An Evaluation Of Star Rookies And Sophomores In The NFL

I just learned that tailback Darren McFadden, the University of Arkansas star runner who finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up in each of the past two seasons, will forego his final season of college eligibility and enter the 2008 NFL draft. This is also confirmed on ESPN.

Multiple sources said McFadden's father, Graylon McFadden, dispatched the appropriate paperwork to the NFL office early this week. The decision by one of the college game's most electrifying performers to leave school a year early and pursue a professional career was hardly unexpected.

League and team officials, by policy, are precluded from commenting on underclass players who have petitioned for early draft entry until after the deadline for doing so has passed. The deadline is Jan. 15, and the NFL will release a full list of underclass prospects after that.

While it is still early in the evaluation process for the April 26-27 draft, many league scouts feel that McFadden could be the most talented prospect in the player pool.

Now to be fair, because I'm not a huge college football fan, I haven't had the chance to watch this guy play often. Therefore, I can't predict how he will perform in the NFL next season. However, based on the trend of rookies and sophomores not performing well the past two years (except for a selected few) my guess is he'll get off to a slow start.

Other than Adrian Peterson, who seemed to just explode out of nowhere, I'm unimpressed by the lack of talent from recent college players who entered the NFL, especially after all the hype that surrounded them. The following list includes young players who have not impressed me thus far or are terribly overrated.

-Reggie Bush - He is the definition of what it is to be overrated. Maybe because of his name people like him so much. The fact is, he can't run straight. He's too fancy and runs like he is still in college. Well, this is the NFL and in the NFL if you run and spin to the sides to dodge you're going to get run over.
-Vince Young - I really loved this guy at first. If anybody was going to succeed out of college, he would have been my pick. However, he sold out to the Madden curse and has been plagued by injuries all year. His career will never be what he hoped it would be as a result.
-Matt Leinart - Where did this guy go? He had a less than mediocre first year and he rarely played this year due to injuries.
-Brady Quinn - He never got a chance to play with the Browns....and he probably won't play for awhile thanks to the recent discovery and success of Derek Anderson.
-Troy Smith - He'll see playing time next year, but the Ravens should have started him later in the season. They had nothing to lose anyway.
-JaMarcus Russell - Yet another example of a rookie quarterback who should have started after all the hype, but never was given a chance to.
-John Beck - Speaking of nothing to lose, the Dolphins started this guy hoping maybe he'd change things for the better, but he didn't. I don't think Bill Parcells is that fond of this guy and I doubt he'll be starting next year.
-Jay Cutler - Just Awful
-Tarvaris Jackson - Even worse than Cutler!
-Kellen Clemens - If the Jets are hoping that there future quarterback lies in the fate of Kellen Clemens, then the Jets have a major screw loose.
-Calvin Johnson - He was hyped up a lot....until he got hurt.
-Brodie Croyle - Unimpressive this year.

Now this isn't to say that these guys can't improve. I'm just saying these guys were hyped up coming into the league and have done nothing noteworthy

Enough with the negativity. Who are the young players who have been doing well?

-Joseph Addai - Perhaps he's just lucky to be playing along side Peyton Manning.
-Maurice Jones Drew - Very fast, very small, and very powerful. This is a good-quality running back.
-Lawrence Maroney - Same with Addai, only he's luckier to have fallen in with the Patriots.
-Greg Jennings - One of the players on the Packers who has given new life to Brett Favre.
-Devin Hester - If nobody kicked to him, then teams would save giving up lots of points. But, that wouldn't be fun to watch.
-Marshawn Lynch - Probably the Bills' best player. Still, that's not saying much.
-Chris Henry - LenDale White - These guys make a decent running back duo for the Titans. Better than the running back duo on the Saints , at least, but no where near as good as the running back duo on the Vikings, Cowboys, or Jags.
-Anthony Gonzalez - With the loss of Stokley this year and the absence of Marvin Harrison, Anothony Gonzalez has proven too be a reliable extra weapon for Peyton Manning.

