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http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/06/mandatory-minic.html

MANDATORY minicamp practices start today

The Dolphins begin three days of mandatory minicamp practices today and everyone is scheduled to be there except fans (workouts are closed to the public) and Jason Taylor (he's apparently busy).

That means I will be there serving as eyes and ears for you.

That means you must come here for the updates because I will file as many as humanly possible -- especially if something interesting actually happens.

Your other choice is to stay locked here and simply refresh for the updates.

The team will have two-a-days today and Saturday. One practice is scheduled for Sunday. The first practice today is scheduled for 10:40 this morning.

Assistant coaches will be available to speak for the first time since their hiring five months ago so we'll see what they have to say.

Ahhh, the smell of football season in the morning ....

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/06/mid-practice-up.html

Mid-practice update from Dolphins minicamp

Practice is underway here in sweltering Davie, FL., and I want to share a couple of interesting things (to me, at least) that I've noticed so far.

Remember I told you a couple of days ago that defensive end Matt Roth is getting individual work with linebackers?

Well, Roth is working as the starting right defensive end in Miami's 3-4 scheme. But when backups take their repetitions, he is working as a linebacker also. Obviously, being able to have skills at two positions makes Roth more valuable, which is good because last year he showed questionable skills at DE.

I would say that Bill Parcells included Roth among the list of players he likes along the defensive line when he talked to me about that unit for my story today.

Another tidbit is that Renaldo Hill, who missed much of last season with an ACL injury to his right knee, is at practice today. The guy started in 2006 and the early part of 2007 but is relegated to third-team work right now.

As he progresses from his injury, I believe his skills will flash -- in other words, I think he'll be competing for a starting job when he's healthy.

By the way, Jason Taylor is not here.

Charlie Anderson, signed as a free agent from Houston, is playing Taylor's spot. The other LBs are Joey Porter at SAM with Akin Ayodele and Reggie Torbor as the inside backers.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-doltaylor0606018,0,6950567.story

Jason Taylor a no-show at mandatory minicamp; practice highlights

By Harvey Fialkov
Sun-Sentinel.com

11:19 AM EDT, June 6, 2008

DAVIE - As expected, Dolphins Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Taylor was a no-show at the first mandatory minicamp of the offseason, and he will most likely be fined more than $8,000 per day.

Last weekend at his charity golf tournament, Taylor said he would be absent this weekend so he could attend his brother's high school graduation and tend to an undisclosed legal issue. He had informed Dolphins coach Tony Sparano that he would be out, and when Sparano was asked if fines were forthcoming, he said that all disciplinary actions will not be disclosed and kept between the team and players.

Taylor has also not committed to attending training camp when that starts in late July.

Also, absent from Friday's first of two practice sessions -- which are closed to the public -- was cornerback Michael Lehan, who dislocated his right ankle during a practice on Wednesday. It's possible that Lehan was receiving treatment. The extent of the injury hasn't been revealed, but his agent, Craig E. Domann, said earlier this week that it doesn't appear to be as serious as it looked and he possibly could return by the start of training camp.

In on-field news, linebacker Joey Porter was starting in Taylor's spot as the hybrid pass-rushing linebacker with Charlie Anderson filling in at Porter's inside linebacker position.

The starting safeties were Yeremiah Bell and Jason Allen, with Will Allen and Andre' Goodman at the cornerback spots. Vonnie Holliday and Matt Roth were the two defensive ends.

The starting quarterback was Josh McCown, but Sparano has said he would be alternating quarterbacks with the first team, so expect John Beck to start in today's second session.

The starting guards were rookie Shawn Murphy and Justin Smiley.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/06/mid-practice-up.html

Post-practice update from Dolphins minicamp

The first practice of the day is over here in sweltering Davie, FL., and I want to share some early knowledge based on some interviews and what I saw at practice.

Everyone is here except defensive linemen Jason Taylor and Randy Starks. Coach Tony Sparano said Starks is an excused absence. Asked if Taylor is excused Sparano seemed uncomfortable for a moment before saying, "No."

Sparano said cornerback Michael Lehan, injured in an OTA practice on Wednesday, will be out a couple of weeks. He said the team would not be looking to add CB help.

