http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/other/sfl-flspdolphins20sbfeb20,0,4393618.storyBrain trust tight-lipped after it decides against utilizing franchise tag
By Omar Kelly | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
February 20, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS - It would have been easier to extract Tony Sparano's wisdom teeth, without Novocaine, than to get the Dolphins' coach to shed some light on the team's strategy for meeting their needs this offseason.
"Not a chance," Sparano said with a chuckle.
The Dolphins aren't interested in tipping their hand, but there's a laundry list of "pieces" required to upgrade this 2008 playoff team.
"The holes aren't as big, but we still have holes," Sparano said Thursday at the NFL Combine. "We won 11 football games this year, but we knew when we walked in the door this was going to be a couple-year deal for us. We knew it'd be a two-, three-year deal to get [the roster] right."
More roster holes will open up at the end of the month when the Dolphins' five free-agent starters are allowed to hit the open market.
The Dolphins could have used a franchise tag on one player, which would have preserved the team's rights to the player for a year, but they declined to exercise that option by Thursday's deadline.
That means tackle Vernon Carey, linebacker Channing Crowder, cornerback André Goodman and safeties Renaldo Hill and Yeremiah Bell will be exposed as free agents if General Manager Jeff Ireland doesn't come to terms with their representatives within the next week.
Carey and Bell are viewed as two of the top free agents at their positions.
"The players have options and we have options," Sparano said. "They know exactly where we stand."
As for where the roster stands, Sparano would only acknowledge NFL teams can never get enough offensive and defensive lineman, and players in the secondary. Last year the team used six draft picks on linemen and Sparano hinted another beefy draft could be in the works.
While the Dolphins plan to add some pieces during free agency, which begins Feb. 27, the blueprint calls for building through the draft with players Ireland has labeled "younger" and "cheaper" talent.
"We need to be careful. We're not going to be able to address all our needs from a free-agent standpoint," Sparano said. "That really isn't our philosophy. It never has been. Our philosophy is we want to build through the draft."
Sparano said free agency is for luring an elite player or supplementing the roster with positions where the draft might lack depth.
"The draft is always first and foremost," Sparano said.
The first of the Dolphins' nine picks is the No. 25 selection in the first round, and Ireland is confident the Dolphins can land a pretty good player in that spot.
If Crowder and Carey sign elsewhere the Dolphins might need to use that pick to address those holes.
Coincidentally, Saints coach Sean Payton said there's excellent top-tier talent at inside linebacker and center. Kevin Colbert, the Steelers' director of football operations, said the deepest positions in the draft are tackle and cornerback.
All four are positions of need for the Dolphins.
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