This afternoon, the Miami Dolphins addressed their needs at guard with the signing of Eric Steinbach.  The story was broken by Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post.

A veteran of 9 years in the league, Steinbach brings durability and consistency to the position of guard sorely needed on the Miami Dolphins. 

Steinbach has started 124 of 125 games until being out with a back injury requiring surgery for the entire 2011 season. 

Steinbach played for the Bengals and then Browns before being cut.

The former second rounder out of Iowa is no stranger to coach Joe Philbin, as coach Philbin was his line coach at Iowa.

Steinbach expects to compete at Right Guard in order to fulfill a role on the Dolphins new zone-blocking scheme and may even have a greater chance to start due to the uncertainty that surrounds John Jerry and his overall fitness and fit for the newly revamped offensive line.

With Steinbach in the fold, it could be very encouraging to have a vet paired with rookie right tackle Jonathan Martin and set a good example with technique and solidify the offensive line.

Update:

Per Armando Salguero from his blog Dolphins in Depth:

The Dolphins are optimistic that a deal can be reached by this weekend.  He believes that the Miami Dolphins should consider including the offset language to protect themselves.  However, Salguero makes the point that haggling over the offset language would be foolish since the delay could cause Ryan Tannehill to not get a fair chance at competing for the starting QB position.  The more time Tannehill misses, according to Salguero, he has a better chance of reaching "bust" status as a rookie QB.

So, it is conceivable that Tannehill does sign soon, but the negotiation of the contract could throw a wrench into the plans of a 3 QB race during training camp. 



Just as training camp is supposed to start, the Miami Dolphins have three players unsigned: QB Ryan Tannehill, DE Olivier Vernon, and TE Michael Egnew.  While the Miami Dolphins enter camp this week, these three rookies could be looking at a delay of joining their teammates; critical time could be missed by promising 1st round pick Ryan Tannehill who is expected to compete with quarterbacks David Garrard and Matt Moore. 

So what exactly is the holdup?  For starters, when the new CBA was drafted and then ratified, the owners and players agreed upon specific language that would make 1st round picks have four year deals with a fifth year option, but that these contracts contain what is called offset language or the team having the option of paying a final option bonus in the fifth year in March. The kicker is the option bonus is paid and "guaranteed" even in the event of injury. 

To the Dolphins, this is a new development, but not entirely new on how they have conducted their business.  Dawn Aponte (she's the Dolphins Capologist)  is said to have wanted this option in the contract of Ryan Tannehill according to a report late last week by Mike Florio of PFT.  However, if you look at the history, this is nothing new.  Remember that Ronnie Brown signed a 4 year deal as the 2nd pick of the 2005 draft, but what not everyone knows is that Ronnie Brown protected himself by having his agent negotiate an option for a 5th year with the Dolphins.  Ronnie Brown did not arrive to camp on time and thus it made it a bit difficult to see him excel in a positive fashion in his first year with Nick Saban.  However, Ronnie Brown tore his ACL  and had a Lisfranc fracture during his time with the Dolphins.  His last year?  A horrible year statistically scoring touchdowns, but he established himself a contract year with that option and coming off an injury, if he did not have that 5th year?  He would not get many looks given a difficult and grueling injury and runningbacks don't have a lasting affect on most GMs in the NFL because of the pounding most take in years 1 through 3.  In fact, without that year, Ronnie Brown could have seen himself out of the league. 

For Tannehill, the Dolphins want this language for another reason...money.  According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, there is a chance that when a team cuts player X  from their team and was owed 2 million and then cut and then signed by a new team for 2 million, the original team saves 2 million dollars even though it is a guaranteed salary.  It's like the original team washes their hands of the money owed. 

So let's assume that Jeff Ireland and all responsible parties are in talks with Tannehill's agents and that he will be in camp by Thursday.  Should his contract haveoffset language then as fans, we know that the Dolphins won the negotiation.  Why would Tannehill's representatives not be in favor of the option year? Let's just say that Tannehill has his best year in year 4, wouldn't he want to sign for more money or sign elsewhere?   The inverse is true, Tannehill has 3 bad seasons in Miami and wants out in year 4 of the contract...Miami can get back money lost if he signs with a new team.

Keep in mind, no teams in the first round are including offset language even though they have every right to do so.  Where does that leave the Dolphins three rookies...as of this date unsigned and chomping at the bit to sign that 45 page document called a contract!

Just last week, both Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III signed new rookie deals and each contract contains no offset language.  Let's go Dolphins the clock is ticking!

Last night I had the pleasure of having dinner with ESPN’s Adam Schefter in New York City. It was quite the experience for me as a blogger and football fan. Adam Schefter the person was just as impressive as Adam Schefter the reporter.

There were many stories that were exchanged over the evening most off the record and there was the occasional argument over different player’s values in fantasy football this year. A big take away from my night was that there is a lot of information exchanging behind the scenes around the NFL.

Schefter explained to me how he has come along in his career as a young reporter in Denver early on trying to get as many stories as possible into the insider he is today we he believes in collaborating with the different organizations to help build a strong relationship where information exchanged can benefit both parties.

