HYDE: Cameron is done dealing with problem players

Published May 19, 2007

DAVIE · This is a column about a player's character, a team's success and Cam Cameron's belief how the two are intertwined, and it begins with this cautionary note: The first big-money move of this new Dolphins' era was to sign linebacker Joey Porter.

Porter arrived with behavioral questions. He promptly got into a very public Las Vegas fight that's still being sorted out by police. So you can believe what Cameron says or not. You can ask for more time to see how hard he believes what he says or not.

But understand this: Every Dolphins coach for decades, from upright Don Shula to shrewd Jimmy Johnson to nice-guy Dave Wannstedt to duplicitous Nick Saban -- every one of them clutched the same belief. They believed they could save a problem player.

The better the player, the harder they believed this.

Cameron doesn't believe.

"Fifteen years ago I did," he said. "[Michigan coach] Bo Schembechler would be kicking this guy and that guy off the team, and I'd be saying, `I could've saved him and him and him.'"

Here's what the older Cameron thinks: "I understand we all make mistakes. Good people make mistakes. Where I get concerned is where guys make repeat mistakes. That has been the indicator over the years that a guy doesn't get it.

"You look at all the experiences at the different levels of the game, and the guys that are character guys are the ones that usually make the big plays in critical situations to win games. And the guys you spend all the time on with off-field issues, more often than not -- they'll make a lot of plays over the course of a season or game -- but more often than not they'll let you down in critical situations."

He's sitting in his new office, the one where Shula, Johnson, Wannstedt and Saban once worked. In the bookshelves along one wall, there's a photo of former Dallas coach Tom Landry. There are dozens of books, many about disciplined coaches like John Wooden, Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes and Schembechler.

There's a framed poem by Gen. Douglas MacArthur called Build Me A Son that the father of an Indiana University player sent Cameron in appreciation. There's another framed poem about attitude called The Inner Voice. San Diego running back LaDainian Thomlinson handed it out to teammates and coaches.

These are solid citizens in his bookshelf, often rooted in another era, with whom Cameron relates. And this is instructive as Cameron relates why he doesn't believe in saving players like the other coaches once did at this desk.

"As a human being, I will do whatever I can to help a human being succeed and overcome whatever issues they have," he said. "When it comes to trying to win football games, I've had no success in that. Some guys have some improvements. But they've never made the improvements where they can still play at a high level.

"See, we're not just talking about turning someone's life around. We're talking about them also still playing at a high level. There's a difference. Because you can turn someone's life around. But what you see is it took so much effort for them to get themselves squared away, whether it be rehab center, counseling -- all these different things -- that it took away from their ability to play at a high level."

Cameron said he and General Manager Randy Mueller scratched off a "significant number" of players from their draft list because of character issues. For the first time since 2003, no drafted Dolphins player had an arrest. Another early move was to release Marcus Vick and Manny Wright, each of whom had off-field baggage.

New England has swung the other way this offseason. After preaching about intangible terms like character and chemistry on their way to recent Super Bowls, it got the tangled tangibles of Randy Moss this offseason.

Cameron doesn't dismiss exceptions like this. "You still have to do with what's best to give you a chance to win," he said. "In the short term, sometimes you'll take a risk.

"Truth be known, a team can probably handle one or two [problem players]. But you've got to be careful. Because one can become two, two becomes four and four becomes eight. Then look out, you've got a whole list of issues."

But the more Cameron talks, the more you understand the Dolphins will hand-pick fewer risky investments now. You don't have to agree with it. You can say if Jimmy had drafted problem child Moss and not problem talent John Avery, he'd have won.

Still, Dolphins fans should understand the pitfalls of high-maintenance players. In the past two decades wasted energy and effort has been invested to varying degrees on the varying problems of Tony Collins, Pete Johnson, Chuck Muncie, Bobby Humphrey, Lawrence Phillips, Jim Druckenmiller, Irving Fryar, Dimitrius Underwood, Tony Martin, Cecil Collins, Clayton Holmes, Johnny Mitchell, Eric Green, David Boston, Ricky Williams and Manny Wright.

When you study it, only one troubled player was worth the trouble: Irving Fryar.

As for Porter, Cameron said, "I think the world of him. I'm not minimizing anything he's done. But we're going to work with him and do everything he can to be successful on and off the field."

That sounds like any football coach defending any player with any problem. Maybe time will bear out Cameron is just that. But, for now, Cameron also sounds different than any coach who has sat in this office.

Dave Hyde can be reached at dhyde@sun-sentinel.com.

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