Dolphins In Depth

Murphy, Beck struggle at Thurs. practice

One player, it seemed to these eyes, had a tougher time during practice Thursday than John Beck.

That was rookie guard Shawn Murphy.

The Dolphins just finished almost 2 1/2 hours of work and this should tell you all you need to know about the struggles of the offense: At one point offensive line coach Mike Maser, quickly becoming one of my favorites, yelled, "WTF is going on with you," to center Matt Spanos.

A little while later, tight end coach George DeLeone angrily yelled, "What are we doing out there?"

Well, what Murphy was doing was getting a hard-learned lesson in NFL offensive line play from Vonnie Holliday. Getting a chance to work with the first unit at left guard, Murphy gave up sacks to Holliday on consecutive plays. He also yielded a couple of pressures before getting a tiny bit better later in the practice.

It was hard to figure out if Murphy was truly improving or Holliday was holding back a bit. Welcome to the NFL, rook.

One rookie who had a pretty productive practice was Chad Henne. He had a sweet pass to tight end Anthony Fasano despite tight coverage. He also had a string in which he completed passes to David Martin, Ted Ginn Jr., Davone Bess and Sean Ryan. Good stuff.

By contrast, John Beck had a tough day. Again. He had a ball batted early in the practice. He was 0-for-4 in another team portion, although one of those was dropped by Greg Camarillo, and he generally looked out of sorts. Camarillo dropped a couple of passes today.

The good?

Derek Hagan continues to be the most impressive and productive receiver on the field.

Quentin Moses had a sack and a couple of pressures.

Holliday, after a productive afternoon, didn't seem to be sweating all that hard after the drills. He looks like a beast right now. The offseason program definitely has helped him.

The kickers?

Punter Brandon Fields had a 74-yard punt and few kicks later followed with a 55-yarder.

In the field goal battle, Jay Feely connected on 2-of-3, missing the 44-yarder. Rookie Dan Carpenter connected on 1-of-3, missing from 36 and 41 yards but hitting from 44.

One guy that seriously has to improve on special teams is rookie Selwyn Lymon who got destroyed as a gunner on punts by the blocking ends. He got only 1 yard off the line of scrimmage before being taken to the ground. Then one of the guys basically sat on him.

Not good for a rookie who must shine on teams if he's going to make the team.

By the way, Davone Bess looked good catching punts and was generally efficient in team drills. Jayson Foster dropped a punt despite a two-minute tutorial from Bill Parcells in the middle of the field.

Sparano confirms Carter; Live chat now

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano has just confirmed Quincy Carter is in town and will have a tryout with the Dolphins.

Although the coach said he doesn't think the team needs an additional arm right now, he said this is part of Jeff Ireland and Bill Parcells doing their "due diligence." It frankly feels like part courtesy to Carter and part investigation that will not necessarily lead to his signing.

So don't go crazy that this is awful unless and until the Dolphins sign the guy. Hopefully they will not because it is very weird.

Sparano also talked about the scrimmage the team is having during Saturday's evening practice.

"We'll have goods on goods," he said, meaning the first teamers will compete against each other while the second teamers will go against each other. It will be a game atmosphere complete with coach-to-helmet communication.

LIVE CHAT NOTE: IT WILL BEGIN AT 1 P.M. IN THE COMMENTS SECTION HERE.

Live blog chat Thursday 1-2 p.m.

As I have hinted in previous posts, I am not a big fan of the Terry Glenn adventure the Dolphins are seriously considering.

I know I'll probably be alone on the subject because many fans would add Satan to their team if they thought he could help, but I just don't see how a guy who is likely to get hurt would be much help -- I've seen enough Trent Green and David Boston experiments -- to color my opinion.

Anyway, I wrote a column on the subject that is required reading if you want to go to the next step on this blog. And what is that next step, you ask?

Thursday between 1 and 2 p.m. I will be on here, at your beck and call disposal, to discuss the Dolphins in a live chat. At that point we can discuss the pros and cons of acquiring Glenn, the improvement of the offense, the quarterback situation including rumors Quincy Carter is on the way (another mistake) and just about any other issues you might want to discuss.

