Mercifully putting an end to a three-month, drawn-out process that bordered on the ridiculous at times, the Miami Dolphins pulled the trigger on a deal that will bring them Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Trent Green. Miami blinked first in the stalemate, which was created when Kansas City general manager Carl Peterson went back on his word and cancelled an earlier deal for Green. In early March, he agreed to trade the signal-caller to Miami in exchange for a seventh-round pick, but he withdrew the offer after the trades of Atlanta quarterback Matt Schaub to Houston and Miami wideout Wes Welker to New England netted much more signicant compensation. Peterson, who cemented his reputation as a complete dildo throughout the process, decided that he would not accept less than a fourth-rounder for quite some time, and he refused to budge during the NFL Draft. After the parameters of the deal were negotiated through the media for a while, making both sides look bad, Dolphins general manager Randy Mueller and coach Cam Cameron uttered a collective sigh on Tuesday and agreed to a deal they didn’t love. Miami will send a conditional fifth-round pick to Kansas City, with the contingency that the selection will upgrade to a fourth-rounder if Green participates in 70 percent of the Dolphins’ offensive plays in 2007.
“The price for Trent Green was more than Miami was willing to pay, but in the end, Miami felt desperate,” wrote ESPN analyst and South Park’s Mr. Garrison lookalike John Clayton. “June had arrived and time to prepare for training camp was slipping away.” However, Clayton still said Miami came out the winners because of Green’s proven ability to put points on the board – crucial for a Dolphins team that hasn’t averaged 20 points per game since 2002.
So what does Miami get in Green? Despite the fact that the quarterback turns 37 next month, Green has been one of the league’s finest passers over the past six years, earning Pro Bowl nods in both 2003 and 2005 and racking up three straight 4,000-yard seasons from 2003-05. To put that in context, no Dolphins quarterback has thrown for even 3,000 yards since 2001. The 6-3, 217-pounder has thrown for 26,963 yards in his career, with 157 touchdowns, 101 interceptions and 107 starts in 112 games. He has compiled a 56-51 record as a starter after originally being selected in the eight round – a round that doesn’t even exist in the NFL Draft anymore – by the San Diego Chargers in 1993. After a year with the Chargers and another year in the CFL, Green spent four years with the Washington Redskins, two seasons with the St. Louis Rams and the last six with the Chiefs. The 14-year veteran started a Kansas City-franchise-record 80 straight games before suffering a horrific concussion in last year’s season opener and missing seven contests.
That concussion is what led to the bulk of the disagreements between the Dolphins and Chiefs in terms of compensation. Green’s 74.1 passer rating last year was his lowest since 2001 (71.1), and far off his career mark of 87.5. However, the Dolphins are betting that Green returns to form, while the Chiefs elected to go with last year’s second-round pick, Brodie Croyle, and veteran Damon Huard. Kansas City was leery of a 37-year-old quarterback who carried a $7.2 million price tag, but Green renegotiated a new deal with Miami months ago that will pay him around $4 million over three years, more in line with where he is at this stage of his career.
The ‘Fins needed a quarterback of the present to bridge the gap to their quarterback of the future – this year’s second-rounder, John Beck of BYU. Green is seen as a placeholder for (likely) two years while Miami grooms Beck as the heir apparent. The franchise thinks that Green can be a strong mentor for Beck, the first of the Dolphins’ two second-round selections in April. Miami aims to bring Beck – who they view as a younger version of Arizona Cardinals passer Kurt Warner – along slowly and would prefer to keep him off the field in 2007. Cleo Lemon, who recently inked a one-year deal for $1.3 million, is likely to be elevated to the backup position if and when Daunte Culpepper departs.
In more ways than one, Culpepper represents the proverbial elephant in the room. Not only has he gained a lot of weight while losing the mobility that made him one of the league’s top quarterbacks three years ago, but he is making noise that he will cause headaches for Miami after Green’s acquisition. He sent an e-mail to Dolphins beat writers last night saying that he had received clearance from noted surgeon Dr. James Andrews to resume practicing today. Keeping in mind that Culpepper acts as his own agent, it is in his best interest to feign a full recovery – like he did last year – even though his knee likely looks like a pot of burnt spaghetti at this point. As recently as last evening, he professed a willingness to let the competition play out upon Green’s arrival.
“My position on Trent is that the Dolphins should get the best players that they can and let them compete for the starting job,” Culpepper wrote. “I am preparing to practice unless you know something that I don’t.”
With some help from Dolphins management, however, he apparently had a change of heart this morning. Culpepper, who apparently sends more e-mails than a 12-year-old girl, wrote that Mueller and Cameron told him this morning that they are going in a “different direction” at quarterback. Displaying further evidence that Culpepper’s delusion extends off the field as well as on, he went on to say that he told Miami that he’s “not interested” in being traded.
“They would like to trade me in order to ‘get something for me,’” Culpepper wrote in the second e-mail. “They have told me throughout the offseason that I am under contract to the Dolphins. Therefore, it will be up to them to either keep me under contract or release me. In the meantime, I will continue to work out at the facility with the team and prepare myself for training camp, wherever it may be.”