Talked to offensive coordinator Dan Henning for a few minutes. He said he was originally asked to come to Miami in an advisory role of sorts. But after speaking with Sparano, he said he got "fired up" about the idea of becoming the offensive coordinator.

And while you can bet the Dolphins offense under Henning will stress running the football, he says that's not all you can do and be successful.

"You have to be strategically flexible," Henning said. "That has to do with who you have first, and what they have second. So if you have a big, burly offensive line group and guys that can run the football, you should lean on that. But if you have guys that are good at stopping that on the other side, you still have to be flexible enough strategically to move out and challenge them in another area.

"You just can't be one-dimensional. You're not going to get it done one-dimensional anymore."

Hey, did Jason Taylor show up?  Anyone read anything about that?  Is he at camp?

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

No excuse for Taylor and other minicamp notes

By Tim Graham | Friday, June 6, 2008, 01:15 PM

DAVIE — Dolphins coach Tony Sparano begrudgingly gave some indication as to whether defensive end Jason Taylor is being fined for missing this weekend’s mandatory minicamp.

Sparano was asked if Taylor and defensive lineman Randy Starks — the only missing players — had excused absences. Sparano said Starks was excused, but Taylor wasn’t.

The Dolphins can fine Taylor $8,638 for each unexcused minicamp absence and $15,116 for each unexcused training camp absence. …

Sparano said cornerback Michael Lehan will “probably be out a couple weeks,” a shocking update given how abnormal Lehan’s right ankle turned into a right angle when he dislocated it Wednesday. Sparano said the Dolphins won’t need to bring in another corner. …

To hear quarterbacks coach David Lee speak, the Dolphins might have to lobby the NFL for permission to line up three quarterbacks — maybe one under center and one behind each guard — and use three footballs.

Lee said veteran Josh McCown “has the edge of experience,” called sophomore John Beck “a warrior” in offseason workouts and said rookie Chad Henne has “done a great job mentally.”

Today was the first time Lee has spoken to reporters since he was hired.

“It’s deifnitely competitive,” Lee said. “All three of them have come to play. I believe in my heart you evaluate a quarterback during a game and the installs are still coming, but all three are very bright and all three have great work ethics.

“It’s unusual when all three are all bright and all have those kinds of work habits, but they do and it’s why we’ve been able to accelerate ourselves offesnively and look fairly sharp from time to time.” …

Lee said McCown “has great leadership qualities. He’s a wonderful leader, just a natural leader. He’ll get in the huddle, give two high fives, two low fives and call the play. You like that about him.” …

On Henne, Lee said “He’s just unflappable. You chew him out, he says ‘What’s the next play.’He takes criticism. There are no excuses with him. He’s tough.” …

Lee noted the Dolphins have been working on Beck’s delivery, which sometimes goes below three-quarters.

“I just saw him drop it a lot,” Lee said. “He told me he used to have three-quarter, overhand release. I just want him to get his ball at least helmet high. He said ‘I used to, coach, but I hurt my shoulder at BYU, I dropped my arm down and never got it back up.’

“I believe in my heart a guy can only be as good as he can be if he’s three-quarter overhand. You can get so good as a sidearmer and you can’t improve on all your throws.” …

Sparano said he likes what he sees out of rookie defensive ends Phillip Merling and Kendall Langford.

“Those guys I’ve been very impressed with,” Sparano said. “They’re showing me their ability to move within the scheme a little bit, showing us the quickness and things we’ve seen on film. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with where they are.” …

Sparano discussed the competition that was brought in for kicker Jay Feely, but the coach stressed it’s difficult for teams to keep a kickoff specialist on the roster in addition to a guy for field goals.

“It probably doesn’t make great sense,” Sparano said.

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2008/06/minicamp-wrap-a.html#comments

Minicamp wrap around: Friday

Different season, same stories. After lighting it up through the air on Wednesday the Dolphins offense took a step back during Friday's morning practice when the receiver struggled to bring in catchable balls.

Much like in past years, the coaches have expressed some concern about their consistency.

"When receivers don't catch the ball it makes the offenses job harder," said receivers coach Karl Dorrell. "I have a group of receivers who really aren't established....Our whole offense is a work in progress."

