FanHouse ErnestWilford

It seems Mel Kiper can't open his mouth without upsetting someone. First, he went off on ESPN colleague Todd McShay (wait, what?), and now he's drawn the ire of the Dolphins' wide receivers after dismissing the group that has played together since 2008.

Brandon London, a former Giants practice-squadder and part-time model before coming to Miami, was especially bothered by the comments, and took it upon himself to share Kiper's message of hate* with his teammates in an effort to motivate them.

Franchise tags and salary-cap concerns play a very important role in real-world wheelings and dealings, but what if the biggest-named free agents were matched with the teams that gave them the best chance to make a Super Bowl run? What would that list look like? Glad you asked.

Yes, this is a strictly fictional account, one that requires you to suspend reality for the next few minutes. But, hey, it's the NFL offseason, which means that there won't be any meaningful football for another seven months. What else do you have to do?

Twenty-four hours ago, the Dolphins were 6-4, and one game out of the wild card race. A 20-point loss and some Sweet Valley High action later, Miami is 6-5, wondering where it all went wrong, and have a lot of work to do to keep (the playoff) hope alive for January.

Making things tougher: the team will be without its leading receiver, Greg Camarillo, who's done for the year after suffering a knee injury in the fourth quarter. Head coach Tony Sparano was very matter-of-fact about the whole thing: "It's hard. You don't want to lose a player like him. Somebody has to pick up the slack.''

Not sure who that somebody will be; Ted Ginn is the obvious choice, but who becomes the No. 2 option, Ernest Wilford? That was a joke. Of course he doesn't. Rookie Davone Bess has been a pleasant surprise, hauling in 24 passes in spot duty.

Twenty-four hours ago, the Dolphins were 6-4, and one game out of the wild card race. A 20-point loss and some Sweet Valley High action later, Miami is 6-5, wondering where it all went wrong, and have a lot of work to do to keep (the playoff) hope alive for January.

Making things tougher: the team will be without its leading receiver, Greg Camarillo, who's done for the year after suffering a knee injury in the fourth quarter. Head coach Tony Sparano was very matter-of-fact about the whole thing: "It's hard. You don't want to lose a player like him. Somebody has to pick up the slack.''

Not sure who that somebody will be; Ted Ginn is the obvious choice, but who becomes the No. 2 option, Ernest Wilford? That was a joke. Of course he doesn't. Rookie Davone Bess has been a pleasant surprise, hauling in 24 passes in spot duty.

The Miami Dolphins have worked out former Florida Gator Chad Jackson and may offer him a contract.

Jackson was recently cut by the New England Patriots after he caught just 13 passes in 14 games in 2006 ... and didn't catch a pass in an injury-plagued 2007. No one picked him up off of waivers due to him being in the middle of a four year deal. Now, with no contract glued to him, Miami is interested.

And well they should be. Miami isn't very deep at receiver right now. Ted Ginn, a second year player, is their main guy. After that is ... uh ... hmmm ... oh, Greg Camarillo! Oh ... and Devone Bess! Did I mention Ernest Wilford? How could I forget Derek Hagan?

The point is that there is no risk bringing Jackson in for a look-see. He's a big, speedy receiver who had a decent preseason. He's familiar with the AFC East and would have a good chance to pick up some playing time.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterbacks: The Brett Favre Fallout ended up with Chad Pennington coming to Miami. Good thing, because the Dolphins didn't have a quarterback on their roster. Well, technically they did ... but when you are having a three-man race to figure out who might be able to handle the job ... you have no QB. Pennington gives Miami what they need: an experienced, accurate passer. He's a winner, but not the kind of guy who makes those dynamic plays. Right now, they don't have great receivers, either, so a guy that can hit his target is key. Chad Henne may be the future ... but that's what we thought about John Beck last year. Heat Index: 4

Running backs: This is the biggest strength of this offense. During their 1-15 season last year, the fact that Ronnie Brown was having an outstanding season was lost on many people. Brown was worthy of a Pro Bowl spot before he tore his ACL in mid-season. All indications are that he's healed. Brown will share duties with Ricky Williams. Yep, he's back and he's bad! I can't believe I'm saying this, but Ricky has been a model teammate. He's basically lived at the Dolphins complex, is in supreme physical shape and could get back to his pre-retirement form. Of course, that is all the good. The bad is that your steadiest part of the team involves a guy with a major knee injury and another who is now 31, barely has played over the last several seasons, already has two strikes and is unreliable. At least he's not on the hippie lettuce anymore. Heat Index: 7

Ernest Wilford was supposed to be a big-play veteran addition to the Dolphins' young corps of wideouts. So far, so bad on that front. And while Wilford's had a forgettable training camp, and continues to slip slide down the depth chart, it looks like the team won't cut him.

