Per Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, the Dolphins front office and the teams top two draft picks, Jared Odrick and Koa Misi are in talks to come to an agreement on a contract.

Salguero goes on to say “the Dolphins have made contract offers to both, according to a source. The same source tells me the club is not waiting for the typical slotting method, waiting on a player ahead and behind to sign, to get their deals done, particularly with Odrick.”

The Fins head into training camp on July 30th, and there are reportedly no obstacles that should keep the Fins from signing the remaining cogs in their draft class.

Odrick and Misi are the teams last remaining picks left unsigned, and are both expected to contribute heavily to the team this year.

What would the Dolphins be like today if the team would have inked now Super Bowl MVP QB Drew Brees? Well, this past week Peter King had a portion of Brees’ upcoming book – “Coming Back Stronger” and it talks about how the QB flirted with the thought of being a Fin:

Brees had significant interest on the table from the Saints. But he wanted to find out if Saban had the same faith in him that (Sean) Payton and Mickey Loomis had in New Orleans.

So Brees picked up the phone and called Saban, who told him the Miami team doctors believed Brees had a 25 percent chance to come back and be the same quarterback, or better, that he’d been before the shoulder surgery.

According to the book, Brees said to Saban: “Coach, I know what your doctors believe about me. My question is, what do you believe?”

Wrote Brees: “Nick Saban paused. That was really all I needed to hear. His pause told me everything. ‘Well, Drew,’ he said, ‘I would still love to have you, but I have to trust what our medical people are saying …’ He went on from there, like he was reading from a script. But I was starting to tune out. By then I had all the information I needed. I had made my decision.”

Brees told Saban thanks, and he’d be going to New Orleans, even though telling Saban that might kill his negotiating position with the Saints.

As Brees told me, “The impression I get from the Dolphins was I should feel lucky they were even looking at me. It just wasn’t a welcoming feeling.”

While it would be interesting to think about the Fins with Brees, where would the New Orleans Saints be today without him?

Adam Schefter of ESPN.com is reporting that contrary to reports, Dolphins LB Channing Crowder is telling people he does not have a season-ending foot injury and will be ready for camp.

Manish Mehta of the New York Post reported earlier that Crowder was out for the year on his Twitter account but then later confirmed the story was not correct and that he was simply reporting old news from a news crawl under a game rebroadcast on NFL Network:

“I spoke to a rep from the NFL Network. The bottom line crawl was last year’s ESPN feed that was shown during rebroadcast of Vikings-Bears game. The crawl was NOT live. So Channing Crowder is NOT out for year with foot injury. (That news referred to last year’s injury). Hope that clarifies.”

ProFootballTalk.com went on to post the rumor as news after Mehta’s original post on Twitter. They have since retracted the story.

Marshall, as well as the fans, hope that he can help the Dolphins to the promise land.

The Dolphins were expected to have a reputable offense this year, but were looking for the missing link that could give Chad Henne the aerial connection that he could go to when in need.

The Dolphins front office more than fulfilled Henne’s wishes, and brought in one of the NFL’s best wide receivers. But Marshall is not the only wide receiver on the team, as their are four other players competing for time this season.

Brandon Marshall: Marshall will instantly provide young Chad Henne with the deep, and red-zone threat that he was looking for last year. Marshall will also draw double teams as well, which will sometimes take the extra man out of the box, thus giving our running backs more room to run. Marshall is expected to all out strengthen our offense, and the Fins may finally have the prolific offense that they have been lacking since the late 80’s.

Brian Hartline: Hartline is expected to win the open competition for the #2 receiver spot, after having a tremendous rookie year, and showing that he has some big play ability in him. Hartline will benefit from the double teams that Marshall will draw, and the production of the run game, but will need to do better in single coverage, than he did last year.

Davone Bess: Bess is the true slot guy on the Fins roster, and showed the quickness and the hands last year to get the job done over the middle of the field. Bess may have a little stature, but he plays bigger than he is, and does nto shy away from contact. Bess is the glue that will cause opposing defensive coordinators to stay up late at night. He can line up anywhere on the field, and do anything you ask him to. He is simply a do-it-all type of player.

Greg Camarillo: Oddly enough, Camarillo, who caught every pass that was catchable, and touched his hands, is the fourth man on the depth chart. Camarillo will be looking at a limited role this season, after the addition of Marshall, but he still will play a big part in the offense, as he too, can cause disruption in the slot, as again, he catches everything. Camarillo could end up being off the team if the Fins are looking for trade bait, but he would not garner much. Cam will be back with the team in 2010, and will be looking to find his new niche on the team in anyway possible.

Patrick Turner: Turner, who sat out all of his rookie season, due to being on the bottom of the depth chart, is fighting a back injury, that will slow his progress for the upcoming season. Turner is a big physical, imposing receiver, who will be a red-zone target if he can crack the roster. Turner has been rumored to be making strides as far as his training, and intangibles, but he still needs to translate that to the field. He will be the odd man out, and will fight for all the playing time he can get.

