Chris Chambers Becomes an Acorn
The Dolphins always give a look to guys who fell off the "tree." But is this one worth planting?
By JANIE CAMPBELL
Updated 10:57 PM EST, Mon, Nov 2, 2009
The Dolphins have a lot of needs, but none perhaps so glaringly obvious as at wide receiver.
Greg Camarillo, Davone Bess? Adequate. Stable. No one's idea of no. 1.
Ted Ginn, Jr.? A twice-electric return man. Oft-loathed. Has beach balls for hands.
Brian Hartline, Patrick Turner? Time will tell.
But today the Chargers cut one-time Dolphins second-rounder Chris Chambers, and now the triumvirate have the chance to do what they didn't do before the draft deadline: freshen up.
Or not.
Chambers played six seasons and change for the Dolphins and, in 2005, was a hero in a memorable win over the Bills and made a Pro Bowl. And then the momentum sorta died, and he was dished off to the Chargers before the Oct. 2007 deadline. Naturally, the first instinct is to automatically doubt every move Cam Cameron ever made, but the knock against Chambers is that he drops too many balls and plays soft. Sound familiar?
While at San Diego, Chambers didn't do anything to prove otherwise or get any younger. With just once catch in Sunday's came, he was basically found invaluable enough to discard so the Chargers could upgrade at other positions.
The argument for bringing him back is that the veteran would provide a comfortable target for Young Chad and serve as a speedy safety magnet. And that's the problem. While he comes with an end-of-season contract, for what basically equates to Steve Ross, a cocktail napkin, and Yanni and Paris Hilton ($2.4 mil for the remaining nine games), that role deserves a look, but not necessarily a leap.
And wideout isn't the only position Miami has to fix to become Super Bowl-worthy.
Whether or not the Dolphins bring their old acorn on depends on their adherance to the Bill Parcells Long-Term Development Plan and their belief in their division chances as a 3-4 team. Chambers is certainly not a multi-year solution, and bringing him back means cutting into Brian Hartline or even Ted Ginn's playing time, slowing the development of someone young, and putting resources into something momentary. Not bringing him means, essentially, that this second rebuilding year will go by while aging vets like Jason Taylor see their playoffs hopes pass through holes on the roster like sand in the hourglass.
And that's sad, in its way, and it's certainly been painful at times watching the current crop of Dolphins receivers. But it can't make Chris Chambers more of a solution. He's temporary patch that might not even work out, and it's hard to get too excited about that.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Nov 2, 2009 8:29 PM EST
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