Even as the Dolphins have made a lightning-fast recovery from last season's 1-15 record and are boldly pushing toward playoff contention, management has decided to move more deliberately, even slowly, in one vital area:

Retaining some key veteran players.

The Dolphins have five starters, three of them in the defensive backfield, whose contracts expire at the end of this season.

Right tackle Vernon Carey, middle linebacker Channing Crowder and the three starters in the secondary -- strong safety Yeremiah Bell, cornerback Andre' Goodman and free safety Renaldo Hill -- have contracts scheduled to expire after 2008.

All would become unrestricted free agents, able to sign with any team they want unless Miami re-signs them before free agency begins.

Realizing this, the Dolphins have had ongoing contract negotiations with the agents for all the players even as the season has progressed. But re-signing all the players could prove impossible unless the Dolphins improve their offers.

General manager Jeff Ireland has been negotiating with the players' agents. He declined to be interviewed for this report. But it is clear that the team has not been in a rush to sign the five starters because it has questions about all of them.

`IT GOT IN MY HEAD'

''I thought, being a three-year starter, that I would get paid before this season started,'' said Crowder, who is second on the team with 75 tackles. ``It got in my head in the offseason. But I was thinking about one guy, without mentioning names, who was so worried about it last year, so worried about getting paid, that his level of play went down.

``So now I'm letting my agent think about it. If Miami wants me, I'll be down here. But if they don't, there are other teams out there.''

The feeling is shared by Carey, who would like to continue his career in South Florida after playing at the University of Miami and at Miami Northwestern High.

''[The contract] is in the back of your mind more than it was in years before,'' Carey said. ``You wish it would have never [gotten] to this point. You wish it had already been done.''

It is not done yet because the value the Dolphins have placed on the players has not matched the offers agents believe the players would bring in free agency.

YEREMIAH BELL

Bell is perhaps Miami's most dynamic defensive player. He has been good on coverage, he blitzes, and he supports on running plays, which is one reason he leads the team with 76 tackles.

It is no coincidence the Miami defense declined dramatically when he tore his Achilles' tendon at the beginning of the 2007 season, an injury that forced him to miss the season.

But that injury and his injury history in 2003 and 2004 are the primary reasons the Dolphins have not made a full-throttle commitment on a contract despite the negotiations.

It seems the Dolphins want proof Bell can stay healthy an entire season.

''Of course I want a new deal, but I'm not opposed to waiting until the end of the year,'' Bell said. ``I want to show these guys I can stay healthy. I have to prove that to everybody, and I don't have a problem with that because of what I've been through.

``I just want to play good football and prove to these guys I can stay healthy and continue to do the things I'm doing. Once that's said and done, the contract situation will take care of itself.''

CHANNING CROWDER

Crowder's situation is somewhat similar in that his health was an issue in college and resurfaced when he missed five games in 2007 with a knee injury that required surgery.

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