Hello everyone and welcome to the PODcast news, the newspaper for the Miami Dolphins. The regular season has now been complete and the Dolphins have finished with a 6-10 record which included an upset victory against the New England Patriots.
Most of the fault has definitely got to fall on the owner of that team who I've been hearing has had an absence that cause the team to doubt in his ability to focus on the team and causing a bad losing streak. Although the rumor goes out that the owner is a freshman college student, but we don't go into details.

Let's assess the team by position and start going on a "sarcastic" rant about each skill position player on the roster this season. Starting with non-other than the QB.

Mark Rogers (QB): I had my doubts about Mark Rogers being the week 1 starter for the Miami Dolphins due to his unspectacular rookie season that saw him start one game and throw 4 interceptions on that game. His preseason stats were modest but is he really a franchise QB. As the regular season went on, my doubts continued. His stats by the end of the season were... interesting... 269/431, 2,729 yards, 15 TDs and 15 INTs. He is less of a turnover machine than Gabriel Young, but the touchdowns are lacking. He is definitely an upgrade in terms of accuracy with a 62.4 completion percentage. Gabriel Young never cracked 60% in his 3 years as QB. I believe he is going to be the Miami Dolphins quarterback for the 1991 season, there is potential, but the question comes down to, can Miami work around him. Miami's goal of a short term rebuild and questionable trade for past his prime receiver Robin Kelley could have worked if Miami had focused on building the team better.

Mark Finley (RB): I questioned the decision of drafting a runningback in the 1st round based on how unpredictable they can be. Despite a rough rookie season, he bounced back with a 1000 yard rushing season for the Dolphins, the first Miami Dolphins runningback to achieve this feet since Donald Buck back in 1982. My question is... is this a one year wonder, or can he repeat? No Miami Dolphins runningback has ever accomplished two 1000 rushing seasons so this could be an opportunity for a first time occurrence.

Nelson Hobson (WR): He went from the 5th most receiving yards and touchdwons in team history last season to a disappointing 443 receiving yards with only 1 touchdown. That is depressing for a receiver with so much hype coming off his best season. He has one more year left in his contract to prove he should stay with the team, but Miami might be looking for a long term receiver plan.

Robin Kelley (WR): A very questionable trade in an attempt to build a short term playoff team, only to prove the critics right and fail delivering a playoff birth. Now Miami doesn't have a 2nd round pick to try to pull this team which leaves them with 3rd-7th round picks in the 1991 draft.

James Fountain (WR): This was a tough rookie season for James Fountain, but he definitely overcame adversity in the final 3 games of the regular season to pull of a 981 receiving yard season. Let's see what he can do in year 2.

Jesse Strader (SLB): Definitely lots of room for improvement for this young man. One fluke game where he caught 3 interceptions in one game is impressive, but can he do it for an entire season. Let's see how much he grows in year 2.

Louis Oconnell (CB): Not exactly a shutdown corner but he does decent as his job. There is much room for improvement for Oconnell. A very speedy cornerback indeed, if only he can avoid being beaten on routes and allowing far fewer catches.

John Morrison (CB): Improvement! He started the season as the number 3 cornerback and earned his way to the number 2 position. 4 interceptions that is a good number and dropped his catches allowed down to a 52.8% from 72.7%. That is a good improvement from his rookie season.

Chrisopher Carnahan (CB): Drafted as a WLB, he switched over to cornerback where he struggled mightly but started getting acquainted at his new position. Despite being dropped to corner 3, he did end the season with an interception and a 52.8 completion percentage. What will year 2 have in store for this him though?

Sidney Vega (SS): Not sure why he was pulled in favor of Thomas Pillsbury but he was having a decent season, allowing 45% of catches and 2 interceptions.

Ollie Green (FS): I don't believe he is any more than just mediocre. Not bad stats for a 5th round pick but he is not a franchise safety. We'll see how long he'll stay in Miami as the team already has a group of possible shutdown corners so he could stay a while as a patch job.


Overall, the Miami team has proved flashes of being a competitive team. The question is, what pieces can they find in order to become that competitive team. The defensive line is in shambles it's not even worth reviewing them. The offensive line is in shambles allowing 11 sacks the entire season. The linebackers have one fix and still have plenty more fixes to go before it's a complete set. How will the 1991 season go, I guess we can have a better assessment after free agency and the draft.

