Since most of the news today will be regarding the draft, we will have one post devoted to the draft and everything going on related to it. Currently we all know that we are taking Jake Long, maybe some trade news will happen during the 1st round. But I will keep this updated through out Predraft and the Draft.

• Chris Long will be taken by the Rams, Which is unexpected when it was thought that it was Glen Dorsey
• It is either Matt Ryan or Glen Dorsey for the Falcons, I would assume Dorsey but you never know.
• Reports are that McFadden will be taken by the Raiders
• Apparently Falcons want Ryan and will take him
• Chiefs are looking to trade pick 5, for a pick in the 7 to 10 range
• Ravens are looking to trade up to #2 to snag Matt Ryan according to Adam Schefter.
• McShay says 4 QB’s will go in the 1st round hopefully because I don’t want the Dolphins to trade up for one.
• Raiders and Saints are in trade talks for pick #4
• The Ravens have turned down the Rams trade offer
• Jets are said to pick McKelvin with their pick
• Deal is close for the #2 pick according to the Rams, so opposite approach
• And what a surprise Long is taken first
• Chris Long taken by the Rams
• In a surprising turn of events Falcons select Matt Ryan
• McFadden to Raiders nothing else new
• Kansas City Might trade the pick for a deal with the Saints. The offer is the saints 1st, 2nd and next rounds 1st
• Chiefs don’t accept the trade and pick Dorsey
• Jets select Gholston no suprises so far
• Patriots either want to trade or take a CB
• Pats trade and give the Saints the pick expect McKelvin gone here
• Mayock believes Ravens are going to trade the pick for one in the 20’s
• Saints select Sedrick Ellis was not expected by myself but for others it was
• Jaguars trade for the Ravens pick and are expected to pick Derrick Harvey
• Patriots get 1st round #10 and Saints 3rd round for Patriots 1st round and 5th round.
• Jaguars select Derrick Harvey like expected
• From the Live feed it looks as if the Bengals Select Keith Rivers
• Jaguars give up 1st round pick, 2 3rds and a 4th for Harvey.
• Like said Bengals select Rivers.
• Patriots select Mayo, Bills select McKelvin and Broncos select Clady
• I will only be updating on Miami Dolphins from here on out.
• Dolphins Trade Lorenzo Booker to the Eagles for a 4th rounder
• Dolphins Pick Phillip Merling great 3-4 DE, Expect a Taylor trade.
• Reports suggest that Jason Taylor has been traded for Tampas 2nd, 4th and 6th
• A Tampa paper is reporting the Taylor trade but its not official yet
• Apparently not true Jags have the pick
• Chad Henne to the Dolphins
• No other News thats it for this tonight

The Dolphins tonight acquired linebacker Akin Ayodele and tight end Anthony Fasano from the Dolphins for a fourth-round draft pick. The Dolphins are scheduled to have seven picks Saturday after giving selection No. 100 to Jerry Jones and Co.

Ayodele became expendable in Dallas when the Cowboys upgraded by signing, you got it, Zach Thomas. Fasano, a second round pick in 2006, had been lost behind Jason Witten. He will be able to compete with David Martin for a starting job in Miami which basically means he will be the starter in Miami.

It’s a good deal as Ayodele is a pretty fair player with plenty of experience, yet young enough to get better. Fasano is merely so-so, having not yet lived up to his draft pedigree, but the Dolphins have very little at that position now anyway.

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If the lucrative contract Michigan tackle Jake Long signed on Tuesday wasn’t proof enough, the man himself disputed last week’s FoxSports.com report that claimed he didn’t want to play for the woeful Dolphins.

“Someone called me up and said they saw (the report),” Long told The Palm Beach Post this morning after a youth clinic in New York’s Central Park. “I don’t know how anybody got that because I never said that. I never had those feelings.

“I said from Day One that it would be an honor to play for the Dolphins and be a No. 1 pick. I don’t know who came up with that, but none of it was true.

“That 1-15 is in the past. I think everybody’s moving on from that. I’m just excited to come in and show my leadership and do everything I can to improve myself and my team.”

Never mind that Long willingly signed a five-year contract for $57.5 million and $30 million in guarantees. He wasn’t forced to join the Dolphins because he hadn’t yet been drafted by them.

