“This conversational dust-up over Jones of the past several weeks was ritual nonsense. It missed the real issue of this simply being a bad marriage between Jones and the Dolphins.” There are rumors that the Dolphins are tying to trade Jones but they can’t get what they want. They have evidently decided that the best thing to do is wait the league out in hopes that a desperate team on the cusp of winning will pay more if they lose a good safety in training camp. If this is what they are doing, I do not agree with this decision. Good strong safeties are a dime a dozen this year and no one is going to give you much for an injured one, even one that is among the best in the league at it. More importantly, every day that a player who put his pride ahead of the team and refused to play remains on this young, impressionable roster does irreparable damage to the mentality of the other players. Every time head coach Brian Flores talks about putting the team first with Jones in the room his credibility takes a hit. Chris Perkins at The Athletic reported the Jones situation in the proper perspective when he highlighted the match up between first round defensive tackle Christian Wilkins and third round guard Michael Deiter in the same article. Perkins recognizes that this year is about developing the younger players both physically and mentally. The Dolphins have to take what they can get for Jones, move on and do the same.
I’m not entirely sure where this is coming from but many reporters seem convinced that this is a real competition. Dave Hyde at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is one of the few that seems to be taking it a step further to see the "competition" as a good thing for Rosen. But at the same time, he knows that it's not exactly real: “The question the Dolphins will wrestle with until the opening game — and probably beyond — isn’t if Fitzpatrick gives them a better chance to win the next Sunday. It’s how Rosen would look by November with a couple of months of starts under him. Exactly. What few people in the media seem to be acknowledging right now is that what the Dolphins aren’t actually deciding if Fitzpatrick is better. Of course he’s better. Rosen is only in his second year and probably has not had the best of coaching up to this point. What the Dolphins have to decide over the next few months is if Rosen is the future. And that’s more difficult because it involves projecting his development through this year and beyond. One thing is certain. The Dolphins don’t have to show it externally but internally they have to totally commit to Rosen until they’ve made a decision on him. He has to be nurtured and every opportunity to help him and evaluate him has to be taken. And that means two things: a. This isn’t a competition. Or more accurately, it isn’t a competition between Rosen and Fitzpatrick. Because Fitzpatrick’s performance isn’t relevant to the decision. What Rosen has to do - and his comments indicate that on some level he understands this - is to prove to the Dolphins not that he’s a franchise quarterback now but that he will be some time into the future. b. The Dolphins have to start Rosen until they’ve made up their mind that he’s never going to be at least part of the answer to their quarterback problem, even if it's just as a cheap, long-term back up. If Rosen isn’t starting week 1, it means they’ve already made up their mind. And that will mean bad things for his future in the league.
“Already working to improve his production as a receiver, Gesicki also looks to shed the label of exclusively being a pass-catching tight end. I was almost disappointed to read this. It means that Gesicki hasn’t totally moved on from his year with former head coach Adam Gase. I’m not one of those guys who constantly bashes a coach or executive once they leave town. But in my opinion, Gase did Gesicki no favors by expecting him to block too much as a tight end. Gase came from the Mike Martz school of offense where tight ends are there to block and if you want to set up a mismatch, you go with the big wide receiver. The modern NFL works differently and Gesicki is a modern NFL tight end. At 6’6”, 245 pounds he was drafted to catch passes, particularly as a red zone weapon, not block. The Dolphins have Dwayne Allen to do that and he’s pretty good at it when he’s healthy. The good news is that this doesn’t necessarily mean that Gesicki will continue to be misused. When asked about Gesicki, current head coach Brian Flores didn’t mention Gesicki’s blocking. “’I talked to him about this [Wednesday] morning,’ Flores said. ’One drop is one too many; one penalty is one too many; one missed assignment is one too many. That’s kind of the standard, the approach we’re taking.”’
“Bobby McCain experiment at safety could stick. Count me among those who were surprised by this move. It's not that I don’t think McCain can be a good free safety - he can. But along with pass rusher, cornerback is probably the weakest position on the team this year. Xavien Howard is, of course, a given starter. But other than him, there isn’t much. Now, in addition to the spot opposite Howard which the Dolphins are evidently counting on a relatively unproven Eric Rowe to fill, the Dolphins are creating another hole at nickel back. At the same time they have an apparent glut at safety with Minkah Fitzpatrick, Reshad Jones, and T.J. McDonald and now McCain. The problem that Flores is evidently trying to solve has to do with the fact that Jones and McDonald, both paid like starters, are really best suited for strong safety. Kelly elaborates later in the article: “Can Reshad Jones and T.J. McDonald work together? Hopefully the current coaching staff will do a better job of it than last year’s staff did. That’s assuming Jones isn’t traded, something I’d still bet will be the case. In any case, the situation demonstrates once again how poorly the 2018 version of the team was built by former executive Mike Tannenbaum and current general manager Chris Grier. In any case, the bet here is that Fitzpatrick fills the hole at cornerback that the move has left in its wake. Reports indicate that Fitzpatrick will move around quite a bit week to week as required this year. But Nick Saban, Fitzpatrick’s coach at Alabama, claimed that Fitzpatrick’s best position was nickel back and playing him there will likely put him in a good position to do that as the extra defensive back on the field.
“So Dolphins coach Brian Flores wasn’t kidding when he told reporters a few weeks back, ’I’ll know what he’s doing. You guys probably won’t.’ In a way this is encouraging. And in a way it isn’t. The odds are very good that, unlike the previous staff, the current staff will be able to decisively present Fitzpatrick with a game plan early in the week and in that respect he’ll be able to better prepare. They’ll have learned how to do that and to communicate clearly to Fitzpatrick exactly what he needs to do from Bill Belichick when most of them were in New England. But playing in the NFL isn’t like playing at Alabama. Opponents surprise you more often on game day with what they are doing on offense and rapid adjustments are necessary. The odds are good that no one will have to adjust more than Fitzpatrick who will likely be at the center of the changes not only game to game but play to play. Unlike in college, the odds are good that in his current role, Fitzpatrick is never actually going to be able to prepare the way he wants to because it's going to be impossible to thoroughly prepare for everything over the course of the previous week. Fitzpatrick is going to have to be flexible mentally in a way that he apparently wasn’t last year. If we take Fitzpatrick at his word, it sounds like he’s might struggle with what the Dolphins are going to be asking him to do this year.
“There are too many positive pieces to this team heading into training camp, starting with Flores at the wheel, to not believe the Dolphins will a lot better than expected this season.” See my entry above where I pointed out that the Dolphins at short on talent at cornerback and pass rusher. These are the cornerstone positions of every defense.
Sorry. I’m not buying it. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
“Under previous coach Adam Gase, Miami Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake’s workload would fluctuate from averaging 18 carries per game in the last five weeks of 2017 to having just 7.5 attempts per outing in 2018. Even as Drake flashed potential last year, not many people around the team were advocating more playing time for him. No one said it outright but the suspicion is that his work ethic wasn’t up to snuff. Apparently working with the veteran Frank Gore didn’t bring it out of him. It sounds like Drake is embracing his opportunity to work with the new staff and is looking at it as a fresh start. Here’s hoping it results in a more professional attitude and, as a results, benefits the Dolphins in a big way.
“There’s no doubt Miami must upgrade from last year’s starting duo of Davis and Ted Larsen, who is now with Chicago. Davis was the league’s 77th-rated guard last season according to ProFootballFocus, allowing seven sacks. Larsen, who started 14 games, was even worse, ranking 125th and allowing four sacks.” Amen. This article highlights the past problem at guard and the fact that Jesse Davis is currently still the leading candidate to play right guard is an indication that the Dolphins have a long way to go at this position. And the fact that third round draft pick Michael Deiter will likely beat out current starting left guard Chris Reed doesn’t make me feel a lot better. The fact is that this problem probably won’t be solved this year, at least on both sides. Many people have a habit of underestimating the importance of the guard position. In fact, I used to be one of them. But experience has taught me that this is the most important position on the offensive line. It's easier to find guards like Deiter in the middle to late rounds of the draft. But guard position, itself, is more important than tackle. Quarterbacks can step up in the pocket to escape defensive ends coming off the edge if the interior linemen do their job. But no quarterback can throw with pressure in his face. This is a huge problem that will likely stunt the performance of both Josh Rosen and Ryan Fitzpatrick along with the performance of the rest of the offensive players, which will have to be judged with this in mind.
“Four different assistants — [outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino, [safeties coach Sean] coach Desai, [defensive line coach Jay] Rodgers and new linebackers coach Mark DeLeone — suggested that new voices should help combat complacency from players. This is why analysts who are predicting things like ridiculous 0-16 seasons for the Dolphins are wrong. It's because it takes more than lack of talent to result in historically bad teams. No first year head coach has ever gone 0-16. Rod Marinelli was in his third with the Lions in 2008 and Hue Jackson was in his second with the Browns in 2017. The Dolphins do have holes all over the field with important positions on the offensive line, at pass rusher and at cornerback filled with mediocre to less than mediocre players. But all of those players are, or should be, laser focused as new playbooks are installed and as relationships with new coaches are built. And every job is wide open as new coaches without preconceptions watch practices with a neutral eye that may decide that a long time starter shouldn’t be given his position and that maybe a relative unknown should be given a shot. Dolphins coaches will naturally have an easier time getting the most out of their players this year. And that could produce a pleasant surprise with a better than expected season. But at worst, it won’t produce anything historically bad.
“Luckily for [Josh] Rosen, he has had some recent experience in a similar scheme. Exactly.
Rosen is very lucky here and so are the Dolphins. Young quarterbacks can sometimes take a full season with a new coach before they get to the point where they can stop concentrating on their own offense and start concentrating on the gameplan for the upcoming opponent. What is more likely to hold Rosen back is how the other players on the field adjust to the new scheme rather than how he does. Nevertheless, this is yet another reason why the Dolphins coaching staff should be able to get a good handle on Rosen over the course of just one season to make a judgment about whether he should be the franchise going forward.