How Many Years Until Bill Parcells And The Dolphins Make The Playoffs?

According to ESPN:

Bill Parcells signed a four-year contract with the Miami Dolphins to become the team's executive vice president of football operations on Thursday.

Parcells faxed the contract to the team, less than a day after turning down an offer to join the Atlanta Falcons.

"He has a proven track record of success everywhere he has been in the National Football League," Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga said Thursday afternoon. "And his football acumen will help put the Miami Dolphins franchise back among the elite of the NFL."

The two-time Super Bowl champion coach will report directly to Huizenga, whose affinity for big-name help now has led him to Parcells -- a 66-year-old former coach of four NFL clubs who owns a home in South Florida and now has a job there, too.

On Wednesday, the expectation around the league was that Parcells would take over in Atlanta. By the afternoon, however, the deal had fallen apart, and the Dolphins moved quickly to get Parcells to sign a contract.

"I'm honored to join such an illustrious franchise as the Miami Dolphins and to work for one of the best owners in the league in Wayne Huizenga," Parcells said. "He shares my same commitment to winning, and I told him I would do everything I can to help turn around the team's fortunes."

Bill Parcells' Coaching Record

Bill Parcells says he won't coach for the Dolphins, but he's been a winner wherever he's been. Parcells is 172-130-1 in his NFL career as a head coach, with an 11-8 record in the playoffs and two Super Bowl wins.

Year	Team	Record	Playoffs
1983	Giants	3-12-1	None
1984	Giants	9-7	1-1
1985	Giants	10-6	1-1
1986	Giants	14-2	3-0 *
1987	Giants	6-9	None
1988	Giants	10-6	None
1989	Giants	12-4	0-1
1990	Giants	13-3	3-0 *
1993	Patriots	5-11	None
1994	Patriots	10-6	0-1
1995	Patriots	6-10	None
1996	Patriots	11-5	2-1
1997	Jets	9-7	None
1998	Jets	12-4	1-1
1999	Jets	8-8	None
2003	Cowboys	10-6	0-1
2004	Cowboys	6-10	None
2005	Cowboys	9-7	None
2006	Cowboys	9-7	0-1
* = Won Super Bowl

The team made the announcement shortly after the locker room was closed for the day, and roughly 45 minutes after Dolphins coach Cam Cameron sidestepped at least a half-dozen questions about Parcells -- even refusing to say if he's ever met the coach.

"There will potentially be a time to have that discussion," Cameron said. "Today, I don't see it as being that day or this time."

Parcells will be formally introduced next Thursday, the team said.

His arrival has taken nearly all the attention off the Dolphins' game at New England on Sunday. But even as it appeared certain Parcells was coming, players didn't say much on the hot topic.

"The guy's a legend," running back Lorenzo Booker said. "There's no doubt about it. He knows what he's doing. Obviously, his resume is a mile long. But I'm a new guy in this league, so I don't even know what a vice president does, to be honest with you, so I'm waiting to find out as much as you guys."

Televisions were off in the locker room after practice Thursday; that wasn't the case 24 hours earlier, when Parcells' face was splashed across the screens as news broke he was weighing Huizenga's offer.

Few players wanted to speak about Parcells, and those who did generally offered the company line, that the Dolphins are only thinking about Sunday's game at New England.

"Any more questions about New England?" defensive back Jason Allen asked.

Miami started 0-13 before beating Baltimore last weekend. The roster already seemed certain for an offseason overhaul. The Dolphins likely will have the No. 1 pick in next year's draft, and the franchise is in the midst of its longest postseason drought, now six years and counting.

Parcells insisted that he will not coach in Miami -- but could see himself helping the coach, whomever it is.

"It's a young man's game in terms of coaching, and I know it's time for someone else to be doing those things," Parcells said on ESPN. "If I can assist that person in any manner of speaking with my experience or even in the technical aspect and he would seek out that, then I'm happy to contribute."

So now, let the questions begin.

What happens to Cameron?

What happens to general manger Randy Mueller?

