After being kicked to the curb by the New York Jets in favor of Brett Favre, quarterback Chad Pennington found himself in Miami hoping to return the Dolphins to some sort of relevance following forgettable a 1-15 season. Mission accomplished, as Pennington helped lead Miami to an 11-5 season and a surprising AFC East title. Meanwhile, in New York, the Jets were on the outside of the playoffs looking in.
In the process, Pennington posted one of the best season's of his career, completing 67% of his passes with a 97.4 passer rating before having a five-turnover meltdown against Baltimore in the opening round of the playoffs.
For his efforts, Pennington finished second in the league's MVP voting behind Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. The question now becomes this: will the 32-year-old Pennington be rewarded by the Dolphins front office in the form of a contract extension?
Not likely. Not right now, anyway.
ESPN's John Clayton speculates that Pennington will enter the 2009 season as Miami's starting quarterback, but because of the presence of 2008 second-round pick Chad Henne, he won't be receiving a new deal. This is a sentiment that is echoed by Edgar Thompson of the Palm Beach Post.
Pennington has a few things working against him. First, he's going to be 33 in 2009, while the Dolphins, for the second year in a row, invested a first-day pick on a quarterback-of-the-future. Hopefully, for Miami's sake, Henne works out better than the John Beck experience did.
Beyond that, Pennington has played 16 games in a season only twice in his nine-year career (he's gets hurt a lot) and has never been a poster child for arm strength in the NFL.
On the other hand, he's extremely accurate with a career completion percentage of 66% (best all-time) and, playoff games against Baltimore aside, doesn't turn the football over.
As it stands, Pennington is set to earn a base salary of $3.9 million in 2009, which would be an absolute steal for the Dolphins if he can repeat his 2008 performance.