Washington Redskins - 5/5 Oakland Raiders - 5/2 New York Giants - 3/1 Detroit Lions - 7/2 San Francisco 49ers - 9/1 I understand why Daniel Snyder’s Redskins might be the favorite. Snyder seems like just the entrepreneur who would see this as an opportunity rather than a detriment. Nevertheless my money’s on the Raiders. Mark Davis has been adamantly against this team appearing in the past. But getting permission to move his franchise to Vegas undoubtedly came with a lot of strings attached behind the scenes. The bet here is that it’s not coincidence that the Rams both appeared on Hard Knocks and went to London to play after permission to move to Los Angeles was given. Oakland plays a home game against the Bears in London this year and it would surprise no one if they ended up being forced to volunteer to be on Hard Knocks as well. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
“’If you work hard and put the team first, you’re a leader,’ Flores said. ’I want to have 53 leaders on our team. I want 90 on our team right now. That’s something that you can develop. That’s something that you can talk about.”’ I’m glad that Salguero is pressing the issue of Reshad Jones' absence from OTAs in a year where a new coaching staff is trying to install a new defensive scheme. But that aside, I continue to be astounded that Jones is still a part of this team at all. I understand that cutting Jones post-June 1 would entail eating $17 million dollars in dead cap money. But the Dolphins have plenty of cap space. How can you keep a guy who basically quit on your team by refusing to enter a game last year? I don’t care what issues Jones had with defensive coordinator Matt Burke or head coach Adam Gase. As Flores, himself, correctly points out above, none of your 53 “leaders” should ever put pride ahead of the team, especially if you are a serving as veteran example. I understand that football players aren’t all going to be angels. But right now the focus has to be first and foremost on developing young players and establishing a positive team culture. Similar to the signing troubled running back Mark Walton, I can’t imagine what a poor example such “veteran leadership” will set for the youth on a rebuilding Dolphins team. Every time Flores speaks to the team about “putting the team first,” young eyes in that room will involuntarily turn to look at Jones (when he finally shows up). I can’t imagine the damage that will cause. “[T]he frustrating thing about this pick is that Asiata was drafted out of Utah with the 164th selection. And with the 190th selection the Los Angeles Chargers selected Sam Tevi, who was on the same offensive line as Asiata at Utah. In fairness, the Dolphins were still two years away from losing Ja’Wuan James to free agency. They had just taken Laremy Tunsil in the first round in 2016 and they were just moving him to tackle. They needed a guard. Nevertheless, Salguero’s point is excellent and well-taken. Talent is talent and it isn’t like the Dolphins couldn’t have used a good developmental prospect that could serve as a back up in the meantime. The situation highlights a fundamental problem. The general manager can set the general direction of the franchise and help make some final decisions on the players. But Chris Grier, even if he’s the right guy for the job, can’t be everywhere. It takes a village to put together a good draft and if the scouts can’t recognize talent when they see it, it results in an organizational failure. The general manager is just the face of it. This is an issue when you consider the fact that the Dolphins chose to stick with Grier rather than embrace big changes by hiring from the outside. All the little Indians underneath Grier stayed the same. Here’s hoping they improve their performance or it won’t matter who the chief is.
“[Michael] Deiter checks all those boxes. I think Beasley is right. But I have a better explanation. The Dolphins drafted Christian Wilkins, a defensive tackle, and Dieter, a guard, with their first two picks. They are planning on being strong up the middle and building outward. And that’s a sound strategy. Nothing disrupts the opposing offense more than pressure up the middle. Offensive guard is being recognized as an increasingly important position in the modern NFL as teams struggle to keep the pocket clean in front of the quarterback so that he can step up and throw.
“I get it. Rome wasn’t built in a day. And neither were the Patriots. But this is simple roster management issue that could be fixed with a veteran addition, similar to how Jordan Mills’ signing potentially patches up the vacant right tackle spot.” Kelly is primarily concerned with the run defense but the problem will crop up when it comes to the pass rush as well. The Dolphins are deficient at this position, the outside linebacker when they are in the base 3-4 and the defensive end in the nickel. This position sets the edge against the run and rushes the passer. There’s no doubt about it. The Dolphins have a huge roster hole at this spot. But I’d love to know who Kelly thinks the team should sign as a “simple roster addition.” The truth is most teams are deficient in this area. Anyone who is any good was taken off the market a long time ago. Even if the Dolphins were willing to part with 2020 draft picks, most of those players aren’t available via trade. The Dolphins have evidently made the decision to let this position slide in a rebuilding year. I don’t like it, Kelly doesn’t like it and you probably don’t like it, either. But I think its something everyone is going to have to live with because it’s not a problem that will be solved until the next offseason now.
There isn’t much to say about it this early in the process but it is worth noting that installing a new defense and a new offense is going to be a particular challenge for this group of coaches. The reason is simple - most of them haven’t done it before. Indeed, most of them have never even seen it done. Many of the Dolphins coaches, both offensive and defensive, have spent their entire careers in New England, where head coach Bill Belichick is an institution and where the organization has been a smoothly running machine for a very long time. Belichick probably doesn’t even remember how he went about installing the Patriots defense from scratch, let alone his assistants. The problem highlights one of the challenges that comes with being a Belichick disciple. Many of these guys have never been anywhere else. For instance, they’ve never developed the contacts in the league which can be necessary to succeed as coaches, particularly head coaches in Brian Flores’s case. So what happens when you have to hire assistants? You look for former Patriots because you’ve never worked anywhere else and you don’t really know anyone else. Having veteran coaches like Jim Caldwell can help. But that will only take you so far. Flores and his staff have their work cut out for them in this respect.
“Jets CEO and chairman Christopher Johnson wants a ’great strategic thinker’ to run the football operation. He needs someone who can work with coach Adam Gase. And at the intersection possibly resides one and only one name. This sounds to me more like the media connecting dots than a realistic possibility. But I’ve been surprised before. I love Peyton Manning but a general manager? I’m not a big fan of having people without a background in personnel in that role, let alone someone with no front office background at all. It almost never works out. The latest example is in San Francisco where rumor has it that John Lynch, who also had no front office experience, and head coach Kyle Shanahan are rumored to be on the outs. I don’t like the direction the Jets are taking.
“Multiple judges have ruled that the “sneak and peek” video surveillance violated the law by undertaking no effort to minimize the intrusion on the privacy of innocent persons who were simply getting massages. If the appellate courts don’t overturn these rulings, there will be little or no evidence against Kraft — unless prosecutors can persuade the alleged providers of prostitution to “flip” on their alleged customers.” It bothers me when someone tries to legally get off the hook based upon technicalities. The police know he did it. I know he did it. You know he did it. The lawyers know he did it. Virtually everyone knows he did it.
Kraft is the owner of a franchise where players are constantly told to be accountable for their actions. Is this accountability? It might be the reality of the world we live it. But I call it hypocrisy. In any case, the situation puts the league in a bind. They haven’t hesitated to suspend players who are obviously guilty but who have not been legally convicted, often because they paid off the victim. Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s 2010 suspension after sexual assault allegations is a good example. I think its fair to say that although the league has some morally upright fans who strongly disapprove, solicitation isn’t really considered to be a big deal to most in modern American society. It certainly doesn’t rise to the level of sexual assault or similar offenses. But in terms of obvious guilt or innocence beyond the legal ramifications, there are players who are going to be watching this situation closely to see if Kraft is held to the same standard. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
"Narrative: The Dolphins trade down in the second round was part of Miami’s plan to land Rosen. Salguero makes a lot of good points in this article but that one falls flat. Salguero’s point is that the Dolphins made the trade not knowing if they could swing a deal for Rosen with the 62nd overall pick or not. No deal was in place. I have absolutely no trouble believing that. At the same time, Salguero, perhaps purposely, misses the point. The fact that the Dolphins felt good making the trade even if Rosen didn’t come with it doesn’t mean that they didn’t have a potential Rosen deal in mind when they made it. In fact, given that they were already in discussions and thought the 48th pick was too high but obviously felt the 62nd wouldn’t be, it would be foolish not to assume that they didn’t. Whether the Dolphins were willing to stand on this trade without a Rosen deal or not, the end result is the same. They basically traded back into the third round and added a fourth round pick to make this happen. Intent aside, that was the end result of their maneuvering and that is the bottom line. Any other conclusion is just spin. "If he wins the competition, absolutely I’m good with that. I think that would be what’s best for the team and best for the Miami Dolphins," Dolphins coach Brian Flores said. Right. This is, of course, what Flores has to say. But this competition is - or had better be - slanted towards finding out what the young, potential franchise quarterback can do. It’s absolutely true that you can’t just trot Rosen out there no matter what he does. For one thing, evaluating Rosen isn’t the coaching staff’s only job. Every young player on the team has to be examined and a determination has to be made about their future with the franchise. That’s particularly true of Kenyan Drake and Jakeem Grant, both of whom are entering contract years. How can you evaluate your talent if the quarterback if the quarterback can’t throw the ball accurately or run the offense? How can you develop younger players? So you do have to have a competent quarterback in order to develop and run the team properly in a rebuilding year. But having said that if Fitzpatrick wins this job it will mean very bad things for Rosen. And it will mean the decision about what to do come draft time in 2020 will have already been made.
“Miami’s coaches intend to run a hybrid scheme that incorporates both elements of a 4-3 and 3-4 front, and envision themselves playing with five defensive backs on the field at the same time, possibly as the team’s base defense. I think Kelly describes the forest well but he misses the point when it comes to the trees. The players in this defense will be expected to do a lot of things but to say that they don’t have “a defined role” really isn’t true. In fact, if the coaches do their jobs right, their role will be very clear cut and well-defined in any given situation. That won’t be - or at least it shouldn’t be - the problem. The problem comes in when you consider the talent of your players and whether they are capable of executing those well-defined roles. In this case, new Dolphins defensive line coach Marion Hobby seems to understand the challenge. “That’s where the awareness comes in,” Hobby said. “A coach used to always tell me if you trick the [defensive] ends and trick the free safety, you’re going to get a big play. So those guys have to have some awareness to them. They have to play with their eyes and their feet. It’s hard. There are very few that can.” When you are playing a multiple 3-4, 4-3 scheme, to a certain extent you throw the old position definitions away. But position definitions are still there. They’re just new. The trick, just as it is in the old standard systems, is the same. Getting guys who are capable of doing their jobs and getting them to the point where they can execute them is still the key to successful football. “Look, Tunsil has not fully arrived. He’s not fully developed. There’s much room for growth. But no one in the Dolphins organization questions whether he should be part of the organization going forward. Because he’s very good. Salguero has a point. But there are drawbacks.
