Live Blog — August 4 Training Camp, Morning Session

[DolFan619]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/08/04/live_blog_august_4_training_ca.html

Live Blog — August 4 Training Camp, Morning Session

By Ben Volin | Monday, August 4, 2008, 08:56 AM

… And we’re back!

After a much-needed off day for players, coaches and bloggers, we’re back for another exciting week of live training camp updates.

The players are trickling out to the field, and the live reports will start in about 20 minutes.

Things I’m looking for today:

How will the quarterbacks bounce back from a sub-par Week 1, specifically John Beck?

Who will the Dolphins sign to fill the two roster vacancies created on Saturday? Quincy Carter? Terry Glenn? Dan Marino???

How will Ronnie’s knee hold up?

And who is going to play right guard?

All that and more, coming up shortly.

Enjoy practice!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9:26 a.m.

A couple quick updates during warm-ups and individual drills:

No new guys out on the field today. Only 78 players right now on the roster. Didn’t expect that one.

Still no Justin Peelle (knee) or Michael Lehan (ankle). They’re doing agility drills on the sideline. With Aaron Halterman waived on Saturday, the Dolphins have only three tight ends at practice today (Fasano, Martin and Sean Ryan).

Donald Thomas continues to line up as the First Team right guard.

Chad Henne lines up with the First Team in blocking sled drills.

John Dunlap is back after missing Saturday because of family reasons.

And Bill Parcells is having a nice chat with Chris Crocker during stretching. Seems like whenever I see Parcells chatting with a player, it’s almost always him giving tips to a DB.

9:51

A few more observations. It took about 45 minutes for practice to really get going.

Reagan Mauia isn’t doing himself any favors during individual drills. He drops two catches in the end zone, and there’s no one covering him. He dropped a screen pass in Saturday’s scrimmage, too.

Ronnie Brown, meanwhile is making one-handed catches in the end zone. He’s a very smooth receiver.

Team splits up into three groups: O-Line vs. D-Line, quarterbacks and receivers vs. cornerbacks, and John Beck and the running backs vs. safeties.

The linemen aren’t going full speed on every play. But Steve McKinney is practicing today, lining up at right guard, and I see him do a nice job standing up Jason Ferguson.

In the receiver drills, Jayson Foster makes a nice catch on a slant route with Chris Roberson draped all over him.

Will Allen blankets Anthony Armstrong and intercepts Josh McCown’s pass. Armstrong looked like he gave up on the route.

John Beck is making almost all the throws. The only ones he misses are a deep wheel route to Jalen Parmele that was a bit too far, and he can’t connect with Patrick Cobbs after Keith Davis does a great job jamming Cobbs at the line of scrimmage.

A Ted Ginn sighting: He toasts Roberson for a 40-yard touchdown from Chad Henne.

Nice toss from McCown to Camarillo in the corner of the end zone, and a nice job by Camarillo positioning his body to eliminate Will Billingsley from the play.

They’re breaking out into team drills now. Back for more soon.

10:18

Some more quick hits:

The team is practicing its punt formation as I come back outside. Brandon Fields is punting from the back of the end zone, and once again is booming them past midfield.

The team slowly moves down the field, until Fields is trying to pin the return unit deep into their own territory. His punts are landing at about the 10-14 yard line every time.

Meanwhile, the quarterbacks are doing an interesting drill. An inflatable drum is set up about 5 yards behind a net that stands maybe 10 feet tall. The quarterbacks are dropping back and trying to feather a throw over the net and into the inflatable drum.

It’s not an easy drill, that requires a lot of touch. And John Beck hits the target the most, maybe four times, including one perfect throw that lands inside the drum.

McCown and Henne each hit the target once apiece.

Now they break up into 1-on-1 OL vs. DL drills, and 7-on-7 passing drills. I’m trying to watch both at the same time.

As for the OL vs. DL:

Langford starts off by blowing around Vernon Carey. A couple minutes later, Carey gets his revenge and completely snuffs out Langford.

Nice job by Donald Thomas slowing down Randy Starks.

Langford also gets around Trey Darilek. Nice quickness from Langford.

Justin Smiley trips up Vonnie Holliday, sending Holliday sprawling to the earth.

Next play, Holliday does a spin move to the inside and blows right past Smiley.

