Toniu FonotiFull Name: Toniuolevaiavea Satele FonotiBorn: November 26, 1981American SamoaHeight: 6-4Weight: 350 lbs. Age: 25Pos: OGExperience: 5 yearsCollege: NebraskaDrafted: Year:2002 Round:2 Pick:7, ChargersInsider AnalysisGrade 53Expert's Take Fonoti has a massive body with excellent strength and power. He was a late acquisition (Nov. 7), giving depth to a guard position that was decimated by early injures. Fonoti is a powerful, short-area road grader who is effective as a zone run blocker. He has good initial quickness off the ball getting into defenders and moving them off the line of scrimmage. He is tough and plays with good effort but appeared to be somewhat out of shape when first coming to the Dolphins. Fonoti is best versus base defenses and has a tough time adjusting to stunts and quicker defensive lineman. He tends to over-extend when adjusting in space and is not very effective on the second level. Fonoti wins or loses early in the play, as he can lock on and muscle defenders very well if he can engage initially. He tends to play too high at times, and this further hinders his lateral agility and effectiveness. Fonoti can anchor well versus power pass rushers but again has a tough time with counter moves. He lacks great footwork and mirror techniques out of a short area and is best when the offensive line works with tight splits. He has a decent feel for the game and is a solid reactor with effective hand placement and use. Fonoti can be effective if used in a power offensive scheme and not put in a situation where he is in space attempting one-on-one blocks (pulling, etc.). If he can continue to work on his weight and flexibility he may have a chance to push for a starting spot at the guard position.Joe HornFull Name: Joseph HornBorn: January 16, 1972Tupelo, MSHeight: 6-1Weight: 213 lbs. Age: 35Pos: WRExperience: 11 yearsCollege: Itawamba (MS) JCInsider AnalysisGrade 65Expert's Take Horn is an experienced starting receiver who played in only 10 games in 2006 due to a major groin injury. He has been a highly productive player throughout his career and has been a Pro Bowl player. He is a versatile receiver who aligns both on the inside and out in the Saints' sub multiple packages. He is still a good athlete with good speed, quickness and control. He is a competitive player with toughness. In the passing game, his production has slowly diminished over the last few seasons. He has the short area quickness and play strength to release off the line of scrimmage with good acceleration to close the cushion versus off corners. He is a natural route runner with good body control at the top of stems. He has good natural set-up and route savvy when finding open areas in zone coverage. He has natural catching skills and can make tough downfield adjustments in a crowd. He is willing to go over the middle and make tough catches in a crowd. He has good awareness and acceleration after the catch to be a threat with the ball in his hands after the catch. He is a willing blocker and will show decent effort in the run game. Overall, Horn is still a solid No. 2 receiver for some NFL teams but is starting to show declining skills and production and has some durability concerns. However, he is still a valuable roster player who can be productive in the right NFL system as a stopgap starter for 2007.Ovie MughelliFull Name: Ovie Phillip MughelliBorn: June 10, 1980Boston, MAHeight: 6-1Weight: 255 lbs.Pronounced: OH-vee mah-HAY-leeAge: 26Pos: RBExperience: 4 yearsCollege: Wake ForestDrafted: Year:2003 Round:4 Pick:37, RavensInsider AnalysisGrade 64Expert's Take Mughelli is a big, strong fullback with good athletic ability for his size. He mixes in as the starting fullback but appears to be the most effective at that position for the Ravens. He is not powerful on contact but will attack defenders and run his feet. He stays square and keeps leverage while blocking inline. Mughelli appears to have a good feel for his responsibilities as a blocker and receiver and there is very little hesitation in his game. He has average feet and quickness as a ball carrier in traffic and is a straight-line, track-type runner with little elusiveness and imagination inline. Mughelli does have some power with the ball but is not an explosive player with good burst and strength. He has above-average hands and has been an effective receiver out of the backfield breaking tackles downfield. Mughelli has also improved some as a special teams contributor. He improved his overall intensity and consistency in 2006 and may have found his footing in the last year of his contract. He never does anything eye-catching but is effective and consistent with most phases of his game.Lewis SandersFull Name: Lewis Lindell SandersBorn: June 22, 1978Staten Island, NYHeight: 6-1Weight: 210 lbs. Age: 28Pos: CBExperience: 7 yearsCollege: MarylandInsider AnalysisGrade 52Expert's Take Sanders has bounced around the league as a part time starter, but primarily a backup corner. He has the size, speed and quickness to play corner in the league. The issue is he can generally be in position to break up a pass but the ball tends to get through for a completion. He lacks great awareness, vision and ball skills once the ball is in the air. He is best suited for the nickel package when he can line up with the opponent's big wide receiver that is not quite as quick and nifty as the slot receivers usually are. With his size and strength he can be effective once he gets his hands on the receiver to re-route them. He is a little tight in the hips and struggles in transition. He works best when he can line up tight and run with receivers from a trail alignment. While he is willing in run support, he does not play big and is not the