A player that saw his tackling production cut in half last season, has as many game changing plays in his five-year career as many do in one season, has made a fool of himself in the past with his mouth, and is coming off a season ending Lisfranc injury, shouldn't be a lock to start, right? Well the perception among many is that Channing Crowder, despite coming off the worst statistical season of his career, is still penciled in as the starter next to newcomer Karlos Dansby.

Crowder has been solid in the past, don't get me wrong, and if he can return to the high-level of play that saw him rack up 103 tackles in 06' and 113 in 08', he should be the starter, no doubt. And we shouldn't underestimate his value against the run either. In the four games Crowder missed the last two seasons, the run defense simply fell apart.

In those four contest, the Dolphins run-D yielded 154.4 rushing yards a game, and a staggering 5.1 yards per carry. Now, that may speak volumes about how horrible the linebackers were behind him, but it's been clear, nonetheless, that Crowder makes the run-D better. Still though, do his struggles in the other elements of the position make him vulnerable to former Charger Tim Dobbins?

Because just what we saw with the naked eye, doesn't justify how bad Crowder was in coverage and blitzing a year ago. I think Pro Football Focus really puts things into perspective, by ranking Crowder's miserable 09' campaign 49th out of the 54 inside linebacker's listed. As expected, Crowder received a positive 2.4 rating against the run, but his -5.6 coverage rating, and his -1.6 pass rush rating, really sum up how one-dimensional he is.

Enter Tim Dobbins, who has brought over in that draft day trade with San Diego, that more notably saw the Dolphins swap their 12th overall selection for the Chargers' 28th and 40th overall picks. He has been described as a "core special teams" player by Jeff Ireland, but when you factor in how Ireland's comments really mean nothing, how Dobbins put up three more tackles than Crowder in 418 less snaps, and the fact that Dobbins has obviously impressed this offseason, which can be seen in his recently signed extension, it's easy to see why he could push Crowder for the starting job.

So let's take a look at the film, to see what exactly the Dolphins are getting with Dobbins. Click read more to see the video and some analysis.

With really nothing going on this time of year, outside of rookie negotiations and signings, you could literally here a pin drop, due to the dullness and silence that is late June. Consider Brandon Marshall's comments over the weekend at his youth football camp the pin.

“I’m not making a prediction,” Marshall told the Palm Beach Post. “But this is going to be a great year for us, and for me probably the best year I’ve had.” Nothing earth-shattering or controversial, thankfully, but something to talk about nonetheless.

While Marshall's lofty expectations for the Dolphins and himself might get fans all wound up with excitement, realist may make the case that career numbers are unlikely with Miami's dedication to the run.

So let's get to Marshall's statistics thus far, and how often the Broncos have ran and passed compared to the Dolphins, to get a feel for what Marshall is capable of.

Brandon Marshall

Year	G	GS	Rec.	Yds.	TD
2006	15	1	20	309	2
2007	16	16	102	1,325	7
2008	15	15	104	1,265	6
2009	15	13	101	1,120	10

As you can see, it's going to take at least 1,326 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns for Marshall to have career numbers. Of course, if he has a little less than 1,300 yards but surpasses his 09' touchdown total, or has one or two less touchdowns but puts up more yards than ever, you could still make a case for 2010 being his best season.

Whatever the case, it's going to take a very prolific year for Marshall to statistically one-up what he has done in Denver. But will he get as many opportunities in Dan Henning's offense? Let's take a look.

Miami Dolphins

Year	Pass Att.	Run Att.
2008	491	448
2009	545	509

Denver Broncos

Year	Pass Att.	Run Att.
2006	454	488
2007	515	429
2008	620	387
2009	558	440

Those totals come out to the Dolphins passing the ball about 52% of the time, while the Broncos aired it out around 54% of the time during Marshall's four year stint in Denver. Those percentages don't seem to indicate that Marshall's numbers are going to decline too heavily in Miami's run-first attack.

Obviously, these statistics don't take into effect things like having to throw the ball because you are behind, or milking the clock with the lead, but they seem fairly parallel with each team's philosophy. And when you take into account the fact that Marshall gives the Dolphins the ability to open things up a bit, meaning throwing the ball more, Marshall having a career year in 2010 doesn't seem too far-fetched after all.

And maybe he wasn't even talking about individual accolades when he made those comments. Maybe he was suggesting that by winning ball games, and making a serious playoff run, the team's success would define 2010 as his best season yet. But then again, career numbers from Marshall would go a long way in making those team goals possible.

If you have been wondering why certain articles have been appearing and disappearing over the last couple days, it was because the Bloguin network has been experiencing some technical difficulties. To specify, the whole network was in the process of switching over to some new and improved servers, but that process took a little longer than expected.

It appeared we successfully made the move over the weekend, but technical difficulties forced us to move back to the old ones. While we were back on the old servers, the Dolphins signed a couple draft picks, seventh-rounder Austin Spitler and fifth-rounder Nolan Carroll, so I wrote up a couple brief posts that gave the details on the two signings. But because we had to move back to the new servers, and because I forgot to save both of those posts, they were both lost to the old servers.

Anyway, we are back up and running on the new servers and it appears everything is operating smoothly. Expect my frequent posting schedule to resume tomorrow, and get ready for the start of July as we crank things up a bit in preparation for training camp!

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The Dolphins now have two rookies from this year's draft locked up, as Scout.com's Aaron Wilson reported earlier today that they came to terms with fourth-round pick A.J. Edds. It's reportedly a four-year deal that includes a $477,000 signing bonus. It is perceived that Miami drafted Edds for his coverage abilities, which should translate into seeing a lot of him in the nickel package this season.

Well, there are officially no more legitimate free safety options remaining on the free agency market. With O.J. Atogwe re-signing with the Rams yesterday and Ken Hamlin coming to terms with the Ravens last week, the powers that be are trusting Chris Clemons, or possibly Reshad Jones to hold down the starting free safety job. 

I say possibly Reshad Jones because, as far as we know, he could still beat out Clemons, but for all intents and purposes it appears to be Clemons' job to lose. The coaching staff and front office have talked up Clemons ever sense OTA's opened, have praised the progress he has made from a mental standpoint, and point out how he has received more reps than anybody this spring.

The vote of confidence Clemons has got from the Dolphins though, seemed to come out of nowhere, starting at the draft. They could have stayed put at No. 12 and selected Texas' Earl Thomas, but they didn't. They could have traded up a few slots in round three in order to snag Georgia Tech's Morgan Burnett, or picked up Florida's Major Wright in the same round, but they passed on both.

Instead, Ireland and Parcells chose not to address the safety position until round five, when they drafted Reshad Jones. Yes, Jones will compete at free safety, but on paper he appears to be better suited as Yeremiah Bell's eventual successor at strong safety.

Then of course, there was Atogwe hitting free agency earlier this month. The Dolphins were rumored to be in the mix for his services, but really never made a strong push, despite the fact that he would have instantly provided stability at the position. But was that because of how much cash Atogwe was requesting, or was it because the Dolphins honestly think Clemons is the long-term solution at a position that plagued them a year ago?

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