Phillip Merling is trying to do a spin move around Jake Long, but Long isn’t buying it. Chalk this one up to Long.

Daren Heerspink does a nice job slowing down Rod Wright. Nice showing today from Heerspink.

In the 7-on-7 drills:

Nice swing pass from Henne to Ronnie Brown for a big gain down the left sideline.

Henne throws a quick out to Anthony Armstrong, and then takes advantage of a mismatch by finding Derek Hagan on a 20-yard seam route in the end zone. LB Charlie Anderson was covering.

Nice coverage by Quentin Moses, batting away a Henne pass to Davone Bess.

Josh McCown is in now, and he chucks it at Boomer Grigsby’s feet on a check-down.

McCown comes back and throws a nice touchdown to John Dunlap, beating Will Allen on a post.

Next pass is another nice one, a quick fade to Hagan in the front left corner of the end zone, Will Billingsley covering.

The team does a big group huddle, as they’ve been doing in the middle of practices, then breaks out into team drills.

10:45

Practice just ended. These practices are definitely getting shorter, and the hitting is lighter.

A few more quick hits:

They’re doing team drills, but mostly working on swing passes and stuff to the running backs.

Henne and McCown have a couple nice throws to Ricky and Ronnie, hitting them perfectly in stride.

Edgar says Ronnie showed off some great speed on an off-tackle run.

You get the feeling Ricky and Ronnie are going to be a BIG part of the passing game this year. Ricky has 246 career receptions, most among current Dolphins by a mile. Ronnie had 39 catches for 389 yards in seven games last year, and was a combo-yardage monster. With receiver being a weak spot with this team, I can see each of these guys getting 200-250 touches this season.

Anthony Fasano drops a touchdown pass from John Beck.

Shotgun handoff to Jalen Parmele, who runs around left end and into the end zone nearly untouched from 10 yards out.

The receivers aren’t helping Beck. He rolls out right and finds Matthew Mulligan open in the end zone, but Mulligan drops it.

Chad Henne doesn’t do much, throwing a couple quick outs and handing off to Ronnie.

Josh McCown is in, and it’s more of the same. On one snap he trips over his feet, falls down and fumbles the handoff to Patrick Cobbs. Whoops.

They finish up by practicing the goal-line offense, and it’s not full contact.

McCown finishes the day with a nice throw to Mulligan in the corner of the end zone. Redemption for Mulligan.

And there you have it. Another practice in the books.

Sparano talks at 12:30. Hopefully he has some news about the two empty roster spots.

Next practice is at 5 p.m., and we’ll resume the live blogging.

Feel free to post any questions or comments. I’ll try to address some of them.

See you in a bit,

BV

[CF DolFan]

Correct me if I am wrong but this seems to be the first time Beck has appeared to better his two cohorts.  Hopefully this gives him some much needed confidence. 

[StL FinFan]

Why didn't Fields boom them in games last season?  Maybe he will be more consistant this season.  It sound the the QBs are settling down a bit, but the dropped balls are making me nervous.

[TonyB0D]

Why didn't Fields boom them in games last season?  Maybe he will be more consistant this season.  It sound the the QBs are settling down a bit, but the dropped balls are making me nervous.

he DID boom them last season, however our coverage units were ATROCIOUS

[Dave Gray]

Fields is a weird guy because his stats don't reflect his play.  For a while, he was benefiting from never having to punt out of bounds, so he could boom kicks all game and not have to pin anyone short.  Then, he had crappy coverage support.

[fyo]

Correct me if I am wrong but this seems to be the first time Beck has appeared to better his two cohorts.  Hopefully this gives him some much needed confidence. 

It was hard to tell from the reporting, but I suspect Beck was "down" today and only participated in the position drills. When there is no pressure in his face, he has been consistently better than McCown and Henne. Pressured... he's completely blowing it. Like Theismann said, he's been scarred by being thrown out there last year. It was a stupid thing to do. He can probably recover, but it might require more time than he has with the Dolphins.

And, I have to take this opportunity to stress the following (again): This is exactly why we shouldn't start Henne this year. No matter what (almost).

[StL FinFan]

And, I have to take this opportunity to stress the following (again): This is exactly why we shouldn't start Henne this year. No matter what (almost).

