*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Mar 02, 1999: -- Kevin Gogan Acquired In Trade --
The NFL announced yesterday that the Dolphins have traded an
undisclosed 1999 draft pick to the 49ers in exchange for offensive
guard Kevin Gogan. Gogan is a 3 time Pro-Bowler who was initially
drafted by JJ in Dallas and won 2 SuperBowl rings as a starting
offensive lineman while he was there.
At 6'7" and 330 pounds (201 cm and 150 Kilos for you metric
users), Gogan is a huge player. He has a reputation for nastiness and
intensity so great that last year, Sports Illustrated named him "The
Nastiest Player" in the NFL.
In addition to being nasty, Gogan is very durable. He has
started every game for the last 5 years for the 49ers and Raiders. He
has played right tackle, left guard and right guard in the NFL, but
for the Dolphins he will most likely line up at left guard.
There was no official announcement about the draft pick, but
it's rumored to be a conditional pick from the 4th to the 6th round.
The 49ers have said that they are trading Gogan to free up some salary
cap money and because the new management prefers smaller, quicker
offensive linemen.
Because this is a trade, the Dolphins must now assume
responsibility for Gogan's salary, which is going to count about $1.7
million against the cap this season.
My Comments:
Despite the fact that Gogan is an older player (he'll turn 35
in November), this is a great move on the part of JJ. Kevin Gogan
provides an attitude and veteran leadership to an offensive line that
is finally starting to come together.
The biggest question that this acquisition leaves is whether
or not the Dolphins will now decide to keep Richmond Webb. Webb is
looking for a contract in the $6 million per year range and JJ doesn't
want to pay that much for him.
The possibility of a trade to Cleveland still exists, but the
Browns have just acquired Lomas Brown and that reduces their need for
someone like Webb.
While other teams are a possibility, none would have the kind
of bargaining chips that the Browns have. Also, if Webb was traded,
who would replace him? Brent Smith had a few decent games as a
backup, but was clearly not playing on Webb's level. Mark Dixon is a
possibility and played left tackle in the CFL, but his recovery is not
complete yet and his ability to play at left tackle in the NFL is
untested.
Having said that, the initial plan last season when Webb went
down was to have Dixon fill in at left tackle for Webb until Dixon
himself was injured.
By the way, if you didn't know, I'm a big Mark Dixon fan.
Until he got injured last season, Dixon was leading everyone on the
offensive line - including Kevin Donnalley - in the category of
"intimidation blocks", which was Larry Beightols way of rating how
hard the players on the offensive line were playing.
The bottom line is that while the acquisition of Gogan puts
some more questions on the future of Richmond Webb with the Dolphins,
it by no means puts an end to his career in Miami.
As with Carl Pickens, we will probably have to wait until
after the draft to find out what happens with Webb. If the Dolphins
are going to do a long term deal with him, they will wait until after
July 15th (as they did last year with Tim Bowens) so that they can
reclaim the franchise tag use in the year 2000.
Oh - a word on what the Dolphins gave up in trade: Some
sources are reporting that it's conditional, but since this April is
the 1999 draft, I can't imagine what it's conditional on. So we don't
really know yet what the trade was for, but at worst it's for a 4th
round pick, which is really a pretty good deal for the Dolphins. At
best, it will be even lower than that.
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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