Pasqualoni gives answers on Jason Allen...

[Rick]

Pasqualoni gives answers on Jason Allen

Many of you have asked, demanded, begged for reasons why Jason Allen is not Miami's starting free safety today despite the fact Chris Crocker clearly had at least one miscommunication issue against Arizona and this week Renaldo Hill is likely to start at free safety.

... which, by the way, means Allen is effectively third-team at free safety.

I have resisted asking the questions you guys have wanted me to ask this coaching staff because they take their cue from head coach Tony Sparano and he, frankly, has admitted he's never going to publicly unmask a player with criticism or sometimes even critique. In other words, he'll talk about players but he won't tell you when they make mistakes and where they fall short of the mark.

Having said that, I could not resist the idea of trying to get a legitimate answer from defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni.

I asked him: "What is Jason Allen not showing that he needs to show to take the next step?"

He answered: "Jason as everybody knows has great position flexibility. He's a safety, he can play a bigger corner position. So we're working him in a lot of places right now. He's doing well. He's practicing hard. He's practicing with focus. He's just got to keep going. Jason's got a chance to be a good player with his position flexibility."

So I press: "If he improves what?"

And he non-answers: "Well, he's, he's ... as a corner, you know he played corner in college, I think everybody knows that. I think everybody also knows playing corner in this league is a little bit different so you have to give him enough time to get comfortable with the coverages and the press and the bails and all the zones and the mans you play. I would say if you wanted to put your finger on one word it's just give him a little time and as time goes he'll improve and improve."

Do you understand my life's frustrations now?

Posted by Armando Salguero on September 18, 2008 in Miami Herald

[Philly Fin Fan]

Thanks for posting this Rick. In the future, please make sure to include a link to the actual article/blog (requirement).

So from this, it sounds like they are going to move him back to corner???

[bsfins]

Pasqualoni gives answers on Jason Allen

Many of you have asked, demanded, begged for reasons why Jason Allen is not Miami's starting free safety today despite the fact Chris Crocker clearly had at least one miscommunication issue against Arizona and this week Renaldo Hill is likely to start at free safety.

Isn't that your Job? 

It's nice to finally get some news on J.Allen...Something anything...

[Brian Fein]

Nice to get news, but you can't tell me that this is the thing we wanted to hear.  Now he's a conversion project instead of letting him play where he should be and where we have a gaping huge hole.

If the staff is looking for a way to get Allen and Hill on the field at the same time, then get him in at corner.  Its not like we don't have a hole there too - Andre Goodman sucks balls. 

Just hard to understand turning the kid into a project when we have all seen his potential as a playmaker, and that's what our defense desperately needs right now.

[Tenshot13]

I was a little upset when we got rid of Zack...also a little upset when JT left too...but I thought that it would be good for our team in the long run...but now I'm getting pissed...Jason Allen is IMO the best safety we have and pretty sure he's a better corner than Goodman....WTF SPARANO!?

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Very inconslusive here.  If he's working at both spots, then why is he not on the field??

BTW, Rick, thanks for picking up Dolfan619's slack. 

[Dphins4me]

Very inconslusive here.  If he's working at both spots, then why is he not on the field?? 

  Because he is adjusting to the different position & would get burnt in a game & then the media/fans would start talking about how much he sucks.  Fans simply do not get a player will fail in the developmental process & at DB that is the only time another takes notice of them.  Its better to keep him on the sidelines than expose him before he is ready. 

  Not the best time to move a player after camp.

[ethurst2]

I've said this before. The problem concerning Jason Allen is a personal one.

Allen is the Ricky Williams of the defense. From what I get from people close to the team that see him, he's a loner. He's not a rah-rah type of guy. He just wants to show up, do his job and go home. Most of the coaches and players live and breathe football and can't understand why other players see it as just a job. Hell, some of the fans can't either. Some of us want our jocks to have no feelings, stay dumb and wreck their bodies like Roman Gladiators for our pleasure.

