Brown ready to carry load for Dolphins

June 11, 2006

CARL KOTALA
FLORIDA TODAY

Miami running back Ronnie Brown, left, takes a handoff during minicamp. AP

Ronnie Brown looks like a guy who might have lifted a weight or two the past few months.

"Yeah, a little bit," the Miami Dolphins running back said Friday. "I had an opportunity to be down here a little bit more and be involved in our offseason program."

It shows.

Brown actually is two pounds lighter than his playing weight during his rookie season, but the 235-pounder looks much more solid. His chest is thicker. His biceps are bigger.

As the Dolphins began a minicamp, Brown looked ready to carry the load in his second season. That might be a necessity, with Ricky Williams suspended for the entire 2006 season and instead applying his trade with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

"He looks good," Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder said of Brown last month. "He's a big ol' back. I know the big thing is can he carry the weight without Ricky? I think he can.

"He's a big healthy back. He's not one of those scatbacks that can't take a hit. He's near my size. I think he can carry the load."

The Dolphins drafted Brown in 2005 with the idea he would be their primary ball-carrier, though he spent most of his college career playing behind Carnell "Cadillac" Williams at Auburn.

However, with Ricky Williams coming out of retirement last season, the workload was shared. Brown gained 907 yards on 207 carries, while Williams had 743 yards on 168 attempts.

Brown's rushing total ranked 20th in the NFL, second among rookies. But to listen to him, Brown's rookie season wasn't all that he expected . . . of himself.

"It depends on how you look at it," he said. "I feel like I came in and did what was asked, but for myself, I just kind of expected a lot more. I put a lot of pressure on myself."

As much as Brown learned last year from Williams, he's looking forward to being the man in the Miami backfield, once and for all. Not that he won't miss having Ricky around.

"We became friends last season and (he had) an opportunity to help me out," Brown said. "I think coming into this season, that's part of the reason I feel a bit more comfortable -- having a guy like that around to kind of show me the ropes and see a few things I probably didn't see myself."

Brown didn't have a chance to watch Williams make his Toronto debut last week, but he does believe Williams can be successful in the CFL once he adjusts to the wider field and his new teammates. Williams is playing in Canada because he failed a fourth drug test and was thus suspended under the NFL's substance-abuse policy.

Though the decision didn't come down the way the Dolphins had hoped, having finality on Williams' status for the 2006 season had to be helpful to Brown. He knew he would have to prepare for carrying more of the load.

"Yeah, I have been working hard in the offseason," Brown said last month. "I've kind of got that in the back of my mind, that I will have to take on the duty of carrying the load a little bit more. But I'm excited about it."

It also should help Brown that, unlike last season when he held out for the first 20 or so days of training camp, he will have a full training camp to get ready for the 2006 season.

That should help, particularly early in the season. Brown came under scrutiny last year when his career started with a 22-carry, 57-yard effort against Denver, followed by 35 yards on 12 carries against the New York Jets.

That's something Brown hopes to improve on at the start of this season.

"Last year, unfortunately I missed camp and I think that slowed me down a little bit," he said. "But this year I have had a pretty good start, been through the offseason and things look pretty good. I feel pretty good, so I'm excited to see what happens."

So are the Dolphins. This is, after all, why they drafted him.

Sharing the load as a rookie may not have led to huge numbers, but it did a world of good for Brown in terms of helping him make the adjustment from college to the NFL.

Now he has some extra-wide shoulders to carry the load and the belief he can pull it off.

"Yeah, I am a little bit more confident," he said. "I think it just comes with being a little bit more comfortable going into my second year. I got the feel of how things work, and everything is going pretty smooth.

"I don't have to worry about too much."