For those young bloggers out there or those striving to get to the next level in the media, much to my surprise Schefter was surprisingly encouraging, telling me despite being 22 it is never too late to chase dreams and no hurdle should keep you from pursuing trying to get to the next level.

Schefter also gave me insight on a bit how the NFL draft works and the different information that is exchanged which can benefit some organization and leave the stubborn organizations that don’t trust the information regretting it they hadn’t picked up some of his calls.

Adam also informed me that on the biggest breaking story of the offseason (Peyton Manning) it was the truest form of hard work and collaborating between himself and Mort.

I would love to share more on some of Schefter’s stories however I was sworn to secrecy. After nearly 3 hours with Schefter I left one happy football fan. I have to admit I did contemplate taking his phone a couple of times as he would recieve texts from players, agents and teams from around the league and I would recieve texts from my mother.

Feel free if you have any questions from my dinner, I can try and share what I learnt.

A position that hasn’t really been much of the talk this offseason has been the running back position. This is partially because it is one of the positions with the most depth on the Dolphins offense. That being said there are definite questions on how coach Philbin will both distribute the carries and utilize the Dolphins best playmaker Reggie Bush.

There has already been talk of Reggie Bush being used more as a receiver and could be used in a role similar to Darren Sproles in Bush’s old stopping grounds in New Orleans. Should Bush be able to stay healthy, he should be a focal point in the Dolphins offense again this season.

Bush has set high goals for himself even mentioning earlier in the offseason that he would like to contend for the leagues rushing title. While that will be a difficult goal to reach with Bush
never gaining over 1,500 rushing yards in his career, you cannot question Bush work ethic and determination. Since coming to the Dolphins you would be hard pressed to find a player working harder than Reggie Bush.

That being said the Dolphins are hoping that last year’s rookie disappointment second rounder Daniel Thomas can mature into a more complete back. Thomas left plenty on the field last year and didn’t take advantage when was given opportunities. Thomas has also set a personal goal of topping 1000 yards this season however first the Dolphins must see growth in his game and better consistent running. Thomas often left fans frustrated last season as he did not translate his tough running style from college into the big leagues.

To make things more complicated for the Dolphins they also drafted Miami native Lamar Miller in the 4^th round this year. Miller was seen as a bit of a draft steal and could prove to
be useful this season. Miller gives the Dolphins depth at the position and a plan b should Daniel Thomas not develop into the runner the Dolphins have hoped. It is unclear how many carries Miller will get this year, but his play in the preseason should impact his playing time in 2012.

After your done looking at the top 3 backs on the roster, there are questions on whether how the Dolphins will use a true fullback. Charles Clay is expected to exclusively be a tight end this offseason and while he might be occasionally be used in the backfield is not expected to be used as a fullback much this season. Jerome Messam a big back from the CFL was seen as a potential fullback but with offseason injuries Messam will have to fight for his spot on this roster. Messam did have a lot of success in the CFL as a 1000 + yard physical rusher. Steve Slaton a player this coaching staff seems to like will most likely also have to fight for a roster spot this offseason.

While this position is full of depth, it is very unclear how the carries will be distributed and only one man knows the answer to that. ( Coach Philbin)

It’s been over 4 weeks since my last blog but I have a pretty good excuse, as I have been having the time of my life on an experience of a lifetime exploring Thailand. That being said the focus is now shifted back 100 % to the best team in pro sports: the Miami Dolphins. I want to thank Mick and JP who stepped up on the site while I was gone.

While I have a lot of catching up and reading to do, a couple of things have become apparent to me.

1) It would appear as if it is David Garrard’s job to lose. This would leave serious questions as to whether Moore will even make the roster however I believe his attitude on and off the
field will leave him with a spot on this roster.

Garrard starting should not be taken as a knock on Tannehill, if Philbin does not deem Tannehill ready then we should all be okay with the idea of not feeding him to the wolves and
screwing up his maturation process as an NFL QB. I also would not worry too much on the fact that Ryan has not signed yet.

2) The WR position is still very much up in the air. While we know Bess and Hartline will most likely be the main focuses, questions on Ocho and the remaining receiving core are still some
of the biggest this team has. From what I have been reading I would be surprised however if Ocho plays a larger role then most of his skeptics will predict.

3) Hard Knocks trailers. I am sure we are all anxiously awaiting the behind the scenes of what is going on at Dolphins training camp. Hard Knocks will give us fans an opportunity to see a side
of the Dolphins we have never seen before. That being said there is definitely room for failure in this little venture.

While I was gone I would email several people of the Dolphins twitter fan base on what exactly I have been missing while away, the answer has always been the same: NOTHING.

With that being said I look forward to getting back in the game and blogging as much as I can.

On a side note, this upcoming Monday the 23^rd I have a one on one private dinner with Adam Schefter in NYC, I will be sharing all upon my arrival back home.

PhinsUp

Follow me on twitter : @PhinsDaniel