Dolphins tight ends need to get better

A football team is like a series of links fastened together as a chain. When one link is weak, it weakens the entire chain.

Think of that when considering the Dolphins offense. And now tell me which is the weak link?

Well, the wide receivers, right?

It's not just me saying it. Coach Joe Philbin has made the point that he's not completely comfortable with the group. General Manager Jeff Ireland has said the group has several No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 receivers but he's yet to see someone step up as a No. 1 or No. 2.

So that being established, the receivers are the weak link. And the problem is that affects the other links. And the link I see that could probablly be considered acceptable if the receivers were strong but now gets scrutiny is lacking because the receivers are lacking is the tight end position.

Miami's tight ends have potential. But so far that potential is unmet.

Anthony Fasano is today the best tight end on the team and we all know he is never going to be mistaken for Jason Witten or Rob Gronkowski. He's is a good blocker and would be fine as the second TE behind a dynamic pass-catcher that can threaten the middle of the field and dominate in the red zone.

But the Dolphins don't have that.

"Fasano is very steady," Philbin said. "You kind of know what we have with Anthony. He’s a guy that has good experience, he’s a good in-line blocker, he’s got good hands."

The problem is that while the Dolphins believe they have talent behind Fasano and potential behind Fasano, the production of the players behind Fasano falls off a cliff.

Charles Clay is developing but he was simply terrible the first two weeks of practice. He's been better lately but it's a long way between better and really good and consistent.

"I think Charles Clay has quietly had a good camp," Philbin said. "Early on there were some things that we weren’t totally fired up about, but I think he has really developed the last couple of weeks. The last two or three weeks he has really stepped his game up. We’re going to need him to do that obviously through the course of the year."

The Dolphins drafted Michael Egnew to be an Aaron Hernandez type of player. They want him to tear down the seam of the secondary and make it his personal pass-catching playground. Instead, he's had a terrible first training camp and has been equally bad in games. He's dropped passes, missed assignments and generally not played very fast. He has what I call the thousand yard stare, like he is overmatched with what's going on.

"I said to Mike Egnew on the field today that I thought I saw some progress with him on the tape," Philbin said this week. "Even some more with him blocking wise, where we knew he was going to be behind the curve due to his experience in college, but there are some signs there."

The Dolphins also have Jeron Mastrud and Les Brown in camp. But let's face it, Mastrud is like Fasano except not as productive, not as good a blocker and not as experienced. The team wants to upgrade from him in the best case scenario. If he's on the team, something went wrong with Egnew or Clay.

Brown? He's done. He couldn't block when he arrived in camp and he still cannot. That would be somewhat acceptable if he was a dynamic playmaker in the passing game. He is not. He gets open sometimes but the speed simply does not translate consistently enough. He should strike fear into the hearts of linebackers covering him. But they stay with him.

And I believe the Dolphins are ready to end the experiment. There will be cuts on Monday and I would expect Brown to be among them. He certainly is not making the 53-man roster. It's a shame because I love the idea of a TE that runs 4.4 in the 40 yard dash. (I wouldn't mind re-signing Brown to the practice squad and seeing if he can develop over the next month and give signs of hope.)

"Mastrud is very steady and doing a nice job, and Les, Les is learning day-by-day," Philbin said. "It’s a good group and we’re going to need those guys. We’d like to be a versatile as we can be and get different personnel groups and use them in different spots, so I think they’re capable. They’re smart guys, and they’re giving us a good work ethic, so I think we’re going to be in good shape."

I don't.

You see, getting back to the chain, the lack of dynamic receivers begs for the Dolphins to find passing yards from the tight ends. If they were great, the need at receiver would be very well hidden. Look at the New England Patriots. Aside from Wes Welker, they haven't had any great receivers on the field for a couple of years. But they've had excellent tight end play from Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. So the problem at receiver is covered up a bit. (Obviously the Patriots realized this and signed Brandon Lloyd this offseason).

But the Dolphins have neither the dynamic receiver nor the dynamic tight end. They have one "steady" tight end and two or three projects.