So go ahead and blow off work from 1-2 p.m., be a corporate time-stealing weasel as former Dolphins tight end Jim Mandich likes to call folks who do sports talk on the net while at work, and get on here.

Of course, if you can't be on here live, leave your questions when you can and I'll answer them best I can. But if you want to discuss and argue, live is the best way to do it.

Ted Ginn all for Glenn acquisition, other stuff ...

Ted Ginn Jr. kind of likes the idea of adding Terry Glenn to Miami's receiver corps.

I kind of hate it but that's another story.

"I don't think it's a bad idea," Ginn said after today's second practice. "It's going to be great. It would be great to have two or three coaches in the [meeting] room and that's what it would be like with his experience."

Meanwhile, quarterback Josh McCown is monitoring the Brett Favre situation because his brother Luke is one of 34,245 quarterbacks on the Bucs' roster. "That's a tough situation," Josh said.

I suggested to him it could be worse because the Dolphins could be interested (they are not). "Yeah that would be bad," he admitted. "But at least I would get a lot of money for No. 4."

This afternoon's practice was interesting in that the receivers who have been getting ripped on lately seemed to improve dramatically. Rookie quarterback Chad Henne was also pretty good.

Derek Hagan had a couple of fine plays in which he not only caught the ball, but had considerable separation from the defender on deep sideline patterns. Jayson Foster also did some good work in the middle of the field.

The running backs are quickly becoming the exclamation point of the offense. Ronnie Brown is showing absolutely no ill effects from his knee surgery. He is taking every repetition. He is running hard. He isn't wearing a knee brace. Excellent so far.

Ricky Williams is looking quicker than he did in the offseason. On one breakaway run this afternoon, he got outside and into the secondary and safety Jason Allen, who runs a 4.4, had to seriously scoot and use the angle advantage he had to only pull even with Williams.

Then there's rookie Jalen Parmele. He runs a little high, which coach Tony Sparano said the coaches are trying to address, but every practice he flashes at least one play in which he shows surprising burst and quickness.

Anyway, Justin Peelle, Darren Heerspink, Michael Lehan, and Steve McKinney did not practice this afternoon. The team worked in the Nick Saban Memorial Bubble because it had rained earlier in the afternoon.

Receivers situation intrigues, other stuff ...

The Dolphins have made a roster move this morning. No, not the addition of Terry Glenn.

The team cut the guy with the roster's best name: Scorpio Babers. The team signed cornerback Chris Roberson, who last played in the NFL with the Jaguars in 2005.

Glenn?

Very interesting situation when you really think about it. It is outgrowth of the receiver problem the Dolphins have. And that affects the quarterback position. It affects the salary cap. It is big!

I have this morning been able to independently confirm Glenn is likely to sign with the Dolphins within the couple of weeks if his health holds up. That is not a certainty. There are also a couple of sticking points -- such as Glenn passing a physical and getting some personal issues ironed out -- that are yet to be resolved. So to say this is absolutely a done deal is wrong. It is likely but not certain.

But I'm back now and will work on this and the greater receivers topic all day long. Check back in about an hour for the morning practice update.

At the start of practice today tight ends Justin Peelle (knee sprain) and Aaron Halterman (back) and Darren Heerspink (sprained knee) were on the bikes and not practicing. They are day-to-day according to Tony Sparano.

Cornerback Michael Lehan was on the field but still not taking part in drills. He's a week or so away.

Post practice update:

Not exactly an inspiring two hours. Let me put it this way: It could be said punter Brandon Fields had the best practice of anyone on the field.

During special teams drills he kicked four attempts inside the 5 yard line. He kicked one that landed at the 1 yard line and then bounded parallel to the goal line before going out of bounds at the 1 yard line. Great job by him.

The rest of the work was typical of what the first couple of days of practice were like: I saw more dropped passes than a professional team has the right to make -- David Kircus, Ted Ginn and Reagan Mauia stood out in that regard.

And the receivers simply didn't get very much separation from the DBs.

Will Allen seemed to stick to his receivers like he was part of their uniform.

The team drills included some blitzes by the defense. Rookie left guard Donald Thomas blew an assignment and allowed Joey Porter to come untouched on one play.

