Miami Dolphins

Things you do not typically see around the Miami Dolphins happened this year, as General Manager Jeff Ireland and Head Coach Joe Philbin aggressively attacked the roster this offseason to completely overhaul the look of the team. Gone are former starters like Karlos Dansby, Jake Long, Davone Bess, and Sean Smith. Now, the team has names like Dannell Ellerbe, Tyson Clabo, Mike Wallace, and Jamar Taylor, having gotten younger and faster all over the field. They also identified their needs, better pressure on opposing quarterbacks, fill the holes on the offensive line, add coverage in the secondary, and give second year quarterback Ryan Tannehill an upgraded arsenal. Then, they went out and filled those holes. But, that does not mean the team is question mark free. Danny Tuccitto of Football Outsiders recently took a look at the AFC East for ESPN, determining the biggest remaining need for each team. Not surprisingly, Tuccitto pointed to the left side of the offensive line as the weakest area on Miami's roster. The team is starting second year tackle Jonathan Martin on the left this year, hoping he can grow into the position previously held by four time Pro Bowler Long. Martin took over the left side last season when Long was injured, and he played decently. Of course, "decently" is not going to cut it when you are manning the position for the entire season, trying to protect the blind side of your quarterback. Martin is going to have to be good at least. He's moving back to the position he played throughout college, and will have an offseason training program for the first time in his NFL career (he was ineligible to participate in last year's program or OTAs because Stanford had not completed classes), so the ability to reach "good" should be there. But, is the left side of the line the biggest question mark surrounding the Dolphins this year? Are there other areas that could rival Martin's ability at left tackle? Of course there are. Miami's offensive backfield clearly has questions. You could argue that Ryan Tannehill is the biggest question mark coming into his second season. However, the team is set with him as their starter, for better or worse, at this point, and most people seem to think it is going to be for the better. Behind Tannehill, there are question marks as well. Will some combination of Lamar Miller, Daniel Thomas, Mike Gillislee, Jonas Gray, and Marcus Thigpen be able to replace Reggie Bush, who left this year for the Detroit Lions via free agency? Bush averaged over 1,000 yards rushing per year in his two seasons in Miami. Thomas, the most experienced of the rushers remaining on the Dolphins roster, has 906 yards total in his two seasons. Miller, the presumed front runner to start this season, has 250 yards on just 51 carries. That is an obvious question mark. The defense is not immune to the questions, either. With Sean Smith leaving for the Kansas City Chiefs this year, Miami will likely have two new starting cornerbacks, one of them a rookie, in 2013. Brent Grimes, signed in free agency from the Atlanta Falcons, and Jamar Taylor, a second round pick in last month's draft, seem to be the front runners. Richard Marshall, who was a starting cornerback prior to being placed on injured reserve last year, is in the mix as well, with Nolan Carroll, Dimitri Patterson, Will Davis, Don Jones, RJ Stanford, DeAndre Presley, and Julian Posey all looking for roster spots. But, is that enough to shut down some of the prolific passers, like Tom Brady and Drew Brees, the team will face this season? Do any of those weigh higher in your mind than Martin on the left side? Vote and let us know your thoughts in the comments. More Dolphins Coverage: Phinsider Community Interactive Map Dolphins Depth Chart Update - 5/19/13 Dolphins Historical Perspective Part 1 - 1965/1966 Dolphins Roster Breakdown: Ryan Tannehill The State of the Miami Dolphins: Week 2 Poll What is the

Perfect weather and strong attendance boost annual charity event.

Monday morning the 2013 Dolphins will begin the final phase of their offseason training regimen with the first of 10 organized team activity days more commonly known as OTA days. Call this Phase Three of the offseason for all 32...