That's rough.

The hope, obviously, is for Clay to suddenly explode with the advent of the regular season. If he can learn the offense to the point it is instinct to him, I believe he has the potential to be the answer. The Dolphins need that to happen.

They need to tighten up that weakened chain.

Comments

[ALoco]

kris...ANY NAMES YET FOR THE BABY ?

DID YOU READ THAT ,(( POTENT )) CLAY POST ?

[Kris]

Maybe Pandora, or Lola. It depends on what my wife decides. Heather is a nice name.

[ALoco]

HEATHER IS A NICE NAME BUT IT'S NOT NICE ENOUGH FOR ME.......

IT'S NOT A VERY SPECIAL NAME....

[bill connors]

good deal vontae for collie

[genothefox]

Watching Henne in Jax v Balt game , just checked down to RB - shocker

[bill connors]

henne worst qb probaly in nfl

[Tony Sparano]

Thank you. Les brown will be put on the practice squad where he will be poached by bill belechick and moved to wr to become their brandon marshall 2.0( younger, faster,better hops). When asked about his latest fa success he will say" I saw something special and I took a chance". I mean , he adds with a smirk on his face and a chuckle in his voice, " you just don't find that kind of athlete on the street."

[Kris]

We've thought about inventing an original name. Jezebelinda, or Kayashawna, we'll see.

[ALoco]

KRIS,,,, ARE TIRED OF TALKING DOLPHINS ?

NO GREAT -PLAYERS,,,,JUST BESS AND HARTINE AND THE (( POTENT )) ,CLAY..

[ALoco]

ARE YOU TIRED

[Kris]

Let the season start. Preseason is boring. Hard Knocks is boring. Philbin is boring.

[ALoco]

SOHIA
EMMA
MADISON///////////3 GOOD NAMES ,,,,

WHO NAME HIS GIRL;;;;ERICA ?

[ALoco]

SOPHIA

[MiamiD20]

Was at work, has Henne made us all regret letting him walk or has he proved our point?

[ALoco]

WHO'S IN HIS RIGHT MIND NAME HIS SON,

OSCAR ???

[ALoco]

MD20/////////////

POTENT ,POTENT ?????????

CLAY ,THE LOUSY WR /////////

[MiamiD20]

NO GREAT -PLAYERS,,,,JUST BESS AND HARTINE AND THE (( POTENT )) ,CLAY..
Posted by: ALoco | August 23, 2012 at 10:33 PM

To many people see things black and white. Not too many people here actually analyze what they see. Yup Aloco I'm sticking by potent -- he has the skill set to be that. You can laugh at it but his rookie season was very promising.

[redsky]

I saw Mando at a biker bar the other day, said he was looking for a good Tight End, I left before the punches flew!

[ALoco]

POTENT....THE WORD DESCRIBE THE MOST POWERFUL ........

IS CLAY THE MOST POWERFUL ?

THE ANSWER IS BIG .......NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

MAMA MARIA...............................

[DD]

Tannehill = Henne

[Tritium]

This group of WR are good enough, just remember this OF runs on five WR.

[ALoco]

OUR BLOGGERS ARE VERY WEAK WHEN IT CIOMES TO USING THE RIGHT ENGLISH WORDS ............

POTENT ,,,MY FOOT .............

[MiamiD20]

Why don't you think he'll become a potent part of our offense? Give me a good reason and I'll give you mine. Everyone likes to call drone an idiot but no one ever explains why

[Chef Pierre]

Aloco

These bloggers eat processed american cheese food and artificially flavored junk food. Most of them only have two kitchen utensils, a can opener and a microwave.

[ALoco]

TO USE THE WORD (( POTENT )) ,IT SHOWS LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ,AND DISRESPECT FOR ALL OF US ...

[Chef Pierre]

Clay is slow. Once defenses start to key on him his game will be over. I like Hartline. If he had Brees or Rodgers throwing to him you'd see. Good runner, good hands.

[ALoco]

CHEF

ANY ONE ONE HAS THE NAME CLAY ,WILL NEVER BECOME ,POTENT.......