Though the blame only partially lies with him, the reality is that Culpepper serves only as the perfect symbol of the pointless, illogical, doomed and subversive nature of the Nick Saban Era. He was the most significant of a number of nonsensical moves made by Saban, who chose to send a second-round pick to Minnesota for Culpepper instead of no compensation and a smaller contract to land Drew Brees. We all know how that turned out (buy me a beer and I’ll tell you how Brees cost not one, but two, Miami coaches their jobs even though he never played for the Dolphins). In his prime, Culpepper’s threat came as a playground quarterback – a guy who would either launch it as far as he could and trust that Randy Moss would go get it or tuck and run, daring defenders to challenge his 270-pound body in the open field. After major reconstructive surgery on his right knee after a horrible injury in Minnesota two years ago – and another surgery on that knee during the past season – Culpepper has next to zero mobility. The present-day Culpepper is an overweight, aging signal-caller with a slow release and nearly no ability to read defenses or elude the rush. He still has a strong arm, but so does Jeff George – and even Jeff George doesn’t command a $5.5 million salary. So who would be interested in Culpepper at that price in today’s market? The Barcelona Dragons. Maybe.
Assuming that Culpepper will be traded, released or forced to slash his salary dramatically, he won’t be a factor for the Dolphins in 2007 except to serve as a slightly humorous, slightly irritating distraction until he’s officially gone. So let’s get back to why Miami became so enamored with Green. Cameron worked with Green in 1995 and 1996, when Cameron served as Redskins quarterbacks coach while Green was one of the team’s signal-callers. Dolphins quarterbacks coach Terry Shea tutored Green in Kansas City for five of the past six years, including both of Green’s Pro Bowl campaigns. With Miami installing a similar offense with basically the same terminology, Green’s working knowledge of that attack combined with his familiarity with Cameron and Shea made him a perfect fit. He fits Cameron’s view of the offense much better than Culpepper; Green’s bread and butter is making fast decisions and getting the ball out quickly. Plus, he’s likely to have something of a chip on his shoulder – especially toward Peterson – considering the way the Chiefs hung him out to dry. Put that together with his age and experience, and theoretically he’s the perfect fit to help Miami bridge the gap between himself and Beck.
Obviously, there will be no match for Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez, tailback Larry Johnson or the powerful Kansas City offensive line in Miami, but just what will Green have to work with? Green will walk into an offense that is led by a host of players who have yet to reach their full potential. Top wideout Chris Chambers has shown flashes of brilliance, but has yet to put together a complete season of high-level performance. On the other side of the field, Marty Booker is a more complete and professional receiver, but has struggled to stay healthy. First-round draft pick Ted Ginn Jr. is a raw prospect, but has the type of speed that has Cameron salivating as he rubs his fingers together and ponders ways to work him into the offense. New tight end David Martin is perceived to have a high ceiling after outperforming Bubba Franks in Green Bay of late. In his third year, it’s high time that tailback Ronnie Brown justifies his lofty selection as the No. 2 overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft, while third-rounder Lorenzo Booker is eager to put a disappointing college career at Florida State in the rear-view mirror and prove he is all that most predicted him to be coming out of high school. The offensive line is still a heartburn machine, but the hope is that line coach Hudson Houck can work some magic and turn chicken shit into chicken salad.
The good news is that, barring an unforeseen problem with passing a physical, Green will arrive in time to take part in a three-day Dolphins minicamp that starts on Friday. He’ll be one of five Miami signal-callers on hand, but he’ll be able to start the process of getting comfortable with the Dolphins offense and personnel as training camp quickly approaches.
Green is poised to become the 11th Miami quarterback to start for the franchise since Dandy Dan Marino retired in 1999. If he can manage to put his uniform on without tearing a rotator cuff and don a helmet that doesn’t include a yarmulke, he’ll become the best Dolphins signal-caller in that span – but obviously that’s not saying much when you include the likes of Ray Lucas and A.J. Feeley. When you consider that Miami surrendered second-picks for both Feeley and Culpepper, the fifth-rounder for Green starts to look like a helluva bargain. We’ll find out for sure this fall, but for now it is good to have the Trent Green Sweepstakes in the past – and to finally follow a Dolphins team that appears to have a plan in place and a path to follow.
DOLPHINS LINKS
May 7, 2007: “Samoans Hate Drywall”
April 30, 2007: “Drinking Ginn In Dolphins War Room Leads To Horrific First-Round Pick”
January 22, 2007: “Look Dad, Big Ben … Parliament … Ricky Williams?!”
January 10, 2007: “Geaux To Hell, Saban!”
January 3, 2007: “Saban Leaves As A Loser, Weasel”
January 3, 2007: “Saban, We Hardly Knew Ye … But We Knew Ye Well Enough”
October 26, 2006: “Of Coaching, Qui-Gon Nick Knows Not … Of … Not … Or Something”
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