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http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2008/08/daily-dolphin-1.html

Daily Dolphins digest - Week 4

Surprise, surprise, Chad Pennington has been named the Dolphins starter.

When asked if the team had finally named a starting quarterback at the conclusion of Monday's practice, coach Tony Sparano said "yup," and joked that it was "Chad," playing on the name of the two quarterbacks it came down to.

"The decision was made out here on the practice field with some of the things he does, his leadership skills. All those things," Sparano said. "It was just a matter of getting enough information. Myself, I'm an information gatherer. I like to see it, take a look at it, and make sure I have enough information to make the right decisions, and that's what I did."

When I asked if the plan was still to keep four quarterbacks Sparano said it depends on what's available.

"It really depends on the rest of the roster and what we see," he said. "One of the things you got to be careful of is that you're not keeping players just to keep players. If we're looking around here and we see another position where we're keeping players just to keep players then I think the fourth quarterback becomes something that you think about. Why keep another guy at another position just to keep him when you can keep four quarterbacks. You have two of them that are young guys, and two of them that are veterans."

But Sparano made sure he followed that statement up saying that move would be "a luxury."

That made me wonder how many luxuries this franchise can afford?

Sparano praised Josh McCown and John Beck for how professional they've been, but pointed out they've had opportunities.

"As I said to the team, 'At some point you have to look and you have to understand, I got my opportunity. One way or the other I did get my opportunity.' When you look and you've been evaluated since the day we've walked into the door here," Sparano said. "They've had over 500 throws apiece; that's quite a bit of work."

Joey Porter went to see a specialist about his back during Monday's practice. I expect Porter to be limited during practice this week, and he might be held out of the New Orleans game.

The Dolphins have added Rutgers offensive guard Pedro Sosa to the mix as one of the undrafted rookie offensive linemen fighting for one of the practice squad spots. Sosa said he's presently playing right guard, but he spent three years as a left tackle for the Scarlet Knight.

"Until we're happy we have to make sure that we get the right people on this team," Sparano said.

The Dolphins have had a scout at every exhibition game this season, and I wouldn't be surprised if 10 new faces joined the team come Aug. 31st, which is the day after each team's 53-man roster is sent to the league.

"When you are taking people that are going to get waived one way or the other, if there is somebody that we're interested in bringing to the team, we just want to make sure it was player 54 for another team that we're trying to get," Sparano added as a warning to the 31 NFL teams that might hope to initially cut a young player, and stash him on the practice squad.

The Dolphins plan to be serious poachers....

Free safety Chris Crocker continues to start over Jason Allen, which could mean this depth chart change could mean a little bit more than the coaches are experimenting.

Sparano said he's weighing whether or not the team can afford to keep five safeties. His preference would be to keep more cornerbacks because they are harder to find. But that unit is only about five players deep right now (the waiver wire could quickly change that). There is a possibility the Dolphins could keep six by stashing Will Billingsley on the practice squad.

"That's going to be a hard decision because they all do a lot of jobs," Sparano said of the six safeties in training camp. "We're just looking to see the best mix, and that will probably go down to this week. [We're trying] to get a good feel for who can get us lined up back there, and who we feel the most comfortable with."

Rookie DE Phillip Merling started working as an outside linebacker late last week and the Dolphins plan to continue that experimentation, building roster flexibility.

If Phil can help us as a linebacker and a defensive end that helps us. It's no different than Matt Roth," Sparano said of Roth and Merling being able to play two positions....

Sparano confirmed that tight ends Anthony Fasano and David Martin have earned a spot on the 53-man roster. He'll use the Saints game to evaluate Justin Peelle and Sean Ryan, who he said did a nice job blocking.

When asked to assess his receiver on the bubble, as usual Sparano said he's been feeling Davone Bess, he singled out Greg Camarillo for making some good plays against the Chiefs, and said Jayson Foster has been giving "driving us crazy catching balls" during practice.

"He's quicker than he is fast," Sparano said.

See, I told you there's a difference.

Sparano said Derek Hagan and Ted Ginn Jr. have separated themselves as the Dolphins starters, then there's everyone else. He named all the receivers, and it shouldn't surprise you that Ernest Wilford was the last one mentioned.

Sparano said Wilford will play a lot Thursday because the team needs to evaluate him.

Deuces.

> Posted by Omar Kelly at 3:15:21 PM

Sparano praised Josh McCown and John Beck for how professional they've been, but pointed out they've had opportunities.

"As I said to the team, 'At some point you have to look and you have to understand, I got my opportunity. One way or the other I did get my opportunity.' When you look and you've been evaluated since the day we've walked into the door here," Sparano said.

I really hope they keep the same thing in mind in regards to that bum Wilford. I know they mention later in the blog that the team "needs to evaluate him", but at some point they need to say "OK, we screwed up by signing him" and just let him walk.

But then they don't have a big guy to throw the ball to anymore. They need him - or at least someone (tall) like him. If Wilford isn't the guy, maybe they can find someone off waivers...

He's not catching it when they throw it to him anyway!

  Well, former 6'6 Arkansas Razorback standout WR Marcus Monk was recently cut by the Chicago Bears.  Coach Lee spent sometime with him while he was the Offensive Coordinator at Arkansas.  Maybe the Dolphins will give him a look?