Ok. I mean, seriously. What the fuck is going on with this guy? Oddly, Jeff Darlington just posted an article about this on the Herald (damn you, Darlington!!!). Let's take a look at a little chronology here:
- Roth finishes the 2008 season with these numbers:
| Season | Team | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||||
| G | GS | Total | Solo | Ast | Sck | SFTY | PDef | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TDs | FUM | Lost | ||
| 2008 | Miami Dolphins | 16 | 14 | 53 | 46 | 7 | 5.0 | -- | 4 | -- | -- | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Not jaw-dropping numbers by any means, but pretty good stuff for a 4th year player playing in a 3-4 as a first time OLB. This being his 5th year (and thus a contract year) he was poised for big things. I know the organization really likes this guy. Before this whole thing, he was likely to get a new contract if he remained consistent and improved his play the way he's done since he came into the league.
- In January, Roth saw a specialist in Pittsburgh about the groin that forced him to miss a few games in 2007 and hampered him as last season came to an end.
- In March, Roth has surgery on the groin. (Not sure if Darlington is wrong in his article but Roth himself said he had the surgery in March. See? This shit is all dildos, man)
- In mid-May Roth participates as the starting strong side linebacker during OTAs.
- Closer to training camp, the team sends Roth to Philly to be examined by a groin specialist (heh, heh) who found nothing wrong with Roth.
- Training Camp opens and Roth is banged up. He doesn't practice, telling Sparano that he's feeling ill. It gets so ridiculous that The Dude and I run out of ways to kill strippers, have him do drugs and come to in bizarre situations - and we never run out of that weird shit!
- Roth is now, what, 24 practices behind in Training Camp or so? In addition, he's likely to miss this Saturday's preseason game as well as the first one he already missed earlier this week.
So what the fuck is going on with this guy? The breakdown in communication is staggering - especially coming from an organization that A) is so hierarchical from top to bottom B) is extremely secretive and internal about any and all information concerning its players and coaches and C) so clearly differentiates between being 'injured' and being 'hurt' - something that Roth was for a good chunk of 2008 and even those 3 games in 2007.
The organization loves this guy and was already in talks to have him be the next player re-signed by the Dolphins. He works hard in practice and games. He's clearly a fuckin' psycho when he's on the field. So what gives? What happened between May and now that allowed this to happen? Did Roth re-injure the groin while engaging in some non-Dolphins-related activity (*cough* DAGGERIN' *cough*)? Is this a purely 'contract-related injury' during a contract year where he doesn't want to cause any further damage to the groin until he can be assured there are more serious negotiations going on? If so, that sure as shit ain't gonna work because this organization CLEARLY won't be bullied around and there's a guy by the name of Jason Fuckin' Taylor taking all the snaps every day in his position and, oh, that guy's pretty fuckin' good, if you haven't heard.
So what gives? What sayeth you, FinsNation??