QFT

[DolFan619]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/08/04/live_blog_august_4_training_ca_1.html

Live Blog — August 4 Training Camp, Evening Session

By Ben Volin | Monday, August 4, 2008, 04:47 PM

Welcome back to the live blog!

Practice is scheduled to be outdoors, but the dark clouds are rolling in, so don’t be surprised if we move into the bubble.

The first depth chart was released earlier this morning. I’ll be looking to see if/how much Tony Sparano deviates from it.

And of course, we will continue to be on the Quincy Carter/Terry Glenn Watch. The Dolphins have 78 guys in camp right now and can fit two more, but Sparano said he might keep 78 guys for the rest of training camp.

Updates will start around 5:20. Enjoy the show!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5:27

A couple updates to get us started:

We’re practicing outside, for now. Shells and shorts this evening.

Justin Peelle (sprained knee) is back. He hasn’t participated in practice since last Tuesday. Steve McKinney (knee) is participating in his second practice today.

Michael Lehan (ankle) is still out.

Donald Thomas was listed as a Second Team right guard in the team’s first depth chart, but lined up as a First Teamer to start this evening’s practice.

No new players have been added. We’re still at 78.

Bill Parcells was practicing his golf swing during stretching. Looks pretty good.

That’s it for now. They’re practicing more situational stuff today — Red Zone, two-minute drills, etc. I’ll have more soon.

6:07

Hey guys, sorry for the delay. Wanted to wait for something to actually happen during practice before I gave you some more updates.

After some sleep-inducing individual drills, the Dolphins practiced the two-minute offense.

Chad Henne is up first, with the First Teamers. 1:15 on the clock, from the opposing 48 yard line.

The Dolphins go three-wide, but it’s Greg Camarillo, not Ernest Wilford, on the field.

Henne starts off with a quick out pattern to Derek Hagan, a throw-away on second down and another out pattern to Camarillo on the left side for a first down.

Henne then hits Anthony Fasano streaking across the middle, and hits Camarillo again on the left side. Really nice catch by Camarillo, using his body to shield Andre Goodman from the ball.

A fade pattern to Ricky Williams in the back of the end zone goes out of bounds with 4 seconds left.

At the buzzer, Henne throws toward Fasano in the back of the end zone, but Will Allen picks it off. Dolphins lose (or win).

John Beck’s turn. Same situation.

Beck and David Kircus get their signals crossed on the first play. Beck throws an out pattern, while Kircus runs a fly route.

After a check-down to Patrick Cobbs over the middle, Beck hits David Martin over the middle for a first down.

Beck throws a wobbler to Wilford that lands at the receiver’s feet, but then comes back with a beautiful throw to David Martin over the middle, threading it between two defenders. Nice job by Martin, too, to go up and get the ball over Keith Davis.

Spike, 15 seconds to go.

Incomplete out pattern to Wilford that should have been picked off by Joey Thomas. Thomas read that play like the New York Times.

Nice improvisation by Beck on a broken play. He scrambles out of the pocket, waives for Jalen Parmele to break his route and streak to the end zone, lobs a perfect pass to Parmele, he’s wide open in the end zone …. and he drops it. D’oh.

One second on the clock, Beck throws incomplete to Wilford out of the end zone. Drive over. Still no points.

McCown’s turn. Same situation.

After a Lex Hilliard run up the middle, McCown hits Jayson Foster on a 12-yard out to the right side, and Foster steps out of bounds.

A quick out to Sean Ryan is followed by a nice catch-and-throw from McCown to Foster on a 20-yard out route, taking the Dolphins down to about the 2 yard line.

McCown throws a slant pass to John Dunlap in the end zone that falls in complete, and then has Hilliard open in the end zone on a playaction roll-out, but throws behind Hilliard.

20 seconds left, Dolphins are in 5-wide, and there is no one lining up behind the defensive line. I turn to Edgar and say, “QB sneak it up the middle.” Sure enough, QB sneak up the middle, touchdown.

That’s it for now. Be back soon.

6:36

I get back and they’re doing 7-on-7 drills. Edgar says I didn’t miss much.

Channing Crowder completely ignores the “thud” rule and flattens Ronnie Brown on a swing pass. I mean, flattens him. Good to see Ronnie bounce right back up.