Think back to when Allen was drafted. There was a holdout which pissed Nick Saban off. Allen got to camp late and fell behind trying to catch up the whole season.

But lets say that Brian Fein (I love using Brian in examples) was gifted and could play not one but THREE (Cornerback, Strong Safety and Free Safety) spots in the secondary (which he can). Brian would command the highest dollar for his variety of skills. We all do that when we go for a job interview. We negotiate and don't start work until we have a deal.

So Allen got ripped in the press, by Nick Saban and by us on this board for being a "prima donna" and selfish. You'd try to get as much cheese as possible if you knew the average NFL career was 3 years.

So that information was passed down to Cam Cameron, whose defensive coordinator was Dom Capers, one of the only holdovers from Nick Saban's staff. So naturally, Capers put the bug in Cams ear not to play Allen.

Well, lo and behold, the secondary was hit with a rash of injuries that I've never seen before at one position in the history of watching football. They were force to play Allen and the pass defense got better.
Everyone on this board was puzzled last year as to why Jason Allen wasn't on the field earlier.

Fast forward to this year. Jason Allen had an excellent camp and pre-season but he's not starting and as at the bottom of the depth chart. Can we all say at one time the word...RAILROADED?

It's clear that the Dolphins don't want to keep Jason Allen. Maybe by not playing him so much, he doesn't get to even sniff any bonus clauses in his contract. Plus, if Allen plays like hell and the Trifecta wants to gets rid of him, there would be a fan backlash because we already don't have the talent to compete effectively with the rest of the NFL.

So what do you do with Allen? You put him on special teams and give him a cheap cameo job as if he was on a cheesy Bob Hope special. It's the equivalent of putting someone in a witness protection program but keeping their name the same. They are still a target for the coaching staff, media and fans.

I directly asked Ethan Skolnick of the Sun-Sentinel last year why Jason Allen wasn't being played. Ethan didn't go into specifics but you can read into it clearly. Cams regime did not like Jason Allens' distant personality. You don't see jason Allen giving many interviews because he doesn't have much to say, especially nothing that's revealing. he could bitch about playing time but he knows what's going on behind closed doors.

And you know what they say about players that are like that...they are not team oriented and selfish which is a bunch of bull. If they show up on Sundays to compete, that's what they should be judged on, not on how many times they go to beer night with the secondary.

In conclusion, Jason Allen is getting screwed. We will never really know or see him do great things for the Dolphins because they already have his ticket punched out of Miami.

Well Ronnie Brown should not smile too much because he's probably the next one out of here.

[Sunstroke]

So Allen got ripped in the press, by Nick Saban and by us on this board for being a "prima donna" and selfish. You'd try to get as much cheese as possible if you knew the average NFL career was 3 years.

So that information was passed down to Cam Cameron, whose defensive coordinator was Dom Capers, one of the only holdovers from Nick Saban's staff. So naturally, Capers put the bug in Cams ear not to play Allen.

Well, lo and behold, the secondary was hit with a rash of injuries that I've never seen before at one position in the history of watching football. They were force to play Allen and the pass defense got better.
Everyone on this board was puzzled last year as to why Jason Allen wasn't on the field earlier.

Fast forward to this year. Jason Allen had an excellent camp and pre-season but he's not starting and as at the bottom of the depth chart.

I'm still puzzled about it, but I think you assume a few things that can't be proven with the information on hand. It sure seems that your statement above assumes that "anything" from the former coaching staff could possibly achieve bug-in-ear status with the new one. From all I've seen of Sparano-Parcells, anything that doesn't come from their inner circle tends to be discarded immediately. I'm pretty sure that any pass-on from Cam Cameron was immediately "passed-off" to the garbage file upon receipt.  If there is something personal between Allen and this coaching staff that is causing them to keep Jason off the field, I am pretty certain that the situation starts and ends between Jason Allen and Sparano-Parcells.