Chad Henne was "down" for the morning practice, meaning Josh McCown and John Beck got the work in team drills. McCown looked better than Beck although neither was stellar. Let me make this point for perspective: This Miami offense seems to throw more checkdown passes than any I've ever seen.

And while that is good in that it is a safe pass and it does gain four or five yards, it does not bode of an explosive down-the-field unit. And there can be no excuse that we saw so many checkdowns because that was the plan. It is impossible, you see, that the team would make the checkdown the plan in practice after practice after practice.

MORE TO COME SOON

Not a great time for the offense in Sunday's drills

It was so bad that at one point I saw Dolphins offensive line coach Mike Maser simply put his hands on his knees, drop his head and shake it in disgust. That is the snapshot that best describes the performance the Miami offense had during Sunday's practice.

How ugly was it?

John Beck threw three interceptions, including two on consecutive passes. Chad Henne had one interception. Before the end of the practice, all the defensive backs seemed to be smelling blood and they were all jumping routes.

Henne and running back Ronnie Brown didn't get synched up on a handoff and a fumble ensued.

The most effective passing play of the day was the checkdown pass to a running back, either Brown or Ricky Williams.

The defensive linemen generally won their matchups against the offensive linemen. Maser yelled at first-round pick Jake Long once for missing his blocking assignment. And on the next snap, Charlie Anderson beat Long for a sack.

Rookie guard Shawn Murphy also incurred Maser's wrath on a couple of snaps.

The only good things about the day. At least the defense improved. And at least it was only the second day of practice so the offense has time yet to improve.

"If a quarterback had a perfect day every day, we'd all be in the Hall of Fame," Beck said.

Amazingly, at one point Beck said, "As a team we got better today." I assume he was talking about the defense.

On the bright side:

The field goal kicking duel is going well: Incumbent Jay Feely easily connected on his three attempts from 32, 38 and 42 yards. Rookie Dan Carpenter matched him, also going 3-for-3.

The interceptions went to Renaldo Hill off Henne, and Jason Allen and Nathan Jones and Will Allen off Beck.

Brown did run hard and looked good on rushing plays. Jalen Parmale had the most dynamic run, juking everyone in the hole and breaking off what would have been a TD on a run up the middle.

Long did have moments when he shined. He managed a stalemate with Vonnie Holliday in one one-on-one drill and beat Phillip Merling on another.

Sunday press conference with Tony Sparano

Coach Tony Sparano just got done speaking to the media. The highlights:

The coach explained that veteran guard Steve McKinney didn't practice Saturday afternoon because that is how the team will bring him along as he continues to recover from his knee surgery. He will practice in the daily practices when the team has only one session. But on days the team is doing two sessions, he will workout only the morning.

"He was the furtherest away, the most recent knee injury if you will, that we had," Sparano said. "He was cleared but his progression was a little bit slower. He'll rehab in the afternoon and practice in the morning. He'll practice again today."

A couple of you took exception to me dismissing newly signed receiver Anthony Armstrong as the answer to Miami's receiver issues. Okay, here's what Sparano said about the kid today. I love Anthony Armstrong. He rocks! He is the next coming of Randy Moss!

"The one thing we knew with Anthony is he can run," Sparano said, dismissing the notion the kid uses a walker. "He really can run. So when we had the opportunity and, we're looking for speed, we had the opportunity to bring in a guy with speed and we took a shot on him, brought him in, worked him out, and signed him."

A star is born!

In all seriousness, I think Armstrong is much improved following his Arena League stint as his hands are better than they used to be. But he has to work on the route-running. The speed, as you might guess, is pretty good.

It is interesting that no one really wrote about the first round pick on the first day of camp. That's a good thing because it means Jake Long did not make any disastrous mistake nor embarrass himself.

Sparano on what surprises him about Long so far:

"What surprised me just a little with Jake, I knew his run-blocking ability," Sparano said. "I think we all did. And I knew he could play left tackle. But his feet are really, really good. When he gets out in space, these are the things he does well. He can adjust in space in the second level and those things. If you can find linemen that can play at the second level, it sounds easy, but it's not the case. The second level is not the comfort zone for linemen. When you can find ones that can play at the second level, that will help your team."

Sparano said he was pleased with rookie QB Chad Henne in his first practice, Saturday afternoon after he missed the morning drills. "I was pleased with him yesterday," Sparano said. "...He did a pretty nice job with the practice schedule."

