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Dolphins OTA open for inspection today

The Dolphins are making today's OTA session open to the media and here's what's going on so far:

The team is practicing in the Nick Saban Memorial Bubble today. I've been told working outside the last couple of days has taken its toll and the coaching staff wants the players fresh for the weekend's minicamp.

Several players are back at practice after being out earlier in the offseason. Paul Soliai, who was on the sideline last we saw, is in drills today. So are cornerback Andre' Goodman and tight end Anthony Fasano.

Guard Steve McKinney is still not working.

Speaking of guards, rookie Shawn Murphy is working with the first team today. Doesn't mean he's a first-teamer, but he's lining up at left guard next to fellow rookie Jake Long. Justin Smiley is at right guard with Vernon Carey at right tackle. Samson Satele is the center.

Very interesting to me: Matt Roth is getting individual work with the linebackers. Perhaps the new staff has decided to see if he shows more promise as something of a standup guy than a two-gap DE, which he struggled playing last year. Goodman, by the way, is working with the starting unit replacing Mike Lehan.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/06/michael-lehan-h.html

Michael Lehan hurt during OTA practice

Cornerback Michael Lehan was carried off the field today when he injured his left ankle area during a team-drill pass.

Receiver Derek Hagan jumped for pass along the sideline and Lehan came under him. I cannot tell you if he sprained the ankle, broke the ankle, or perhaps suffered an Achilles tendon injury.

Coach Tony Sparano is scheduled to speak at 1:30 so there should be an update then. Lehan had the area wrapped in ace when two trainers carried him back to the locker room. The practice was held inside the Nick Saban Memorial Bubble.

"All I know is I jumped in the air and when he came under me, he went down," Hagan said. "They say if you play fast you're less likely to get hurt but things happen."

This is not the first injury the Dolphins suffer during offseason training. Last week receiver Tab Perry suffered an Achilles injury.

So are the Dolphins getting too physical during these workouts? Didn't look that way to me. It's just tough luck.

"We're players," cornerback Andre' Goodman said. "People are going to compete, pads or no pads. And unfortunately it will lead to some negative things. You saw Michael going down, but you can't be careful. We always say to each other, 'Let's keep each other off the ground.' But it is football and you can't change your mentality. It's an unfortunate incident."

After Lehan left practice, Travis Daniels and rookie free agent Will Bilingsley worked with the second team. The first-team corners today were Goodman and Will Allen.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/06/04/lehan_hurt_other_ota_observati.html

Lehan hurt, other OTA observations

By Tim Graham | Wednesday, June 4, 2008, 12:10 PM

DAVIE — Dolphins cornerback Michael Lehan could be on the sidelines for a while after a gruesome right ankle injury this morning in the practice bubble. He got tangled up while trying to defend Derek Hagan on a sideline pattern and crumpled to the turf.

Lehan, a sixth-year pro who signed a three-year, $4.95 million contract, was helped off the field and later was on crutches. He was projected as the starting cornerback opposite Will Allen.

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano wouldn’t offer a preliminary report, choosing to wait for X-rays.

Lehan started 14 games last year. He was fifth in tackles with 56 and had one interception, a fumble return for a touchdown and one sack. He was second in passes defensed with seven. …

With return specialist Tab Perry gone for the season with a torn Achilles, second-year receiver Ted Ginn won’t have much competition. He was on the first kickoff and punt return units. Patrick Cobbs was with him for kickoffs, while the second unit consisted of rookies Jayson Foster and Jalen Parmele. Foster and rookie Davone Bess also returned punts. …

Tight end Anthony Fasano (shoulder), offensive lineman Steve McKinnie (knee), linebacker Akin Ayodele (unknown) and safety Renaldo Hill (knee) did work to the side. …

Undrafted rookie receiver Justin Wynn had a tough day. He dropped a couple passes that were right in his hands, one splitting his mitts and rapping him hard in the facemask. …

Newly signed rookie guard Shawn Murphy was on the left side of the first unit. …

The QBs did some red zone and two-minute drill work today. As a whole, Sparano said the trio of Josh McCown, John Beck and Chad Henne have been good but inconsistent.