You also list "possible" contract clauses as motivation to keep Jason Allen off the field. Do you even know if there are any clauses? Do you really think Parcells would care about some piddling bonus clause if he thought Jason would help him win more games? I don't...

You also list the potential for fan backlash if he plays well and is then released as being a possible motivation. Are we even talking about the same Bill Parcells here? You think he sits awake at night thinking "oh, man...the fans don't like my decisions...what in the world will I do?"

Ethurst, I understand that you have a special place in your thumpty-thump for Jason Allen, and I can dig the sentiment, but maybe the simplest answer is the right one here...Jason Allen isn't on the field because his coaches don't think he deserves to be on the field. Until I see or hear something concrete that tells me otherwise, I'll avoid the conspiracy theories.

[ethurst2]

I'm still puzzled about it, but I think you assume a few things that can't be proven with the information on hand. It sure seems that your statement above assumes that "anything" from the former coaching staff could possibly achieve bug-in-ear status with the new one. From all I've seen of Sparano-Parcells, anything that doesn't come from their inner circle tends to be discarded immediately. I'm pretty sure that any pass-on from Cam Cameron was immediately "passed-off" to the garbage file upon receipt.  If there is something personal between Allen and this coaching staff that is causing them to keep Jason off the field, I am pretty certain that the situation starts and ends between Jason Allen and Sparano-Parcells.

You also list "possible" contract clauses as motivation to keep Jason Allen off the field. Do you even know if there are any clauses? Do you really think Parcells would care about some piddling bonus clause if he thought Jason would help him win more games? I don't...

You also list the potential for fan backlash if he plays well and is then released as being a possible motivation. Are we even talking about the same Bill Parcells here? You think he sits awake at night thinking "oh, man...the fans don't like my decisions...what in the world will I do?"

Ethurst, I understand that you have a special place in your thumpty-thump for Jason Allen, and I can dig the sentiment, but maybe the simplest answer is the right one here...Jason Allen isn't on the field because his coaches don't think he deserves to be on the field. Until I see or hear something concrete that tells me otherwise, I'll avoid the conspiracy theories.

Where did you get conspiracy from and plus I do know a couple of players that's on the Dolphins squad (Vernon Carey) and Ocho Cinco is good friends with my cousin. We all grew up in Liberty City. I may not be a journalist or have a radio program but I can get information too.

You guys forget that football or sports is like a corporation. The word does get around the NFL on certain people just like the word with get around on you if you had bosses coming in. What do you think new CEO's talk about when they first get into a position? What workers they have and certain issues.

It's favorable in Allen's case is that he's still under his rookie contract and if he got cut, it goes against the cap. Do you think that these guys want to cut him knowing that his salary would go against the cap? You'd also have to show me an NFL contract with NO CLAUSES AND INCENTIVES which is unheard of these days. That's what the NFLPA had been fighting for years for.

Simple, these guys want to win with who they bring in even if it means cutting their nose off to spite their face and that's the nature of most NFL Franchises because the mandate is to have a winning program in 2 1/2 years or get shown the door.

And as far as players, Parcells DOES NOT want a public relations disaster with a 1-15 team that isn't talented at all. Season ticket sales are down so yes, he may not care about what the fans think but you do have some fans that have common sense and that's what this thing is all about. I don't think that every fan is stupid and can't figure out why Allen is not on the field a lot.

It's the Dolphin coaches, not us, saying how versatile Allen is. Why don't they just do a Nick Saban and say that he has a lot of work to do and that's it. Yet, Omar Kelly of the Sentinel is right...then why isn't he on the field more and they can't provide an explanation (Omar probably knows but doesn't want to be banned from the complex).

Face it. There is politics in professional sports. I've had relatives that have played in the NFL and I've been around the pro game as a kid all of my life and played against some of the guys from the last generation. The best player in some cases DOES NOT see the field a lot because of something else that is going on behind closed doors that the beat writers are not going to talk about because they don't want to be banned from the complex.

