Merling, Henne await talks with Fins

BY DAVID J. NEAL

Agents for the Dolphins' top two unsigned draft picks say no talks have begun on contracts for their clients, but agents for picks at the other end of the Dolphins' draft say they expect things to happen quickly.

In fact, Kenneth Zuckerman, the agent for seventh-round pick Lionel Dotson, said the Dolphins delivered an offer for the defensive end out of Arizona.

''I think [general counsel Matt Thomas] is very experienced when it comes to contracts,'' Zuckerman said. ``With the people they have, I think they feel comfortable establishing the market.''

Zuckerman also said that things are easier once a team has its first pick signed and out of the way.

The Dolphins announced the signing of offensive tackle Jake Long four days before they officially made him the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.

Indeed, sixth-round pick Jalen Parmele's agent, Bruce Tollner, said, ``I know they're hoping to do it sooner rather than later.

``They'll be on the front end of the signings.''

Things are progressing at a more stately pace, which is to say not at all, for the Dolphins' second round picks, Clemson defensive end Phillip Merling and Michigan quarterback Chad Henne.

Athletes First's Justin Schulman, who represents Henne, wrote in an e-mail that there have been ``no discussions at this point.''

Jimmy Sexton, the agent for Merling, said he didn't expect to get anything going on talks for Merling before he returns from his July 4 vacation.

Although training camp opens later that month, it should be more than enough time for the Dolphins to get things done with Merling. After all, the Dolphins didn't fool around once they decided on Long.

''When he signed the contract is exactly when we got the guy, but we decided that he was our guy; I would say it was about seven days ago when we decided to start negotiating with him,'' Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland said in April at the announcement they had signed Long.

Last season, after early training camp holdouts by running back Ronnie Brown in 2005 and safety Jason Allen in 2006, Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga established a deadline when he said he wanted all of the draft picks signed before training camp. The Dolphins achieved that but little else in 2007.

The problem is that sports agents are telling these kids to wait and make sure they get the best deal possible.  The agents obviously care about their client and want to maximize their client's payday, but obviously this will increase the agent's profit and  I think they want more to be able to say "I got  player X this amount and I could get you..."   I place the blame on the professional agents, and not the teenage/20 some year old kid!

Holdouts and rookie record breaking contracts are a huge problem in the NFL and the only way it will be resolved is when the league institutes a rookie wage salary scale!!!

It also trickles down to the veterans because they get jealous when some rookie at the same position comes in and is making more than they are. so, in turn, they hold out for a new contract which sometimes even results in these veterans demanding a trade if they are not compensated.

if the NFL sets up this rookie wage scale, nobodys' ego would be hurt, there would be less holdouts (by rookies and veterans), and less salary cap casualties because of rookie busts that have huge salaries before ever playing. maybe some fan favorite veterans could even remain on their team because the team has the money to keep them. instead fans have to watch their idlols play their twilight years on a different team, usually an inter-division rivals.