But David Kircus should be grateful for the rule. He jumps up high for a catch, and in a real game Chris Crocker would have destroyed him.

They go back to 11-on-11 drills.

Henne up first. Doesn’t seem like any specific situation this time.

Matt Roth is lining up as an OLB, by the way, on both sides of the line. Kendall Langford is taking First and Second Team reps at LDE.

Henne’s first pass is incomplete because Jason Ferguson ate Samson Satele and Donald Thomas for lunch and got in Henne’s face.

After runs by Ronnie up the middle and to the left, Henne once again has his arm hit (didn’t see by whom), and Travis Daniels picks it off.

Henne finishes with a really nice 18-yard post to Ted Ginn, and then is sacked by Charlie Anderson, who is also rotating between the First and Second Team.

Beck’s turn.

He starts off with a swing pass to Jalen Parmele, and then a quick out to Greg Camarillo, who catches it but slips to his feet.

Beck throws a screen pass at Parmele’s feet and it falls incomplete, and follows that up with a quick hitch to Ronnie over the middle.

Uh oh, not a good pass by Beck. He throws it right to Reggie Torbor, who has the easiest interception of his life. Camarillo was the intended receiver, but he was at least 6 yards further down field.

Beck gets nailed by Kendall Langford on the next pass, but Davone Bess catches it anyway.

Then Dolphins insert the Jumbo package, and Henne and Beck work on short-yardage situations. Mostly runs up the middle, nothing too exciting.

That’s probably the last update for now. Have to go talk to players. Hopefully will have enough material for one final update tonight.

7:15

Nope, nothing else. The team finishes up just as I’m walking out, and Edgar says I didn’t miss anything.

Because it’s cool out here tonight, lots of players signed autographs — Jake Long, Channing Crowder, John Beck, and many more. Josh McCown signed until the bitter end, making sure every child that stuck it out got an autograph. That was pretty cool.

Three more days of practice before Saturday’s Bucs game. And two roster spots to fill.

Tomorrow is one practice session, at 2 p.m. Not sure if Edgar or I will be driving the bus.

Have a Fin-tastic Monday,

BV

[fyo]

To summarize... on the 2-minute drill where all the QBs participated, Henne had the first team and completes 4 of 7 with 1 INT, no drops. Beck has the second team and completes 3 of 8 with no INTs, but 1 drop by Pamele and 1 drop by Joey Thomas (i.e. should've been an INT). McCown, with the third team, completes 3 of 5, no INTs and no drops, but he sneaks it up the middle for a 2yd touchdown.

Not counting running plays and "undoing" all the dropped balls (for comparison purposes):

Henne: 4 of 7, 1 INT.
Beck:  4 of 8, 1 INT, 1TD.
McCown: 3 of 5.

Not much difference there... they all put up crappy numbers... again.

In the 11-on-11 drill McCown is the "down" QB. Henne and Beck both stink it up, with poor completion percentages and an INT each.

[DolFan619]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/08/a-couple-of-int.html

Some interesting tidbits from Monday's work

Ernest Wilford had a starting receiver job when this training camp opened. It was his job to lose.

But after not getting any separation with any consistency the 10 days of camp, Wilford started losing the job Monday. Derek Hagan, who has had some flashes while working with the second team and as the slot receiver, was promoted to first team.

Wilford worked mostly with second-teamers. Nothing is set in stone so I just come out here and compete and come out here and practice hard," Wilford said.

So why hasn't Wilford produced? "It's a little bit of everything," he said. "It's still preseason, the season is still young. Nothing is set in stone until you get to the preseason games. I'm a gamer. Derek is a gamer so everything is going to work out come preseason games."

Truth be told, Hagan has been a fine outstanding practice player and outstanding citizen on the Dolphins. But he hasn't really been a gamer in his career yet. Wilford, meanwhile, did start plenty of games for Jacksonville.

So does he think he'll get better once the games begin?

"I think so but you still need to come out here and prove it on the practice field," Wilford said. "Right now we just have to continue to work on consistency on the practice field and just try to come out here and catch balls."

Actually, it's get open, then catch balls. Otherwise he'll catch hell.