As Salguero points out, the Dolphins don’t have to do this. Tunsil is under contract for 2019 and they have already picked up the fifth-year option for 2020. If they had to, they could apply the franchise tag in 2021. Interestingly, Omar Kelly at the Sun-Sentinel asserts out in another article that the Dolphins have been criticized for trying to do contract extensions too late. He points to losses like defensive end Olivier Vernon, tight end Charles Clay, receiver Jarvis Landry, tailback Lamar Miller and offensive tackle Ja’Wuan James under Mike Tannenbaum. I disagree with this assessment. In each of these cases it wasn’t a question of approaching the player too late. It was a question of money and value where, right or wrong, the Dolphins in each case decided that there wasn’t a match. In fact, I would argue the opposite. The Dolphins got themselves in some trouble after Adam Gase’s first year by handing out a lot of contracts such as those for Andre Branch, Reshad Jones, and Kiko Alonso that they’d probably like to get out from under. In many cases, these players were extended when the Dolphins really didn’t have to do it and they eventually let the team down either through disappointing play (debatably Alonso), a lack of development (Branch) or poor football character (Jones). Bottom line, a lot of money was spent that didn’t have to be and probably wouldn’t have been had the teams waited. There are also some additional factors. Players who get early long term deals tend to get comfortable. This can lead to less concentration and a decline in quality of play. And there is the fact that this sort of thing leads to the expectation on the part of other players that their contracts will be extended early, too. So even if you aren’t worried about extending Tunsil, the next guy who is more borderline will press for an early extension. And when he doesn’t get it, it can lead to an early hold out, one which agents have reason to expect might work simply because the team has a history of giving early extensions. On balance, I’d say its better to wait until the 2020 offseason to extend Tunsil. It would prevent Tunsil from having to enter a final, lame duck year and keep him out of the free agent market. This while keeping the team from having to tag him and while setting a better pattern for other players under the new regime. In the meantime, even if you are reasonably sure Tunsil is a part of your future, it gives you another year to make sure Tunsil remains healthy and to see how he develops and performs under the new coaching staff. •Safid Deen at the Sun-Sentinel reports that the Dolphins are giving running back Mark Walton a tryout, and then later actually signed him to the team. I found this move to be ironic given that on the very same day Flores characterized the extension of Xavien Howard’s contract as a move meant to build team culture. Walton was cut by the Cincinnati Bengals last month after his third arrest. He is facing felony charges for allegedly carrying a concealed weapon, marijuana possession and reckless driving. Significantly, the March 12 incident took place in Miami, his home town. Now the Dolphins are not only giving him a second chance, they’ve brought him back to a city where old friends and bad influences could exacerbate the problem. But that’s not my point. The problem is that they’ve brought him into a young locker room where veteran influence will have more than the usual impact on the development of the team. I don’t have a problem with Walton getting a second chance. But giving it to him with the Dolphins seems like a very questionable move. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  The Sun-Sentinel does a photo gallery of quarterbacks who, similar to new Dolphins quarterback Josh Rosen, had slow starts to their careers. In one photo they highlighted the start of Peyton Manning’s career: “His first game was against the visiting Dolphins who grabbed three of his passes, including one for a pick-six by Terrell Buckley in a 24-15 Miami win. By the time the Colts had finished the first quarter of the season, Manning had piled up 11 pickoffs against only three touchdown passes. Things stabilized from there as he threw 23 touchdowns and 17 interceptions in the final 12 games. The rest is Hall of Fame history.” I hate clicking through these photo galleries and I usually don’t bother with them. But I knew I was going to have to read this one because I knew Manning would come up on a list of very good quarterbacks. With all due respect to Tom Brady, Dan Marino and the many others you could mention, Manning is in my opinion the greatest quarterback in the history of the game. I love all of those other guys but not one of them had to literally lift their team and carry them the way Manning did.
But that’s not my point. My point is that Manning elevated his game from his first three win season through to NFL history with the help of very good coaching from legendary offensive coordinator Jim Moore and quarterbacks coach Bruce Arians. And Rosen is going to need that kind of help. Like Manning, Rosen is smart. In fact, in the words of former Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson, probably too smart. What did Johnson mean? Rosen has a reputation for being arrogant. Most Dolphins fans can’t figure out where that reputation came from because his introduction to the Miami media, as least, was nothing but positive. But I have an idea how Rosen might have gotten stuck with this label. In my day job when I’m not bloviating about the NFL, I teach first year medical students. Specifically, I deal with a lot of extremely intelligent, high achieving students that I greatly respect. And those students challenge me with a lot of questions. In fact, even after doing this for going on 17 years, I’m constantly amazed at my students’ ability to come up with things I’ve never heard before. Sometimes these interactions test my limit when trying to show that I know what I’m talking about. And, at least as important, they test my willingness to admit when I don’t know what I’m talking about. I enjoy these conversations, especially when the latter is true, because it forces me to learn something. I’m nearly always better for having talked to a smart student about a topic. But I have tell you honestly that not all of my colleagues feel the same. There are some who believe that its their job to always show students that they are superior and they don’t like interactions with students who, frankly, might be smarter, if less knowledgeable, than they are. In the end, they explain their shortcomings to themselves by blaming the students. Most feel that these students lack respect. And that brings us back to Josh Rosen, who is by all accounts an extremely intelligent player. And, let’s be honest, his teachers haven’t been the best. After having had three offensive coordinators in college at UCLA, Rosen is going on his third offensive coordinator as he joins the Dolphins this season after only one year with the Cardinals. Up until this point, Rosen has had to deal with a carnival of coaches including Mike McCoy, who was fired after Week 7 last year, followed by Byron Leftwich, who was fired after the season. Someone with more cruelty in his blood than I have might have called it a "clown car." Nothing against the Cardinals staff but you don’t go through coaches like that if you are good at what you are doing. Bottom line, it would be no surprise to find that Rosen was smarter than his teachers. And it would be no surprise to find that his teachers didn’t react well to the situation. So far it seems that Rosen has had the same benefits that Manning had in his first seasons with the Colts. Let’s hope that he finds a better home in South Florida with good instructors that he can respect and, just as important, who can respect him. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
Kelly’s initial answer was “Seven wins.” Hyde’s more reasonable response was: “You’ll know it when you see it.” A couple things here: a. In fairness, Kelly immediately started to back off his ridiculous response. Seven wins on a team with more holes than answers is absurd. But it does show you what his attitude towards this situation is. Despite claiming otherwise, he’s determined not to like the Rosen experiment. I’m not saying that I mind that. Like every reporter, no matter who he is, Kelly is welcome to his opinion. No reporters, no matter how hard they try, can completely suppress those opinions when they write their articles. And Kelly isn’t just acting as a beat reporter. He’s also a columnist where he is actually paid to express that opinion (whether beat reporters should also be allowed to be columnists is a topic for another day). Nevertheless, this is something that needs to be born in mind when you read his articles. They’re going to be biased and an informed reader is going to have to compensate mentally for that. b. Neither of these guys are right. The truth is, with the Dolphins roster constructed the way it is, no one on the outside is really going to know whether Rosen is the answer. It’s not going to be a good year. Peyton Manning won one game his rookie season. I think we can all agree he wasn’t a bad quarterback. What people not directly associated with the team are going to have to do is have faith that the coaches know what they’re dong and that they’ll be able to properly evaluate Rosen from the inside. They’re the ones in the locker room. They’re watching the film. They’ll know how Rosen responds to coaching. They’ll know his strengths and weaknesses to some extent independent of the talent around him. We’ll be convinced that Rosen is the answer when we find out whether the Dolphins take a quarterback high in the 2020 draft. Until then, keeping an open mind is really all you can do. The Dolphins pumped a lot of resources into the 2020 draft this offseason and now have 12 draft picks. 1 — 1st round 2 — 2nd round (theirs and New Orleans) 2 — 3rd round (theirs and Ja’Wuan James compensatory pick) 2 — 4th round (theirs and Tennessee’s from Ryan Tannehill trade) 1 — 5th round (Cameron Wake compensatory pick) 2 — 6th round (theirs and Robert Quinn trade) 2 — 7th round (theirs and Kansas City from Jordan Lucas trade) I noted the optimism with which Hyde anticipated getting the compensatory picks for James and Wake. In particular, I’m not convinced that losing James is going to bring a third round compensatory pick but presumably the formula says he will, so let’s assume that. The list highlights one of the changes I think we can anticipate in the new NFL labor contract as the old deal expires in 2 years. The compensatory pick system was set up to help ameliorate the damage done when a player leaves via free agency, they weren’t meant to completely compensate for the loss, only to make it less disastrous for a team when they lose a particularly valuable asset. But the system has developed far beyond that now. The compensatory picks that teams get for getting a free agent go are so valuable that teams are often motivated to game the system by purposely letting the player go and taking the pick instead. Consider the case of James. Does anyone think there’s any chance that James would have brought a third round pick in a trade before he became a free agent? Would anyone have given a fifth round pick for a 37 year old Cam Wake? The pick system is currently being used for a purpose that it was not intended for - i.e. actually rewarding a team for not signing a player in free agency. That’s something the NFLPA cannot let stand and, given the justice of their case, I have to believe that the league won’t fight too hard against changing the system. "The Dolphins trade for Josh Rosen was helped out by the awful management in Arizona. If Cardinals GM Steve Keim knew he was trading Rosen, why wait until after picking Kyler Murray? Every team was down the road to their top picks at that point. If he started trade talk a month before the draft, then perhaps the New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Dolphins and others would be involved. This occurred to me as well. The best explanation I could come up with was that the Cardinals were worried that they tipped their hand on Murray before the draft, they might miss out on a "Godfather offer" for the first overall pick that they might have considered. It was, for instance, rumored that Oakland liked Murray a lot. Had they offered say, three first round picks to move up into the first position, I assume the Cardinals would have had to consider it. There is also the possibility that the Cardinals were in secret negotiations already with Murray’s agent. Once you commit to Murray, it gives them significant leverage. I like this explanation less in the age of the rookie salary cap. In any case, Hyde as a point. At bare minimum if you don’t trade Murray before the draft, you trade him as soon as possible after you make the pick before other teams know if they are going to have the opportunity to get their guy. As it turned out, the top end of the quarterback market was softer than expected with first round talent Drew Lock falling into the second round. That meant everybody was happy with where they ended up and the Cardinals were stuck negotiating with the Dolphins.