DOLPHINS RUNNING BACKS: REPORT: Mike Gillislee Signs With Dolphins " The Finsiders – Miami DolphinsAccording to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun, the Dolphins have agreed to terms with running back Mike Gillislee, the first of the team’s two fifth round selections. Once the signing is official, Gillislee will join Jelani Jenkins, Dion Sims, Caleb Sturgis and Don Jones as rookie draft picks who have signed with the team. DOLPHINS WIDE RECEIVERS: Miami Dolphins: Brandon Gibson Will Contribute, OJ McDuffie Says SoThis article is a look at Miami Dolphins new WR Brandon Gibson and how he can contribute in for the 'Phins. DOLPHINS SECONDARY: Miami Dolphins: Chris Clemons Needs To Create Turnovers To Earn Re-UpThis article is a look at Miami Dolphins safety Chris Clemons and how he needs to develop his ability to create turnovers to earn a re-up. DOLPHINS 2013 SEASON: Miami Dolphins: Keith Sims Must Win Week 1 At BrownsMy recent interview (including audio) with Keith Sims highlights importance of a win for the Miami Dolphins. Team Report - MIAMI DOLPHINS - Yahoo! SportsFrom Yahoo! Sports: Goodell: We want to see Dolphins stay in Miami DOLPHINS OFFSEASON: NFL - John Clayton breaks down big spenders and big bargains in free agency - ESPNPlenty of teams made big splashes early in free agency, but keep an eye on those who waited for smart bargains, writes John Clayton. DOLPHINS COMMUNITY OUTREACH: Miami Dolphins reel in funds for community at fishing tournament - Miami Dolphins - MiamiHerald.comDolphins players floated out from Miami Beach to try and land the biggest catch – and a nice jackpot for the local community. PHINSIDER NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED: Dolphins Make a Splash at Fins Weekend Fishing Tournament - The PhinsiderOn Saturday, Miami Dolphins players, staff, alumni and friends took part in the annual Fishing Tournament during Fins Weekend. Who came out on top? Lets find out. Dolphins Depth Chart Update - 5/19/13 - The PhinsiderThe annual search for acorns is well underway for the Miami Dolphins. A few things have changed since our last depth chart update. Dolphins sign fifth round draft pick RB Mike Gillislee - The PhinsiderThe Miami Dolphins have signed fifth round draft pick Mike Gillislee, according to reports. The team now has five of their nine draft choices under contract. Dolphins Roster Breakdown: Ryan Tannehill - The PhinsiderOver the course of the offseason, we will take an in-depth look at every member of the Miami Dolphins' roster. All 90 players will be spotlighted. With only 77 days remaining between now and the Hall of Game, it's time to get started. -------------------------------------- We invite you to follow The Phinsider on Twitter, like The Phinsider on Facebook, add The Phinsider to your Google+ Circles, and follow our podcast on BlogTalkRadio.

Bears fans may be more panicked about Josh McCown being the team's backup quarterback than they were about the Chicago-area water levels being higher than sled hills last month.

This is one of our nightly live threads. This means that you are welcome to discuss any subject that you wish but in keeping with the rules of the site we ask that you refrain from the discussion of politics and religion. Please remember that this thread takes place on the front page of the site, is not a CKC and as such try to keep things as near to PG as possible. Keep this in mind with the posting of pics as well and we ask that you keep them to a maximum of 5 per person and do not post Gifs. This keeps the thread load time from slowing down for those on slower connections. James got stuck at work today, so it's back to me on tonight's musical choice. That's always a dangerous thing. Who knows what random mood I am going to be in, when I pick the song for the night? Well, let's see... Yep - I cheated. I went with a full album. Oh well. And, if you don't know who the Corrs are, check out the video. They are four incredibly talented siblings.

The NFL's collective bargaining agreement apportions the offseason into controlled, digestible bites for the players. Until the full training camps of August, there is no actual contact and the practice days are limited and counted closely.

