In the early post-draft flurry of undrafted free agent signings, the Dolphins reportedly have signed eight.
They are: University of Delaware offensive tackle Mike Byrne, who protected Baltimore first-round pick quarterback Joe Flacco; Boise State offensive tackle Dan Gore; Portland State offensive tackle Daren Heerspink; Brigham Young linebacker Kelly Poppinga, brother of Green Bay linebacker Brady Poppinga; Maine tight end Matt Mulligan; Montana kicker Dan Carpenter; Hawaii wide receiver Davone Bess; and Georgia Southern quarterback Jayson Foster.
The few undrafted rookie free agents who survive the first cuts of training camp usually wind up on the practice squad. Injuries, overachievement or underachievement can change things.
Six undrafted free agents signed by the Dolphins were on the 2007 roster, and three -- long snapper John Denney (2005), safety Courtney Bryan (2007) and linebacker Edmond Miles (2007) -- played every game. Safety Tuff Harris (2007) spent most of the season on the practice squad before safety injuries forced him into the lineup for the season finale.
Foster won the 2007 Walter Payton Award as the top player in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (nee Division I-AA) as a quarterback a year after Southern Conference coaches voted him all-conference at wide receiver (first team) and kick returner (second team). As a quarterback in 2007, he ran for a NCAA Division I-quarterback record 1,844 yards.
Expect Foster to get the chance in training camp to return kicks or operate as an occasional wide receiver who can be a throwing threat on gadget plays. He completed 64.1 percent of his passes last year and averaged 11 yards per completion.
In a bit of irony, the Dolphins drafted a Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I) quarterback whose team lost to I-AA power Appalachian State in 2007, Michigan's Chad Henne, and signed as an undrafted free agent a quarterback whose team beat Appalachian State in 2007 (38-35) to end Appalachian's 30-game home winning streak.
Dolphins vice president in charge of football operations Bill Parcells and general manager Jeff Ireland certainly hold no prejudices when it comes to the former Division I-AA -- they found 2002 Payton Award winner Tony Romo and brought him to Dallas as an undrafted free agent.
Byrne got the benefit of being on the same game film as with Flacco, who was scouted by every NFL team that needed a quarterback, including the Dolphins. Byrne also was an Academic All-American at the Level Formerly Known as Division I-AA.
Poppinga had spent his previous college years at outside linebacker until BYU asked him to move inside for his senior season. He's 26, four to six years older than most NFL rookies. Not only did he sit out the 2005 season after transferring to BYU from Utah State, but he didn't enter college until three years after he graduated high school. He spent one post-high school year working, then did his two-year Mormon mission in Ecuador (Dolphins fourth-round pick Shawn Murphy also is older than the average rookie, 25, after doing his two-year mission in Brazil).
