-by Franc Trinchi (Philly Fin Fan)

I’ve had a lot of my friends calling me over the last few days, telling me that the Dolphins were foolish for trading for Culpepper instead of signing Drew Brees. I have to admit that I was never a fan of Culpepper, and was in favor of bringing in Brees. I was all set to run out and buy a Brees jersey, and put his poster on my wall. Initially I was upset when we pulled off the Culpepper trade. It appeared as though Brees had shunned us, and that we settled for an injured QB. That was until I took the whole thing into perspective and looked at the facts.

Brees was visiting Miami on Sunday and Monday. Apparently Miami had doctors checking out Drew all day Monday. According to reports, it was after those "inspections" that Saban decided to trade for Culpepper. This tells me that the doctors really didn't feel comfortable with the way Brees was healing. Saban held his line on the Brees offer, feeling he was not going to give more money to him in his condition, preferring instead to go with Culpepper. According to ESPN, within minutes of Miami making the Culpepper trade, Drew Brees’ agent, Tom Condon, called New Orleans and accepted their offer for Brees. This tells me that Brees was worried that Saban might mention in the Culpepper press conference that he was concerned about Brees' shoulder. Drew jumped on the New Orleans offer before they heard this and pulled back their offer. Brees had said in a few interviews that he preferred Miami. If that’s the case, why didn't he jump at Miami’s offer? Saban went so far as to say in the press conference that he didn’t want to say anything unethical, but he inferred that he felt Culpepper was healing better than Brees. Even if Culpepper only heals to 90% of his former self, keep in mind that it’s a knee injury. The most this will mean is that he loses a bit of his mobility, and won’t scramble as much. If Brees only recovers to 90% of his former self, he’s in trouble. Brees was never known for arm strength, and to be less than 100% is not as good thing for him.

Getting back to Culpepper… People are quick to point out that he had a bad year without Linehan and Moss last year. But think of it like this. If he had a "great" year without them in 2005, do you think he would've been available for such a low price? And a 2nd round pick for an established Pro-Bowl QB in his prime is a low price. What QB could Saban have drafted with his second round pick that would’ve stepped right in and started? There are some good QBs to be had in the later rounds this year, but none of them has the talent of Culpepper. In fact, after the top three rated QBs in the draft, the next two are Croyle and Whitehurst, both of whom are coming off of injuries of their own. So, would you rather have Croyle or Whitehurst with that pick, or Culpepper?

As I mentioned above, a lot of people felt Culpepper looked lost without his offensive coordinator, Scott Linehan. Think about where Linehan was last season. Although Linehan is no longer here, we are still running his offense, with a few tweaks being made by Mularkey. That’s right, we run the offensive system that was designed around Culpepper in Minnesota. That same offensive system made Gus Frerotte look halfway good last year, imagine it with the QB it was built for. There is no learning curve needed for Daunte, he will step right in and play well. Also keep in mind that Mularkey was able to run an offense that made Tommy Maddox look good, and never worked with a QB of Culpepper‘s caliber.

As for not having Moss, in my opinion Moss didn't do too well without Culpepper, so maybe they both needed each other, not one needed the other more. When anti-Culpepper people bring up the lack of Randy Moss, all I have to say is look at OUR #84. I've always been a huge Chambers' fan, and he made the Pro-Bowl with Frerotte and Rosenfels throwing to him, so why wouldn't he look great with Culpepper throwing to him? I remember prior to last year, when Linehan was questioned about if he would use Chambers the same way he used Moss, he said that the #84 he had now was just as good as the #84 he had in Minnesota

So is everything peachy? No. Culpepper needs to demonstrate more maturity. He took a step towards this with his final e-mail to the Minnesota press. Culpepper seems to have gotten a little carried away with emails recently. His latest e-mail was a ‘thank you’ to the Vikings organization, as well as an apology over the legal incident in which he is currently involved. He also stated that any further communications from him would come thru the Miami PR department. Good move, Daunte. He still needs to hire an agent. ASAP. He needs to stop thinking he can handle the contract stuff himself, hire an agent and focus on rehabbing his knee. Pat Kirwan from NFL Radio pointed out last week that most agents would probably work for a lower commission for a star like Culpepper, knowing they would get a big contract. Let an agent who knows what he is doing worry about the money and the other issues.

All in all, it appears as though Miami has landed a QB who wants to play for their team. He is committed to returning to the upper echelon of QB’s in the NFL, and wants to start on a clean slate in Miami. He has switched his number back to the number he grew up with (#8), as opposed to the #11 he wore in Minnesota.

Like Daunte said, I’m looking forward to us riding into the sunset with #8.

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