Jason Allen Has Been Named Starter For Miami Dolphins

Meet Our New Starting CB
You know we are in trouble when Jason Allen is starting over Sean Smith.

Maybe Jason Allen has finally developed into a good corner, and maybe he will be a big contributor to the Miami Dolphins. That's not likely, though.

The move of benching Sean Smith in favor of Jason Allen is a big concern to me. It is a bad thing for two reasons. One, Smith must be really struggling, and two, we have to resort to putting Allen in there.

This move also comes at a terrible time because veteran CB Will Allen has just been put on IR, so he can't step in.

There are three good scenarios that we can only hope for:
1. The Dolphins pick up another very talented CB off waivers or free agent, but that is unlikely because there probably isn't too much talent available.

2. Jason Allen ends up being a very successful corner. He hasn't done too much in his 5 year career, but maybe he has really started developing. One can only hope.

3. Sean Smith comes back and better than ever. This would be my preferred outcome. Smith is my favorite player on the Miami Dolphins. I'm not positive, but it is possible he has just gotten a little bit lazy this off-season. I honestly do not know for sure, but I don't know why else he would have lost his spot to Allen.


Hopefully we end up with one of those outcomes, but I am not really sure that we will. This team looked so good in the off-season and coming into the preseason. Injuries and poor exhibition play has really dampened my spirits.

What is even worse is the fact that my two favorite players on the Dolphins have been traded away and benched in the last month. Smith has been benched and Greg Camarillo was traded to the Minnesota Vikings for CB Benny Sapp.

With the way our luck is, Sapp may end up being the starter because Allen isn't doing well, either.

Oh well, I am still excited about this year. Hopefully Brandon Marshall is all he was in Denver and more, because we definitely need him now.

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Pat White Was A Draft Bust, But That Does Not Mean The Miami Dolphins Have A Lot Of Bad Picks

Pat White Is Now Gone
The Pat White era with the Miami Dolphins was short-lived and unsuccessful, and anyone who disagrees with that is a fool.

The Miami Dolphins cut him after just one season of doing pretty much nothing. He was brought in to help with the Wildcat offense - among other things - and was unable to do so effectively.

But, just because the Dolphins made a mistake in drafting Pat White does not mean that they have been unsuccessful in drafts. In fact, they have been quite the opposite. Pat White is one of only a few mistake the Miami Dolphins have made in the NFL Draft in the past three years under the leadership of the "Trifecta".

Miami's top three draft picks from this years draft, for example, are all very strong candidates for starting jobs. First-round pick Jared Odrick is currently listed as the starter at defensive end, second-round pick Koa Misi is listed at the starting strong-side linebacker spot, and third-round pick John Jerry is listed as the starting right guard ahead of Cory Procter.

That sounds like a pretty good use of the Dolpins early-round picks, and with one of their late-round picks, Miami picked up CB Nolan Carroll. Carroll has been really impressive this preseason, and has exceeded all expectations that most fifth round picks would have.

As impressive as the 2010 NFL Draft was, it still couldn't match the draft in 2009. Here is a list of the starters with a small analysis of each:

Vontae Davis CB - 1st Round
Davis has turned into one of the premier CBs in the NFL. He is currently the number 1 CB on the Dolphins offense, and he matches up with the best receivers in the NFL.

Sean Smith CB - 2nd Round
Smith has also developed into a talented CB since he was drafted. As a rookie he started all 16 games last season. It figures that he will also be starting all 16 this year.

Brian Hartline WR - 4th Round
Hartline will be starting opposite of Brandon Marshall at the receiving spot. He has turned out to be a great pick for Miami. He lead the Dolphins receivers in receiving touchdowns and yards per reception.

Chris Clemons FS - 5th Round
This was a tremendous pick for the Dolphins, and although he didn't do much last season, his impact will be felt this season. The Dolphins main weakness coming into the offseason this year was the Free Safety position, but Clemons has since calmed those worries with an extremely good offseason. I would be willing to argue that he is among the top 3 Dolphins drafted in the last three years in terms of value.


The 2008 draft also provided the Dolphins with some key parts of our current team. We picked LT Jake Long with the first overall pick, and since then he has made the Pro Bowl every season in the league. We also acquired our current starting QB Chad Henne late in the second round. On defense Miami picked up Kendall Langford, who is listed as a starter at LE.

That seems like another good draft to me.


So, anyone who complains about the Dolphins drafting ability needs to do their research. Sure, Pat White was a big bust and a waste of a second round pick, but those things happen. The Dolphins currently have 10 starters from the last three draft classes. That is a pretty impressive number of starters for just three years.

I want to hear from you. How do you think the Dolphins have done in the past three NFL Drafts? Who do you think are the top three value picks (talent compared to round they were drafted in) of the draft, as well?

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In An Interesting Move The Miami Dolphins Release WR Patrick Turner

Patrick Turner
In a move that I found pretty surprising, the Miami Dolphins released WR Patrick Turner. Turner was finally showing some promise this preseason after not really doing much in his rookie season last year.

The Dolphins were expected by a lot of people to release either undrafted receiver Marlon Moore or undrafted receiver Roberto Wallace. Instead they got rid of Turner, though. All three players have shown a lot of promise this offseason, so it isn't like Turner is a big loss to the team.

Moore and Wallace have been surprisingly good since the Dolphins picked them up after they went undrafted.

It is a little bit ironic that the Dolphins keep two players that were not even drafted on the same day that they released QB Pat White who they drafted in the second round of last year's draft. Pat White may not have been the best draft pick, but Wallace and Moore seem to be pretty good picks after the fact.

But, back to the releasing of Turner. I honestly did not see that move coming. I thought that because Turner was finally coming around that they would be willing to keep him around. Maybe they just decided to not let him have some time to develop and just let him go.

I want to say it is kind of like Pat White's situation, but I am not sure whether Turner got as much of a chance as White did. Whether they saw him as a Pat White-type pick or not, he is gone now.

I actually kind of like the move. We get two people with a lot of potential. What's your opinion on the move? Do you like it, or do you think we should have released somebody else? Let me know in the comments.

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