“Each day I go out I see another guy kind of step up,” Sparano said. It hasn’t been a consistent prgression right now. In several period that are out here you might see somebody step up and grab the period, take control. We just need to see consistency.

“I like where they are right now. All three of them, actually, I like their grasp of the offense. They’re working real hard at it.” …

Will Allen on all the Jason Taylor drama: “That’s a movie I’m not watching. I have no idea what’s going on.”

too bad it wasn't Hagan who got injured.

That would have started this season out on the right foot : )

That's just stupid...No matter how much I don't like someone on our team..I would never wish them to get hurt...They're still Miami Dolphins.Like it or Not

  That's just wrong.

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2008/06/ota-peek-shows.html

OTA peek shows peaking offense

The installation of the offense is much further along than the last time we saw the 2008 Dolphins, and it appears the main guys benefiting from the growth are the quarterbacks.

Both Josh McCown, who opened up Wednesday's practice as the starter, and John Beck looked SHARP during Wednesday's OTA session. A number of touchdowns and big play passes were thrown during team drills, and 7-on-7.

Basically, the offense was humming, and to be honest I was very impressed with the passing game.

Now, this doesn't mean the Dolphins are going to have an amazing offense come training camp, or the regular season. But it does indicate that there MIGHT be a quarterback in this batch, and the Dolphins MIGHT score more than 26 touchdowns in this upcoming season.

If you forced me to pick the quarterback who looked the best I'd begrudgingly say it was Beck because of how effective he looked thrown slants, and his accuracy when he was rolling out of the pocket. But McCown looked pretty good too.

Beck hit David Kircus, a star of Wednesday's practice, in full stride during one drill, beating Scorpio Babers for what would have been a touchdown.

As I said, it was hard to determine which QB looked the best because McCown usually responded to something Beck did. A couple of plays after that nice pass to Kircus, McCown bulleted a intermediate pass along the sidelines to Ted Ginn Jr., who beat Will Allen on the skinny post.

He then hit Kircus with a touchdown catch in the redzone.

Beck followed it up by hitting Justin Wynn on a nice roll out for a decent gain, and he threw a rope to Selwyn Lymon, who caught it between Babers and Yeremiah Bell for another chunk of yardage.

McCown then connected on a deep ball to big bodied Ernest Wilford, who created separation on Andre' Goodman to make the catch.

Rookie quarterback Chan Henne was involved sparingly, and looked sharp early. But the Dolphins appear to be easing him in since McCown and Beck have been working in this offense for nearly two months.

The one thing Wednesday's practice shows is that the vertical game Bill Parcells likes is alive, and coming. Cross your fingers.

All of this offensive efficiency really made me start to worry about the secondary, more than usual, then Michael Lehan suffered what appeared to be a nasty right ankle injury.

If Lehan's going to miss any of the regular season the Dolphins are going to have a problem because depth at that position is suspect. Behind Will Allen and Goodman the cornerback depth is minimal. There's Travis Daniels, who still has to prove himself, Dallas discard Nate Jones, and a batch of long-shots like Babers, Joey Thomas, and Will Billingsley, who must prove themselves in training camp.

"If Michael is not here it just bumps a couple of the young guys up," coach Tony Sparano said.

Here are some of the other things I noticed from Wednesday's session.

The starting offense line today featured Shawn Murphy as the starting left guard, not Ikechuku Ndukwe. Justin Smiley remained the starting right guard.

The second team offensive line featured Trek Darilek (LT), Ndukwe (LG), Mike Byrne (C), Donald Thomas (RG), and Julius Wilson (RT).

I was extremely puzzled how the tight ends were being used. At times there were none involved, then there were two involved. It was impossible for me to come up with a depth chart on those guys because they were somewhat being used in specialty roles. David Martin was the pass catching option, and he struggled at times to fill his role. Justin Peelle appears to be getting pressed for a roster spot by Sean Ryan. Anthony Fasano is still on the shelf with his shoulder injury.

The secondary hasn't changed much from the last OTA I watched. Will Allen and Goodman are the starting cornerbacks, and Bell and Jason Allen are the starting safeties. Got my first look at Chris Crocker today and to be honest I wasn't extremely impressed. He's small, cornerback small. Crocker, who is 5-foot-11, worked with Keith Davis.

