The offseason is about to begin officially in the NFL right after the Super Bowl, but for the Dolphins Tony McDaniel, his offseason includes adding an honor to his mantle piece.
Tony McDaniel was honored with the Ed Block Courage Award, for exemplifying principles of "sportsmanship and courage." In fact, all 32 clubs in the NFL have an award winner and each player is voted by his teammates to receive this award.
Past honorees include: Zach Thomas, Yeremiah Bell, David Bowens, Justin Smiley, Patrick Cobbs, and Jake Long.
Remarkably, the Ed Block Foundation is more than the award itself in that it raises awareness about abused children. In fact, each award winner has assisted families and abused children in crisis.
While McDaniel was known for his sportsmanship and courage, and service, he posted a pretty decent Dolphin career as a backup NT in the 3-4 scheme and backup DT in the Dolphins 4-3 scheme this season. As a backup, he did the dirty work spelling the starter and made a name for himself on the defense. When starters were out for the next game, McDaniel filled in admirably.
His totals as a Dolphin included 79 games played, 119 total tackles, 8.5 sacks, and 1 fumble recovery.
McDaniel's best two seasons were 2010 and 2011 where he had a total of 55 tackles and 5 total sacks.
It can be argued that McDaniel thrived in the Mike Nolan defense as a 3-4 Nose Tackle. With the Dolphins switching to the 4-3 last season, his productivity dropped as did the number of games he saw playing time. Some of his lack of playing time was due to a leg injury in early September.
After being traded by the Jaguars to Miami McDaniel in 2009, McDaniel found his niche on the Dolphins defense with an opportunity to be a postivie contributor.
Next season, McDaniel should not have a problem finding a spot on this roster or elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent. One of McDaniels strengths is his ability to tip passes given his height (6'7") and his wing span. Not to mention being 308 pounds adds some power and strength to any D-line in the NFL.
The Ed Block Courage Award is a fantastic feat and one that every Dolphin fan should be proud of! Just being mentioned with the Thomas', Bell's, and Long's is great to be apart of the collective group!
Congratulations to Tony "Big Amigo" McDaniel for making Dolfans proud on the field!
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