Josh Alper mentioned it in our Christmas one-liners, and I couldn’t resist shining a light on it tonight.
Dolphins receiver Ted Ginn recently told Edgar Thompson of the Palm Beach Post that 2009 has been Ginn’s “worst season playing football.”
Given that Ginn was named the AFC special teams player of the month for November after pushing the team to a win over the Jets with two kickoff returns for touchdowns in the same game, plenty of guys would love to have such a bad season. But Ginn has been hearing it not for his success catching and running with kicked balls, but because of his inability to consistently getting and keeping his hands on thrown balls.
“Every time you see somebody [they say], ‘You got to catch the ball,’” Ginn told Thompson. “I still get it to this day, from little kids to grown people.”
Ginn also has been criticized for running out of bounds, prompting former Miami guard Bob Kuechenberg to call Ginn “an embarrassment and a coward.”
While Ginn says he wants to stay in Miami, he realizes that his inability to live up to his top-ten draft status could cause the team to not want the former Buckeye to stick around.
“I understand the business,” Ginn said. “I understand being a high draft pick you only have so much [time] to show what you can do.
“I don’t think they’re fed up with me . . . but you never know.”
We think the Dolphins realize Ginn still has a role to play, but that he might have to reduce his compensation in order to remain with the team, especially if his best value to the franchise comes from returning kicks -- and from not catching passes.