When the Dolphins signed cornerback Eric Green as a free agent in March, they liked that he should have a proverbial chip on his shoulder after losing his starting job in Arizona. Then the Dolphins spent two of their first three draft picks on cornerbacks Vontae Davis and Sean Smith, with the obvious expectation they would compete with Green for a starting job.

Green admitted the draft super-sized that chip. But he isn't mad.

``Anytime you're playing a position and they bring another guy in, it's going to push you,'' Green said. ``But it's not something you can put your head [down] about. Hey, they're trying to make the team better. The more [defensive backs] you've got who can be starters, the better your team will be.''

Although born in Pahokee, schooled at Clewiston High and Virginia Tech and moving from Phoenix to South Florida in the NFL, Green understands the arctic-cold thinking that guides the Dolphins. Those on the football side don't fall in love with decisions, whether they involve free agents or draft picks. Not their own decisions (Ernest Wilford, take a bow) and definitely not somebody else's (later, John Beck). They fall in love with performance, period.

WIDE-OPEN COMPETITION

``It's expectations of the players, the coaches and the head people have. They just expect everybody to come out here and compete,'' Green said. ``There are no starters. No matter who you are, there are no starters. Everybody has to compete. If you don't compete, they're going to put the right 53 players out there. That's point-blank.''

Green, who has been with the first team throughout the minicamps and the first week of training camp, said: ``When I was out in Arizona, I think the biggest problem I had is I got too relaxed at being a starter. [I started] taking time off, not going to special teams meetings and doing the small things. And when you have something taken away from you, you realize things very quickly. I learned from that mistake.''

It's a lesson that applies directly to this season -- Green lost his job last season to first-round pick Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. To top it off, he was inactive for the Cardinals' three NFC playoff games and the Super Bowl. That's the definition of ``living in limbo'' for a former starter -- you're on the team but don't necessarily feel fully part of the team or the playoff run.

That hasn't deterred Green from mentoring Davis and Smith, as Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said he expects from all his veterans. Davis says Green, like Will Allen, has been as helpful as can be to him and Smith.

`WHATEVER IT TAKES'

``It's a learning experience for all of us, me and the younger guys,'' Green said. ``We're all new. But I have a little more experience than those guys. They have questions here and there. I help them as much as possible. Even though we're competing for the same spot, I just want to be better as a team.

``Whatever it takes, that's what I'm going to do.''

Both Green and Sparano point to a lack of consistency (ironically, usually a rookie's failing) as his greatest problem thus far in training camp.

``I have seen him make some pretty solid plays, but consistency at that position, I think, will be important,'' Sparano said. ``One of the things we cannot have here -- again, this is anybody -- is balls going over our head, communication problems back there.''

Green concurred: ``There's some days I'll have a great practice. Later on, the next practice, I'll slack off a little bit. Being here, there's no time for relaxing. With the Miami Dolphins, every day is pretty much like a game. So you have to go out there with that mind-set.''

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