Matt Roth, Vonnie Holliday, OLB note:

Just so everyone understands: It is the preseason and the Dolphins are experimenting. So just because Vonnie Holliday works some as a standup SOLB for a week, it doesn't mean he's being converted to SOLB.


And just because Matt Roth works at standup SOLB some, as he did in the offseason camps and again Monday and likely the remainder of this week, it doesn't mean he's being converted to a SOLB.

It means it is the preseason and there is a search for an answer underway. And what is the question?

How do you replace Jason Taylor?

The easy way to do it is stick Charlie Anderson in there, play Roth at one DE and Holliday at the other DE and be, well, unsatisfied with the results.

But the Dolphins are not doing that. They are searching for options. They are trying to maximize their players. So maybe the answer is putting Holliday at the SOLB, using Kendall Langford or Phillip Merling as a DE and sending Anderson to the bench.

Maybe the answer is putting Roth at an SOLB and having Holliday, and either Randy Starks, Merling or Langford at the other DE while sending Anderson to the bench. Or maybe it is sending Roth and Anderson to the bench, playing two out of the group of Starks, Merling and Langford and using Holliday at SOLB.

The point is the team is searching for the best combo of guys to create the most pressure. The team is looking at all the options to settle on the best fit. It doesn't mean it will happen. It doesn't mean it won't.


It just means the Dolphins are looking to recover the 11 or so sacks the team traded to the Redskins.

[DolFan619]

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2008/08/dolphins-report.html

Dolphins report: Monday (Week 2)

Pay no attention to what the misleading depth chart says. For the first time since training camp opened one quarterback spent the entire day working with the first team offense, and it wasn't veteran Josh McCown.

In fact, it wasn't anyone with NFL experience.

That's right, rookie Chad Henne ran with the big dowgs ALL DAY, and he deserved it based on his strong finish to last week. But Henne wasn't the top QB of the day on Monday. According to my eyes, that Gold Star (it's a Boomerang thing) goes to John Beck for his steady afternoon performance. That's right, John Beck fans can finally let out a big cheer!

While Henne threw two bad interceptions during two-minute and redzone drills, checkdown finally showed he can throw more than checkdowns.

He hit David Martin on a 20-yard pass that drove his unit down the field during the 2-minute drill. With nine seconds left on the clock he rolled out of the pocket (notice how he's successful) and threw what would have been a touchdown pass to a wide open Jalen Parmele in the back of the endzone. But the rookie tailback dropped the ball. Boy did Beck give him a nice little look. That drive ended with Beck overthrowing a demoted Ernest Wilford, who spent 15 minutes after practice working with McCown one-on-one.

Beck looked good during 7-on-7, and during the next team drill he hit Parmele on a nice wheel route for a decent gain. He followed that up by completed a short one to Greg Camarillo. Followed that up with a screen pass that was dropped by Parmele, then a checkdown to Ronnie Brown (who was plastered by Channing Crowder during the redzone drills earlier), and then Reggie Torbor picked him off.

I'd usually take off points for interceptions, but Torbor made a nice leaping catch on what would have been a good downfield throw from Beck. No one saw Torbor coming and the return probably would have been good for a touchdown.

During goalline work Beck hit Anthony Fasano in the back of the endzone for a TD. By the way, Beck rolled out again to get off the pass. I'm now CONVINCED he struggles seeing over this offensive line. Most of the down-field throws he made were guesses on where the receivers would be. I honestly believe Beck didn't see them making their cuts.

But overall, it was a good day for Beck because he finally topped the other two quarterbacks. He was finally the QB who made the least mistakes on a day struggled for offensive success (plenty of prevent coverage from the defense).

As I said in my blog entry earlier today I think Beck SHOULD start against Tampa Bay as a poop or get off the pot test....

Coach Tony Sparano said Saturday's scrimmage was about testing the quarterbacks, and challenging the protections.

After looking over the film Sparano said the protection was pretty good, but a couple of mental errors create major mistakes that caused tremendous pressure, and led to big mistakes. Most of those issues came from the second-team offensive line, primarily the right side.

But overall, Sparano said he was impressed with the protection. However, he pointed out "we didn't have enough stamina to finish. We have to be able to finish. In this league, the teams that can finish, they win."

