The Dolphins can do nothing about picking White. He's on the team and they must hope he can progress from an unspectacular rookie season into a legitimate backup quarterback. That's why coach Tony Sparano was asked about White at the Senior Bowl this week.

"I think that he’s doing very well, certainly," Sparano said, no doubt remembering that White was literally knocked out of the season-finale against Pittsburgh. "Pat's not a guy to take a lot of time off or any of those things, so he’s getting right back at it. He’s got a pretty good itch. I was kidding him earlier in the week. I met his dad out here for the first time when we were over at Fairhope (High School) in the beginning of the week, so I sent him a text telling him his dad was better looking than he is. He immediately sent it back and talked about his hometown here and all that, you know.

"Pat is a real proud kid that way. But he has done a nice job for us, he really has. When you think about these young quarterbacks coming in and all that they have to do, and it’s a lot. You have to put a lot on their plate and you can’t spoon feed them. You have to be careful with that. So, from our end, our philosophy has always been to throw everything at them and see what sticks. With Pat, he had it a couple of different times. He had it in rookie camp. He had it in OTAs. He had it in training camp. And little by little he’s been able to grab more and more of our offense to the point that midway through the season he had total command of the whole package."

So White can come in the game and run the entire Miami offense if need be?

"He can really go out there with no limitations and run the offense that way," Sparano said. "Now there are still some fundamental things that we’re working with Pat on and that we want Pat to get better at, but this guy is so willing and has so much character that I feel like he’s going to continue to get better."

Well, there you have it. After one season the Dolphins are still working to correct White's fundamentals. After one season the Dolphins are also hoping White can actually complete a pass in an NFL game -- something he didn't do in 2009.

I hope White can make the giant leap from a struggling rookie to a viable backup in 2010. Again, no one is asking him to be ready to be the starter.

But he needs to get stronger. He needs to recognize defenses faster. He needs to get quicker with his drops. He needs to show the kind of accuracy he often showed in college but never showed in NFL games.

White has a long way to go. In that regard, he's a lot like Tim Tebow.

They're saying it could take 2-3 years to get Tebow "fixed"... so maybe it's the same sort of learning curve for White... who knows.

I had mentioned that sweep idea a couple times.. i know someone else did as well. We utilized his skills incorrectly this year for sure.

The Dolphins plan for Pat White got shot to hell when Pennington went down early in the season. The plan wasn't for him the be a #2 Qb but rather something quite different. Similar to how a 3rd down back isn't really a backup RB. Pat White got the raw end of things last year so I'm willing to give him a pass.

I'm not following your logic.

Funny, he sounds more committal towards Pat White than he does to Chad Henne. Go figure.

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe since he knows Henne is his guy and had a good overall season (besides a couple big int's late in games) he does not want anything going to his head. But with White, he had a horrendous year minus a few plays, Whites confidence as a football player has to be pretty low and Sparano knows he needs to build him up.