MVRowner
https://www.youtube.com/c/MVRowner

Free Agency

The Miami Dolphins were not aggressive in free agency this year, taking a rather relax approach to it this season. With that being said, let's take a look at some moves Miami attempted to make this offseason so far and then look at the players they brought in:

1. The only trade move Miami attempted so far was to acquire Curtis McCauley (CB) from the Carolina Panthers. The deal fell through after it was revealed the Panthers demanded a high asking price.

2. Miami attempted to bring in CB Fred Vaz to help with a questionable young secondary. Miami has rumored to have offered a contract as high as $110 million for 6 years. Fred Vaz ended up signing with the Falcons.

3. Miami also attempted to sign C Curtis Simmons but that signing didn't go according to plan as Miami immediately fell behind the free agency competition. Simmons would sign with the division rival New York Jets

These were the main 3 headlines, now let's look at some of the players Miami did sign in free agency.

1. Miami signed runningback's Matthew Fiore, Jose Lee, and George Bernardo to some tryout deals. Mark Finley has possibly established himself as the number 1 back, but who will be the backup. Matthew Fiore and Jose Lee have only had 1 season each that they rushed for more than 200 yards. George Bernardo has been out of the league his first 3 seasons before landing with the New York Giants and finding limited playing time.

2. Miami made some moves to upgrade their defensive line. William Torres, Martin Butler, and Charles Rodriguez were the 3 main signings. Out of these signings, Martin Butler is the only one that stayed in the league and has gotten a decent number of sacks. We'll see what Miami attempts to do with these players.

Now, the last assessment, what did Miami miss out on signing during this offseason.

1. Miami did not sign a QB this offseason. Though that blame should mostly go on the owner due to his fear of signing/drafting a QB who could end up being a bust. Miami should have at least kept the QB room busy this offseason as Mark Rogers may not be the guy at QB.

2. Despite Miami's attempts, they could not sign anybody that could significantly help fix their offensive line.

3. The defense was very poorly maintained this offseason. Miami made no attempt at trying to fix their linebackers and did very little to attempt improving their secondary.

Halfway through the preseason

Halfway through the preseason and Miami has a lot of choices to make. The issues from last season has come back to continue haunting them this season. Let's go through this list:

QB: Gabriel Young and Mark Rodgers continue to be inconsistent with their game play. Mark Rodgers, who opened the 1st preseason game as the starter going 19/34, 141 yards, and INT. Not a great performance for the possible franchise QB. Gabriel Young was named starter for the 2nd preseason game and well, same stats but more aggressive with the football, going 19/31, 275 yards, and 2 TDs. Gabriel Young nearly led this team to a 4th quarter comeback but fell short. Miami did pick up a QB in the 7th round, but the chances of him being a franchise QB is unlikely, but he is believed to start the 3rd preseason game.

RB: Jose Lee and Matthew Fiore are most likely in the hot seat at making this team. They are irrelevant at the run game. William Cain could be a solid number 2 RB. Kevin Low had one rush for twelve yards, there could be potential, but that will be determined by the end of preseason.

WR: Not too much to comment on the receiving core other than disaster. Joel Ross might be the sole bright spot on this roster.

TE: Christopher Smith has been decent as a rookie, he may end up making the roster. George Norris is the only other TE who had a reception in the preseason so far.

LB: Miami's linebackers are main tackling core but TERRIBLE against the pass defense. Horacio Bonner has played well as a LB pass defender. The LBs might as well be the run stoppers and leave it to the corners. Speaking of them...

DB: Miami's corners and safeties have been stunning in the preseason. John Morrison and Louis O'Connell have each allowed 25% of catches thrown to them, Christopher Carnahan has allowed 33% of catches, and Kenneth Aviles has allowed 13%. The corners look good. The safeties are a little concerning but seem to allow no more than 50% of passes thrown to them.

P: Undrafted rookie punter, Dennis Parente, has come out as the starting punter for the Miami Dolphins. He is definitely an excellent undrafted free agency steal for this team.