As for Saturday's Tampa Bay game, Sparano said there will be no prep work done for the Buccaneers. Sparano plans to keep mixing and matching his units, shuffling his depth chart, and turning up the heat on his quarterbacks before Saturday's exhibition game.

"I want to keep creating this type of environment out here where they have to compete each and every day," Sparano said.

Sparano planned to threw more short yardage and goal line work at them in Monday's second practice. There was also more two-minute drills that features tight "red area" work.

"These things are really what we'll really be judged on later on, whether we win or lose those kind of situations. The quarterbacks need more at bats in those situations as opposed to looking at a card and getting ready for something that may or may not happen when we get to a game," Sparano said.

The coaches haven't discussed how each quarterback will be used in the exhibition opener, but Sparano mentioned the possibility of playing two now (on Saturday) and another two later. He said it will come down to "who we want to get the most work right now." He admitted a lot of that will depend on what they get accomplished on the practice field this week.

As for my other observations from Monday afternoons practice....

Travis Daniels and Will Allen are the two cornerbacks who picked off Henne. I'm amazed how Allen can catch the ball during practice (and this goes back to last training camp) and can't do it in a real game. It's one of those head-scratchers....

Bill Parcells sought out offensive linemen Ikechuku Ndukwe and Shawn Murphy to work with them on their blocking. Ndukwe is the best of what's left at the tackle spot, and Murphy, the fourth-round pick, is struggling against power rushers. Parcells went over hand placement with Murphy. I'll see how much of a difference it makes tomorrow....

On being demoted following his slow start to training camp (remember where you heard it first) Wilford said he's working on his consistency.

"I'm a gamer. Derek's a gamer, so everything is going to work out come preseason games," Wilford said....

Matt Roth said the last time he played linebacker was his freshman year at Iowa. He continued to work there in the afternoon, and I think this switch has some potential to it. He certainly looks better than Vonnie Holliday dropping back into coverage.

McCown has some wiggle to him on scrambles. During one redzone play he ran for a touchdown. I'd describe what happened but the Dolphins would probably put a hit out on me because I suspect it'll be pretty effective in a game. McCown also had one touchdown pass dropped by a back, but it was Lex Hilliard who was showing off his butterfingers.

I want to admit I was COMPLETELY wrong folks on the kicking battle. Jay Feely's got a fight on his hands. This Dan Carpenter has plenty of leg to him. Both kickers kicked 42 and 45 yard field goals during the afternoon. Both kickers split the uprights, but Carpenter's two kicks had an extra 10 yards of distance on them. Parcells immediate went over to instruct Carpenter on kickoffs after watching him fizzle in that department.

You know how to get me. Hit me with any questions or comments here, hit F5 to refresh, and I'll likely respond with the best answer I've got.

Deuces (which for those who were asking earlier means "I'm out." It's me putting two fingers up in the air).

> Posted by Omar Kelly at 6:27:08 PM

[DolFan619]

http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/news/top_story.asp?contentID=5929

Camp Dolphins Report Day 9: Fasano Leads TE Battle; Depth Chart Unveiled; Other Notes

August 4, 2008
   
By Andy Kent
Special for MiamiDolphins.com

Tight end has been a crucial position in a Bill Parcells-style offense, and that notion has not been lost on the five guys battling for spot on Miami's 53-man roster. To that end, third-year pro Anthony Fasano and fifth-year pro Sean Ryan carry with them a slight edge having played in this system before.

Fasano, 24, played for Parcells as a rookie with the Dallas Cowboys in 2006 and then for first-year Head Coach Tony Sparano last year when Sparano was Dallas' assistant head coach/offensive line. He came over with linebacker Akin Ayodele in a trade just before the draft in exchange for a sixth-round pick and has been working mostly with the first team offense so far in training camp.

"I came into camp pretty familiar with the offense, but we're still kind of in camp mode," said Fasano, who will get a chance to show what he can do Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Miami's preseason opener at Dolphins Stadium. "We're still not really preparing for Saturday yet, but you definitely have to be an every-down tight end. I think we're going to have a lot of roles in this offense and I think we have a good group to do that."