Drops were everywhere during the morning and it stifled the passing game. Most of the time it was youngsters like Justinn Wynn, Davone Bess, Jayson Foster and Selwyn Lymon dropping passes, but there were a few instances when Ernest Wilford's old fumble fingers caught up with him.

For a summary of who was here, and what was said check out this practice report.

Also, Bill Parcells and Jason Taylor finally meet for that MUCH needed sit down. To read about that click here. Hopefully Parcells had his hearing aid in this time. Parcells, probably the world's greatest button pusher, blaming this rift on the absence of a hearing aid. Does ANYONE believe that?

Sorry, I had to say it. But now we're back to football talk, not soap drama.

Josh McCown started with the first team, but in my opinion the quarterback who had the best day was rookie Chad Henne based on how he performed during the first 11-on-11 set.

Working with the third teamers Henne hit Greg Camarillo in stride with a 20-plus yard pass on his very first throw, beating Nate Jones. He also threw a nice pass to Jalen Parmele in the flat that would have been for a decent gain.

I give Henne the edge over McCown and Beck because he moved the offense more with limited weaponry around him. At one point his receivers were Jayson Foster and Davone Bess, who are both under 5-foot-11. I suspect the coaches also liked what they saw because when it was time to do the second set of 11-on-11, guess who was the first quarterback out there, working with the starters?

Yup, it was Henne, who coach Tony Sparano said is clearly behind McCown and John Beck because of the limited time he's had to work with this offense.

Beck took a number of would-be sacks during team drills. Quentin Moses got to him once, and flushed him out on another play, where the horn rang before he got the pass off. On another series, Joey Porter, who was working in Jason Taylor's place on the right side, would have cleaned his clock if they were hitting for real. However, as a disclaimer I'm not sure if those mistakes were him or on the second team offensive line he was working with.

Here are some my other observations. Ikechuku Ndukwe caught my eye as the second team left guard because he seems much bigger than I remembered him. On one rep of 11-on-11 I saw him use his strength to pancake Phillip Merling, which stood out for obvious reasons.

Will Allen was killing receivers. For a small dude he really gets down. At one point I saw him roughing up Wilford, batting down a pass to a receiver who is about twice his size.

I'm still struggling to figure out what's going on with the tight ends. They must be mixing and matching, and taking turns working with the first team because Sean Ryan and Aaron Halterman started out practice with the first team. Then David Martin, who didn't drop a pass today, was making plays with the second team. Somethings up here, but I just haven't figured it out. It'll also be interesting to see where Anthony Fasano fits when he's cleared to play.

As for the fifth tight end on the roster, Matthew Mulligan, he's one of my front runners to be cut once the deals for the final three draft picks gets done. Other candidates include Dan Carpenter and Kelvin Smith, who needs to fight his way up the depth chart. I'd put Scorpio Babers in here considering how much he's getting beat in the few days I've witnessed, but as you might know the numbers are down at that position and Sparano said the Trifecta has talked about, and ruled out adding a veteran cornerback.

AFTERNOON SESSION

In the afternoon Beck took the first team snaps, but again he had issues with taking would-be sacks.

But more troubling was McCown's fumbling problem with the exchange. He dropped the ball twice for turnovers. The second time got him pulled from his reps. He also threw a nasty pick right to Renaldo Hill.

During inside run drills Ricky Williams continued to run hard. He's probably been the most impressive player in the four practices I've seen so far. I suspect he's going to have a really good year this season because he appears fast, and has been beating everyone to the outside corner on the sweeps. But then again, this isn't contract work so maybe it's misleading. However, the fact Williams has an extra gear the other backs don't is clear.

At one point Williams was running past Parcells and the warden stuck his hand out. I couldn't figure out if he was trying to slap the ball away or give Ricky a high-five.

Patrick Cobbs caught my eye with a decent run in both the morning and afternoon session, but it's still hard for me not to conclude he'll be roster chum. But Cobbs does appear to be a more instinctive runner than Lex Hilliard, the undersized fullback who runs very upright. For the record, Parmele has been getting most of the second team reps with Ronnie Brown not participating in team drills.

The highlight of the afternoon session was the floater Henne connected on with Bess. He put it into the right side of the endzone during redzone drills. Henne put the ball right above the cornerbacks head and Bess jumped high to pull it down.

