Daily Dolphins News From The Sun-Sentinel

May 04, 2007

Minicamp stuff

John Beck looks shorter than his 6-2 listed height, especially when he's being swallowed up by the defense durinig 9-on-9 drills. He's playing with the third-teamers, but the defense is light years ahead of the revamped offense at this point. Beck seemed rushed all day, but he did display a rocket arm, particularly on a slant to Derek Hagan and a deep toss to rookie receiver David Sutton - who torched CB Jason Allen.
What a shock, receiver Kelly Campbell is limping again after going down in the afternoon session. Campbell has never met a limp he didn't like.
Sadly, one of the good guys, cornerback Andre' Goodman left the field in pain, in what could be a reoccurrence of his shoulder injury that ended his season last year. Hopefully not.
For the first time ever, the practice sessions are being announced by radio personality Kenny Walker. He's basically explaining to the sweltering fans what drills the players are undertaking. It's actually pretty neat and a positive change. Also, the players now have their names on their backs, which will help us hacks ID practice squad players and workout players. ...
The rookie punter Brandon Fields is 6-5, 236 pounds and looks more like a defensive end but he does boom them. ...
Tight end David Martin, hoping to make fans forget the slippery-fingered Randy McMichael, sat out with a flu bug.
later...

Harvey Fialkov

Sun-Sentinel Dolphins beat reporter


Brown's weight on Cameron's mind
By Harvey Fialkov
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted May 5 2007

DAVIE · Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown admitted after practice Friday that coach Cam Cameron was displeased with his conditioning when he reported for the pre-draft minicamp three weeks ago."A little bit. I think that's just from the added emphasis put on the running back position in general," said Brown, who's about eight pounds overweight at 240 and needs to slice his 12 percent body fat down to 8 or 9 percent. "I think I'm in pretty good shape, but as far as being in football shape, I still have a long way to go and a lot to work on from that standpoint."
Cameron said he's just pushing Brown to become, "a great player.""It takes time to be great at that position," said Cameron, who has seen that firsthand while working with San Diego Chargers Pro Bowl running back LaDainian Tomlinson over the last five years. "There are a lot of expectations on him, by himself as well as us, but we are making progress there."Brown, who gained more than 1,000 yards for the first time last season despite missing three games after fracturing his left hand, has been watching Chargers' game tape and Tomlinson."We're two different individuals and obviously we have two different styles," Brown said. "Just seeing the opportunities he has, as far as catching the ball and doing some different things ... I'm kind of excited by that." Tackle Shelton lighterNew starting right tackle L.J. Shelton said he has lost 20 pounds this offseason and is hoping to drop roughly 10 more to play between 320 and 330 pounds in 2007.The Dolphins' new philosophy of using smaller guards has led to 2006 fourth-round pick Joe Toledo receiving snaps at tackle.Offseason signing Chris Liwienski and Dan Stevenson, a late-season roster pickup in 2006, were the starting guards on an offensive line in flux. ... Cameron said his reasons for firing running backs coach Bobby Williams after the pre-draft minicamp were between him and Williams. ... The locker of suspended running back Ricky Williams has been given to rookie running back Lorenzo Booker.

Top pick Ginn rides bike
As expected, first-round draft pick receiver/returner Ted Ginn Jr. (sprained foot) spent most of the two sessions riding a stationary bicycle, along with defensive tackle Keith Traylor and offensive tackle Anthony Alabi, who are recovering from minor ankle and knee surgeries.Because Ginn's class at Ohio State won't graduate until June 10, he will not be permitted to participate in the June 8-10 minicamp or even attend offseason conditioning sessions at the facility.Ginn said that immobilizing his left foot in a boot next week is a possibility but hasn't been decided yet. ... Tight end David Martin didn't practice because of the flu. ... Receiver Kelly Campbell, who has missed the last two seasons with quadriceps injuries, went down in the afternoon session with an injury to his lower right leg.

GOODMAN HURT AGAIN
Starting cornerback Andre' Goodman was escorted off the field during the afternoon practice after re-injuring the same left shoulder he underwent surgery on Jan. 18.Goodman will be re-evaluated today.On first glance, it seemed to be cornerback Travis Daniels, but the two have swapped jersey numbers because Daniels (formerly No. 21) wanted to wear the same number (29) he wore at South Broward High."He's paying for my haircuts [given by Daniels' brother] for the rest of the year," Goodman said after the morning practice.

Staff Writers Alex Marvez and Dave Hyde contributed to this report.