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Written by Rich Rodriguez
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Friday, 08 August 2008 |
This will certainly stir up some debate. The type of fired up debate that generally goes off topic and gets into the personal realm. What I am about to say will make some of you think I am a moron. There will be some of you that will see the logic behind it. Let's see what happens.
The Miami Dolphins have traded Dan Wilkinson for a 6th round pick. They just traded Wes Welker for a 2nd and a 7th. They started the offseason with a 1st, a 2nd, a 3rd, a 4th, a 6th and a 7th. They now have a 1st, two 2nds, a 3rd, a 4th, two 6ths and a 7th. Now that's ammo, baby!
If I were the general manager of the Miami Dolphins, this is what I would do.
I would dangle Chris Chambers out to see if any teams that need wide receivers and are very close bite. Name a team that was within a hair of playing in the Superbowl, that is stacked on both sides of the ball, but has a glaring weakness at wide receiver.
I have such a team.
The San Diego Chargers.
San Diego has very little in the way of wide receivers. The have talent. Unrealized talent. Keenan Mcardell just retired and we all saw Vincent Jackson drop critical passes in the AFC Championship game. Why not trade your late first round pick for a proven wide receiver that is one year removed from a Pro Bowl season? The draft is deep at wide receiver, you say? Well, then trade your first pick for Chris Chambers and you can still pick up a wide receiver in the draft in what is a very deep class. It would make sense for both teams, but particularly for the Dolphins. Here is why.
You can still pick up Quinn if he falls to 9. I think most of us can agree on that. If Quinn is not available, you pick best player available, which might turn out to be someone like Laron Landry, who is a very instinctual player and showed fantastic speed at the draft, or Levi Brown, who despite his meaningless 40-time, still had excellent agility work outs for a man his size, and did very well in the mirror drills. You can always pick up Drew Stanton late in the first round, which might be a bit of a reach, but will address your future at quarterback.
My next move might be a bit controversial. And will be a change from my previous stance.
Cam Cameron has indicated that he wants a QB that brings brains before brawn. Daunte Culpepper is not that quarterback. As much as I think Culpepper, when healthy, is a very gifted QB and as much as I feel he is better at reading offenses than people give him credit for, he is not a "cerebral" signal caller. The Dolphins should attempt to trade Daunte Culpepper. As a matter of fact, they may as well cut a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, who will be too far out of the Quinn sweepstakes to address QB through the draft, and have already committed to Damon Huard for the next few years. Trade Daunte Culpepper for Trent Green and see if you can get the Chiefs to throw in at least a pick or two. This will create some competition and a back up plan in case Huard was a flash in the pan, which I believe he was and we have seen it with our own eyes how bad a quarterback Huard can be, not in the boneheaded department, just in the plain ineffective department. Herm Edwards might be enticed by Culpepper's potential when fully healthy to take a risk on him, which won't be much of a risk because he probably wants Trent Green out anyway.
This benefits the Chiefs and of course benefits the Dolphins. Why does this ridiculous idea benefit the Dolphins?
Because Green is a veteran QB that is familiar with Cameron and the system he runs, which is of course similar to Norv Turner's system. Green comes in ready to call plays when camp starts. No learning curve for him. But it will be a learning curve for someone like Drew Stanton (and Brady Quinn, but I am not expecting him to be available at 9th any longer), who has great physical gifts all around, but has not had the right system and the right talent around him to put it all together on the field.
This is where Cameron's knowledge combined with Green's savvy and decision making combine to mold the young man for the next year or two. He can learn a lot from Green, and hopefully by the time he is ready to start, the Dolphins have resolved their issues along the offensive line and at wide receiver/tight end. Stanton will come in with a solid unit around him, a solid and proven system in place, and it will all be up to him and what he will have hopefully learned in that time to prove he is franchise quarterback.
All I have to say gentlemen, is to please remember the last time we took an extremely physically gifted quarterback late in the first round. Remember that he was available that late after a very subpar (for him) senior year. His college stats meant nothing once he had Don Shula, Mark Clayton, Mark Duper, and Nat Moore to play with him.
Please be gentle. |
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