First, though, I want to thank Adam for the questions. These were some good questions that made me think. I enjoy it when you guys let me know what you want to talk about. Please never hesitate to send me requests, because I would rather talk about what you guys want than what I want.
Anyways, here were his questions:
"What do you think of Chad Henne?I’ll just start from the beginning Adam (after the Chad Henne part of course). I am not quite sure what to expect. The annoying thing is that the Dolphins have such a good football team, they are just held back by a few problems. If I had to guess, I would think Miami is an above .500 team. They have too much talent to be just another 7-9 team.
All that aside I would seriously ask you, what do you honestly expect from the team this year if there is football? You seem to have, at times, wanted new coaching or management, new field general, new owner. So it’s safe to say you aren't really happy with the Dolphins. So what do you expect to feel from September to February? You expect to feel the same at the end of the season as you do at the beginning?
Do you expect any rookies to make an impact? If so which ones?
Do you expect our new Coordinator to impress you? If not do you think he will do a good enough job with the pieces on offense to make us a top 15 offense (scoring that is. I think we actually moved the ball decent at times last year more than we could score)?
Do you expect to be happy with the team’s progress at the end of the year?"
I am very iffy on our coaching and management. Tony Sparano seems like a good coach at times, but he doesn’t seem too bright at other times. I think he knows what he is doing, but he just has too much responsibility as head coach. That doesn’t mean I don’t think he can be successful, though. I think he could end up being a really good coach, he just needs to cut out some of his mistakes and learn how to properly run a team. Things like not handing out a playbook just can’t happen anymore. That was not a fatal mistake by him, but if he does make another big mistake like that he should be on his way out.
I wish I could make a prediction for you about what I think will happen next season, but I am going to avoid doing that until I know what quarterback they go with and what running backs they end up with. I will say that I doubt Henne will be anything more than a game manager. Riverdog has said it before. Henne just can’t make all of the throws he needs to. He is an average-at-best quarterback and I saw nothing in his throws last year that tells me otherwise. If he does end up starting I do still think there is a chance that the Dolphins make the playoffs, they would just have to rely very heavily on the run.
The rookies that I think will make the most impact are Mike Pouncey, Daniel Thomas, and Edmond Gates. Those three you probably already figured, though. One that I could see making a pretty big impact that you don’t hear much is FB/TE Charles Clay. He isn’t an exceptional athlete, but he could add an additional passing threat out of the backfield. Don’t be surprised if he does well this year.
Now, for Brian Daboll. I have no clue whatsoever if he will be able to put together a successful offense. He doesn’t exactly have a winning track record as an OC, and bringing him in didn’t really seem like the best move to me. He did have a good running game, though, so we could see that again this year. Daniel Thomas could end up putting up some really good numbers under Daboll even though most people might not expect him to (fantasy alert).
I don’t even want to make a prediction for the end of the year. I am hoping that they will be able to progress, but I’m not sure yet. I need to see what happens this offseason. Ask me once free agency has passed and we are close to the season starting.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks for the question Adam, and everyone else please be sure to keep the questions coming. You can email me at paul@dolphinshout.com or on twitter at twitter.com/pauldsmythe.