most sure tackler.Marcus WilkinsFull Name: Marcus Wesley WilkinsBorn: January 2, 1980Austin, TXHeight: 6-2Weight: 231 lbs. Age: 27Pos: LBExperience: 5 yearsCollege: TexasInsider AnalysisGrade 49Expert's Take Wilkins is a down-the-line backup linebacker who is a valuable special teams player. He finished the season with just 15 tackles, but is a slightly above-average athlete who runs well and shows some suddenness as an athlete changing directions. He flashes his ability on the field, but is far too inconsistent and isn't nearly as productive as his natural ability would indicate. He has lined up at defensive end on throwing downs and is an above-average pass rusher from his outside linebacker position. He could probably contribute in a limited basis as an outside linebacker in the 3-4 or 4-3 schemes. His biggest flaw is that he is very slow to react to the play and simply does not diagnose quickly enough. Because he is often a step behind where he should be, blockers get into him too quickly and he doesn't have the ability to shed bigger blockers with regularity. Because of his fine speed and athletic prowess, Wilkins has a role as a backup and key special teams contributor, but counting on him for much more is not a good idea.KeyUFA: Unrestricted Free Agent; a player who has completed four or more accrued seasons and whose contract has expired.RFA: Restricted Free Agent; a player who has completed three accrued seasons and whose contract has expired.Released: A player released by his team with years remaining on his contract.Grade: After watching film and evaluating players, our scouts have assigned each a numeric grade from 40-100.Grading scale90-100: Elite PlayerPlayer demonstrates rare abilities and can create mismatches that have an obvious impact on the game. ... Premier NFL player who has all the skills to consistently play at a championship level. ... Rates as one of the top players at his position in the league.80-89: Outstanding PlayerPlayer has abilities to create mismatches versus most opponents in the NFL. ... A feature player who has an impact on the outcome of the game. ... Cannot be shut down by a single player and plays on a consistent level week in and week out.70-79: Good StarterSolid starter who is close to being an outstanding player. ... Has few weaknesses and usually will win his individual matchup but does not dominate in every game, especially when matched up against the top players in the league.60-69: Average StarterA valuable roster player but not a dominant player against the better players he faces on a weekly basis. ... Gives great effort and teams are glad to have him, but he may or may not go to the next level.50-59: Good BackupThis is a player who is really on the bubble and only starts because of a deficiency at the position. ... He lacks complete overall skills, and although he will battle, he will hinder his team's ability to play at a championship level if he is forced to be in the starting lineup consistently over a 16-game season. Teams don't mind having him on the roster but are always looking to upgrade.40-49: Below Average Backup/Core Special TeamersStrictly a backup player who is not capable of starting. If forced to, he is only a short-term fix. ... He might make the roster because of special-teams contributions or experience. ... He is the type of player teams consistently look to replace with an upgrade. ... He always will be a borderline roster player.30: Developmental PlayerPlayers with this grade have very little film to evaluate. Such players might flash potential in the preseason but don't have any regular-season performances to judge. they usually have very little experience but have to be tracked due to developmental potential.20: Rookie (Post Draft)No professional tape to evaluate. These players will have an evaluation based on their college tape, but we will not put a new grade on them until after their rookie seasons. They will carry the 20 grade throughout their first NFL season.10: Evaluation in ProcessNeed more information
No problem, hopefully a guy like Fonoti can step in on goalie situations and open us holes. Our biggest weakness on offensive was short yardage situations. Coach Petrino want's a bigger bruising line and hopefully we can get the job done this time around.
It depends. We might draft an offensive linemen and have Fonoti as a back up to the rest of our injury prone guards.
Fonoti and Mughelli definately fit the Power Running theme that your coach is going with, although Fonoti is nothing more then a backup. I personally didn't care for the Horn pickup as he is nothing more then a mentor and maybe a Slot WR at this point in his career and asking him to do more is just a bad idea. He was pretty much fased out of the New Orleans offense last year in favor of Colston and Henderson. Although if he was brought in to mentor Jenkins and White then it might be an alright pickup.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AdropOFvenom @ Mar 17 2007, 03:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Fonoti and Mughelli definately fit the Power Running theme that your coach is going with, although Fonoti is nothing more then a backup. I personally didn't care for the Horn pickup as he is nothing more then a mentor and maybe a Slot WR at this point in his career and asking him to do more is just a bad idea. He was pretty much fased out of the New Orleans offense last year in favor of Colston and Henderson. Although if he was brought in to mentor Jenkins and White then it might be an alright pickup.</div>Couldn't of said it better myself.
That's why the Horn signing was so good. We finally have a veteran pro-bowler on this team. Which was key, Getting Finneran back is also a positive.
