Sammy's Pain is Ronnie's Gain

Make no mistake about it: Miami is going to throw the ball this year.

With Culpepper tossing to Chris Chambers and Marty Booker, expect a high-flying passing attack in Miami. I predict Daunte will easily pass for 3500 yards and 30 TD's in 2006, provided he stays healthy.

Despite their high-flying passing attack potential, it is the Dolphins running game that has me intrigued. Everyone knows about Ronnie Brown, of course.



He was already slated to be the feature back for Miami and was already going to rush for 1200+ yards. But now that Sammy Morris is facing a suspension for failing a drug test (triggered by his taking Sudafed in the off-season???), Ronnie Brown is pretty much it at RB. See the Yahoo article below:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-dolphins-roster&prov=ap&type=lgns

Any danger of Sammy Morris taking away goal-line carries from Ronnie Brown is gone, at least for the first 4 games of the year. The team still has Travis Minor, but he won't pose much of a threat to fantasy owners to take away carries from Brown.

It won't be unreasonable to expect Brown to carry the ball 25 times/game during the first 4 games of the year. That is twice his average from last year. Even when Morris returns, Brown will already be on a pace to break the Dolphins single-season rushing record and thus won't lose that many carries.

Bottom line: if you are drafting in the next week and have anything lower than the 3rd pick (after Johnson, Tomlinson and Alexander go), take Ronnie Brown. The other owners will drop a major WTF when you do, but come October, you will look like a genius.