Indianapolis would be a good spot except for one thing. It’s far enough north to make weather a problem. When Radio City Music Hall left the draft four years ago, Chicago lobbied hard to be the new permanent home. But anyone who looked out the window at the heavy snow coming down in Saturday, the last day of the draft, had to agree that the the NFL made the right decision when they started rotating cities instead. Indianapolis isn’t that far south of Chicago.
“The Bears are planning to sign 19 undrafted free agents. As you and others have documented, this has become an important part of the draft process as teams scramble and bid against one another to sign highly regarded prospects who slipped through the cracks. The draft was cut down to seven rounds in 1994. Do you think the NFL would consider adding more rounds given the importance of these undrafted players? — Tom S., Chicago Yes, if you are a reporter. Maybe not if you are a general manager.
I actually didn’t think this was a bad question. Wisconsin guard Beau Benzschawel had offers from 20 teams before signing with the Lions. It’s very evident that teams are leaving good players on the board at the end of seven rounds. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
“[T]he Cardinals fleeced the Dolphins for a quarterback nobody else in the NFL seemingly wanted. Despite having no other bidders for Rosen’s services, the Dolphins not only sent Arizona a second-round pick for the UCLA product. They also sweetened the deal by trading away a 2020 fifth-round pick.” That’s not the whole story by a long shot. Any fair evaluation of this trade has to include the previous exchange where the Dolphins traded back from the 48th overall pick in the second round to the 62nd. That’s because the Dolphins made that trade to set up the final deal for Rosen. Here’s how the trade breaks down assuming, as is the common wisdom, that future picks are worth a pick in the current year minus one round:  Add all of that up and here’s what that means. After all is said and sifted, the Dolphins got a top ten pick from 2018 and a potential starter for trading back to the third round and giving a fourth round pick. Can anyone honestly tell me that if the Dolphins had made that trade while sitting at 48 overall that they shouldn’t have taken it?
Ladies and gentlemen, that is a deal. The Dolphins not only didn’t get fleeced, they took the Cardinals to the cleaners. The Dolphins did the right thing here. They waited the Cardinals out and bargained hard and got their guy. And they did it in such a way that if Rosen doesn’t work out, they can let him go and figure that they didn’t lose that much. So those who want a quarterback in 2020 aren’t out anything by this deal. The only real question is whether one year will be enough to properly evaluate Rosen. It certainly will take longer than that to fully develop him. But it says here that if the Dolphins know what they’re doing, they’ll at least have a good idea of what they have by the time the 2020 draft rolls around. And from what I can tell so far, they do know what they’re doing.
In the meantime I’d like to add my own winner: Joe Klatt at the NFL Network. Klatt usually covers college football for FOX but he came on and did a great job during Day 2 of the draft breaking down the picks. I spent most of Day 3 wishing he was still there instead of Peter Schrager, who seemed to be there more for the entertainment value.
I’m not going to go down this list and pretend I know anything about these guys because for the most part I don’t. But I will tell you that when they hit the field this summer, you might want to pay attention. The Dolphins have a lot of roster openings and a lot of holes to fill. Some of them are gong to be filled by these signings. And I’ll add this: if you want to evaluate Chris Grier as a GM, paying attention to how many of these undrafted free agents develop is one good way to do it. Good teams with good front offices and coaching staffs usually find a way to develop a few of these kinds of players into good, solid starters. And these guys are going to have more than the usual opportunity to show what they can do.
Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said he didn’t want to take Kyler Murray after trading up to get Josh Rosen in the first round last year but he was won over by Murray’s talent. This is a gamble for Arizona. Few teams had Murray as the No. 1 player in the draft and it’s fair to wonder if the Cardinals would even have considered Murray if they hired anyone other than Kliff Kingsbury as coach. This will either work out spectacularly for Arizona or cost Keim and Kingsbury their jobs someday. My guess is that Bordow is right. The Cardinals don’t take Murray if anyone other than Kingsbury is the head coach. The reason is simple. Murray fits what the Cardinals want to do out of the box whereas any other coach outside of Seattle would have had to change their entire offense to make Murray work. Murray’s size makes him less than suitable for an offense that relies on sitting in the pocket and finding the open receiver. I tried to figure out where the next likely landing place for Murray was if he got by the Cardinals. My guess is that it would have been a long way down the list. Murray not only landed in the perfect spot to take advantage of his talents. He may have landed in the only spot. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
"By far, the most common question about the Dolphins after the rhetorical tank-of-no-tank (seriously?) is this: Why was Chris Grier promoted to king-of-his-world powers when his drafts seem mediocre the past three years?" I think the answer that you'll get from most fans is that it's because Mike Tannenbaum was defacto general manager and Adam Gase had too much influence over personnel. And they’d have a point. But only to an extent. I have little trouble believing that Tannenbaum and Gase had strong opinions about who the first and second round picks should be. But after that, more and more it becomes scouts work. And that’s Chris Grier’s domain. So how has Grier done with those crucial mid and late-round picks? Hard to say. He’s only presided over three drafts but let’s take a look. Also note the results of an informal poll among our PhinManiacs writers (1 = poor, 5 = excellent) (Yes, I know its stupid to grade recent drafts. But for the sake of the exercise, let’s do it anyway.) 2016: 3rd round: Kenyan Drake 3rd round: Leonte Carroo 6th round: Jakeem Grant 6th round: Jordan Lucas 7th round: Brandon Doughty 7th round: Thomas Duarte PhinManiacs writers scores: 3.0 out of 5 This was, indeed, not great. Drake has been a solid contributor but they needed him to develop into the main running back. He had the opportunity last year but it seemed that no one associated with the team was beating the drum to put him in that position, reportedly due to some maturity issues. Carroo has been waived after what was a less than productive career but Grant was a hit. I think a good draft would have had at least a solid contributor in at least one of those last three names. 2017: 3rd round: Cordrea Tankersley 5th round: Isaac Asiata 5th round: David Godchaux 6th round: Vincent Taylor 7th round: Isaiah Ford PhinManiacs writers scores: 3.0 out of 5 Really hard to tell only two years out from this draft. Tankersley has been a disappointment when called upon to play. I’d call both Godchaux and Taylor hits as they would both be solid members of the rotation on the defensive line this year without the scheme change. It wouldn’t have been a good defensive line but they’re still both starters. A lot will depend on how Asiata turns out. At the moment, he hasn’t impressed anyone in limited exposure but he’ll likely get his chance to compete to start this year. 2018: 3rd round: Jerome Baker 4th round: Durham Smythe 6th round: Kalen Ballage 6th round: Cornell Armstrong 7th round: Quentin Poling 7th round: Jason Sanders PhinManiacs writers: 3.8 out of 5 Like our writers I feel better about this class than the previous two. Again, it's still early but already pretty good. Baker and Sanders are already solid hits and Ballage shows some signs of developing into one. It’s discouraging how little the others have contributed but I think it's hard to ask for more than three good hits out of six in these rounds. My conclusion is that Hyde’s characterization of Grier isn’t unfair. But I also think the fans have a point. To have really called those picks excellent, I would have liked to have seen just one more good hit in each of those years above. But it's fair to say that if you give Grier a free hand on those early round picks, his record in the later round should give fans some signs of hope.
Why is that significant to Dolphins fans? Because that class was denigrated at least as much as the 2019 class is currently being criticized. “So many people said it wasn’t a strong quarterbacks class,” [Mitch] Trubisky said. Added [DeShaun] Watson: “We all remember that. Patrick [Mahomes] has said it. Mitch said it. I’ve said it. And we all put that in the back of our heads, went to work and started grinding. … The whole time leading up to that draft, no one thought we would be where we’re at now. Especially after Year 2.” Those opinions caused both Watson and reigning MVP Mahomes to fall into a range where teams that know what they’re doing could trade up and get them while teams that don’t know what they’re doing took a pass. It just goes to show how little the prevailing media opinion should influence fans’ attitudes toward the draft. If you are praying that the Dolphins don’t take a quarterback because "all of the potential first rounders would have ranked behind all of last year’s first rounders," you should remember: it’s all been said before.
Suddenly the mock drafts that weeks ago had Miami picking a quarterback in the first round have changed. The pundits and analysts have moved on to seemingly other ideas. The idea of the Dolphins picking a quarterback in the first round in 2019 seems less popular now. Fair enough. But here’s the problem. Teams that have a need at quarterback, or any other position, have a bad habit of finding that they like the players.
You hear ex-NFL personnel men talk about this all the time. You always say you’ll take the best available. But somehow the best available usually ends up being at a position of need. You pay more attention to those prospects and they tend to get pushed up your board. So, yes, absolutely. The Dolphins shouldn’t take a quarterback just to take one. They have to believe in him. But don’t be at all surprised if they find that they believe in one of the ones that are right in front of them.
Having said that, the pass rushers have gotten the most first round attention - with some justification. But don't sleep on the defensive tackles. Experts are calling this class of interior defensive linemen one of the best ever. It's not as flashy as the sack generators - and the Dolphins could certainly use some with Charles Harris being their best option right now. But nose tackle is a big deal if you are going to spend any time in a three man front as the Dolphins are apt to do next year. There would be nothing wrong with drafting a big man who can move, either there or at defensive end.
New head coach Brian Flores should be intimately familiar with Rowe and he must have liked what he saw. He was a depth piece in New England but it's possible that Flores thought he could be more. Rowe is only 26 years old and is far from his peak. Identifying and developing young players who are on the rise is what the game is all about right now. Rowe could be a very nice, affordable answer on a team that is re-building and that is about to sign Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard on the other side to a lucrative extension. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
“The Dolphins could benefit from having an in-line blocking tight end because Miami’s depth at that position is thin. This particular part of the column bugged me because Kelly consistently and constantly criticized Gesicki’s blocking last year. Gesicki is a 6’6” 245 pound tight end. His job is to set up mismatches in the passing game, not block. Admittedly he didn’t do as good of a job at that as most would have liked last year, but he’s still developing and it was apparent that he wasn’t ready to take on a bigger role. We shall see what happens this year when you could reasonably expect a second round tight end to bloom. Personally, I thought Dave Hyde, also at the Sun-Sentinel, provided a more sensible analysis: “The Dolphins’ signing of tight end Dwayne Allen says: (a) new offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea liked Allen in New England; (b) they’re not happy with blocking tight ends like fourth-round pick Durham Smythe or Nick O’Leary; c) they’re not going to ask Mike Gesicki to be an in-line blocker anymore. This I can get on board with. Allen is an upgrade to Smythe, who will now be a backup, because he can both block and catch. And, yes, the Dolphins are rebuilding, not tanking. If you are tanking you don’t sign anyone who can help. Rebuilding means targeting only players that you think will be a part of your long-term future. Which brings me to my only real criticism of the deal. At 29 years old, Allen is just a little older than I’d like. But rebuilds nowadays can happen quickly and it's unlikely that two years down the line at 31 years old the Dolphins will have any major regrets about the signing, particularly if Allen brings a locker room presence that can help younger players develop.
