Skolnick: Pennington will start for the Dolphins, but Henne is the future

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-080908-skolnick-dolphins-preseason,0,7233538.story

Skolnick: Pennington will start for the Dolphins, but Henne is the future

COLUMN BY ETHAN J. SKOLNICK
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

MIAMI GARDENS - Chad Pennington rapped a playsheet against his aqua practice shorts, while roaming the sidelines to rap with his new teammates.

Josh McCown shared a laugh. Jay Feely lent an ear. Boomer Grigsby extended a hand.

Wearing a fitted cap, an earpiece and a fresh Dolphins jersey with his familiar No. 10, Pennington passed nothing but the time in Saturday night's preseason opening 17-6 loss to Tampa Bay.

In four weeks, he'll be passing against his old teammates.

Yes, Pennington will start Sept. 7 against the Jets and, barring a health setback, deep into 2008. He won the job the second he signed, on the strength of prior accomplishments, which include four seasonal completion percentages higher than any in Dolphins history. He'll be plenty prepared, too. The Rhodes Scholarship finalist spent his flight thumbing through materials from 2000, the rookie season he spent working under current Dolphins offensive coordinator Dan Henning.

"This is a place that I needed to be, wanted to be," Pennington said.

So he will be under center at the season's start.

The better question, obscured by Pennington's official arrival, is whether we finally saw the start of something special at the quarterback position Saturday night, something that can give the Dolphins a chance to sustain success during the century's second decade.

The Chad to watch wasn't the veteran on the sidelines, learning and tutoring.

It was the impressive rookie on the field.

It was Chad Henne, the second-rounder from Michigan who played the second and third quarters, and showed arm strength, poise and moxie.

"We're going to have to figure this Chad thing out," Pennington said after the game, smiling. "We're going to have to start calling him Rook, or me C.P."

Call Henne confident -- and for his first NFL night, competent.

"I felt comfortable out there," Henne said.

His debut should make Dolphins fans feel most optimistic. While Pennington is an upgrade over McCown as a stopgap starter, he is still 32, still has had rotator cuff surgery, and still isn't the ideal guy for a vertical game because of his questionable arm strength. So he is still just another arch on the Dolphins' endless bridge to their 21st century quarterback. The Dolphins have spent more time, and nearly as much money, on this construction as San Francisco has spent refurbishing the Bay Bridge.

Gus Frerotte, Daunte Culpepper, A.J. Feeley and Joey Harrington are among those who have fallen into the sea.

Could Henne be on the other side of that bridge?

It's far too early to say, but Saturday, he showed some promising signs.

"He made a couple of nice throws here on some back shoulder throws," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said.

Henne completed 5-of-10 passes for 67 yards, including two NFL-quality tosses to David Kircus, one by the sideline and the other over the middle, both with the appropriate velocity. He led two drives for field goals, the only points the Dolphins scored. On Saturday's stat sheet, he didn't look all that different than John Beck, last season's second-rounder, who started and was 5-of-9 for 45 yards, with three of his completions on screens and one on a well-timed out pattern to Ted Ginn, Jr.

"He managed the game pretty well," Sparano said of Beck.

But Henne looks different in the pocket. And the critical statistics favor his ascent. Four years younger, two inches taller, two larger hands. Plus, he was picked by the three men that matter now: Bill Parcells, Jeff Ireland, Tony Sparano. That trio has given him every shot to showcase himself this summer, even though he doesn't fit the typical profile of a quarterback they would draft.

Beck, for all his work just hasn't claimed either role -- as the current or developing starter. Sparano said Saturday that the Dolphins could keep four quarterbacks. But when they inevitably trim to three, it still makes more sense to keep Beck than McCown, since the second-year player has a better chance to develop into a asset. Unless the Dolphins receive decent trade compensation for Beck, they should just eat McCown's $2.5 signing bonus.

Even if Beck stays, it's clear where this is headed.

One Chad (Pennington) starts this season.

Another (Henne) starts the future.