Miami Dolphins: Jan. 18 News and Notes

There haven't been any signings or, unfortunately, coaching hires today, but here area few Dolphins-related news items floating around this new "InterWeb" thing:

• The South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Omar Kelly looks at some potential high-priced roster casualties, listing Gibril Wilson, Joey Porter, Akin Ayodele, Reggie Torbor, and Jason Allen as possibilities. I think Wilson is a given, and Porter is very likely. I don't see both Ayodele and Torbor being cut (or possibly either) without anyone to replace them. Also, I'm very content with Jason Allen making just over $1 million, because he has experience in our defensive scheme and is a standout special teams player.
• Kelly also reports that Assistant Head Coach/Secondary Coach Todd Bowles is "a viable option" for the Dolphins' defensive coordinator job. He also says the hiring of former Giants' defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan as linebackers coach is looming.
• Brian Biggane of the Palm Beach Post suggests New England Patriots' defensive line coach Pepper Johnson for the Dolphins' defensive coordinator job. Johnson, 45, played under Bill Parcells with the New York Giants and New York Jets, and under Bill Belichick with the Giants, Jets, and Cleveland Browns. He has spent the last decade as an assistant under Belichick in New England, serving as assistant linebackers coach in 2000, inside linebackers coach from 2001 to 2003, and defensive line coach since. The division-rival Patriots would have to give Miami permission to interview Johnson for the job, as teams can block assistants from taking a job with any team that isn't a head-coaching gig.
  
• Biggane also looks at five young players who went through growing pains in 2009, but are looking to improve for the future.
• Edger Thompson of the Palm Beach Post points out that the Dolphins' staff is slated to coach at the Senior Bowl in exactly one week, which could put the search for linebackers coaches and a defensive coordinator on hold of they aren't filled by then.
• Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald informs us that Sun Life Financial will pay the Dolphins $7.5 million a year for the naming rights to the stadium formerly known as Land Shark. The arena will officially become Sun Life Stadium on Wednesday, Jan. 20, in time for this year's Pro Bowl and Super Bowl.

---

Chris J. Nelson is a journalism major at Georgia State University. He operates his own Miami Dolphins Web site, The Miami Dolphins Spotlight, and can be followed on Twitter here.