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The Miami Dolphins have concluded their first week of practice, and there have been a lot of shuffling of the rosters so far from practice to practice.

There have been some highlights, and benefits from these moves, and on the other hand, there has been some minor disappointments.

Here are my highlights and lowlights from the last week of practice:

Highlights:

• Newly acquired receiver Brandon Marshall has plainly been dominating every cornerback that lines up across from him. Marshall even put second year man Sean Smith on his butt a couple times on the first day! The fact that Marshall has been drama, and injury free so far this camp has been even more better for the Fins. Marshall is indeed worth the price we paid.
• 5th round pick Nolan Carroll has been impressing everyone who has been watching him so far in camp. Carroll has been around the ball all camp, and has been in the thick of things to compete for the right to return kickoffs for the team. Carroll will likely not see much time as a cornerback early on, but it seems that he understands that he needs to perform well on special teams to earn his way onto the team. This guy is showing promise so far, and I'm excited to see him play.
• Linebacker Ikaika Alama-Francis is impressing coaches as well, after making the switch from defensive end, to outside linebacker. Head coach Tony Sparano has been watching Alama-Francis and has had some good words for the linebacker. Francis is athletic enough to get to the quarterback, and he will provide some interesting competition in camp, and at the least, depth for the season.
• Vontae Davis appears to be improving from his impressive rookie season so far in camp. He has been described by some members of the media as the most improved player this year on the whole roster, and is raising eyebrows as well. Davis showed last year that he is a playmaker. If he can show that he got the proper technique down, he should be a star player for the Fins starting this year, and for a long, long time.

Low-Lights:

• Second year corner Sean Smith has been somewhat of a disappointment so far to me. He still has tremendous potential, and there is no way that he has lost all of the skills that made him the first rookie corner to start all 16 games in his rookie year. But so far he has been dominated by Marshall, which is acceptable, because plain and simple, it happens to everyone. He has also been picked apart a few times by Brian Hartline, and now, has been demoted to the second team, and still was giving up touchdown passes, to players that will most likely not even be a contributor to the team this year. Smith showed frustration today in practice though, and one can only hope that he will start to pick things up, and the game will start to slow down for him in the coming days. The Fins will need Smith if they wish to be a contender this year, he was one of the better corners in the league last year.
• The offensive line play, bar tackles Jake Long and Vernon Carey, has been sub-par so far in camp. Based on reports by the media, the defensive line, and the rest of the blitzing Fins defense has been man-handling the Dolphins o-line, and it really makes you wonder whether it is just the confusing schemes created by defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, or the play of the offensive line. Sparano has been mixing and matching with the lineups on the line more than anywhere, and I think this may be the chief cause of the disappointment so far. The team relies on the chemistry in the trenches, and so far in camp, with all of the different lineups that have been used, there has been no chance for the players to build that chemistry with each other. Just my theory.
• The injury bug has visited Miami, Florida so far during training camp, and the casualties have been defensive end Phillip Merling, rookie linebacker A.J. Edds, and running back Kory Sheets. All were looking to make an impact to the team somehow this year. Let's hope this is the extent of the injuries suffered in camp this year, the Fins cannot afford to lose any other players that are expected to contribute to the team.
• Pat White missed the first couple days of practice, then continued to perform terribly. He has picked up his play the past couple of days, but after hearing so many high reports on the weight that he had gained over the off-season, and how he was so accurate during OTA's, I was expecting more. White will most likely be cut if he does not show that he can be an asset to this team.

Other News:

• Cornerback Evan Ogelsby was cut by the team, then re-signed the next day. He will most likely not make the cut.
• Rookie corner A.J. Wallace, undrafted out of Penn State, has quit the team, and the news was made official yesterday. Wish him the best in his future ventures, the NFL isn't for everyone!

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