DAVIE, Fla. — There's a survival-of-the-fittest mentality at work at Camp Sparano, where the Miami Dolphins train hard and fast amid conditions that resemble a sauna.
A week into camp, four players had already left on their own terms. One didn't bother to show up, three others bolted after tasting coach Tony Sparano's practice regimen.
Joey Porter sees a bright side to such developments.
"If you're going to find out, you want to find out now," the linebacker says. "I've never been to a camp where so many people quit. But this camp ain't for everybody. Camp is the hardest part of football. The two-a-days and the way we work around here, with the heat and what we do, it can get to people."
"If you're going to find out, you want to find out now," the linebacker says. "I've never been to a camp where so many people quit. But this camp ain't for everybody. Camp is the hardest part of football. The two-a-days and the way we work around here, with the heat and what we do, it can get to people."
Porter is one of the team's most experienced players, heading into his 11th NFL season. In some camps, as was the case when he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, tenure might earn an occasional practice off. Not here. Not now.
"It's a little different," Porter says. "The philosophy here is that everybody works."
Sparano, starting his second season at the helm after ushering a turnaround that matched the greatest improvement in NFL history — Miami went from an NFL-worst 1-15 in 2007 to 11-5 and an AFC East crown last season — is building a foundation on grunt work.
Sparano, starting his second season at the helm after ushering a turnaround that matched the greatest improvement in NFL history — Miami went from an NFL-worst 1-15 in 2007 to 11-5 and an AFC East crown last season — is building a foundation on grunt work.
During the offseason, the Dolphins had 46 weight-room workout sessions. Of 65 players on the offseason roster, 54 never missed a workout session. No player, Sparano says, attended fewer than 94% of the weight-room workouts. Add 100% attendance at each minicamp and OTA session, and the coach is bullish on prospects that his team won't become complacent after the surprising success of last season.
"You can't pick up where you left off," Sparano says. "You've got to go back to the beginning. When you see the kind of participation we had in the offseason, you know they're buying into what it is you're asking them to do."
The Dolphins might have the longest odds against repeating of any division champion, playing in what could be the league's toughest division. The New England Patriots, with Tom Brady back, are looking to reclaim the AFC East throne.
But not without a fight. Sparano says that as tough as it was to climb from the NFL basement into a playoff team last season, taking the next step to be a consistent, legitimate contender might be a harder task.
"That's the biggest challenge for our whole team, to truly understand that what we did last year means nothing right now," says quarterback Chad Pennington, who was released in camp last summer by the New York Jets and wound up earning NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors.
"This is going to require more work, more consistency."
Sparano and GM Jeff Ireland, working under the watchful eye of VP of Football Operations/resident guru Bill Parcells, don't figure to sit pat in their own right, either. The Dolphins led the NFL last season with 52 transactions, shuffling players in and out in attempts to strengthen the bottom of the roster.
Ireland doesn't expect as many moves this season, which indicates progress.
But that is not to be confused with a comfort zone. Just listen to Sparano.
"There are no guarantees around here," Sparano says. "Hey, I tell our vets, 'This is a show-me game. At some point out here and in these preseason games, I still gotta know that you can do it.'
