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Scouts aplenty at Dolphins-Jags game

By Ben Volin | Sunday, August 17, 2008, 03:35 PM

There were scouts from nine different NFL teams sitting in the pressbox last night at Jacksonville Memorial Stadium — seven AFC teams and two NFC. Five of the teams represented are on the Dolphins’ schedule this year.

Perhaps the scouts came to last night’s game to take a look at Chad Pennington running the Dolphins offense for the first time. Maybe they were checking out Ricky Williams, or scouting a player on the Jaguars’ defensive line. Maybe they were in town and just wanted a free hot dog.

But chances are more than one, and probably several, were at last night’s game to take a look at the two quarterbacks at the bottom of the Dolphins’ depth chart, John Beck and Josh McCown.

Most of the scouts in attendance represented teams that are thin at quarterback.

Minnesota: Already was on shaky ground with Tarvaris Jackson, Gus Frerotte and Brooks Bollinger, and now Jackson has a sprained MCL.

San Diego: Has Billy Volek and Charlie Whitehurst behind Philip Rivers (and Randy Mueller, the man who drafted Beck last year, is now an executive with the Chargers).

Indianapolis: Peyton Manning is out all preseason with a knee infection, and the Colts are stuck with Jim Sorgi and Quinn Gray for now.

Kansas City: The Chiefs are a mess at quarterback, with Brodie Croyle trying to prove he is the QB of the future and Damon Huard trying to prove he still belongs in the league.

Baltimore: Cam Cameron’s new team drafted Joe Flacco, but perhaps Cam wants to take Beck back under his wings.

The Bills, Jets, Steelers and Giants were also at the game. Who knows, maybe they were taking a look at Beck and McCown, too?

While Tony Sparano has said the team may keep four quarterbacks, it is likely they are trying to salvage any sort of value for Beck or McCown and obtain a draft pick. Worse comes to worse, one of them could be released on or before cut-down day, Aug. 30.

But Sparano didn’t showcase either Beck or McCown Saturday night. Pennington played the first three series, finishing 5-of-6 for 55 yards, and Chad Henne finished the game, almost three quarters worth.

The same thing happened in practice last week, when Beck and McCown were clipboard holders while the Chads took almost all the reps.

If McCown is discarded, he goes down as a $2.5 million mistake. That’s how much guaranteed money they gave him this offseason as a free agent signing.

But if Beck is the one to go, he may go down as one of the Dolphins’ biggest draft busts of all time, though that’s probably a harsh assessment given the difficult circumstances he played under last year and the regime change from Mueller/Cameron to Parcells/Ireland/Sparano.

It is amazing to think that within a 16 month span, Beck could go from 40th overall selection and Miami’s quarterback of the future to being waived out of training camp.

While I think there were two good reasons to get Beck and McCown out there...showcasing them for possible trade and giving both another chance on the field to show that they might warrant keeping, I find it comforting that Sparano and Co. are tunnel-visioned in on getting the team ready to compete in week one.


Yeah, amazing...

I guess that answered a post I made earlier I guess mclown is our third string guy