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Ginn and Beck


Duchess Jack
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to me at least... I mentioned this in another thread - that this is what I hoped was going on...

 

 

HYDE: Dolphins secretive draft plan works to perfection

Mueller, Cameron wanted Ginn, then Beck with top picks.

 

Published May 1, 2007

 

 

DAVIE · As Atlanta picked, as Brady Quinn remained, as 15 Dolphins front-office officials and scouts sat in Saturday's draft room with the team going on the clock, one scout said excitedly, "This is coming off just like we want."

 

To which General Manager Randy Mueller thought to himself: "You have no idea how it is."

 

Only four people had an idea. That was part of the stealth plan. As it began to unveil with the pick of Ted Ginn Jr., coach Cam Cameron was famously booed, ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr., called the Dolphins, "in a word, ridiculous," and Mueller alternated between text-messaging the next target in quarterback John Beck, trying furiously to trade up to get Beck and receiving a text message from his teenage daughter.

 

"Dad, I love Ginn," it read. "But you're going to need a bulletproof vest to get home."

 

By Monday afternoon, as he sat at the Dolphins' facility in a team sweatshirt, chuckling about that message, Mueller still sat in the epicenter of a national football debate over this Dolphins draft.

 

"We expected that," he said. "Cam and I knew exactly what the reaction would be [to passing on Quinn]."

 

The booing? The name-calling? The coast-to-coast furor?

 

"All of it," he said. "But that's how it had to be. We wouldn't encourage, discourage, lead or mislead anyone leading up to the draft. We could just stay mum about our plans.

 

"I would cringe whenever I turned on a TV and saw Beck being mentioned. I didn't want anyone talking about him at all. I didn't want any team to know what we thought of him and another team maybe taking him."

 

Listen, then, to the thinking behind these picks. Because the logic makes sense. This wasn't Dave Wannstedt taking linebacker Eddie Moore in hopes he'd become a special-teams contributor. This wasn't Rick Spielman being bluffed out of a fourth-round pick so Minnesota wouldn't take Vernon Carey.

 

For better or worse, richer or poorer, this draft went exactly as Mueller and Cameron hoped with Ginn and Beck becoming their hopes for home runs. That caused the strangest of clashes.

 

The Dolphins' brass privately celebrated their "luck that everything broke our way," as Mueller said, even as a public-relations storm lashed around them.

 

Only the Dolphins' Gang of Four knew the plan. Mueller and Cameron formulated it over the preceding weeks, then discussed it over dinner last Wednesday with team owner H. Wayne Huizenga and president Bryan Wiedmeier.

 

It was full of options and contingencies, depending on what other teams did. But the thinking was two-pronged. First, that Ginn was "special," Mueller said.

 

What about a receiver's lesser value compared to a quarterback?

 

"This guy's electric," Mueller said of Ginn. "Every time he touches the ball, you think he might go the distance."

 

Unstated here was that none of the available quarterbacks graded out as elite level. Quinn had been hyped that way. The decisions said otherwise. Detroit, Cleveland, maybe Tampa Bay all need a young quarterback and passed on Quinn before the Dolphins did. Carolina and Jacksonville, also needing a quarterback, passed before Cleveland traded and took Quinn.

 

But why not trade down?

 

"I know for a fact two teams were ready to take [Ginn] if we passed," Mueller said. (The NFL Network has reported Houston wanted Ginn with the 10th pick.)

 

What's telling, Mueller says, is this pick signals a philosophical shift to a Dolphins' offense that has ranked no higher than 14th in NFL scoring since 2000. No more will the offense hope for grinding 12-play, 75-yard drives that were the norm for recent Dolphins teams.

 

"Cam and I both believe you've got to be able to have the ability to strike quickly," Mueller said.

 

Now came the second part of the plan: grabbing Beck. In early April, Mueller and Cameron interviewed the top four quarterback prospects over a week.

 

Only upon finishing did they compare notes. Quinn and Beck were close enough to each other to be happy with either. Stanford's Trent Edwards was just a notch lower.

 

But when Cleveland traded for Quinn on Saturday, that's when Mueller began to worry about getting Beck. Actually, one team worried him: Detroit. Drafting seven spots before the Dolphins, Mueller knew Detroit wanted a quarterback.

 

Hoping to see if Detroit had contacted Beck, Mueller text-messaged him: "Are you OK?"

 

"My wife wants a tan, and I'm wearing flip-flops," Beck wrote back.