The 28-year-old Ryan was drafted by the Cowboys in 2004 out of Boston College and at 6-foot-5, 260 pounds fits the mold of the type of big tight end best suited for this offense. Fasano is 6-4, 255, Justin Peelle is 6-4, 250, David Martin is 6-4, 265 and rookie Matthew Mulligan is also 6-4, 265.

Going all the way back to Mark Bavaro with the New York Giants in the late 1980s when Parcells coached the Giants to two Super Bowl wins, the tight end in this system has always been asked to be equally adept at catching passes and blocking, which makes the early part of training camp difficult for the coaching staff trying to draw conclusions about each player.

"I think that the tight end position is a tough position to evaluate in that they have to do a lot of things," Sparano said. "They have to pass protect, they have to catch the ball, they have to be sound in the pass game and they certainly have to run block. With that being said, right now I think that you're starting to see Fasano get a little bit better out here. I've been really impressed with what David Martin has done to date. Sean Ryan is showing some versatility right now and being able to do some things, whether it be on the line of scrimmage or in the backfield."

In addition to being familiar with Sparano, Fasano has enjoyed working with offensive coordinator Dan Henning, and even though it's been a struggle for the entire offense going against a tough defense that is a little bit ahead of the offense right now.

Peelle fell behind a little after twisting his right knee last week during an indoor practice inside the bubble and was unable to practice until this afternoon, when he got involved in drills again for the first time while wearing a helmet and shoulder pads with shorts. The morning practice was conducted in full pads so he sat that one out.

The 29-year-old Oregon grad now in his seventh season finished 2007 strong with a few productive outings and he is hoping to earn his way back into the starting rotation at tight end.

"I felt a little rusty but overall the knee felt pretty good so I was happy with that," said Peelle, who caught 29 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns last year. "It's not fun (being out of practice). It's tough to be sitting there watching while all the guys are working and trying to get better. I want to be out there and compete and fight for a job as well so it's been rough, but I couldn't be out there competing with my injury. That wouldn't have done any good."

As for learning the new offense, Peelle has enjoyed it so far.

"It's fun," he said. "You've got to be smart and you've got to be physical and you've really got to know what you're doing and when you get in there you've got to make the best of it just because we've got so many people, so you've got to earn your spot. But it's a fun system and I think once we get accustomed to it we'll have some success."

Peelle isn't too concerned about the amount of time, other than getting back on the same page as the quarterbacks. His primary concern is getting back in shape and handling the conditioning part of practice.

Mulligan ended the morning practice with a touchdown catch of a pass thrown by seventh-year veteran quarterback Josh McCown two days after catching one from rookie Chad Henne in the live scrimmage. The undrafted rookie from the University of Maine has benefited from Peelle and Aaron Halterman being out of the lineup (Halterman was waived along with guard Reuben Riley this past Saturday).

"Even Mulligan got a bunch of reps," Sparano said. "He played 41 or 42 plays out here the other day (in the live scrimmage) and he's starting to get better. He's getting better in line."

DEPTH CHART DEBUT: Today was the day that first-year Head Coach Tony Sparano unveiled his first official depth chart as the preseason opener against Tampa Bay is just six days away. McCown is listed as the starter, with second-year quarterback John Beck his backup and Henne listed as the third-string quarterback, but Sparano warned not to take the depth chart as gospel.

"I don't make much of it right now. It's something that we had to produce and put out there so we put it out there," Sparano said during his morning press conference. "That depth chart in your hands right now won't be the same this afternoon, never mind tomorrow, so it's going to change every single day."

Sparano said later that the quarterback depth chart was arranged in order of seniority and he hasn't ruled out all three playing against the Bucs at Dolphins Stadium on Saturday night.

In reiterating that there is competition at all positions, Sparano singled out right guard, backup center, outside linebacker, wide receiver and defensive end among the positions of interest right now.

As for how the two vacant positions on the roster will be addressed, Sparano said he may continue to work two men down or they might try to fill those spots, depending on who's out there.

INJURY UPDATE: Cornerback Michael Lehan (ankle) did not practice again. Lehan remains on the Physically Unable to Perform list.

ROTH GIVING LB A TRY: Defensive end Matt Roth joined Vonnie Holliday and Joey Porter on the near field for some on individual work with defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni. Roth, who is in his fourth year out of Iowa, hasn't played linebacker since his freshman year of college when he played middle linebacker for the Hawkeyes.