“My agent (Tom Condon) knew I wanted to be in Miami and knew I wanted to be No. 1,” Long said.

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Well like I said earlier it could not be taking for source because it was merely a source, Sources are not always right and that has been proven alot in the Miami Dolphins off-season with the signing of Calvin Pace, possibly the whole Jason Taylor debacle and now this. Its nice to know this was untrue and he will be happy on the team for now.

John Beck was on I believe this morning with Joe Rose and he shared a little on whats happening with his progress and the offense and a little of everything else. I’ll give some breakdowns here from the interview. The interview in whole can be found here, the number three audio.

• Hes been working on evaluating and improve on making him a good QB
• Wants him to have better feet and release point
• Lee (QB Coach) surprised at how fast he can release the ball with new release
• Adjusting Becks release is not a problem at all for him, he changed it in college and never changed it back and thats what he is doing currently
• He is more comfortable with his release point
• High power offense, try to get first down on first and second down
• He got experience last year which was good for him
• Didn’t care if they drafted a QB, theres always going to be somebody competing with you. Always trying to find somebody who can take your spot.
• Beck likes Jake Long, Says hes legit. And says he could be a probowl guy, likes having a guy of that caliber. Said he loves football and he likes that about him. Knows he can trust him.
• Sees improvement in Ted Ginn. Working extremely hard. Working on other things than speed, more of routes, Challenging himself in practice. Wants to catch every ball.
• Random:Beck going to be fishing instead of watching the draft. Gets lots of text messages when Long signed.

That was about it, it was a very positive interview and you expect that on the Miami Dolphins flagship station and gives a little insight into what Beck is doing.

Jason Taylor is dancing with the stars, but odds still favor him playing for the Dolphins this season. Bill Parcells would be willing to part with Taylor but for a No. 1 pick — something it seems unlikely many teams would give up. A second-round pick is also a long shot. If you’re Parcells, why would you give up the potential for 10 sacks for a third-round pick? Financially, the Dolphins can afford him. Despite being very active in the early parts of free agency, the Dolphins payroll is $104 million, not including the cost of signing the rookies. They have $18.5 million of cap room. If a deal does not come to pass, Taylor and the Dolphins have to look at this as a no-harm, no-foul situation. Odds favor him being a Dolphin this season.

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Finally maybe this will shut up ProFootballTalk and we can wait till training camp starts for trade talks to occur again. More than likely there will be more rumors regarding Jason Taylor and it will be a continuous stream of Taylor wants to stay and then he will want to depart, Well at least it will keep the off-season from being completely boring.

The Dolphins’ housecleaning under Bill Parcells continued Thursday with the release of safety Cameron Worrell and seven teammates who played little if at all.

Worrell, 28, started seven games last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury Dec. 2 against the New York Jets. Worrell, a five-year NFL veteran, was waived because he failed his physical.

The others released were a host of undrafted free agents signed last season: quarterback Casey Bramlet, safety Tuff Harris, cornerback Jereme Perry, linebackers Marcello Church and Mark Washington, and wide receivers Kerry Reed and Chandler Williams.

It was the second major one-day purge of players since Parcells became the team’s head of football operations in December.

On Feb. 11, the team terminated the contracts of nine players, including quarterback Trent Green, wide receiver Marty Booker, offensive tackle L.J. Shelton and defensive tackle Keith Traylor.

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Not very big names being released but if you are a diehard fan you would know some of them from last year. Worrell was not even expected to be ready for week 1 so it was expected. Tuff Harris, Marcello Church, Jereme Perry, Chandler Williams and Mark Washington were all practice team squad/back ups that were not Ireland/Parcells type players and it was up to whether they were just training camp players or cut casualties and they got cut. Kerry Reed was a promising Undrafted free agent pick up last year that was on the practice squad but it appears as if the current regime did not like him enough to keep him. And the cut of Bramlet means that the Dolphins are definitely taking a QB in the draft because Matt Baker is not a 3rd string QB.

The Sun-Sentinel came out with an article last night and it pretty much breaks down everything regarding Jason Taylor and what the rumors are.

One of those executives said the Dolphins have indeed fielded offers for its six-time Pro Bowl selection, but might be asking for too much in return for a 33-year-old expected to earn nearly $17 million in the final two years of his contract.