I can give you a list of guys that had Hall Of Fame talent that were railroaded by certain coaches and owners. Now I'm not calling Allen a HOF by no means but this stuff does happen.

And if you say that these coaches are "smart" then can somebody explain to me why Chris Crocker and Andre Goodman have been burnt like toast over the last two games (basically on almost the same identical patterns ran by the Jets). There's no way that Chris Crocker is more athletic than Jason Allen.

[Sunstroke]

I can give you a list of guys that had Hall Of Fame talent that were railroaded by certain coaches and owners. Now I'm not calling Allen a HOF by no means but this stuff does happen.

And if you say that these coaches are "smart" then can somebody explain to me why Chris Crocker and Andre Goodman have been burnt like toast over the last two games (basically on almost the same identical patterns ran by the Jets). There's no way that Chris Crocker is more athletic than Jason Allen.

So what I'm reading is that sometimes political railroading and unethical blackballing exists in the NFL, therefore that is the reason Jason Allen isn't on the field.  I'm still not buying it, but I'll admit that it certainly is possible.

I'll also admit that it's possible that Jason Allen has grown a third eye in the middle of his chest and it simply freaks Coach Sparano out when it winks at him during team meetings. Until more concrete info on why Allen isn't playing is revealed, I'm not going to assume the coaching staff is either corrupt, unethical or inept in their handling of a player.

[ethurst2]

So what I'm reading is that sometimes political railroading and unethical blackballing exists in the NFL, therefore that is the reason Jason Allen isn't on the field.  I'm still not buying it, but I'll admit that it certainly is possible.

I'll also admit that it's possible that Jason Allen has grown a third eye in the middle of his chest and it simply freaks Coach Sparano out when it winks at him during team meetings. Until more concrete info on why Allen isn't playing is revealed, I'm not going to assume the coaching staff is either corrupt, unethical or inept in their handling of a player.

Stroke...go back and read the coaching staff comments about J. Allen. Really, I don't care who starts just as long as they can stop 70 yard pass plays.

Here's the deal.

- You've got Dolphin coaches "raving" about Jason Allen and how special he is because he can play three positions.

- He's had a great camp.

- Then, mysteriously, he gets demoted.

- After the horrendous showing in the secondary (and this is with Yeremiah Bell), the press and the fans want a concrete answer of why Allen is not in there.

You do have to wonder if there is something more to why he's not on the field.

As far as the coaching staff, to me, Sparano can be graded at the end of the year. He is a rookie coach and he may have some dregs on his staff. I do commend Parcells for being low-profile because that helps people identify the team with Sparano and not Tuna. I didn't think he could do it but he's doing it so far.

By the way, this is Allens salary breakdown. Clauses are in the other bonus section and the NFL leaves that up to a team to reveal percentages.

Jason Allen

Year   Team   Base Salary   Sign Bonus   Other Bonus   Total Salary   Cap Value   Position
2007   Dolphins    $ 660,000    $ 0    $ 1,325,000    $ 5,310,000    $ 1,630,000    CB
2006   Dolphins    $ 275,000    $ 0    $ 1,031,175    $ 1,306,175    $ 1,306,175    CB

For expertise on the salary cap, call Jimmy Johnson.

[Sunstroke]

Appreciate the numbers... and I do wonder why he isn't on the field. I'm just not jumping to any conclusions on "why" until I see there's something to land on.

'nuff on Jason Allen from me for now...and look forward to actually seeing him play so there's something else to talk about on him.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

So what I'm reading is that sometimes political railroading and unethical blackballing exists in the NFL, therefore that is the reason Jason Allen isn't on the field.  I'm still not buying it, but I'll admit that it certainly is possible.

You're reading it absolutely correct..... just like any other type of job.  And take it from someone who has been through that type of shit.  The only difference is, I'm not making millions of dollars.