During this time of the season between the NFL Draft and the start of the regular season, it’s as slow as a man who drank a bottle of Kaopectate and trying to take a crap in the Yukon in the middle of winter. I’ve never had to crap out a frozen log like that, but imagine it would take till spring before I saw anything drop. With that I was doing some searching (the down time) for *any* NFL news. I came upon this interesting factoid and wanted to share it here. The info was enlightening as I didn’t know (which isn’t much anyway) how the hell some of the football teams came about. I only started the search to see how many teams had moved. Turns out, quite a bit of them did. I’m stealing this first part directly from Wekipedia… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_franchise_moves_and_mergers I’m interested in seeing just how many of us Dolphin fans out there knew this shit. I mean, Decatur Staleys? Portsmouth Spartans? Boston Redskins? Dallas Texans? (this team changed, but into what you might think) So here goes. You can read the rest of mergers, and local moves by going to the site listed above… Throughout the years, a number of teams in the National Football League (NFL) have either moved or merged. In the early years, the NFL was not stable and teams moved frequently to survive, or were folded only to be resurrected in a different city with the same players and owners. The Great Depression era saw the movement of most surviving small-town NFL teams to the large cities to ensure survival. Franchise mergers were popular during World War II in response to the scarcity of players. Few of these relocations and mergers were accompanied with widespread controversy. Franchise moves became far more controversial in the late 20th century when a vastly more popular NFL, free from financial instability, allowed many franchises to abandon long-held strongholds for perceived financially greener pastures. Despite a Pete Rozelle promise to Congress not to relocate franchises in return for a law exempting the league from certain aspects of antitrust laws, making possible the AFL-NFL merger, several franchises have relocated in the years since the merger and the passage of the law (Public Law 89-800) which sanctioned it. While owners invariably cited financial difficulties as the primary factor in such moves, many fans bitterly disputed these contentions, especially in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Cleveland, each of which eventually received teams some years after their original franchises left. However, Los Angeles, the second-largest media market in the United States, has not had an NFL team since 1995 and the league is promoting an expansion there.[1] Another city that is often mentioned as a potential site for a moved franchise is Toronto, Ontario, the site of frequent speculation regarding a future franchise. Additionally, with the increasing suburbanization of the U.S., the building of new stadiums and other team facilities in the suburbs instead of the central city became popular from the 1970s on, though at the turn of the 2000 millennium a reverse shift back to the central city became somewhat evident. Decatur Staleys: to Chicago in 1921 (renamed the Chicago Bears in 1922) Toledo Maroons: to Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1924 [1] Cleveland Bulldogs: to Detroit as the Wolverines in 1928 Pottsville Maroons: to Boston as the Bulldogs in 1929 Dayton Triangles: to Brooklyn as the Dodgers in 1930 (renamed Brooklyn Tigers in 1944) Portsmouth Spartans: to Detroit as the Lions in 1934[2][3][4] Boston Redskins: to Washington, D.C. in 1937 Cleveland Rams: to Los Angeles in 1946 Chicago Cardinals: to St. Louis in 1960 Los Angeles Chargers: to San Diego in 1961 while in the American Football League (AFL) Dallas Texans: to Kansas City, Missouri as the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963 while in the AFL Oakland Raiders: to

