Henne busy in Dolphins camp
DAVIE – Traffic can get heavy around the Miami Dolphins complex, which is an annoyance for Chad Henne as he comes and goes at training camp.
“I’m not a road rager,” the Dolphins’ backup quarterback says, “but I’m not a very patient person.”
Henne also has someone in his way at work, where he’s stuck behind last year’s NFL Comeback Player of the Year, Chad Pennington. Henne threw only 12 passes in his rookie season last year, and barring a calamity at quarterback, he’ll ride the bench again in 2009.
“I think it’s hard for anybody just to sit,” Henne says. “I played four years at Michigan. I never sat on the bench, but I’m learning and getting better.”
Henne likely will be idle come September, but the Dolphins want to take a long look at him this month. He’s expected to handle more snaps than Pennington or rookie Pat White during the exhibition season, which begins Monday against Jacksonville.
“That’s great for me,” Henne says. “That’s more work. It’ll definitely help me out.”
A second-round draft pick in 2008, Henne emerged as Pennington’s heir apparent with an impressive camp and exhibition season a year ago. His throwing has been more erratic in practice this month, and the Dolphins hope that’s a mere hiccup.
Coach Tony Sparano says Henne has a better grasp of the playbook this year, allowing him to make faster decisions at the line of scrimmage. Sparano also praises Henne’s devotion to the offseason conditioning program.
As a reward, Henne will be busy in Miami’s four exhibition games. He’ll likely play some in each half Monday, Sparano says.
“I hope to put him in game situations where he’s got to think a little bit on the fly,” Sparano says. “I really want to see him at the end of the first half go in at halftime, make adjustments and then come out in the second half, and how he handles that. That doesn’t sound like much, but there are a lot of things that go on in that eight minutes when we are in the locker room that a quarterback has to handle.
“I want to put him in that position throughout the preseason. He needs to be ready to go, and we need to put him in those positions to get ready to go.”
Henne could be the best quarterback Miami has drafted since Dan Marino, although that’s not saying much. The position has been a revolving door for much of the past decade since Marino retired after the 1999 season.
Henne passed for 9,715 yards and 87 touchdowns at Michigan and helped his draft stock in his final game, throwing for 373 yards and three touchdowns to beat Florida in the Capital One Bowl.
He hasn’t started a game since, but realizes it’s for the best he wasn’t rushed into a No. 1 role as an NFL rookie.
“I think I was ready, not in the beginning of last season, but definitely toward the end,” he says.
Henne says he’s much more comfortable with the playbook as a second-year pro. He concedes he has missed too many open receivers in practice this month, but says his arm is stronger and his release quicker than a year ago.
Pennington’s two-year contract expires after this season, and it’s uncertain whether Miami will re-sign the 33-year-old. If Sparano and general manager Jeff Ireland deem Henne ready, he might be Miami’s No. 1 quarterback next year.
It’s a situation that could create tension between Chads, but they say that hasn’t happened.
“I don’t ever look at it as a competition,” Pennington says. “We are trying to prepare not only ourselves, but each other. We look at it as working together to make each other better and being there for each other.”
Bucs sign punter: Punter Dirk Johnson has signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, filling in for the injured Josh Bidwell.
Johnson, 34, was released in June by the Steelers after spending most of last season with the Cardinals. He will make his debut for the Bucs in Saturday night’s preseason game at Tennessee.
Bidwell is out with a right hip injury. He had been the only punter in Tampa Bay’s training camp.
To make room on the roster, defensive tackle Greg Peterson was waived injured. A fifth-round draft pick in 2007, Peterson appeared in 12 games over the past two seasons.