Thinking Like Cameron

Ok, while I was on the phone with my brother after the Ginn pick and we had stopped screaming at our TV's, it became necessary for sanity's sake to try to come up with some sort of logical explanation for the pick. Clearly quarterback was Miami's number one need. And clearly Cameron, not being an obvious moron, must have carefully and painstakingly evaluated the only projected first round QB that might still be available to Miami. Conclusion: Cameron must think Quinn stinks. Or at least he doesn't think Quinn will be able to effectively run his offense. The best of the rest of the QB's were not projected to go until the 2d round and Miami had a high 2d round pick. Conclusion: Cameron (and Mueller) thought they could wait until the next round to pick up a quality QB.

Alright, so why Ginn in the 1st? We know offense is the priority, we're waiting on a QB, and we're set with Ronnie Brown at RB, so reciever is the way to go here. And Ginn, while not extraordinarily productive in college, is not just a speedy wideout, but a tremendous kick returner as well. And Miami's already lost last year's return man in free agency. With Chambers and Booker we've got lots of experience at the WR position, so we don't necessarily need a guy who can catch a ton of passes right away, but we do need someone who's fast and can stretch the field. Miami lacked a big play threat on offense and special teams last year. (And really, when have we ever had a great kick returner? I wouldn't know how to handle having one). Last year we had a team that couldn't return kicks, would consequently start drives in horrible field postion, and then couldn't score because they were slow and didn't a have a QB that could get the ball down the field. Thinking like Cameron then, taking Ginn first and then getting their QB in the 2d efficiently fixes all those problems.

That's the theory anyway. But I did get some much-needed reinforcement of my desperate frantic on-the-fly spin from a Sun-Sentinel Column (which I'll link to if I ever figure out how to do it). According to the article, Cameron and Mueller did love Ginn and his quick-strike ability, and they had Beck ranked right there with Quinn. (So apparently they didn't dislike Brady but he wasn't worth a first rounder). The Dolphins were actually looking to trade up in the 2d to make sure they got Beck until Detroit traded down making a move unnecessary. What about trading down in the 1st if they knew they were going for Ginn not Quinn? Well, Mueller's quoted as saying he knew for a fact that two teams were ready to take Ginn if Miami passed, and the NFL Network reported Houston wanted Ginn with the 10th pick.Now should we feel better than Cameron and Mueller had a well-thought out plan to improve the offense, that maximized their first two picks, and executed it? I suppose I do. I also found this nugget from Dr. Z's draft report card: "if what I think could happen actually happens, then this will be a terrific draft, much more serious than its listed grade. I'm looking at a two-word possibility. John Beck. Quarterback. Gym rat, competitor, Jeff Garcia type with a better arm."

Just about every move made by the Wannstadt/Speilman and Saban regimes were total disasters. We can't let our disgust for them color our feelings towards the new regime (yet). Cameron and Mueller just made their first big moves. There's nothing to do now but wait and see if they work. Of course not only will Dolphin fans now have to root like hell for Ginn and Beck to succeed; we're going to be rooting very hard for Brady Quinn to fail utterly and completely (sorry kid).