Beck, McCown in tough spot

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http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/miami-dolphins/story/643000.html

Beck, McCown in tough spot

BY JEFF DARLINGTON
Miami Herald

This wasn't a conversation they expected to have, and it certainly wasn't a conversation they expected to have so soon. Not when training camp began just three weeks ago.

But Dolphins quarterbacks Josh McCown and John Beck, suddenly stuck with the same unsettling feelings about their futures, couldn't avoid the topic for much longer. So McCown gave his younger teammate a few words to keep him going.

''I just told him that it's a tough deal sometimes,'' said McCown, who has dealt with this before.

``In this situation, you just need to continue to work on your craft and get better at what you're doing.

``You just need to wait for the next opportunity, whether it's here or not.''

How bizarre must this be for McCown and Beck, who just 21 days ago began training camp in a competition with one another for the starting quarterback job?

FIGHT FOR ROSTER SPOT

These days, the contestants might be the same but the prize seems to have changed. It is beginning to seem more likely that McCown and Beck aren't engaged in a battle for a starting job -- but instead for a job.

Coach Tony Sparano continues to say the team can potentially keep four quarterbacks. But discussions about plenty of scenarios are privately taking place -- whether to keep or trade Beck, or whether to keep or waive McCown.

''It's just business, you know what I mean?'' McCown said. ``I don't spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. My faith guides me.

``Do I think it's fair? I don't live my life rehashing about why things happen.''

During a candid interview Thursday, McCown made it clear several times that he hasn't given up on the competition for the starting job -- even after the signing of veteran Chad Pennington -- because he hasn't been told it is over.

But McCown also is realistic. It is no secret that the Dolphins appear intent on starting Pennington for the season opener. It also isn't much of a secret that McCown and Beck are in limbo.

''Should I start to connect the dots and think they are moving a certain way because the reps are getting shorter? That may be the case,'' McCown said. ``But nobody has told me that.''

Still, consider Thursday's report on profootballtalk.com, a popular website that sparked a wave of debate throughout the Dolphins' facility when it reported an unconfirmed tip that Beck had been cut.

PICKING UP STEAM

It should say something that, even after Beck practiced in the morning, Sparano still was asked about the report during his news conference.

That is how believable the possibility has suddenly become to outsiders.

''I mean, there's a lot of rumors in this business,'' Sparano said in response.

True. But rumor or not, there still is plenty of reason to keep a closer watch on the bottom of the Dolphins' depth chart at quarterback than the top of it.

Many arguments could be made for keeping one or the other.

McCown could serve as a better insurance policy if Pennington gets injured, but Beck could be treated as a project. Beck's youth could provide him with more trade value, even if McCown's salary ($1.95 million) this year might be tougher to swallow. Then again, at this point, neither might have much trade value at all.

It is all worthy of debate, with solid arguments on both sides. But this much appears safe to say: Neither Beck nor McCown are likely to ask out voluntarily.

McCown said Thursday he has no plans to ask for a trade or a release.

STICKING WITH IT

''I don't know what situations would be out there that would make me want to leave here,'' McCown said. ``I want to be here to help this team. And I've moved four times in four years with a wife and four kids. My kids don't even know their address.

``I don't want to pick them up and move them again. I'm not interested in that.''

There have been internal discussions about playing only Pennington and Henne during Saturday's exhibition game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Three weeks ago, could anyone have predicted this scenario, which would leave McCown and Beck on the sideline for the second exhibition game? Not a chance.

Sometimes, as McCown has learned, it is impossible to predict.

''Maybe your long term career is here; maybe it's not,'' McCown said he told Beck. ``You don't know. And you can't worry about it.

``You never know in this business. You absolutely don't know.''