing all the little things as well. Anthony Fasano will once again start at tight end after the front office declined to bring in any type of competition via the draft or free agency. After a solid ’08 season, he put together a clunker last year. He may score a few touchdowns, but shouldn’t see enough looks to be someone to consider on draft day.
As a whole, you are going to see what just one man can do to improve a passing offense. The Dolphins ranked 20th in passing offense last year and a move up into the top 15 is likely if Marshall stays healthy and Henne takes a step forward this season.
| Fantasy Team Previews |
|---|
| AFC East: BUF | MIA | NE | NYJ |
| AFC North: BAL | CIN | CLE | PIT |
| AFC South: HOU | IND | JAC | TEN |
| AFC West: DEN | KC | OAK | SD |
| NFC East: DAL | NYG | PHI | WAS |
| NFC North: CHI | DET | GB | MIN |
| NFC South: ATL | CAR | NO | TB |
| NFC West: ARI | SF | SEA | STL |
Rushing Attack
This team went from being 23rd in the league in rushing in ’07 to 4th in the league last season. To say the Wildcat didn’t play a major part in this improvement would be a flat out lie, but having Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams toting the rock out of your backfield played a big part as well. The only thing I see possibly derailing these guys is another injury to Brown or father time finally catching up with the now 33-year-old Williams.
Brown came into ’09 after completing his first 16-game season as a pro, albeit only carrying the ball 214 times in the process. Expectations were high and he was an absolute stud before yet again falling to injury in week 9, this time to a Lisfranc fracture of his foot. As of now, he still is experiencing pain and it isn’t known if he will even be fully healthy by training camp. One thing is for sure however, he will be one of the biggest risk/reward candidates on draft day.
Williams on the other hand held up quite nicely after taking over the full load, racking up four 100-yard rushing games and six total touchdowns. Taking nearly two seasons off and going to India must be a running back's version of the fountain of youth. While what he did last season was admirable, Miami will be much better served keeping his number of touches around 175 to keep him fresh throughout the season.
Defense/Special Teams
Mediocre is a pretty accurate word when summing up how the Dolphins fared on defense last year. With an overall ranking of 23rd, this team did nothing with any success besides pressure the quarterback. Their 44 sacks ranked tied for third in the league. The departure of both Joey Porter and Jason Taylor and their 16 sacks leave big shoes to fill for Cameron Wake and Charlie Anderson. Rookie DE turned LB Koa Misi and DT Jared Odrick both should see plenty of time rushing the passer as well. Solid play-calling and blitz packages should keep this unit among the league leaders again this season. Karlos Dansby and Channing Crowder stuffing the run on the inside can only help as well.
In coverage, second-year corners Vontae Davis and Sean Smith improved as the season went on, but they will be the key as to whether this unit is worth owning in fantasy. This defense failed to hold one team to 10 points or less last season, and allowing opponents to pick off chunks of yardage in big situations.
Trading away primary return man Ted Ginn Jr. and his two kickoff returns for touchdowns to San Francisco leaves a gaping hole to fill by Davone Bess -- a downgrade in these eyes. Even if Ginn consistently runs out of bounds too early, he still gets down field way faster. All that said, I wouldn’t consider this unit worthy of a draft pick.
Category: NFL
Tags:
Karlos Dansby, Andre Johnson, Richie Incognito, Brandon Marshall, Akin Ayodele, Anthony Fasano, Charlie Anderson, Greg Camarillo, Ted Ginn Jr., Joey Porter, Jason Taylor, Ricky Williams, Channing Crowder, Mark Clayton, Ronnie Brown, Chad Henne, Vontae Davis, Brian Hartline, Sean Smith, Davone Bess, Cameron Wake
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davet (05/26/2010 at 6:21pm ET)
1 Still not sold on Henne. Some of those 21-30 yard Ints he threw were just bad mistakes on his part.
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ThatDude (06/02/2010 at 7:17pm ET)
2 It's also sort of hard to project Brandon Marshall's fantasy value this year. He's going to have a lot of pressure to perform, being the only real receiving threat out there.
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itsjonkane (06/16/2010 at 4:30pm ET)
3 definitely drafting Henne and Marshall this year!
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