 

Mueller began talking with Chicago (31st pick) and Oakland (33rd pick) to trade up. He offered a switch of picks for the Dolphins' 40th overall pick and combinations that involved third- or fourth-round picks. He thought he had a deal. Then he didn't. Then came word Detroit had traded to the 43rd spot.

 

"I felt better after that," Mueller said.

 

By Monday afternoon, Mueller wasn't thinking about Quinn or the continued storm.

 

He was thinking how Beck had asked for the cell phone number of every player in his draft class to talk. And how he'd left a quickie visit to the Dolphins this weekend with a playbook and as much information to study as possible.

 

"That's what you like to see," he said, leaning back and doing what so few Dolphins fans were this draft.

 

Smiling.

Edited by DMD
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I like a team that aggressively does what they feel is best for them and doesn't worry about how it will look to the 'public'.

 

That said, I like the move to pass on Quinn to get Beck in the 2nd round. However, I think they could have done much better than Ginn in the 1st round. I just see Ginn as being a solid PR/KR guy, who is only average as a receiver. I've been wrong many, many times in the past, but, I just don't think Ginn is going to be anything "special"

 

Still, I applaud them for following their plan regardless of what the mainstream media thought.

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Anybody know anything about these cats? Are any guys that should have been drafted?

 

linebacker Edmond Miles (Iowa)

cornerback/returner Tuff Harris (Montana)

wide receiver Gabe Hatchett (Southern Oregon)

defensive end Mkristo Bruce (Washington State)

cornerback Geoffrey Pope (Howard)

offensive linemen Tala Esera (Hawaii)

Stephen Parker (Arkansas)

Julius Wilson (Alabama-Birmingham).

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Anybody know anything about these cats? Are any guys that should have been drafted?

 

cornerback/returner Tuff Harris (Montana)

 

 

One of the better CB's in the Big Sky and a threat to return every punt or kickoff he touched. Don't know how his skills at Division 1-AA will translate to the NFL, but I am glad he graduated as a die-hard Montana State fan.

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I like the slam on Spielman. I too thought the Vikings raped the Dolphins on the trade, and was not impressed when the Vikings hired him. Obviously he either seemed to learn something or wasn't the decision maker behind that earlier snafu with the Dolphins. You have to love the moves Spielman and company made in the draft this year moving up and down and basically obtaining a free 3rd round pick next year while obtaining value in every round.

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You think they're still feeling great about Ginn with him in a walking boot as he takes over 4 months to recover from a sprained foot? Last I heard, he wouldn't be ready for another 2 months yet.

 

Meh. We are not going to the Superbowl this year. That's small picture stuff. He'll heal.

Edited by Duchess Jack
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defensive end Mkristo Bruce (Washington State)

 

 

He's a great personality and team leader. Surprised he wasn't drafted actually. Probably a tad slow, but capable enough of being a part of a rotation.

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We'll see how it works out. I think Booker is on the way out so we'll have Chambers, Hagan and Ginn basically. He'll get thrown in the mix right away once he's completely healthy.

Edited by Flip_Side
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Cool article.

 

They certtainly stuck to their guns and got who they wanted regardless of all the backlash. Whether they know what their doing or not is another question.

 

Cameron worked with Brees & Rivers in SD and they both turned out OK. Maybe he knows something about Beck we don't?

 

I don't follow college, especially BYU, as much as the pros. Can anyone tell me about John Beck? Miami certainly LOVES him. So much so, they wanted to trade down in the 2nd round to get him.

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You think they're still feeling great about Ginn with him in a walking boot as he takes over 4 months to recover from a sprained foot? Last I heard, he wouldn't be ready for another 2 months yet.

 

 

Well, he WAS able to take the boot off and run a sub-4.4 40 at his pro day. :D

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Ginn has to be good if Houston wanted him. God knows you always want to beat Houston to their targeted draftees.

 

 

:D

 

Oh yeah.....thanks to the fins for taking Ginn.

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So let me get this straight...

 

Harris is apparently a punt/kick returner.

 

Ginn is being compared to Desmond Howard.

 

Lorenzo Booker is a small back that will do no more than catch a few balls out of the backfield...more than likely will run back kicks.

 

Damn, our special teams is going to be good!!! Maybe the plan is to let the defense stop the opponent and run every punt back for a score. That way, the offense never has to see the field. Now that is innovative.

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Well, he WAS able to take the boot off and run a sub-4.4 40 at his pro day. :D

 

Yep, he's able to run in a straight line, really, really fast. :D

 

However, planting & cutting......... :tup:

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