The Dolphins receiving staff has all of the pieces that it needs to be one of the best in the Dolphins history. Henne’s progression will benefit from the addition of Marshall, as will the rest of the offense.

After gaining 18 pounds of muscle, and actually decreasing his body fat percentage, backup quarterback Pat White is showing coaches his work ethic, and his hunger to get better already, in only his second season.

After a disappointing rookie season, in which he could barely grip the ball correctly because of his small hands, and his physical disadvantages such as his size, White is striving to get better in every, and any way possible.
White will need all of the practice, and weight he can get if he wishes to help his team this year.

Pat’s put in an awful lot of time .  He’s put a lot of time in, watched a lot of tape, done a lot of studying on his own and with [quarterback coach] David Lee. You can start to see some of that right now. At the end of five practices, six practices, this guy is at 68 or 69 percent completion. He’s going to the right place with the ball. He’s starting to see things a little bit quicker, he’s able to get to the second and third progressions a bit quicker.

Pat has done a great job right now,Sparano said.  His offseason has been outstanding.  The guy has put an awful lot of time in, I mean he really has.  I mean all of these quarterbacks have to their credit.  But, I’m talking about time like second week of February, like kicking them out of here when Super Bowl teams are practicing and those kind of things.  These guys been here that long.

White has been working his butt off all season, as well as the rest of the quarterbacks, and this season it will most likely pay off. The Dolphins will have to be very impressed with all of their quarterbacks to keep four on the roster during the season, but the way all of them have been working this summer, it will be hard for the coaches to keep one of these men off the roster.

Look for White to have an extended role with the team this year, as his playing weight will now be up to 208, which is only 7 pounds below Michael Vick, who is the same type of player that White is.

With White now seeming to get the hang of passing the ball now, look for the Wildcat to become more of the WildPat, with Ronnie Brown being utilized less and less, and White being used in the creative formation more and more.

Since becoming a free agent, there has been a lot of talk about two teams in particular making a push to ink safety O.J. Atogwe from the Rams. The two teams include the Lions and Dolphins, though from reading below on the SunSentinel website, the interest in Atogwe isn’t as strong as some might think.

Even though there’s been an AOL Fanhouse report stating the Dolphins have made a “strong push” to sign Rams free agent O.J. Atogwe, the team’s real interest level can best be labeled as lukewarm.

Atogwe has been a unrestricted free agent for five days and hasn’t set up any visits. It appears he’ll likely re-sign with the Rams for far less than the $7 million a year he and his camp sought.

“I’m very happy with the safeties we’ve got on our team right now. Very happy,” Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland said this weekend, referring to Chris Clemons, a second-year player who had spent all offseason working with the starters, and rookie Reshad Jones.

Right now one would still think the front runner to land the safety is the team he has been with – the Rams.

Dallas, San Francisco and Washington have also denied interest in Atogwe according to ESPN’s NFC West Blogger Mike Sando.  He pegs Detroit as the most likely non-STL landing place.

The Miami Dolphins, one of the teams that showed interest in Atogwe before he was a free agent, today denied interest in his services according to Jeff Darlington of the Miami Herald.

Atogwe to Dolphins is officially a long shot. With respect to Atogwe, team source says “we like what we’ve seen from our safeties so far.”

They did. You’re not wrong. RT @robi2184: I am surprised, a source directly linked to Atogwe’s agent told me Miami had him on radar.

As we’ve said b4, Dolphins privately like OJ. But they won’t be setting market here. If NFL-wide interest lags, we’ll see. They like Chris [Clemons]!

So, it looks like Miami will not be the team that wants to give Atogwe a huge deal.  That leaves Dallas and possibly Minnesota.  Most teams have their starting safeties set by June 1st and are unwilling to pay a premium for a free agent.  However, we will see if they are willing to ante up for Atogwe.

Pat White could be the secret weapon for the Dolphins in 2010, as reports from sources say that he’s put on 18 pounds of muscle this offseason, and is looking great according to coach Tony Sparano.

“Pat has done a great job right now,” Sparano said via the team’s website. “His offseason has been outstanding. The guy has put an awful lot of time in, I mean he really has. I mean all of these quarterbacks have to their credit. But, I’m talking about time like second week of February, like kicking them out of here when Super Bowl teams are practicing and those kinds of things.

“He’s put a lot of time in, watched a lot of tape, has done a lot of studying on his own and with (quarterbacks coach) David Lee. So, I think that you can start to see some of that right now. … You’re starting to see him hit some things a little bit quicker, get to some second and third progressions a little bit quicker.”

White last season ran for 81 yards, and was 0-for-5 passing, but if he keeps on this pace, there is no question that Sparano will have him a lot more in the game plan for 2010.