*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Dec 24, 1996: -- Drayton Signed to New Deal --
DOLPHINS NEWS:
The Dolphins announced yesterday that they had signed new
tight end Troy Drayton to a 4 year deal worth approximately $6.3
million. The deal gives the Dolphins 42 players under contract for
next season and leaves them about $2 million under the salary cap.
The team expects to restructure the contracts of some veterans
in order to free up another 2 to 3 million in cap money. The Dolphins
will probably use some of this money on free agents and the rest on
the draft. According to the Miami Herald, the Dolphins currently have
the 15th pick in the 1st round of the draft.
Drayton was acquired by the Dolphins in a trade that sent last
year's first round draft pick Billy Milner to St.Louis. Drayton has
caught 26 passes in 10 games with the Dolphins, including 5 each in
the last 2 games.
Drayton seems to be very happy with the deal, saying "I think
that this is a match made in heaven".
Also in the news, 3 Dolphins are planning on having surgery
during the off-season. Bernie Kosar has already had surgery to remove
bone chips from his throwing elbow, defensive lineman Shane Burton
will have arthoscopic surgery on his ankle and center Tim Ruddy will
have surgery on his thumb.
None of the surgeries is considered serious and all three
players are expected to be able to participate in all aspects of the
Dolphins' off-season conditioning programs and training camps.
RUMORS:
The Dolphins have been making public statements in the last
week that seem to indicate that most of the rumors about trading Webb
and firing Gary Stevens have been false. The word now seems to be
that, instead of firing Stevens, JJ has decided to rewrite the
playbook. And Webb is considered just too valuable to lose, according
to Bob Ackles, the Dolphins' director of player personnel.
Also shot down are the Ricky Watters rumors. They apparently
originated in Philly, because of Ray Rhodes' supposed dissatisfaction
with Watters and didn't come from Miami.
That is, of course, the nature of rumors. More often than
not, they turn out to be false. Personally, I think that there is
still a remote possibility that Webb might be traded. Also, with head
coaching jobs opening up around the league, Gary Stevens could always
wind up somewhere else as a head coach. His name has been
specifically mentioned in connection with the Detroit job, assuming
that Wayne Fontes leaves in the off-season.
My Comments:
Drayton has the potential to be the best Dolphin tight end in
many years. He has already demonstrated the ability to catch the ball
and block well and can run over smaller defenders. He is well worth
the money, as long as he plays up to his potential. Given a full
summer of work with Marino, he should be a extremely potent addition
to the offense.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
[email protected], DOLFAN in New England
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