Hopefully this all satisfies you curiosity. Come back Saturday and Sunday for more recaps.

> Posted by Omar Kelly at 12:46:19 PM

Three observations:

1) Good to see that Lehan isn't too seriously hurt. Our secondary isn't exactly stellar.
2) Comforting that Merling isn't holding out or anything dumb like that. We'll have our ducks in order soon enough.
3) Imagine saving the season by catching a touchdown pass to win the game and then getting cut. Camarillo is getting close. Receiver practicing with the third-stringers...

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

Rayner released and more from camp

By Edgar Thompson | Friday, June 6, 2008, 04:47 PM

Jay Feely can breath a little easier now.

The Dolphins alleviated a bit of logjam at kicker by releasing Dave Rayner between two-a-days on Day 1 of mini-camp. That leaves Feely, who made 21-of-23 field goals last season, and rookie Dan Carpenter on the roster.

Talk about a tough morning practice for Rayner.

The team worked on kick-offs - Rayner’s speciality and Feely’s weakness. Kicking into a pretty steady headwind, Rayner did nothing to distinguish himself against Feely.

A few hours later, Rayner was nowhere to be seen at the afternoon practice session, another example of Bill Parcells keeping his players on edge and working every day to keep their jobs.

Coach Tony Sparano said earlier in the day that he’d be reluctant to keep two kickers - one of field goals and extra points, one for kickoffs.

“When you start talking about numbers it probably doesn’t make great sense … when you are putting your 53 (-man roster) together,” Sparano said.

Four other players on the roster also missed the afternoon practice - cornerback Michael Lehan (ankle), defensive lineman Randy Starks (excused absence), defensive end Jason Taylor (unexcused absence) and guard Steve McKinney (knee). McKinney, who has made 133 NFL starts, gingerly jogged out of the facility to watch the last 30 minutes or so of practice.

He arrived in time to see the team drills.

Coaches are shuffling guys in and out, but the first-team offensive line stayed the same:

LT Jake Long, LG Shawn Murphy, C Samson Satele, RG Justin Smiley, RT Vernon Carey.

McKinney’s injury has allowed Murphy a chance to work with the first unit.

The first-team defense also didn’t change:

LE Matt Roth, NG Jason Ferguson, RE Vonnie Holliday, LOLB Joey Porter, LILB Akin Ayodele, RILB Reggie Torbor, ROLB Charlie Anderson, LCB Will Allen, RCB Andre Goodman, S Jason Allen, S Yeremiah Bell.

Torbor is playing in place of Channing Crowder, who hasn’t been cleared for full contact following late-season knee surgery. Anderson is playing JT’s position.

A few quick observations from the team drills:

Pass completions were few and far between.

A 20-yard hookup between Josh McCown and Greg Camarillo, who dragged his feet to remain in bounds, was far and away the highlight of the passing game.

Two plays later, McCown, who has more interceptions than touchdowns (40-35) in five NFL seasons, tried to force a throw in the seam between defenders to Ted Ginn Jr. S Renaldo Hill, less than eight months removed from an ACL injury, picked it off.

Camarillo, who dropped a pass earlier during position drills, also snagged a a seven-yard out from John Beck. On the next play, Beck connected with TE Sean Ryan on a buttonhook.

But Beck’s first and last passes of the drill were batted down, a common problem for him last season.

Bill Parcells seems to love Ricky Williams.

It’s easy to see why, considering how hard Williams runs every time he touches the ball.

On one run off-tackle play, S Keith Davis, a headhunter on special teams, came up to meet Williams and took a shot right to the chin.

Williams finishes every run, too. On one play, he bounced off several defenders and kept running down the sidelines.

Parcells, standing on the sideline, faked like he was going to tackle Ricky, who ran another 10-15 yards and on his way back to the huddle had a brief chat with Parcells. A little bit later, the two exchanged pleasantries again.

Rookie QB Chad Henne, not surprisingly, looks a little shaky.

Henne hit a couple of passes in the flat, as well as a curl-in to Davone Bess. But he also held the ball a couple of times and sailed a couple of throws, including one that hit S Chris Crocker in the hands.

Crocker dropped it - a common theme among Dolphins DBs. Last season, the Dolphins secondary made just eight interceptions.