“Sam Young, who filled in admirably for an injured James as the starting right tackle for the final eight games of the 2017 season, is also a free agent. It is unclear at this moment if Miami intends on re-signing the former St. Thomas Aquinas High standout. None of those veteran options look particularly tantalizing and it's unlikely that the Dolphins are going to find a good solution in free agency. Given that the current make up of the Dolphins brain trust is very Patriot heavy, you wonder if they aren’t planning to follow the New England offensive line model. New England rarely pays their offensive linemen, preferring to develop unknown players and turn them into Pro Bowlers. Turning Trent Brown into one of the league's top left tackles only to let him go to the Raiders for a record contract this offseason is the latest example. I’m all in favor of the Dolphins pulling off similar feats but I doubt they can pull it off without New England coach Dante Scarnecchia, who is universally acknowledged as the best offensive line coach in the business. Is Dolphins line coach Pat Flaherty in Scarnecchia’s class? Not that I ever heard. Something tells me that if the Dolphins are planning to spin straw into gold on the offensive line the way New England does, they are in for a rude awakening.
“’I think that his height was inflated,’ an unnamed scout told Dan Patrick on Tuesday, and Dan relayed the story on the Wednesday edition of his show. ‘Maybe it’s the tin-foil hat theory. I just don’t see it. If he refuses to be measured at the Pro Day, that will be telling.”’ If it's a tin hat theory, then it's going around because I’m wearing a similar one. The possibility that this number wasn’t accurate was the first thing I thought of when I heard the result. Murray was measured at 5’9-5/8” at Oklahoma. Suddenly he is half an inch taller, meaning that his college substantially underestimated his height rather than inflating it as is the more standard procedure. I’m having a hard time with that.
“I think he just wants to flex his power He has small [man’s] syndrome. I still talk to guys who are there, and trust me, there’s not much respect for him in that locker room.” Bennett also let it be known that he will be staying in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem this season: “’I explained to them is that my integrity mean everything,’ Bennett said, according to ESPN. ’I think they respect that about me, they respect who I am as an individual.’” Yeah, Bennett is an individual alright. Just like his brother Martellus, Michael is an individual to a fault. There’s a reason why Bennett will be going on the fourth team of his career (the Seahawks twice) and the third in three years. He’s an immature, high maintenance player who can be a handful in the locker room. The Patriots are betting that they have the culture to tame Bennett but it says here that if he plays for them in 2019, he won’t be there in 2020. Talented as he is, New England could be his last stop.
I have never like the league’s procedures for replay and in my opinion this is a step in the wrong direction. The challenge system for review is hopelessly broken in part because NFL coaches are expected to do both their own job and that of the officials under the current rules.
I really don’t care what sort of system the league implements but it should be one that relieves coaches the responsibility for cleaning up the mess created by poor calls. Personally, I favor an extra official in the booth who is responsible for deciding whether a play should be reviewed. And, of course, any on-field official should also be allowed to request a review of a call they weren’t sure of. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
"A year after Bob Costas was conspicuous by his absence from NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl LII, the longtime face of the network’s sports telecasts explained that he was told "you’ve crossed the line" with commentary about the NFL. Boren’s expansion in the last paragraph pretty much says it all in this situation. The line that Costas frequently crosses is, indeed, a fine one. It seperates “critic” from “self-righteous.” It’s a line that we all sometimes cross, I think, but Costas has turned it into a habit. Costas defines himself as a journalist, which is fine. The problem is that he does it by treating sports like world peace depends upon defending its dignity. It leads to inflamatory language such as that above addressing the NFL’s concussion problem. It’s this tendency that turns off not just the NFL but those of us who are just watching for a little entertainment, not what amounts to something akin to a political tirade. My guess is that we have seen the last of Costas on any major network for any sport, not just the NFL.
I won’t give this too much time except to say that this was a poorly thought out piece that looked like it was supposed to be about Hunt but which Jenkins couldn’t resist using to take a shot a the NFL no matter how it conflicted with her point. For the record, I think Hunt is an animal who doesn’t “deserve” a second chance at anything not guaranteed him under the law.
“[Browns general manager John] Dorsey released a 245-word statement as part of the Browns’ announcement of the signing. He acknowledged the complexity of questions about signing Hunt but cited his relationship with Hunt in explaining the decision that ’he deserves a second chance.’ Hmmmm... he took full responsiblity, eh? Like when he lied to the Chiefs about the incident and only came clean after video of the incident came out and he knew the jig was up? Hunt strikes me as being similar to many athletes in situations like this such as Ray McDonald, who was briefly a Chicago Bear before once again finding himself in trouble for allegedly attacking a woman. He’s a con man who has grown up as an athlete who people believed because they wanted to believe him. Hunt is a talented running back. People who want talented running backs on their team are apt to believe that he “took full responsibility for his actions” even though the evidence clearly shows that was not the case until he could no longer deny his guilt. Let’s tell this like it is. This wasn’t a Ray Rice situation where an instant of anger led to a fist being thrown faster than the brain could catch up. The video showed Hunt as an out of control animal who attacked this woman like a mad dog for almost two minutes. Professional help or not, Hunt is a ticking time bomb who is just waiting to explode again. Knowing this, signing players like this puts fans in a terrible position. You want to root for your team. But how do you do it knowing that they signed such a player? To this day, I can’t watch Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger without visions of a college girl being raped in the back room of a bar in Georgia. Having to watch players like this prevents fans from fully enjoying what should be an entertaining experience. So, as if there weren’t enough reason already, thank heavens you aren’t a Browns fan. The Dolphins and their fans are better off without Hunt and his ilk.
"’We’ve got to develop a strong passing attack,’ Roman said. ’Lamar’s got to develop and everybody around him has got to get better in that area. Obviously, there will be more emphasis on that.’" Jackson is problematic because he lacks arm strength and he’s not always very accurate, particularly outside the numbers. Though he had some good throws over the middle in the intermediate range in 2018, his weaknesses showed and will likely continue to be a problem as the Ravens work to build a power running game to counter the game plan with seven defensive backs that the Chargers used to beat them in their AFC Wild Card game. Teams will undoubtedly do what they can to take the middle of the field away from Jackson and, as Brooks points out, a strong running team needs to be able to complete deep throws when they do pass the ball to get chunks of yardage. Whether Jackson has the arm to take advantage of a good play action passing game will be an open question until he proves he can do it.
“Eagles: The team reportedly is considering the use of the franchise tag on Nick Foles, with an eye toward trading him. Although this approach would violate the CBA, Foles seems to be OK with it — possibly because his agents already know that he wouldn’t get on the open market a long-term contract worth more per year than the franchise tag will pay.” I would agree with this. My gut tells me that the payday for Nick Foles might not be what many people believe it will be.
For one thing, you need at least two teams to drive the price up for Foles. Right now, the only team that currently makes sense for him is Jacksonville. But the major reason has to do with Foles’ performance itself. He struggled for years with the Rams, admittedly under a defensive coach with a stagnant offense. But Foles wasn’t good in those years and really hasn’t been good anywhere but Philadelphia. The fear is that you end up signing a Case Keenum, who had one good year with the Minnesota Vikings in 2017, cashed in big with the Denver Broncos in the offseason, then reverted back to under-perform in 2018. Admittedly, Foles has come up big at the tail end of not one, but two seasons in a row now. But it's what he did at the beginning of the 2018 season when subbing in for Carson Wentz that would worry me if I were considering him as a signing. Foles wasn’t impressive. In particular, his 50.7 passer rating against the Falcons in the first game of the year sticks in my mind and makes me wonder if his days as a subpar quarterback will always be limited to those with the Rams. Admittedly it was only two games. But I would hesitate to commit too much to Foles right now. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
“2. Strategically trade Xavien Howard if you’re not drafting a quarterback this spring. Howard is the best player on Team Teardown. He’d be the most expensive, too, at north of $15 million a year with a needed, new deal. At 25, he is in his prime. Of the eight Pro Bowl cornerbacks this year, one was 29. Do the timeline math, add in football risk and moving him is the best option. But don’t just trade Howard for a first-round pick (if Amari Cooper is worth one in midseason, Howard is worth more). First, Howard is, indeed, your best young player. Which in my opinion means he’s exactly the kind of player you keep in this rebuild. He’ll still be in his prime when the Dolphins are good again and once you get done replacing veteran talent, cap space won’t be a huge issue. Yes, he’ll cost money. But you are going to have to spend money and these are the kinds of players you want to invest it in. I will add one caveat to the above. If the deal involves accumulating picks because you have targeted a quarterback you like, either in 2019 or 2020, then I would support the trade. You do what you have to do to make that happen. The other comment I’ll add is that I don’t think Howard brings more than a first round pick. In fact, he might not even bring that. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good young player on the rise. But he didn’t really completely blossom until this season and I don't think he’s in the Deion Sanders class yet. “8. Don’t sign anyone just to change “culture.” The coach sets the culture. Yes, some good veterans will help. But this is Brian Flores’ job by the standards he sets and decisions he makes. The Gase era went sideways when he began looking for other people to set his culture for him. If you can’t do that, you’re not a head coach.” This I agree with but only to a point. You can’t just bring in “good guys.” But I don’t think you want to make the job of your first time head coach tougher by bringing in headaches that, for instance, refuse to enter a game against the Jets. I’m looking at you, Reshad Jones. Adam Gase had some players to deal with that required delicate handling. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have handled it better but it made his job more difficult than it had to be. I’d rather say, “sign solid pros.” They don’t have to be angels and they don’t have to be ideal. But they should be able to set an example and show young players how to win through a couple years where there might not be a lot of winning to be had. “9. Don’t sign anyone in the first week of free agency. Or over 29 years old to be more than a one-year stop-gap.” There are going to be a lot of holes to fill on this team and I think you want to acquire good young players anyway you can, including free agency. But you do have to be careful who you target. As I said above, no headaches. I think instead of setting the limit at 29 years old, I’d say 27 unless he’s a one-year stop gap. The ideal candidate would be a rising young player coming off of his first contract who has not yet reached his peak. You may have to overpay a little. That’s the nature of free agency. But if you do it right, he won’t be over paid for long as he reaches his potential over the length of the contract.