"It was fun but it took a while for me to get used to it again this morning," Roth said. "We've been working with it over the spring so I'm just trying to go 100 miles-per-hour and learn on the fly. It's different now with the outside linebacker because it's kind of the glorified end, but it's fun. I like it."

Pasqualoni had been working strictly with Holliday last week on the linebacker drills, but he and Sparano wanted to see what Roth could do with his hand out of the dirt. Roth's "high motor" and excitability are two of his traits that have caught Sparano's attention, but there are other things about him that Sparano likes when it comes to trying him out at that outside linebacker position.

"He's a big, strong, athletic guy that can hold the point a little bit and it gives us a chance maybe to see Joey in some kind of a pass rush mode too and some of these other guys we've bounced around out there today. This guy has very good hands at the point of attack. He really is one of the stronger players on our football team."

Rookie defensive end Kendall Langford was moved to left defensive end with the first unit while Roth got his semi-private session with Pasqualoni, and his speed continues to be impressive as he gets around the corner very fast. Sparano wanted to see the third-round pick out of Hampton compete against right tackle Vernon Carey and rookie left tackle Jake Long just to see how effective he might be.

GREETINGS FROM WEST HAVEN: Sparano shared a funny story about how he first learned that Thomas was from the same neck of the woods as he is up in Connecticut. The revelation came shortly after Thomas was drafted out of the University of Connecticut in the sixth round and introduced himself.

"He came running in here the first day of rookie camp and told me that one of my high school history teachers told me that he said hello," Sparano said. "So I knew then that we got a little bit closer at that point. But we know a little bit about some fine dining down there in Connecticut that we share some information about . . . Sally's or Pepe's, but it's nice to have somebody from Connecticut here."

CHASING THE DECAL: It's not too difficult to spot the rookies on the practice field because they are the ones without Miami Dolphins decals on their helmet, and that includes Long.

"That message is that they need to earn their decals," Sparano said. "When they make our team, they'll get their decals."

THE NEXT NASHVILLE STAR: As part of the ritual all rookies go through, Long and the others had to sing a song of their choice for the veterans. Long chose the Garth Brooks favorite, "Friends In Low Places."

"It was pretty good. Everybody clapped," Long said. "I was going on the second verse and everybody started clapping so I just sat down, so it was good. No dancing, just singing. Everybody clapped so I think they liked it."

Long said Mulligan probably did the best job singing the AC/DC classic "You Shook Me All Night Long."

MORE INSTRUCTION FROM THE TUNA: Following the afternoon practice, Parcells pulled guards Ikechuku Ndukwe and Shawn Murphy aside as they made their way inside and gave them some instruction on proper blocking technique. He actually gave hands-on demonstrations on where the linemen should put their hands on the opposing defender. Both players seemed to appreciate the lesson.

DOLPHINS TIDBITS: Rookie Donald Thomas again lined up at right guard with the first unit ... Punter Brandon Fields continues to launch booming kicks out of his own end zone that are routinely crossing midfield ... The quarterbacks again worked on an accuracy/touch drill where they threw the ball over a 10-foot net and tried to land it inside a container ... Henne got to work with the first-team offense both in the morning and the afternoon and on his first drive in the afternoon in the two-minute drill he made two very nice sideline passes to get the offense in scoring position, but he was intercepted in the end zone by Will Allen ... Beck and wide David Kircus had a miscommunication on their first play from scrimmage in the afternoon as Beck was expecting Kircus to run an out pattern and turn for the ball while Kircus ran a straight fly pattern down the sideline ... Beck recovered to hit Martin over the middle for about a 15-yard gain, but then his next pass went right through the hands of cornerback Joey Thomas, who would have been able to return the interception all the way for a touchdown. His next throw to rookie running back Jalen Parmele should have been a touchdown but Parmele couldn't hold on ... Linebacker Reggie Torbor picked off Beck for an easy score on his next series ... McCown engineered a scoring drive that was capped off by a quarterback draw that he took untouched into the end zone ... Henne completed a touchdown pass to Martin on his last drive of the day ... The hit of the day came on running back Ronnie Brown as he had to jump for a high pass from Henne in the flat and was drilled by linebacker Channing Crowder.