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. ...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.
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.
