The Miami Herald reports that the Fins today officially announced the signing of two rookies:
David J. Neal, from the Miami Herald, reports the Miami Dolphins on Friday officially announced the signings of third-round pick Patrick Turner, a 6-5 wide receiver from USC, and seventh-round pick J.D. Folsom, a linebacker out of Weber State.
The Miami Herald wrote today that returning DE Jason Taylor is talking about playing past this season:
Earlier this offseason, the Miami Dolphins and DE Jason Taylor agreed on a one-ear deal to bring Taylor back to the Dolphins. Taylor has recently expressed an interest to play beyond the one-year deal he ad the team agreed upon for 2009. “I’ll be around until they kick me out.” said Taylor.
Taylor needs to stay on the field, and if he does that, there’s no doubt that he can have a big impact on a Dolphins defense that can be better than it was last season.
The Dolphins inked third-round pick WR Patrick Turner today to a 4-year deal. The Palm Beach Post reports:
The Dolphins have rewarded their third-round pick with a four-year deal worth roughly $2.3 million, including a signing bonus of more than $700,000, an NFL source confirmed. Turner, who turned 22 last month, still has to sign the papers, but said today he’s glad to get his contract negotiations out of the way. “Now it’s just football,” Turner said during a youth camp at the NFL Rookie Symposium in Palm Beach Gardens. “That stuff is over and done with; it’s a good feeling.”
Former Vikings and Cardinals head coach Dennis Green took to the airwaves talking to NFL Radio, and said some interesting things about how he feels that Bill Parcells and the Dolphins will make a serious run at former Falcons QB Michael Vick:
“I have a hard time believing that Michael Vick is not going to wind up with Bill Parcells,” Green said, “simply because he has that creativeness that says that no matter what it takes, he’s going to find a way to get Michael Vick. Now, whether it means convincing the Commissioner or whatever it takes, Michael Vick is probably going to wind up at Miami because of the fact that Bill Parcells is Bill Parcells.”
The Dolphins have said little to nothing about Vick, who is a free agent after the Falcons released him a few weeks back. Miami already runs a “wildcat” offense with Ronnie Brown as the key, so who knows - maybe adding Vick wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
The Sun-Sentinel reports that the Fins may have some problems getting some of their higher draft picks signed:
Talks are believed to be progressing between the Dolphins and third-round pick Patrick Turner, a wide receiver from the University of Southern California. However, things haven’t started percolating for first-rounder Vontae Davis or either second-rounder, Pat White and Sean Smith, which isn’t unusual considering there’s more than a month to go before training camp opens on Aug. 1.
Today’s Palm Beach Post basically confirms that rookie Vontae Davis probably wasn’t the person arrested the other day by police in Champaign Ill:
Dolphins rookie cornerback Vontae Davis appears to be on his way to exoneration by the Champaign (Ill.) Police Department. Rene Dunn, a community affairs officer for the department, released a statement today acknowledging the likelihood that the man stopped and cited June 9 was not Davis. The confusion began Tuesday when the University of Illinois student newspaper ran a story saying that Davis - who was a star for the Illini - had been cited for driving without a valid license and excessive noise by his vehicle. The Dolphins questioned the report, pointing out that Davis had attended workouts at their Davie training facility on the mornings of June 9 and 10 and had attended a rookie seminar in between.
The Dolphins continue to bring in new minority owners, as today it was announced that singer Gloria Estefan and her husband, producer Emilio Estefan, are joining the team as minority owners. Owner Stephen Ross announced the partnership at a news conference today.
Last month, Ross also began a partnership with Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville enterprise, which includes Land Shark Lager. Buffett has yet to accept Ross’ invitation to become a minority owner, but the Dolphins’ stadium has been renamed Land Shark Stadium for this season.
News travels rather fast, and earlier today there was a report according to the Daily Illini that Dolphins first-round pick Vontae Davis was arrested back on June 9th for unnecessary vehicular noise and driving without a valid license. Davis got wind of the news, and told the Sun-Sentinel “It’s a crazy thing, when I heard about it, it hit me: ‘Oh, God.’ It was something I couldn’t prepare for. It just came out of nowhere.”
The team is also coming out, and stating that they believe their pick, as they have released their own statement about the situation. “I spoke to Vontae, and he told me he was in South Florida all day on June 9, the day the incident supposedly occurred,” spokesman Harvey Greene wrote. “In addition, we had a scheduled OTA that morning that Vontae attended, and he also attended a rookie life-skill session that afternoon.
“Finally, we also know he was in the building at 7:00 a.m. the next morning. So, in addition to Vontae’s own word that he wasn’t in Champaign, it’s almost physically impossible for him to have been there at the time the incident allegedly took place.”
Davis insists he was attending an OTA on June 9th and June 10th.
The Fins continue to make off the field news, as the Palm Beach Post is reporting that the club has signed backup safety Tyrone Culver to a two-year extension. PFT.com reports that Culver will make $3.225 million in base salary over the next three years.
He was a third-round pick of Green Bay in 2006, and was released last preseason and then signed with the Dolphins. He played quite a bit for the AFC East champs last season, and again in 2009 will be called up for special teams and also dime packages behind starters Gibril Wilson and Yeremiah Bell.
The Palm Beach Post reports that running back Ronnie Brown looks great so far in workouts, and could be on the verge of a huge season:
Heading into a contract year, Brown looked fit, faster than ever and like he should be the team’s featured back, instead of splitting carries again. Brown consistently beat the defense to the outside corner, split out wide and caught a long TD pass Saturday and handled most of the snaps out of the Wildcat. At 27, he looks poised for his best year yet.