While Channing Crowder continues to be sidelined by the knee injury he's rehabbing Akin Ayodele and Reggie Torbor are the inside linebackers. Behind them is Edmond Miles and rookie Kelly Poppinga. Behind them are Titus Brown and Kelvin Smith, last year's seventh round pick, who better hustle if he plans to stay on the roster.

Matt Roth and Vonnie Holliday remain the starting ends, and it'll surprise many of you that one of their backups was Paul Soliai, who is now working at both end and nose tackle. It appears the Dolphins are trying to see what type of mileage they can get out of Soliai before they decide what to do with last year's fourth-round pick. As usual, Parcells paid a lot of attention to the defensive line, and I'm sure he kept close watch of Soliai.

I'm off my mini vacation folks, taking a brief work hiatus. So, I'll be here all weekend to cover mini camp, which starts on Friday and runs through Sunday, so hang tight and come back to see me for that good stuff.

Make sure you check out the main Dolphins page for all the stories we've done (FOUR), and hit me with any questions or comments here and I'll do my best to get to them.

> Posted by Omar Kelly at 12:58:15 PM

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/06/sparano-speaks.html

Sparano speaks following Wednesday OTA drills

Coach Tony Sparano just got done talking to the media today.

He has no information on the Michael Lehan injury yet. Lehan was scheduled for an afternoon x-ray or MRI exam to determine the exact seriousness of the injury suffered during practice today. Sparano said he believed it was an ankle injury.

Some other highlights:

Sparano confirmed he has talked to Jason Taylor since the weekend and during that meeting made it clear to Taylor that the Dolphins want him in camp and on the team.

"I wanted to make it clear to Jason that we as an organization want him back here, and that I was anxious to see him running around here with his teammates," Sparano said. "I think Jason left with a pretty clear understand of that from my end."

But ... Sparano also made it clear the meeting hasn't really changed the situation. The coach said he did not regret saying Taylor was not showing up for training camp, even though Taylor called that "premature," at a press conference over the weekend.

Even after the meeting  meant to clear the air, Sparano said "nothing's changed," as he understands Taylor's intentions to not report to training camp.

"The information I had then is the information that I have now," Sparano said.

Sparano would not say whether he will fine Taylor for missing this weekend's mandatory minicamp. But does he really have a choice? I think not.

Sparano said something about his quarterbacks that we've known about Miami quarterbacks for some time. They are inconsistent. He said one quarterback will have a good practice and make it his, but then another guy will step up in the next practice while somebody else steps back.

"Every period you may see somebody grab the period, take control of the period," Sparano said.

Obviously the guy who is most consistent will win the job. But so far no one is consistent.

These guys are workers, however. Although the Dolphins did not work last week, all three quarterbacks were at the facility, learning more about the offense.

Speaking of inconsistent, David Kircus dropped a couple of passes in practice today. Sparano said he's gotten bigger and stronger and "is catching the ball pretty well." Not today.

Of the receiver corps, Sparano said he likes the way "the group is coming together," but he admits, "we still have a lot of work to do."

Running back Ronnie Brown's progress continues at a good pace. He's getting more carries and more repetitions than he did earlier in the OTA workouts.

"Each one of these practices, he's been able to do a little bit more and that's good for us and good for Ronnie," Sparano said.

Sparano said by the end of this weekend's mandatory minicamp the team will have "a pretty large portion of what we're all about in," meaning the installation of the offense and defense will be close to complete.

"It'll be the first full time around the horn for them," Sparano said.

By the way, this weekend's minicamp is CLOSED to the public. But I will be here so check back often for updates.

After reading Omar Kelly's blog, I do have to agree that the secondary shows cause for concern. 

Compounding the concern is the fact that in the past two drafts, not a SINGLE defensive back was taken. 

They Actually named that Practice Bubble  after Nick Saban WTF >:D

I think the reporter was just being a wise-ass.

I'm sure he was.... especially as they named it the Nick Saban MEMORIAL Bubble. 

Secondary issues are certainly a concern, but it would be interesting to see if Jason Allen does well with this staff.  I could see it happening and the timing couldn't be better if it does.