When you start a breakdown of the Miami Dolphins' roster, there's really only one place to start - with the key member of the team heading into the 2013 season. No one on the team will have a bigger impact on the success or failure this year than second year quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Why not start this series with him? (Photo courtesy Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) 2012 Review: Ryan Tannehill 2012 2012 Stats Games 16 Starts 16* Attempts 484* Completions 282* Comp % 58.3 Yards 3294* TDs 12 INTs 13 Sacks 35 Rate 76.1 *Franchise rookie record Tannehill came into the 2012 season with a lot of potential, but limited expectations. He was selected as the eighth overall player in the draft, the third quarterback behind Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, but he was seen as incredibly raw and in need of at least a year before he would be ready to start. In the preseason, he beat out Matt Moore for the starting position, and became the first rookie quarterback to start Week 1 of the season for Miami. He would go on to set multiple rookie passer rating, surpassing Dan Marino in most of those categories. Tannehill struggled at times, looking like a rookie, but he seemed to get better, and more confident, as the season continued. He kept the Dolphins in the playoff hunt late in December, something no one expected before the season started. The 2012 season for Tannehill was a solid one for a rookie. In most years, it would actually be seen as pretty good, but he had a rookie season with the likes of Luck, RG3, and Russell Wilson. Looking just at Tannehill's stats, and not comparing them to what those three did, he had a very good start to a young career. Why he could improve in 2013: He ended last season strong, looking more confident in the offense, and, most importantly, with 16 games of NFL experience under his belt. This year, the team added weapons all around him, including receivers Mike Wallace and Brandon Gibson, and tight end Dustin Keller. Tannehill is poised to break out this season. Jeff Darlington: 'This is Ryan Tannehill's team' Former Miami Dolphins beat writer and current NFL.com and NFL Network reporter Jeff Darlington joined Jess Agler on the Dolphins' radio show The Finsiders recently. Tannehill now has a year of experience in the league, and will be better prepared for some of the defensive looks, and the speed of the game. He excelled last year in no huddle situations, and the team is better prepared for that this year, having changed out some position specific personnel for more versatility. Everything seems built around Tannehill in 2013. Now, he just has to continue his development. Why he could regress in 2013: There are still plenty of questions around Tannehill, just as there should be around any second year quarterback. Sure Luck, RG3, and Wilson looked great, but that's one season. Regression at the quarterback position is not unusual - and may even be more common than we realize. "Sophomore slumps" happen all the time. It's just a matter of whether it will hit Tannehill or not. Being a fan base that just lived through the excitement for Chad Henne's development, only to see it stall, we all know the potential for Tannehill to see the same thing is there. Odds of making the 53-man roster: He's on the roster. There's no doubt about that. He's going to be the starter, and, this is going to be his team. It's just a matter of how successful he, and the team, will be with the massive turnover, and Tannehill's growth, from last year. More Dolphins Coverage: Phinsider Community Interactive Map Dolphins Depth Chart Update - 5/19/13 Dolphins Historical Perspective Part 1 - 1965/1966 The State of the Miami Dolphins: Week 2 Dolphins claim Marvin McNutt, make other moves

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports When the Miami Dolphins added Brandon Gibson through free agency, I thought it was a move that had potential to be a solid pick-up. I was surprised to see many Dolfans aggressively upset with the move. Some were upset because it likely meant the end of the line for fan-favorite Davone Bess, but the truth is he was in the Joe Philbin doghouse and was on the outside already. That ship was about to sail regardless so I agreed with the idea of being aggressive in bringing in a potential replacement for Bess. Others were upset because Gibson’s four-year career has been pretty pedestrian, and he is not a guy that can make a big play by racking up yards after the catch. ‘Phins phans were clamoring all offseason for the team to add playmaker-type additions to surround second-year quarterback Ryan Tannehill, and Gibson is not that guy. Despite that, I still see a guy that can bring value and production to the 2013 Dolphins (and going forward). In his rookie season, we saw Tanny connect for some nice plays on second down with Bess, and I look for that to go to the next level with Gibson who does the majority of his damage on second down. When first down plays don’t yield much we will see Gibson make catches as a possession-type of WR. Again, we won’t expect much after the catch, but the 6-footer can be effective making possession-type catches on 2nd down. The hope is that translate to him being a legit red-zone threat as well. 2012 was Gibson’s best season, and he played very well vs. AFC East teams. He had his first ever 100-yard game last season (against the Buffalo Bills … six catches), plus he had three catches for 46 yards vs. the New England Patriots. Although he only had three catches for nine yards vs. the New York Jets, two of those catches were touchdowns. Against the ‘Phins, Gibson had seven catches on nine targets for 91 yards. The rival Jets heavily pursued Gibson, but he chose Miami. It is worth noting that he has increased his average yard per catch in every season. Is he a difference maker like I feel Mike Wallace is? No (unless he can develop into a legit red-zone threat) … but … I do feel he is a guy who can help the team move the chains (2012 Dolphins were a putrid no.26 overall for earning 1st downs) and a guy who can and will contribute. I can’t see a lot of Gibson jerseys being sold, but the haters will come around when Gibson contributes. I recently interviewed O.J. McDuffie for my show @RantingBenCraig and that interview will air on the Saturday May 25 show. OJ had some good things to say about Gibson, and OJ was clearly excited about what Gibson can do in this offense … when OJ talks WR play — I listen! Craig Ballard is a NFL/NBA/MLB writer for RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @craigballard77, and you can find all of his articles HERE