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The Miami Dolphins made numerous moves in the offseason to try and improve the talent surrounding the franchise aka Ryan Tannehill, but a late season 2012 addition seems to have the coaching staff as excited as anyone else. Two weeks prior to Christmas the ‘Phins were awarded Armon Binns on a waiver claim after the Cincinnati Bengals cut him loose. The 6’3″ wide receiver seemed to impress the coaches during the week at practice, but in his three games with Miami he caught just six passes on 11 targets and he scored as many touchdowns for Miami as you or I did (which is to say, zero).
So why the excitement now? Well, during recent OTAs Binns drew praise from the coaches yet again, and what excited me is he is seemingly establishing himself as a red-zone threat. He has the height for that, and this team has a desperate need for receiver(s) who can cap drives with six points (extra point to follow). Far too often, Miami’s kicking team runs on the field to attempt a field goal after a drive stalled, but they need receivers to set it up where Dan Carpenter or Caleb Sturgis (likely Sturgis) are trotting on the field to attempt extra points. In 2012, only the Kansas City Chiefs and the Arizona Cardinals had less receiving touchdowns than Miami. Newcomers Mike Wallace and Dustin Keller should greatly add to Miami’s scoring, and it is interesting to hear the coaches talk about Binns as it looks like he may have a chance to leap over another newcomer, Brandon Gibson, on the depth chart as the No. 3 receiver.
Many Dolfans are not excited about either Binns or Gibson, but the coaches seem intrigued with Binns and my conversations with O.J. McDuffie have me excited about Gibson. Binns’ career is off to a slow start, but he is just 23 years young and his $480,000 price tag could make him very valuable considering his upside and the fact that the 2013 Dolphins will have several passes to spread around (this team is going to throw…a lot).
Craig Ballard is a NFL/NBA/MLB writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @craigballard77, and you can find all of his articles HERE
