Daunte Culpepper Leaves Minicamp Practice, Says He’ll Block Trade From Dolphins
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Daunte Culpepper’s entire career has been based on teammates blocking for him. Now he’s the one doing the blocking as the Miami Dolphins QB says he’s going to put the snafu on any trade the Dolphins might be considering for him.
In a weird day of minicamp practice in South Florida, Culpepper walked off the field escorted by security after being told by QB coach Terry Shea that he was being barred from any quarterback drills. What gives? If the guy is on your team and he’s cleared to workout, why have him stand around and watch everyone else practice? Apparently this was the team’s way of dealing with Daunte’s trade tenacity. Childish behavior by the Dolphins, yes. But I guess this is how they want to handle the situation — to make a spectacle of Daunte by making him “stand in the corner” so to speak. Daunte (who doesn’t have an agent, he reps himself) is owed $5.5 million for the upcoming season and said the structure of his current deal — which runs through 2013 and is worth $51.5 million — will make it nearly impossible for another team to trade for him. If Daunte doesn’t restructure that deal, it’s a virtual certainty that no other team would be willing to make a trade with Miami for him. Plus, Daunte wants to be able to pick what team he plays for. So, we’ll see where this goes, but I believe Daunte Culpepper has taken his last snap for the Miami Dolphins in a short-lived South Florida career that saw him start only four games and get sacked 21 times.
I guess at this point the question is whether Daunte Culpepper can still be an effective QB in this league. Obviously, he still thinks so, but he’s going to need to make some adjustments in his game if he’s going to be a quality starter. In his younger days, Daunte did have the luxury of Randy Moss at his disposal. As a fan of the Minnesota Vikings, I would watch in awe as deep ball after deep ball was literally heaved in the direction of #84 who nine times out of ten would come down with it for a long gain or touchdown. It really was a thing of beauty and it made Daunte look like he could do no wrong. But without Randy Moss to bail him out in those situations, Daunte was really only an average quarterback. Don’t get me wrong. Daunte was solid. But Randy Moss made him better. A lot better. In his final season with the Vikings (without Randy, of course), and before his knee injury, Daunte was playing some of the worst ball of his life and it was painful to watch. That being said, if he thinks he’s going to get some kind of $50 million deal from any team, he’s dreaming. It isn’t going to happen. But he will play again. I’m certain of that. He looks to be in great shape although he says he still has a ways to go on the road to complete recovery. To take advantage of what he has left of his NFL career, he hopes that road isn’t much longer.
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POSTED IN: Miami Dolphins
1 opinion for Daunte Culpepper Leaves Minicamp Practice, Says He’ll Block Trade From Dolphins
NFLPA Files Grievance for Daunte Culpepper
Jun 13, 2007 at 6:09 am
[…] Culpepper is getting help from the NFL Players Association in his quest to be released from the Miami Dolphins. The NFLPA filed a grievance today on Daunte’s behalf, with hopes that the matter can be […]
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