PS..........THE WORD (( POTENT )) CAN APPLY ONLY TO THE GREAT M.ALI THE GREATEST BOXER OF ALL TIME ......

[Dashi]

The NFL has never seen receivers as bad as the Dolphins have.....

[ALoco]

DASHI,,,,,,,WE HAVE POTENT PLAYERS LIKE THE ,POTENT CLAY /////////////

MAMA MARIA....

[bill connors]

dashi u must of watched nfl network,lol they said miamis wrs are worst group ever in nfl. was hilarious

[MiamiD20]

Aloco, that's not a reason. That's just you reiterating the fact that I used the wrong word. He has a lot of promise. When thrown to he delivered. Chef, I disagree, he isn't slow. He has hands, can run a route, and delivers in traffic and delivers on 3rd down. He will only go up from his rookie season

[Dashi]

LOL

[bill connors]

ill agree with miamid on that. i think clay can be good

[Dashi]

Most opposing D's an use one defender to cover 2 of our receivers. A reverse double team LOL

[72perfectstill]

The lack of talented tight ends and reviewers on this team falls squarely on the GM's shoulders

[MiamiD20]

ANY ONE ONE HAS THE NAME CLAY ,WILL NEVER BECOME ,POTENT.......

Aloco, you realize Muhammad Ali's real name is Cassius Clay, right? You're not winning this argument at the moment....

[redsky]

ALOCO = English professor? There's a joke in there somewhere!

[Chef Pierre]

Aloco

M Ali's real name is Cassius CLAY. He changed it after he started boxing.

[72perfectstill]

Receivers

[redsky]

ALOCO = English professor? There's a joke in there somewhere!

[Dashi]

@10:58 & 11:01 or 11:04 not me. 11:04 one was funny

Can someone explain hartline's purpose to me?

Cassius Clay was one bad MotherFu'cka. G.O.A.T.

Clay is big & fast for his position. Fullback or H-Back since he's not always in the backfield.

[Dashi]

Am I the only one that needs to use a twist tie to secure the condoms from just sliding right off onto the floor?

[MiamiD20]

Dashi, Hartline is suppose to be the equivalent of Jordy Nelson. Quick, good hands, and ellusively fast. It's a shame he's injured, I think Philbin would love to have him in the WCO

[redsky]

Dashi, try superglue instead of a twist tie!

[Dashi]

I guess I don't need to bother, I'm already hiv+.

[Nat Moore]

Between our crap receivers and our rookie QB we'll set a record for INT's.

[redsky]

Anybody hear anything about the fins trading vontae Davis to the colts?

[IMAWriter]

Posted by: NHFINSFAN | August 23, 2012 at 11:31 AM

-------------------------
Quoting Mando, without the " "
Bad form.

Dashi, enough with the Elmo 3rd person act.
BTW, are you STILL of the opinion Tom Brady was just a "good" QB his first 7 years?

[DragonFly34]

The Dolphin are led by an idiot. Jeffery knows what hes wrought in Miami. No TE's, No WRs, but we got a 2nd rd RT who gets trucked every play. How are the Dolphins to compete? THINK about it!!!. Tannehill wont have a chance in hell to make plays, for he has no play makers. Been Dolfan since 1966, and this team looks worse then the "66" team. This is pityfull. Dolphins have an idiot for a GM and a skinny, mealy mouthed head coach. Good Luck with that.....

[dante ostiguy]

Thats what i said. les brown girl is gonna be around more often when les gets cut. she knows he will be cut and u kno shes tryna get in with other players that are gonna make the team. watch she'll be there on hard knocks when les gets cut and she'll be with egnew or hogan or someone who isnt cut. shes def hot and u kno shes been hanging around the pratcice fiel alot and she likes it so when he gets cut shes gonna want to stay in the limelight sorry les thats just how it goes

[el guru]

Great that clown Ireland passed on Grahm in the 3rd round 2 yrs ago and picked up that 400 LBS Bust John Jerry...