“5. 'Only pay great players big money,’ [Johnson] said. This is, I think, where Adam Gase came up short. It’s a bit speculative but my guess is that all of those contracts are ones that Gase wanted. Gase worked under the false assumption that this would make those players grateful and play harder. Show them you love them and they’ll love you back. Unfortunately it generally didn’t work that way. Just two years later Gase found himself criticizing the team for not working hard enough. Jones even flat out quit on him for one game during the 2018 season. This balance between paying players to keep them happy and withholding money to keep them hungry for more is a very delicate one and I don't think there are easy answers. But generally speaking my guess is that Johnson has it right. Pay your great players who make plays big money. Sign the rest to team-friendly deals or replace them. Don’t get too caught up in your personal feelings over the matter.
"’Josh (Rosen) is our guy.’ – Kliff Kingsbury, Feb. 12 A couple things here: 1. In my opinion, you absolutely don’t take Murray with the first round pick. Yes, I know that Kingsbury effused that he would take Murray with that pick as the Texas Tech coach. But it was easy to say that then and, as Brooks points out later in the article, people can’t always be taken literally when commenting on such things as an opposing college coach. They are expected to exaggerate. More to the point, where you take a player in the draft has little to do with where you think he should go and it has everything to do with where other teams will take him. Murray is almost certainly less than 5-foot-10 and has yet to show that he can throw from the pocket. He’s a risk that you don’t take with a top five pick. if you want him, you find a way to trade down and then take him. 2. It's possible that Kingsbury is smart enough to understand what he’s got in Rosen. People like to think that getting a franchise quarterback is just a matter of choosing the right guy. In my opinion, they couldn’t be more wrong. It's about developing the right guy. That means good coaching at the very minimum. Rosen had a miserable year but he was on a miserable team with a defensive head coach who had no clue how to develop him. Whether Kingsbury has a clue remains to be seen. It seems evident to me that as the need for quarterbacks has become more acute, the NFL has gotten better at developing them with some very good young quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Jared Goff, Mitch Trubisky, and Deshaun Watson coming to the fore in recent years. But either way Arizona is still going to be a bad team and probably a bad situation. Rosen is a classic NFL quarterback. He’s got the size and physical ability. He’s accurate and by all accounts he’s smart. He simply hasn’t had a chance to show what he’s capable of. If he is traded, here’s hoping it's to a team that can fully develop him and utilize his talents to give him the best chance to succeed. Rosen doesn’t fit what I figure is general manager Chris Grier’s physical profile for an NFL quarterback. But it says here he’d look pretty good in a Dolphin uniform and wouldn’t be a big risk for a mid-round pick.
“’What percentage of the time,’ I asked Oklahoma coach and Murray mentor Lincoln Riley the other day, ’would you guess Kyler threw from the pocket this year?’ A lot of those throws were quick hitters and running an NFL offense where you frequently have to stand tall while the pocket collapses around you is quite a bit of a different story. Having said that, it’s clear that Murray is a different kettle of fish when compared, for instance, to Johnny Manziel. Manziel not only didn’t show that he could throw from the pocket in college, it was proven conclusively that he couldn’t as the teams that beat Texas A&M his last year with the team were the ones that kept him there. Murray could prove to be one of those rare athletes like Russell Wilson who can overcome his lack of size to succeed in the NFL. Murray is shorter than Wilson and has more of an uphill battle. But you can see why a team might pick him in the top ten. Indeed, Brooks has Murray as his #6 overall prospect which, for a quarterback, means top 5 pick. Murray has been connected to the Dolphins in several mock drafts and where he is selected is going to be one of the more interesting draft stories in years. I’m looking forward to seeing him at the combine.
Frankly, I don’t understand Brown. He’s got a lucrative contract and this doesn’t appear to be about money. When he’s asked to explain his problem he’s all over the place. Take this response when he was asked to explain his strained relationship with Ben Roethlisberger. “No conflict just a matter of respect!. Mutual respect! He has a owner mentality like he can call out anybody including coaches. Players know but they can’t say anything about it otherwise they meal ticket gone. It’s a dirty game within a game.” The best I can tell he just doesn’t like criticism and doesn’t like having to work as part of a team. He reminds me a little bit of former Chicago Bear Martellus Bennett.
Wide receivers in general tend to be head cases, I think. But Brown seems to take it to a whole new level. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  • Let’s start on a positive note by pointing out that the new Dolphins organizational structure is probably, finally, the right one. From Dave Hyde at the Sun-Sentinel: ‘One man at the top, El Jefe, in [general manager Chris] Grier. The head coach, [Brian] Flores, who was hand-picked by Grier. A partnership starting on the same timeline with, as Flores said, “the same principles.”’ ’That’s the simple way it all should be and, oddly, the way Ross never has done it. He has been the king of the staggered starts and forced marriages of general managers and coaches that devolve into divorces and the next forced marriage. ’There remain questions of why Grier didn’t just survive this latest change but was promoted despite uneven drafts. That’s fair. But there’s no questions of who’s in charge or what the timeline to win is, as with every other season with [Dolphins owner Steve] Ross.’ I’m going to whole heartedly agree with Hyde. Having a good personnel man at the top of the organization in the form of a general manager who hires the head coach is almost always the way to go. There are, of course, organizations that work with a different structure but they almost always involve an owner who knows football at the top or an extra-ordinary individual in the head coach who can also be a GM. But generally speaking, you want a single GM who knows football and can pick talent, players, scouts and head coaches, at the top. And there’s good reason to believe that Grier is the right guy. The last really good draft the Dolphins had was 2016 when they picked up Laremy Tunsil, Xavien Howard, Kenyan Drake, and Jakeem Grant. Probably not coincidentally, that was the last one that Grier probably was able to pick the talent without interference from former head coach Adam Gase, who very evidently was given quite a bit more power of personnel after an excellent 2016 season. It says here that there’s a very good chance the Dolphins have the right guy in charge. • Having said that, it may not be immediately evident that is the case. The Dolphins are in for a long, tough rebuild. They have to tear the team down before they can really build it back up and that’s probably a two year process. They’ll have to start dumping older talent and replacing it with younger inexperienced guys. The problem is that you can’t dump all of it at once because it creates more holes than you can fill. So you gradually release and replace, release and replace, rinse and repeat until you finally get to the point that you have most of the younger pieces in place. It’s a "tear down" because you are gradually getting worse the whole time. People have told me that perhaps the Dolphins process won’t be as bad because they have a number of younger pieces in place. I really don’t see it. In the defensive backfield they have cornerback Xavien Howard and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. You might keep safety T.J McDonald if you have a plan for him. Many will press to keep Rashad Jones but there’s no way that happens after he flat out quit on the team in an ugly mid-season incident. I don’t care what you think of the leadership of Adam Gase, there’s no way as an organization you can keep a guy who allows his pride to lead him to do such a thing. He’s also 30 years old which means he could be 33 before the Dolphins are competitive again. You probably do keep the linebackers, Kiko Alonzo, Raekwon McMillan and Jerome Baker. No one on the defensive line is even worth mentioning either because they lack the talent or the youth necessary to survive the purge. This is far and away where the most work needs to be done, especially with a scheme change on the way. On offense, the Dolphins have made it plain that they think running back Kenyan Drake is too immature to be the future at the position. They need a quarterback, guards, a younger center, and possibly a right tackle. The wide receiver and tight end positions also need a great deal of attention. That’s a heck of a lot of work. I’d say anyone who predicts that they’ll be back to where they are now in less than two years is being wildly optimistic. • Having said that, there are a lot of ways to build a franchise. I’ve noticed many observers predicting that the Dolphins will not be active in the free agent market. I tend to disagree. A good, aggressive foray into the market can be a good way to find players. You just have to be careful to find the right players. Look for th e Dolphins to go hard at younger free agents coming out of their first contract. These would be players who couldn’t be resigned by their original teams either because of cap issues or because they already have established players at the position who couldn’t be moved aside to allow the younger man to start. In particular, look for the Dolphins to target rising players who have not hit their peak yet. The key will be projecting the players talent into a future with superior coaching and more game experience. Identifying players of this nature will be one of the keys to Grier’s success. • One of the more interesting aspects of the new Dolphins plan will be to see how Flores emerges from the other end of it. As is well-known, Flores will try to bring the “Patriot Way” to the Dolphins. The problem is that other franchises that have tried this over the year have failed. Sometimes miserably. From Armando Salguero at the Miami Herald: Teams have failed miserably thinking they could copy New England’s success by hiring New England coaches. In 2017, the Detroit Lions were 9-7 to follow another 9-7 record and playoff appearance in 2016. That was deemed not good enough so the Lions hired Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to bring the Patriot Way to Motown. He was hired by general manager Bob Quinn, who spent the first 15 seasons of his career in the New England front office before moving to Detroit in 2016. The Dolphins run the risk of repeating past mistakes here. Defensive coordinators Romeo Crennell, Eric Mangini and Patricia all became head coaches. All failed or are struggling. The reasons why are a mystery but a clue might be found in this interesting tidbit from Adam Kilgore at the Washington Post: ’The biggest spectacle in American culture staged [Patriots head coach Bill] Belichick’s opus, but it began two weeks ago on a quiet field in Foxborough, Massachusetts. In their first practice after the Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game, when other coaches might have rested players after an arduous, emotional game, Belichick put the Patriots in full pads and went full-bore. He added extra drills and additional practice periods. Mistakes were met with coaches demanding, "Do it again." At the end, players toiled through an extra 12 sprints. ’"It felt like we were running forever," [wide receiver Matthew] Slater said.’ Belichick has the gravitas to pull this off. Do his assistants? Bringing the “Patriot Way” to Miami is easier said than done. But the biggest problem I see is that Flores is a defensive head coach who is going to be very dependent upon the development of a young quarterback. The danger is that the Dolphins are in year three of their rebuild and the quarterback isn’t progressing fast enough. This leads to thoughts that an offensive head coach to further his development is needed. Fortunately the Dolphins had the wisdom to hire an experienced, quarterback-centric assistant head coach in Jim Caldwell. Because he’s spent most of his time in the NFL coaching established quarterbacks, I do have my doubts about whether Caldwell can develop a rookie. But hiring quarterback-centric coaches was a priority for a lot of teams this year and the Dolphins did about as well as you could possibly expect under the circumstances. I have far more confidence in Caldwell than I do in new head coaches like Zac Taylor and Kliff Kingbury. • And although most observers don’t seem to believe that the Dolphins will draft a quarterback this year, I wouldn’t rule it out. Grier says that he certainly has not. “We may get to the process, fall in love with a couple of guys,” Grier said. “Last year, we liked two guys a lot, they both had good success this year. It could be at that point, we may say, ‘Hey, this is the guy.’ ” Reportedly those “couple guys” were Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen, two of the bigger and more athletic quarterbacks. I have made my man crush on Drew Lock known but if I were to speculate, the fact that Sam Darnold, who has many similarities to Lock, wasn’t one of their favorites might mean he won’t be in love with Lock, either. Dwayne Haskins might fit this profile best of the top candidates. This article was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
“The Dolphins do not have tons of talent that would start on other contending teams besides Howard, [Laremy] Tunsil, [Rshaad] Jones and [Minka] Fitzpatrick. Would giving away homegrown and young talent hitting his prime be wise on a roster that lacks star power be wise? I mean, it would create a huge hole that Miami would have to fill with an unknown (in addition to the other holes the team has at corner and other positions). I’m not 100% convinced that this route is wise.”