Partly because he got $6 million in guaranteed dough when Miami signed him this offseason, and partly because it's not like this club has gobs of depth at the position can can afford to lose anybody.

Whatever, head coach Tony Sparano is hoping to make the best of the situation since, well, he doesn't have much of a choice.

Wilford's struggles prompted coach Tony Sparano to sit down with him earlier this week for a talk. During their meeting Sparano encouraged Wilford, assuring the former Virginia Tech standout that he hadn't lost confidence in him. ...

Wilford blames part of his slow start on the difficulty in learning the nuances of a new offense and the lack of familiarity with the quarterbacks, and vice versa. But he points out it shouldn't continue to be a challenge seeing as how he had to learn three offenses in his four seasons with the Jaguars and worked with three different starting quarterbacks.

Huh. I suppose it's good that Wilford isn't a Dolphins quarterback, then. Seriously, Miami hasn't even played its second preseason game so it's probably too early to declare Wilford a bust. And although Ted Ginn is full of promise and Derek Hagan is improving, those two names hardly instill fear in opposing defenses.You know, like Wilford does.

Good news: Chad Pennington is coming to Miami and the Dolphins are back in the Super Bowl hunt. Bad news: it's still not clear who he will be throwing passes to. Ted Ginn, last year's first-round pick, hopes to build on last year, but behind him, well, the Dolphins have bupkes.

The team signed Ernest Wilford this offseason, and had grand plans for the former Jags wideout, but as it turns out, he's apparently not very good.

The Dolphins' WR corps is suffering from a bad case of the drops. Coach Tony Sparano gave them an earful after a recent practice, and as a coach who stresses the fundamentals, Sparano has been visibly agitated. One of the most disappointing receivers has been free-agent acquisition Ernest Wilford, who has been indefinitely demoted to the second team, with Derek Hagan taking his starting spot.

That's swell for Hagan, but he's had his own struggles. Ultimately, the Dolphins are going to have to find Pennington some weapons, and while Hagan might be a nice complementary player, he's not a starter -- at least not yet.

The obvious solution: get that guy married. And, oh, I don't know, sign Terry Glenn.

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, Fantasy FanHouse is here to preview each and every team. Listen closely, you're almost guaranteed to win your FREE fantasy football league, only over at Fleaflicker.

Meet The ...
Most unpredictable fantasy team ever. If you want to try and sort through this mess with me, let's give it a whirl. The QB is either going to Josh McCown, Chad Henne, or John Beck. Ronnie Brown has proven himself an elite fantasy back when healthy, but he's coming off ACL surgery. His backup has reportedly been impressive in workouts thus far ... and it's the 31-year-old, CFL-playin', pot-smokin', retirin' to all things zen Ricky Williams. You want a piece of that on your team? Then you've got Cam Cameron's favorite returner and a guy who had only 518 yards receiving for the Jags as the top two wideouts. So let's break out the machete and slice through all this crap to the bare bones ...

... this team is going to suck. Bill Parcells likes to break everything down and plan for the future. Even if the team heads into the season with McCown as the starter -- as reports would suggest currently -- the present will yield to the future sooner than later. If Parcells was sold on Beck, he wouldn't have taken Henne with his second-round pick. Thus, by the halfway point (and probably the quarter-way point), Chad Henne is your QB. I don't care that Parcells isn't the actual head coach.

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, Fantasy FanHouse is here to preview each and every team. Listen closely, you're almost guaranteed to win your FREE fantasy football league, only over at Fleaflicker.

Meet The ...
Most unpredictable fantasy team ever. If you want to try and sort through this mess with me, let's give it a whirl. The QB is either going to Josh McCown, Chad Henne, or John Beck. Ronnie Brown has proven himself an elite fantasy back when healthy, but he's coming off ACL surgery. His backup has reportedly been impressive in workouts thus far ... and it's the 31-year-old, CFL-playin', pot-smokin', retirin' to all things zen Ricky Williams. You want a piece of that on your team? Then you've got Cam Cameron's favorite returner and a guy who had only 518 yards receiving for the Jags as the top two wideouts. So let's break out the machete and slice through all this crap to the bare bones ...

... this team is going to suck. Bill Parcells likes to break everything down and plan for the future. Even if the team heads into the season with McCown as the starter -- as reports would suggest currently -- the present will yield to the future sooner than later. If Parcells was sold on Beck, he wouldn't have taken Henne with his second-round pick. Thus, by the halfway point (and probably the quarter-way point), Chad Henne is your QB. I don't care that Parcells isn't the actual head coach.