Evaluation of Offense: QBs

Now that the season is over, I'm going to take a look at the entire Dolphins roster and play Bill Parcells for a day. I'll start with the quarterbacks.

Cleo Lemon

Sorry but I wouldn't cry if he had to go. Cleo hasn't proven that he is worthy of a starting job on this team. For all the positive comments you hear from the color commentary, Lemon only won one game his entire career here, and thats only thanks to Brian Billick's lack of testicular fortitude. As I mentioned in a previous post, his numbers were nearly identical to those of Vinny Testaverde's with the Panthers.

Verdict: If he wants to come cheap, then fine by me. Stay on as a backup or emergency QB. He's got some skills but he is never going to be consistent enough to take any team to the playoffs.

John Beck

Thankfully we got a chance to look at Beck against Cincinnati. Granted it was the Bengals, and granted it was a meaningless game, but Beck had a decent outing aside from his first snap. Watching him play, you can see he is a work in progress but has the tools to improve.

His arm strength is enough I think to run this offense, and the guy is fearless in the pocket with a few exceptions. He has a nice knack for getting away from pressure and trying a dump off, but he needs to improve on his short range accuracy.

It would be nice to be able to see some deep balls, but that's more playcalling than anything. Beck wasn't spectacular, and probably wasn't the best rookie QB this season. However, he did do enough to warrant a shot at the starting job next season. The primary goal of this offseason should be to find him a reliable weapon to throw to. Either Dallas Clark or Bernard Berrian would do

Verdict: Keep him obviously, and draft a QB in the mid rounds to compete with him and Lemon for the starting job. If Beck can't show serious improvement by the end of next season though, I would consider taking another QB in the first two rounds in the 2009 draft. This team cannot wait years and years for players to develop.

Trent Green

Trent looked like he was done in the few games we got a chance to watch him play. It's absolutely undeniable that he needs to retire. Even if he can come back and contribute as a backup, his cap hit is way too high and needs to be restructured. I think retiring is in his best interest, as another blow to the head would be a serious risk to his long term health.

Verdict: Either restructure or retire. Trent is a good guy and a smart player, so keeping him on as a quarterback's coach wouldn't be a bad idea. As long as he's not calling plays then keeping him with a clipboard seems to be the best option for everyone.