Kareem Brown a Jet, but what did Dolphins know?

The New York Jets quietly picked up defensive end Kareem Brown off waivers from the New England Patriots this week. The Jets were one of several teams putting in waiver claims on Brown because, with no exceptions, those teams believed he can develop into a fine defensive end in the 3-4 scheme.

That's what the Patriots believed when they drafted him in the fourth round out of the University of Miami. And that is apparently what the Jets, Ravens, and 49'ers thought when they put in claims on him. Brown is a prototype 3-4 end at 6-foot-4 and 295 pounds. He is built in the Kevin Carter mold except he's 23 years old and still learning the position after playing inside in college.

And it's not like the Patriots simply wanted to lose the time invested in him because I'm told they wanted to put Brown on their practice squad and were disappointed when Brown garnered so much interest around the league.

So what is the point? Well, the Dolphins did not put in a waiver claim on Brown. Because they have the worst record in the NFL, they have first dibs on waived players which means any player they claim, they get.

But it seems odd to me that a team in such need of talent on the defensive line, a team that supposedly wants to run the 3-4 scheme in the future and needs big-bodied defensive ends would not bite on Brown.

This can go one of two directions: Maybe the Dolphins know something about Brown the other teams don't -- be it about on the field talent or off the field behavior. Maybe they just don't think Brown is that good, although teams better than them, with better histories of picking talent than them, disagreed. I hope this is what happened.

Or maybe somebody just missed the boat. The Dolphins, despite their proximity and ties to the University of Miami, haven't exactly tapped that football factory for players in the past five or six years.

While the Patriots drafted Brown and Vince Wilfork and Brandon Meriweather; while the Jets signed Brown and drafted Jonathan Vilma; while the Bills drafted Kevin Everrett and Roscoe Parrish and Willis McGahee; the Dolphins have largely not tapped Miami's talent.

Vernon Carey is the only Dolphins player from UM.

So it bears watching whether Kareem Brown becomes a player in the future -- he's got about 10 years to figure it out -- or just another footnote on the waiver wire. If he is the latter, the Dolphins apparently did know something the Jets, Ravens and 49'ers didn't.

But if his production begins to match his potential, then the Dolphins truly missed a good opportunity to improve their defense without giving anything in return.