"Well, I'm not going to be doing either one of those jobs," Parcells said. "So when I get down there, I'm going to just have to look at the situation and speak with those fellas and evaluate things and see where we go from there."

Last Friday, Huizenga had been in talks about selling the team for about $1.1 billion. Now it seems that deal has since unraveled and there's no immediate plans to sell even a portion of the franchise.

Parcells will finish his duties as an ESPN analyst this week, appearing on ESPN Radio Primetime Friday at 7 p.m. ET. His final work for the network will be as part of Monday night's Denver-San Diego coverage.

Parcells' return didn't seem to be a surprise in Dallas, where he retired as coach after last season.

Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones, the son of Dallas owner Jerry Jones, said Parcells was always intrigued "not just in the coaching part, but putting the team together, running the organization, trainers to fields to scouting department. It was always a huge interest to him."

Huizenga has been known in the recent past to try to make a big splash by hiring a big name.

In January 2004, he hired Miami's greatest player, Dan Marino, as senior vice president of football operations, a job created just for him. Marino resigned from the loosely defined role 22 days later, saying he didn't want to change his lifestyle.

Later that year, Huizenga hired coach Nick Saban away from LSU; he lasted only two seasons in Miami before bolting after the 2006 campaign to return to college football at Alabama.

Now that Parcells is in, the question next is what can he do to improve the Dolphins? He certainly can't do worse. First, he must make the proper draft choice since the Dolphins have the #1 pick. At 1-13, the Dolphins clearly aren't one player away from the playoffs, so trade options will entice him. Next, he must decide on the future of his position players on offense and defense, especially QB John Beck. Is John Beck really the future quarterback of Miami? Bill Parcells is excellent at identifying the potential of future players. Saban let the defense get too old, which is one of the reasons the team has fallen to 1-13. If there is a way to get first- and third-round draft choices for Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas, Parcells might be willing to give them up. If healthy, Brown would be the ideal back to handle a ball-control offense. Before the injury, Brown had breakaway speed and great hands to catch passes out of the backfield. He was developing into a workhorse. But he's coming off a knee reconstruction, so Parcells has to project what Brown can do.

Basically, I have complete faith that Bill Parcells will assemble a playoff contending team in Miami just as he did with the Dallas Cowboys. He assembled the Cowboys to where they are now with players like Julius Jones, Marion Barber, T.O, and Tony Romo. He will do the same for the Dolphins, just give him a few years. All he has to do is win 4-7 games next year and he'll be considered a genius.

News Concering the Winless Dolphins

I don't know why I'm wasting my time writing about the Dolphins, but to be fair I should address a couple of developing stories surrounding this team.

First, rookie QB John Beck is going to make his first appearance on Sunday. He will make his NFL debut when he starts Sunday at Philadelphia, replacing Cleo Lemon. Beck, a second-round draft pick from BYU, will become the 12th quarterback to start for the Dolphins since Dan Marino retired following the 1999 season. He'll be the third starter at QB this season for winless Miami, following Trent Green and Cleo Lemon. This is a GOOD move for the Dolphins. Being that nothing has worked so far and their season can't be saved, now is the time to experiment and try out new players who will be substantial enough to provide hope for next season.

Speaking of providing hope, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has reinstated the Dolphins running back Ricky Williams after a suspension that lasted 18 months because of Williams' violation of the league's substance abuse policy. Williams can attend team meetings and practice immediately, but won't be eligible to play until Week 12 when the Dolphins play at Pittsburgh on Monday night, Nov. 26. The 30-year-old running back, who has played in only 12 games since the start of the 2004 season, played in the Canadian Football League last season and applied for reinstatement to the NFL on Oct. 1. He tested positive again for marijuana in April, delaying his reinstatement through the first half of this season. This is a BAD move for the Dolphins. He tested positive for marijuana twice. If he didn't learn his lesson the first time, what makes the Dolphins think he won't get himself expelled again. Also, he will mess up the team chemistry and when Ronnie Brown comes back, then their will be trouble.