OTAs recap

Most of you have been following OTAs so you may have seen most of this.  I thought I would post this for those that don't have the time to follow all the media outlets.  Most of what I am writing came from the Palm Beach Post and the Sun-Sentinel.

There has been some talk of Ross saying that MM will likely be the starter.  That was countered by Joe Philbin when he said that is not Boss Ross's call.  Philbin went as far as to say Ross does not sign his pay checks, that is done by the treasure of the Dolphins organization.  (That made me laugh, I like you Joe but come on dude !!!)  Joe said the QB position is a open competition as all the positions are.  (Well I don't believe that either, but I'll roll with that statement for now.)

86 of 89 players were at the OTAs  of the 3 that were missing, they are still in classes at school.  Vontae Davis, Jerome Messam, and ( Jonas Gray who ?) sat out of todays session.  In the 4-3 defense Odrick has been moved to the LDE and Wake is playing RDE.  Burnett and Misi are flip flopping from strong side and weak side OLB with Dansby in the Middle.  Jones and Clemons are at safety and Marshall is filling in for Davis with Smith on the other side for the CBs.

John Jerry at guard and Murtha are manning the right side.  Reports have it that Jerry looks heavy 20 -30 lbs.  (What else is new ?)  Naanee, Bess, and Hartline have manning WR positions, and Bush has been seeing some time in the slot.

Early reports have it that Lamar Miller has looked good so far.  Burnett said guys look good without the pads on and when the pads go on things will change.  " Right now guys are trying to learn a new system, and you can't take to much out of the OTAs."

All of the QBs have had their moments so far, as Burnett said they are trying to learn a new system. 

From the Palm Beach Post, Philbin said : The Dolphins currently have 12 receivers vying for five roster spots, and Philbin said at this point it’s hard to judge them. “We haven’t seen a lot of press man-to-man yet,” he said. But Philbin said he has three criteria: “One of the things that will be interesting to see is how they separate against man coverage. You’re looking for guys who can make a play on a vertical ball down the field, that’s something that’s very important. And third, a guy that’s a consistent ball catcher, I know it sounds simple but sometimes it’s overlooked.”
* Philbin, on how the practice went: “I was really pleased with the effort out there today. I thought the execution was relatively good for the vast majority of practice. The last team practice we had got a little sloppy. My guess is guys got a little tired, the heat and reps caught up with them.”
* Philbin, on what he hopes to accomplish during this three-day OTA (Wednesday and Thursday are closed to the media): “You want to start building some chemistry. We exposed the guys to a lot of information. You want to see some leaders emerge, you want to see the units play together, you want to see good communication on both sides of the ball. You’re looking for a lot of chemistry, communication and that consistency a little bit.”

From what I have read the pace of the practices has been fast ( like in 2 minute drill fast )  Philbin has been having the offense running up tempo for the entire practice.  Going as far as setting the 40 second clock up to 33 seconds.  They have been running 2 complete 11 on  11 drills on each side of 50 yard line.  As soon as one side of the field runs a play, the other side of the field will run theres.  The reporters are saying they don't have time write down what is happening between plays because there is no time to do so.

David Garard said if they play like this during the season, defenses are going to have a hard time getting there players on the field between plays.  (I don't know about the rest of you but I like the sounds of that.)  A few players said the practices are running at warp speed and they were not ready for that.