Holliday free agent tour starts Thurs. [Update]

Vonnie Holliday became a free agent Monday when the Dolphins terminated his contract, but it didn't take long for teams to begin showing interest in him. Holliday fielded calls from five teams Tuesday and has visits with two of them already scheduled.

The defensive end is scheduled to visit the Broncos on Thursday and the Detroit Lions early next week. The other three unnamed teams have yet to commit to visits but at least one of them is eventually expected to do just that.

The bad news for Miami is that team is in the AFC East.

The Broncos visit is intriguing because that team, under new coach Josh McDaniels, has already imported two former Dolphins defensive starters. The Broncos over the weekend signed cornerback Andre' Goodman and free safety Renaldo Hill.

It should not surprise that McDaniels is interested in the former Miami players. All three -- Hill, Goodman and Holliday -- came to Miami because Nick Saban brought them. McDaniels's first job as a coach came at Michigan State in 1999 under, who else, Saban.

So something about the type of player Saban likes obviously rubbed off on McDaniels. It also doesn't hurt, I'm sure, that McDaniels saw Hill and Goodman and, yes, Holliday, twice every season when he was an assistant at New England.

Holliday led all Miami defensive linemen in tackles and sacks last season despite playing only 56 percent of the downs.

[UPDATE: Speaking of defensive linemen, Bill Parcells talked to the Newark Star-Ledger about defensive end Chris Canty, a Parcells draftee in Dallas and a new Giants acquisition. In the interview he explained, in part, why the Dolphins didn't show the interest everyone expected Miami to have in Canty: "Well, we drafted three defensive linemen last year and signed two free-agent linemen," Parcells said. "We filled our needs then."

[The Dolphins, in fact, drafted Kenall Langford, Phillip Merling and Lionel Dotson. They also signed Randy Starks. And they traded for Jason Ferguson. The most interesting part of that statement to me is that Parcells claims the Dolphins have filled their needs on the unit, suggesting Miami is done along the defensive line. To me, nose tackle remains a position that needs attention. Disagree?]