Miami Dolphins 2012 Season Preview

Niles Pender - NFL Fan Appeal

The 2012 Miami Dolphins will officially kick off their regular season on September 9 against the Houston Texans. That game will mark the beginning of a campaign surrounded by question marks. It's a fair assessment to say that the Dolphins could easily find themselves in the playoffs, or they could easily find themselves with a high draft pick heading into 2013.

Expectations for the 2012 season start with the 2011 season. Last year's squad started 0-7 before finishing strong, managing to go 6-3 down the stretch. The highlight of the season came when Miami rattled off three straight wins against Kansas City, Washington and Buffalo. Although the 6-10 record was identical to the end of their 2010 campaign, the strong finish was enough to give fans hope.

NFLPA sues NFL over collusion during uncapped year

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 23, 2012, 12:11 PM EDT

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During the 2010 season, there was no salary cap. But most NFL teams operated as if there were a salary cap, and two teams that didn’t — the Redskins and Cowboys — have since been penalized by the league.

That smells like collusion among the owners, and now the NFL Players Association is filing a lawsuit alleging just that.

The NFLPA’s suit says the owners conspired to have a secret salary cap of $123 million for the 2010 season, which was supposed to be the uncapped year.

Brandon Graham: Right now, I'm a bust

Posted by Josh Alper on May 23, 2012, 11:47 AM EDT

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Things have not gone as planned for Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham.

When he was picked 13th overall in 2010, Graham looked like a productive edge pass rusher in a scheme that gives players like that a lot of opportunity. Because of injuries, he hasn’t gotten those opportunities. Graham played in just 16 games over his first two seasons thanks to a torn ACL and microfracture surgery in successive years. He’s picked up three sacks in those games and he knows that’s not enough for a player with such high expectations.

Urlacher to take it easy till training camp

Posted by Josh Alper on May 23, 2012, 10:39 AM EDT

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Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher’s recovery after spraining his ACL and MCL in Week 17 hasn’t gone as smoothly as originally hoped.

It was supposed to be about 10 weeks for Urlacher to be back to work, but he sat out the first day of Organized Team Activities on Tuesday and he’s not likely to be a participant in any future OTAs either. June’s minicamp doesn’t look like it will feature much work from Urlacher either, which means training camp is the target date for his return to the field. Despite the slowed-down schedule, Urlacher doesn’t sound concerned about his knee.

“It’s getting better,” Urlacher said, via Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune. “I’m on schedule, so I feel good. At this stage, I know the defense pretty well. I’m not worried about being out there and not knowing what I’m doing.”

Urlacher certainly doesn’t need the extra time to learn the defense and the time spent with Dom DeCicco at middle linebacker with the first team could wind up paying off for the Bears down the road. Urlacher is 34 and this episode with his knee is a reminder that the body doesn’t bounce back quite as quickly once you get to that age. The cautious approach lets the Bears know that they will have a more experienced backup as well as the healthiest Urlacher possible come the start of the season.

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Jarrett Johnson says leg pads is a P.R. move

Posted by Mike Florio on May 22, 2012, 9:26 PM EDT

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Understandably, players who don’t want to wear leg pads are not reacting favorably to the NFL’s decision that, come 2013, they’ll have to wear leg pads.

“There’ll probably be a lot of fines in 2013,” Chargers cornerback Quentin Jammer told Michael Gehlken of U-T San Diego.  “A lot of guys won’t wear them.”

That group includes Jammer.

“It’s dumb,” Jammer said.  “Ridiculous to me.  I don’t think anybody should be required to wear [them].  I don’t get hit, so I don’t need to worry about pads.  Offensive players should wear them because we hit them, but I don’t think it should be mandatory.

Wednesday morning one-liners

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 23, 2012, 9:05 AM EDT

AP

Bills DE Mario Williams has confirmed thathe will wear No. 94 in Buffalo.

Former University of Miami players Lamar Miller and Olivier Vernon are showing some promise early on with the Dolphins.

The Boston Herald takes a look at how the Navy came to the decision to give Eric Kettani leave to play for the Patriots.

The Jets have waived linebacker Eddie Jones and safety DeAngelo Smith.

It’s time for Sergio Kindle, the Ravens’ first pick in the 2010 NFL draft, to show he belongs on the roster.