Henne had to review what he missed from the first practice and did that last night. Sparano said John Beck and Henne will get the work today (up) while Josh McCown does not (down).

The tight end job intrigues, not just in the search for a starter but the search for roster spots.

It should concern David Martin that the coaching staff is "getting to know," him according to Sparano while he says they are very familiar with Anthony Fasano, Sean Ryan, and Justin Peelle. Martin? Not so much.

Finally, if you guys live in South Florida and are among the throngs of folks that get one of the three local papers, you probably saw the full-page ad Jason Taylor took out to thank the fans.

Taylor thanked the folks in The Miami Herald, which circulates in Miami-Dade and Broward, and thanked the folks in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, which circulates primarily in Broward. He did not put an ad in The Palm Beach Post, the paper that dominates in Palm Beach County.

Notes from Saturday's afternoon practice

First full day of camp is over and here is what is going on:

Chad Henne joined the work after signing a four-year deal and was OK during the practice. He had one embarrassing moment when he reared back to throw a pass and it slipped from his hand and popped in the air. Oh well.

Henne will get the first team snaps Sunday and he believes he will have a fair shot to win the starting job. "Coach [Tony] Sparano expressed it will be an equal competition and I believe him," Henne said.

The Dolphins are using two quarterbacks taking team periods during a particular practice with the third quarterback taking no repetitions in those drills. All the QBs will work in the 7-on-7 and individual drills. The idea is to give QBs more repetitions in the team period and see if they have some continuity with the other players.

John Beck was "down" in today's afternoon practice, meaning he got no repetitions in the team period. Sunday, Josh McCown will be "down," while Beck and Henne work.

McCown, by the way, admitted his little run-in with a chainsaw was, "probably a poor decision looking back at it," but saw a positive in the experience in that the finger is "still on."

In other matters:

Guard Steve McKinney did not practice after working in the morning drills. Porter, on the non-football injury list rather than the PUP list that Sparano announced earlier, said his injury is no big deal.

"If I really had to play today, I could," he said. "We're just being smart with it."

Porter said he was working out on his own covering passes when he "rolled" the left ankle. "When it's time to go, I'll be ready to go," he said.

The Dolphins, by the way, waived tackle Julius Wilson and signed guard Rueben Riley before the afternoon practice. Wilson reported out of shape and that is a bad deal if you're a proven vet and a capital offense for unproven players like Wilson.

Check back Sunday around noon for the next update.

Henne signs, will practice this afternoon

Chad Henne has signed a four-year contract and will be at the practice that begins in 10 minutes, colleague Jeff Darlington is reporting.

Henne missed only one practice and now the Dolphins have all their draft picks signed and in camp.

Meanwhile, the Dolphins cut offensive tackle Julius Wilson before the afternoon practice.

Porter, Lehan on PUP; Henne missing "a concern"

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said linebacker Joey Porter and cornerback Michael Lehan, both of whom have ankle injuries, have been placed on the physically unable to perform list.

That means both failed their physicals because of their injuries. Neither injury is considered serious enough to stretch into the regular season. "We expect them back shortly," Sparano said.

Sparano also noted that rookie Chad Henne missing this morning's drills as he continues to try and negotiate a contract is not terrible, but nonetheless, "a concern."

Henne wasn't scheduled to take snaps in the team period today as Miami gives those duties to two quarterbacks each day. But he was nonetheless absent Friday when the gameplan for today's practice was installed.

"A young quarterback missing these installations is a concern," Sparano said.

The coach also said that nose tackle Jason Ferguson, who left the field midway through the morning practice, was simply overcome by cramps. He got an IV and returned to the field.

I asked Sparano if the Dolphins have interest in Dallas receiver Terry Glenn, who is supposed to be released. Sparano acted as if he didn't know Glenn was about to be available. "I have to be honest with you, I didn't know Terry was even released," he said. "This is the first I've heard about it."

Sparano did concede that last season when Glenn returned from his knee injury in time for the playoffs, he looked like a dangerous weapon. "That's the way he looked at that time," he said.

OK, that's it for now. Check back often as I will continue to update throughout the day.