Miami Dolphins General Manager Randy Mueller alternates with Coach Cam Cameron in writing a column for MiamiDolphins.com. In this column, Mueller looks at a variety of issues from Samson Satele to the 2008 NFL draft.
December 11, 2007
Q. We last spoke about Samson Satele at the start of the season. How has he progressed? Can you give us an example or two of a play you've seen on film.
RM: He's like most rookies. He's had some ups and downs. He's mentally challenged at times because it's a long season. All those young guys struggle with 16 weeks and four preseason games. But he's progressed well. It will be a great relief for him to have the season over as it will be for all of our rookies. As for a particular play, there were a couple of screen passes before Ronnie Brown got hurt that saw Samson leading the way. His strength is his athleticism. He's very active and he pulls very well.
Q. Tell us how you will put together a game plan for the off season?
RM: We'll sit down with our coaches after the season. We'll evaluate our own people in its entirety. We'll put together a plan of action for our players on how they'll attack the offseason. We'll get some thoughts from our scouts on where they think we need improvement and then Coach Cameron and I will sit down and formulate a plan based on what's available in free agency and the draft.
Q. Do you already have a free agency list set up? Tell us how that evaluation process works.
RM: Yes, we know the players that will be free agents this year provided they don't sign before then. Our pro scouts, Mike Baugh, Dwayne Joseph, Tom Heckert and Chris Burkey have been assigned teams and have evaluated all the potential free agents from those teams. We'll get our coaches involved once the season is over to look at the top guys and then Cam and I will decide on a game plan on how we want to attack things.
Teams have done a lot better on keeping their quality players. But sometimes the market dictates whether a team re-signs a player. For instance, last year guards took a giant increase in pay. They went from $2-3 million a year to $6-7 million a year. I'm not sure that's going to happen this year so, for instance, there may be some guards on the market.
Q. What does your draft board look like now? How does that evolve?
RM: It's a little bit of a work sheet right now. Our scouts have concluded the evaluations in their areas. They've also done cross checks in other areas. Now we start a period where each scout will be responsible for a particular position and we'll cross check the top 30 guys at each position. Our scouts will come in here in two weeks and we'll talk about all the players that don't have draft grades. We'll sequence them and put them in a specific order. Then we'll start preparation for the all-star games. There is a chance we may coach the Senior Bowl, so we'll need to get those plans into place.
Q. How do you scout juniors now who have yet to declare? What's the timing on that?
RM: You can't do anything from a formal standpoint even when you make visits to schools. Juniors are off limits. You can't ask about them or talk about them. That's only fair. Now we hear rumors on the street about certain players. There is a college advisory committee in place. We are a part of that. If a junior is interested in coming out, he can send his name in and see where he could be drafted. That's going on right now. Last year there were over 100 juniors that tested the waters and a third of them came out.
Q. What kind of salary cap shape will the Dolphins be in next season?
RM: We're in good shape cap wise. We ought to be able to do whatever we need to do. Without getting into specifics, we'll have cap room available. We are out from underneath any salary cap purgatory, that's for sure. The cap has gone up a lot over the last couple of years, so I think we'll have plenty of room to do what we need to do.
Q. Do you anticipate the Dolphins having compensatory draft picks and, if so, how many and in what rounds?
RM: I don't know how many. We did lose more than we signed so we'll be in the pool. There is a scale or formula depending on how the players did and how much they were paid. I would imagine we will get a pick, maybe two. That's just a guess.
Q. It is looking more and more apparent that the Dolphins will have the first pick of the draft? Do you have a philosophy regarding need versus best player available?
RM: You've got to take the best player. When you're talking about a top five pick, you always need to take the best. We're going to get a great player but each of the top players will have differences and we need to differentiate that and take the best player on the board. You can't fill a need at that point.
Q. There are so many stories of No. 1 overall picks not making it. It is such an inexact science. Does that status put too much pressure on a player or the team drafting him?
RM: The facts are that first round picks get targeted and they have an x on them because of where they are picked and how much they are being paid and the expectations that come with it. I've never picked first before so maybe there is excess pressure on that guy. I think there is also pressure on the team to get him signed, so there's pressure all-around.
Q. Is it unfair to judge John Beck on how he is doing this season with an injury-depleted cast?
RM: I think it's unfair to judge him from series to series and week to week. We just need to see what the overall body of work shows us. The process by which quarterbacks make it or don't make it in this league is far from an exact science. We just have to have a feel at the end of this year for what we have in John Beck.
Q. Does your experience tell you that when a quarterback shows up for his second season, he is a different player?
RM: Every rookie will be a different player in his second year because they'll approach their off season in a different frame of mind. The athleticism is so much greater in the second year because they don't have to think as much. The quarterbacks get so much of the mental burden that first year, the difference might be greater in that case. I was in the AFC West for the first couple of years in John Elway's career and it was embarrassing. You felt bad for him. Peyton Manning was no different. It's part of the growing process. There is no formula. It's a feel. You want to feel like they give you hope and a chance and that may be as specific as it gets.
Q. G Finally, how difficult a season has this been for you personally?
RM: It's been hard. But, I'll be honest, it's what I love to do. It's what I choose to do. The support we've gotten from Wayne Huizenga and Bryan Wiedmeier have been awesome. We all know that 0-12 was not part of the plan, but it will make us better in the long haul. So it's a grind, but I really believe we will be good here in the not too distant future.
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