Nor am I.
A few things to point out here:
“And while [Daniel] Jones gets the MVP hardware, those watching know that Lock was the real star. He started the game and was composed from the first snap when he rolled right only to find Montez Sweat in his face, made an arm-angle adjustment to find McLaurin for a 12-yard gain. First down. Two plays later Lock pump-faked the defense out of position and came back to NC State’s Jakobi Meyers across the middle, but Meyers couldn’t hang on.
“Yes, that’s an incompletion but Lock put it the only place he could and McLaurin couldn’t come up with it. That’s the throw scouts will be talking about.”
So let me say up front that I’m a proud University of Missouri alumnus.
Having said that, I love what I’ve been seeing from Drew Lock. He did, indeed, look good in the Senior Bowl. Missouri switched to a pro-style offense this year and by the end of the year Lock looked pretty good in it to my eye. I didn’t feel the same way about Blaine Gabbert or Chase Daniel when they came out. Both are from Missouri. So I think this is different. If he falls to Miami, there could be better times ahead. Of course, that’s unlikely to happen. Quarterbacks like Lock tend to fly up the board late in the process, not fall back. Of course, they could get creative and go up and get him. There’s every indication those are the kinds of aggressive moves owner Stephen Ross wants to see. Many will say that the Dolphins should sit and let the draft come to them. Generally speaking, I’m in favor of this. But not when it comes to quarterbacks. A few things to consider.
Caldwell does have some college coaching experience as well and that can’t be completely discounted. But overall the picture is one of a coach who has spent the vast majority of his time coaching experienced veterans, one who sometimes got a lot out of them as they won Super Bowls and went to Pro Bowls, but who also sometimes didn’t. Whether he can develop a young quarterback is still a complete unknown 18 years into his professional coaching career. This is going to be an interesting situation to keep an eye on, especially if the Dolphins draft a quarterback.
“The biggest hype in this NFL offseason so far for the Miami Dolphins is what will the team be doing with the quarterback position. Will it be another 'show me' year for Ryan Tannehill, a one or two season rental in Nick Foles, or will it be any one of the many young quarterbacks available in the upcoming NFL draft? Well, without an offensive line to protect whoever the Dolphins signal caller will be, you can almost guarantee another failing quarterback season without the necessary protection.”
Fair enough. But an organization that knows what it's doing can find offensive linemen and they can do it outside the first round. Well, except for left tackle, a position that the Dolphins already have filled.
I’m not saying don’t build the offensive line. But I’ve got a better suggestion if you are going another direction in the first round. How about defensive line? Specifically defensive tackle. Why?
It's a perfect year to fill what is arguably Miami’s greatest need. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  The Dolphins coaching search is currently headed in the wrong direction.
That’s my conclusion just days after the Dolphins fired head coach Adam Gase. According to multiple reports, the Dolphins have five assistant coaches on their interview list with varying backgrounds. However, none of them has the right background. They are: Name Current Position Current Team Vic Fangio Defensive Coordinator Chicago Bears Eric Bieniemy Offensive Coordinator Kansas City Chiefs Brian Flores Defensive Coordinator New England Patriots Mike Munchak Offensive Line Coach Pittsburgh Steelers Kris Richards Secondary Coach Dallas Cowboys Darren Rizzi Special Teams Coordinator Miami Dolphins There is no claim that this list is complete and I certainly hope that is the case. Because none of these candidates has the one thing everyone, including Miami, needs: an offensive head coach who can coach quarterbacks. Right now the trend in the NFL is toward offensive head coaches. And rightfully so. The success of Matt Nagy, Kyle Shannahan and Sean McVay, not to mention old hand Andy Reid, has undoubtedly put owners and general managers in the mood to follow the lead of these teams. Head Coach 2018 Playoff Team Former NFL Coaching Position Andy Reid Kansas City Offensive Coordinator Bill Belichick New England Defensive Coordinator Frank Reich Indianapolis Offensive Coordinator Bill O’Brien Houston Offensive Coordinator Anthony Lynn L.A. Chargers Offensive Coordinator John Harbaugh Baltimore Special Teams Coordinator Sean Payton New Orleans Quarterbacks Coach Sean McVay L.A. Rams Offensive Coordinator Doug Pederson Philadelphia Offensive Coordinator Matt Nagy Chicago Offensive Coordinator Pete Carroll Seattle Defensive Coordinator Jason Garrett Dallas Offensive Coordinator Of the twelve 2018 playoff teams above, nine have offensive backgrounds including three of the four top seeds (Belichick is always the exception, isn’t he?). Of those nine, all but Sean McVay and Anthony Lynn have a background coaching quarterbacks. And given those numbers, offensive head coaches who can coach quarterbacks should be in high demand. Because more and more it becomes evident that is what the game is about and there are few losing teams who won’t either be looking for one somewhere or who won’t be looking to develop one that they already have. Team Potentially Looking for Head coach Likely 2019 Draft Position Likely 2019 Quarterback Arizona 1 Josh Rosen New York Jets 3 Sam Darnold Tampa Bay 5 Jameis Winston/Draft Pick Denver 10 Case Keenum/Draft Pick Cincinnati 11 Andy Dalton Green Bay 12 Aaron Rodgers Miami 13 Draft Pick Cleveland 17 Baker Mayfield Of the eight teams looking for a head coach, the only team without an established projected starter is Miami, and even then, the Bengals and the Packers may still take a QB with an eye towards developing him for the future. Almost all of these teams certainly understand that the only way to keep a fertile offensive mind is to make him the head coach. Anyone else who is any good will almost certainly be pilfered the minute a head coaching position is open. Yes, Miami tried this once with Adam Gase and it didn’t work. But the fact that Gase wasn’t the guy shouldn’t deter them from doing it again. And again and again and again. Until they get it right. Miami should be looking to do two things in the offseason: draft a quarterback and hire someone who can coach him. The odds of winning consistently without both are low and the best way to establish stability is to make the second is the head coach. And that’s what they should be trying to do. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  It’s the Christmas season, a time of good cheer. But I’m having a hard time generating the kind of enthusiasm this time is supposed to engender when it comes to the Dolphins, after they lost a must win game on Sunday to keep their dying playoff hopes alive against a very beatable Jacksonville team.
