It begins: Pat White to Dolphins -- "A wildcat that can throw"

Pat White was selected by the Dolphins, and, at the risk of getting overexcited, there might be real ramifications to this.

As Jon Gruden just said, and I do my best to recollect his words from memory: "I've been studying the spread offense all last season, and it gives you a player advantage. Defenses were dropping extra guys into the box for the wildcat -- well here's a wildcat that can throw."

Implicit in what Gruden said is that what the Dolphins can do is go beyond to wildcat to simply the spread itself: the quarterback as dual threat, which puts the defense -- and specifically the safeties -- in an incredible bind. I have much discussed these ideas previously. Keep in mind too that Gruden knows what he's talking about on this point: he just returned from the University of Florida clinic where he lectured and talked with and learned from Bill Belichick and Urban Meyer -- and Meyer's offense was a particularly important subject, particularly the bind that a true dual threat quarterback provides.

Now, I'm not predicting White as rookie of the year, or that he will displace Chad Pennington, but this is an important pick because he goes to a team that knows what they are doing with this stuff. David Lee and Dan Henning obviously brought in the Wildcat series last season -- which relies on the same spread offense principles seen throughout college -- but did so without a true passing threat except as a gimmick. White should play about a series or two a game, and it will be fascinating to see how it plays out. (Note too it also eliminates all the injury fears common to going full-spread-to-run in the pros: if White got hurt they still have their starting quarterback.) Video below on the wildcat. Now add the passing element.



It begins.