While the Chiefs received Minnesota’s first-round pick, No. 17 overall, and both of the Vikings’ third-round selections in exchange for defensive end Jared Allen, the source said Taylor’s age, and contract doesn’t merit anything close to that type of return.

At best, Taylor is believed to be worth a second-round pick and maybe future considerations. The source said there’s also concern he might balk at being traded to any team he deems isn’t a championship contender and will likely ask for a new contract, or threaten to retire.

I really doubt he would retire, Earlier in one of my posts he said if Miami decides not to trade him he would still come back. Who knows about him coming to training camp but if not he is still one of our best defensive players and should be treated so. If he asks for a new contract, I don’t know what they would do but I would guess they would not give it to him since hes making 7 million and they think thats more than enough.

t’s believed that there are four players the Dolphins have targeted as their ideal second draftee, and the Dolphins might package a combination of draft picks to get in range for on Saturday.

Two of them - Florida’s Derrick Harvey and Auburn’s Quentin Groves - are defensive ends who will likely be converted to pass rushing outside linebackers, possibly replacing Taylor if he’s moved.

The other two are believed to be Michigan’s Chad Henne and Delaware’s Joe Flacco, two of this draft’s elite quarterbacks, who happen to be rated right behind Boston College’s Matt Ryan. The Dolphins have done an extensive amount of research on all four players according to sources.

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I just would not see the point in trading up for Flacco or Henne and giving them the prestige of being a 1st round pick, I would rather have Harvey or Groves despite Groves heart issues. We would need somebody to replace JT and I would suspect that would be Groves because he is 3-4 DE/OLB and that is what we would need. If it is a QB I really will be disappointed in the current regime for not knowing how to draft because you don’t trade one of your best defensive players for a QB you drafted last year in the second and draft a QB in the 1st just to solidify it. It would be horrible decision.

The Miami Dolphins are busy. While they were working to finalize a five-year contract with first-round draft pick Jake Long, they were operating behind the scenes to strike a deal with another team for defensive end Jason Taylor.

Two clubs whom the Dolphins contacted confirmed Tuesday that Miami is shopping Taylor, looking for a mid-to-low first-round draft pick in return.
While that’s not surprising it does contradict statements made by team vice president of football operations Bill Parcells, who insisted last month that Taylor would not be dealt.

“The only way Jason Taylor doesn’t play for the Dolphins in 2008,” Parcells said last month, “is if he retires. The team is not going to trade him.”

And maybe that’s true. But Miami is reaching out to others to gauge interest in the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. According to someone close to the situation, that’s consistent with Parcells’ approach to building football teams.

“I think now that they have Long, Bill is looking for that big pass rusher,” he said.

Getting into the second half of the first round would mean looking at defensive linemen like Calais Campbell, Kentwan Balmer, Phillip Merling and Lawrence Jackson. The Dolphins could have a shot at some of those players by doing nothing and taking their chances with the first pick of the second round, but scouts indicated the club may have interest in Michigan quarterback Chad Henne, too.

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Another rumor in this on going Jason Taylor saga, and nothing else is achieved. Its not a specific rumor but more in they are looking even though Parcells said hes not being traded. I cannot see any team trading a 1st round pick for Jason Taylor an old and declining defensive player. I would expect a 2nd rounder but I don’t think the Dolphins would accept that, they feel to the team hes worth more and you couldn’t replace him with a second round pick. As Draft day comes we’ll see what happens.

Michigan tackle Jake Long has signed a multiyear contract with the Miami Dolphins, who plan to select him with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft on Saturday.

The Dolphins were interested in trading the top pick, but no suitors surfaced _ so they decided to sign Long and avoid a possible holdout. Last year’s top pick, JaMarcus Russell, missed all of training camp before signing a $61 million contract with the Oakland Raiders.

The new Miami regime led by Bill Parcells began negotiations last week with Long’s agent, Tom Condon. Offensive line is considered the biggest need for the Dolphins, who went 1-15 last year, and new Miami coach Tony Sparano coached the offensive line with the Dallas Cowboys.

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Great signing by the Dolphins don’t have to pay as much as previous years draft picks and it allows them to try and shore up the line and try to get protection and run blocking for Ronnie. Now the question goes to the guard position and what we will do there, time will tell.