However, Christmas is also a season of renewal and hope. And this in respect, I may have something to offer. Whatever else you thought about this Dolphins team this year, you could always say they were a different team at home where they were 6-1 going into last Sunday’s game. Now that notion is shot, along with any chance at the postseason. And make no mistake, not playing in a playoff game this year is the key factor as we head into the offseason. The story of the people in charge of the 2018 Dolphins begins and ends in the Miami draft room last April. That was when Dolphins owner Stephen Ross reportedly implored the team to trade back in order to acquire more picks. It was later reported that Ross wasn’t thrilled with the team’s draft, having concerns about both second round pick Mike Gesicki and third round pick Jerome Baker. Most to the point, neither selection was a quarterback. And that’s what this was really about. Doing the same thing over and over again and believing that the result will be any different is the definition of insanity. Ross obviously did not believe that Ryan Tannehill, after seven mediocre NFL seasons, was going to be any different in his eighth. His front office believed differently. I’ll leave the conclusions to you. The Dolphins reportedly liked Josh Allen but chose to sit and take him only if he fell to them rather than aggressively moving up in the draft the way that Buffalo did. After the draft, Ross didn’t deny any of these reports. And this is the key point. When an owner is questioning your decisions, he’s telling you that he has doubts about your ability to run the team. And when he’s telling you to take a quarterback, he’s specifically telling you to start planning for the future. He’s telling you he thinks you need to start the rebuilding process. A limited rebuilding process to be sure. But a rebuilding process nonetheless. Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum and general manager Chris Grier chose to ignore that advice at their own peril. When they did so and took a safety, a tight end and a linebacker instead of a quarterback, the message to their owner was clear: this team could win now with the guys they had. And at that point the line was drawn. Playoffs or bust. Now we know. It’s a bust. And for good reason as the “he’s telling you he has doubts about your ability to run the team” part of that draft day episode turned out to be well justified. In fact, it’s probably even worse than Ross thought. At that point in April, Ross was merely watching teams make aggressive draft day moves around him while his mediocre team leadership stood pat. That front office team, led by Tannenbaum, certainly wasn’t showing itself to be elite. But incompetence? That didn’t show itself until the season, itself to played out. Dave Hyde at the Sun-Sentinel did a nice job of breaking down the poor way that this team was built on offense. From signing older players who were basically injured from the moment they joined the team to lack of a swing tackle, this was an offense that was on shaky ground that slowly disintegrated as the season went one. It certainly has less talent than most Dolphins observers thought, and still think, it does. But Hyde didn’t address the most egregious failures - the ones on defense where the poor way that this team was built is flat out indefensible. It starts up front where the team entered Sunday’s game ranked 30th in sacks with 24 before recording six against the hapless Jaguars. Robert Quinn has been a highly paid bust at one end and Cameron Wake at the other has had a poor season at age 36. The defensive tackles are non-entities that don’t bear mentioning. But sacks aren’t the real issue. The real problem is the run defense which is ranked 31st in the league and has been putrid in big moments this year. And that problem starts up front. The planning for the season in this regard actually started last year when Raekwon McMillan was drafted. McMillan is a “new style” linebacker who isn’t going to be particularly physical but who has the speed and instincts to be a difference maker in the middle of the defense. Baker has a similar skill set. This wasn’t a bad plan in and of itself and it is certainly representative of modern NFL thinking. The problem is that the Dolphins implemented it poorly by not having a plan for the defensive front. In order for players like McMillan and Baker to succeed, they need to be protected by the men up front, whose job it is to either penetrate or otherwise occupy blockers to keep the linebackers clean, allowing them to roam and play to their strengths. The end result was an utter failure as the defensive tackles were easily moved and failed to man even their own gaps, let alone keep the opposing offensive linemen from getting to the second level. The plan on the back end wasn’t any better. Xavien Howard had a Pro Bowl season and has developed into a wonderful player. But he was practically wasted because of the dysfunction at the other defensive backfield positions. The Dolphins overestimated the abilities of every other cornerback on the roster from Cordrea Tankersley to Walt Aikens to Torry McTyer, they couldn’t find a starter opposite Howard. They ended up with 5’11” Bobby McCain holding down the outside rather than the nickle back position where he belongs. The safety spot was also poorly positioned for success when the Dolphins signed strong safety T.J. McDonald. The problem isn’t that McDonald is a bad player. The problem is that they already had one of him, a little known Pro Bowler named Reshad Jones. A proud veteran, Jones did not react well. And more dysfunction followed. Many believe that head coach Adam Gase is the primary problem with this team. And he hasn’t exactly covered himself in glory by using injuries as an excuse for failure while rightly telling players all season that they aren’t allowed to. Gase obviously isn’t the man we thought he was. But the decision on Gase can wait. The decision on the Tannenbaum has already been made. It was made long ago in that draft room in April when he decided to take a safety rather than moving aggressively for a quarterback. It was a win now mandate. And, eight months and a poorly constructed roster later, its all over but the actual event. The buck stops at the front office. And the organization will be cleaned in the offseason starting at the top. Merry Christmas. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  Stock Up Ryan Tannehill looked very sharp in just short of 2 quarters worth of work. He was 14 of 17 for 100 yards as he dropped back, read the field and delivered the ball reasonably accurately to the open receiver. He showed no ill effects coming off of a torn ACL in 2017 and his passer rating for the night was a solid 91.2. Tannehill wasn't asked to do much in that the Dolphins stuck to the short passing game. But there were virtually no negatives when looking at what he did and his performance was encouraging.  Robert Quinn, acquired in the offseason from Los Angeles for a fourth round pick made Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum and General Manager Chris Grier look good as he showed both quickness and power while rushing off of the edge. Quinn hasn't been dominant for a couple years but certainly looked like he will be a handful for any offensive tackle in the league one-on-one if he keeps playing like he did against the Panthers. Overall the Dolphins pass rush was solid and Quinn was a big part of the effort.  Xavien Howard got an interception on a pass where Cam Newton evidently didn't see him lurking on the left side of the defense. He returned the ball 34 yards. Howard also contributed to a rash of Dolphins penalties by committing a pass interference so his night wasn't perfect. But his coverage was tight and he looked like he's going to be the kind of asset the Dolphins thought he could be when they drafted him in the second round in 2016.  Daniel Kilgore. The offensive line on the whole didn't have a great night but Kilgore was solid in the middle. He was particularly effective blocking in the running game and held his own in pass protection. He did have one minor breakdown on a screen pass near the end of the first half but it was a difficult block with the defensive tackle making a good read after shading to the play side of the center. Miami's situation at right guard and both tackles can be a bit unsteady at times. Kilgore's presence could help stabilize the situation. Stock Down Raekwon McMillan is effectively a rookie and though he was improved over his debut performance last week, he still looks like one as he was very inconsistent on the night. McMillan shows excellent range and he frequently makes good, quick reads that get him in position to make plays from sideline to sideline. You can see why the Dolphins liked him when they drafted him in the second round in 2017 before an injury derailed his season. But he had trouble taking on and getting off of blocks and was solidly sealed out of the hole on a Christian McCaffrey 71-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. It also appeared that he failed to pick up tight end Ian Thomas in coverage on a 27-yard touchdown pass near the end of the first half.  David Fales had a bad night as he competes with Brock Osweiler for the backup quarterback job. Osweiler (10 of 13 passing for 68 yards) wasn't great by any stretch and could improve his ball placement. But it was nothing compared to Fales' struggles with accuracy. Fales was only 1 of 6 for 1 yard. He was high and in front of an open Francis Owusu on a pass in the fourth quarter, then immediately followed it up by throwing behind Drew Morgan for an interception. It was just one game but it was a bad look for Fales.  Dolphins defensive tackles. Akeem Spence, a free agent pick up from Detroit, got blocked completely out of the play on McCaffrey's touchdown. The problems weren't an isolated to Spence. Vincent Taylor and Cameron Malveaux didn't do a very good job of taking advantage of the absence of William Hayes (hamstring) as they were getting pushed around like children's toys. For the most part all of the defensive tackles as a whole were mauled at the line of scrimmage. This was bad news for the Dolphins run defense. The Panthers ran the ball 31 times for 226 yards including 10 times for 113 yards in the first half when the Dolphins starters were playing most of the time.  Dolphins team discipline. The Dolphins were on 3 of 12 on third downs and this was largely (though not entirely) due to some bad penalties. It's only the second preseason game and sloppy performances aren't uncommon. But the Dolphins were one of the most penalized teams in the league last year and what makes this game disturbing is that the team has been working on resolving the issue in camp. Whatever they are doing isn't having an apparent effect. The Dolphins had 8 penalties for 69 yards on the night including 4 for 46 yards in the first half. Howard had his pass interference, right guard Jesse Davis and left tackle Laremy Tunsil both had holding calls and there was a delay of game at the Carolina 9 yard line. This needs to get cleaned up. Other observations There was no apparent advantage gained either way in the kicker competition. Dolphins seventh round pick Jason Sanders kicked three field goals from 42, 28 and 32 yards. But undrafted free agent Greg Joseph had the longest of the night with his 54-yard field goal in the second quarter.
This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  A few points of note as the Dolphins launched into training camp past week.
My own thoughts are along this line but are more conventional. What I envision the Dolphins doing is playing more of what is known as the “Big Nickel.” This is a standard nickel defense with an extra safety rather than an extra cornerback. The defense has become more and more popular as a base defense over the last few years. Fitzpatrick offers the kind of versatility that you need in a third safety to be able to do this. The Dolphins linebacker corp is not good. If nothing else, this is demonstrated by the fact that most people think the best one is a second year middle linebacker who spent his entire rookie year injured. The defense would also solve a multitude of issues including poor tight end coverage last year. It might also allow the Dolphins to play more aggressively as they would be able to blitz much more effectively out of such a formation. In any case, it's obvious that defensive coordinator Matt Burke has some interesting chess pieces to work with. In only his second year he remains a bit of an unknown at this point. Right now it's too early to tell but if he decides to stick to his standard scheme rather than adjusting his personnel to get his best players on the field, he’ll be in for some well justified criticism.
The bigger issues came in the running game where Miami’s offensive line struggled mightily and all linemen graded poorly. Consequently, Miami’s running backs averaged just 0.59 yards before contact, which was last in the NFL by a wide margin (Detroit was second to last with 0.96 yards) and well below the NFL average of 1.56 yards before contact. PFF’s ranking rose to 20th as it considered the state of the offensive lines entering 2018. The sighted the addition of Josh Sitton at the guard position as the reason for this. And it's true that Sitton will improve the pass protection. He might also help to stabilize Laremy Tunsil at left tackle. But, as mentioned in the quote above, the pass protection wasn’t really the issue last year. It was the run blocking that was abysmal and the 32 year old Sitton isn’t going to make that much better.
Gore has had 12 consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 yards from scrimmage. Admittedly his yards per carry have dropped in recent years, being less than 4.0 over the last three (3.7, 3.9 and 3.7). That’s not a great trend. But he’s been playing behind some pretty bad offensive lines in Indianapolis and my gut tells me he’s going to be a workhorse for this team.
I don’t have a single doubt that after surgery and rehabilitation, Tannehill’s knee will be fine. Indeed, he says it's fine. So if that’s true, why is he still wearing a brace and why is he going to continue to do so throughout the season? If it's just preventative, why isn’t he wearing a brace on both knees? It could be because, no matter what he or anyone else says, deep inside he’s worried about it happening again. The major question for Tannehill is whether he can forget about the knee and focus on the game. If he can, he’ll be the same top 17 or 18 quarterback he’s always been and the Dolphins will have a chance to compete. If he can’t, it's going to be a miserable season.
“I’ve told the defensive staff ‘Let’s not wait around,’” Gase said. “‘If we feel like a guy is playing well, give him opportunities, especially with the first group.’ “They feel like [McTyer has] played well enough to be put into that spot and compete with that first group.” Giving younger players, especially rookies, a chance to show what they can do early would be a welcome change, indicating a much more open mind. It also might be an indication that Gase is putting faith in his coaching staff to bring these players up to speed more quickly.
“You saw a couple of guys drop a shoulder and really reject the receiver or the tight end and our point of emphasis is we need you to wrap up because we’ve seen that enough over the last few years where a guy drops his shoulder and then the next thing you know, that guy doesn’t go to the ground.” Good fundamentals can take a healthy team pretty far in the NFL. Gase is evidently banking on good team culture and guys doing things the right way carrying them to the playoffs this year. We shall see. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews   1. Regardless of the leaked comments from the owner, the Dolphins front office was very pleased with their first round acquisition, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and rightfully so. “I didn’t expect Minkah to be there, to be honest with you, for the first pick,” general manager Chris Grier said. ”For me, he was probably — however you put it — one of the top five or six players in this draft. As we got calls after the pick, other teams kept calling us telling us, ‘He was in our top five players in the draft.’ For us, the value at that point was surprising that he was there.” There were really only three no-brainer picks in this draft: running back Saquon Barkley, defensive end Bradley Chubb and offensive guard Quenton Nelson. All went very early. Below those three, you could make a case for any of the top prospects remaining going anywhere down to roughly the 15th pick. But of that remaining group, Fitzpatrick easily had the highest floor. The pre-draft criticism that Fitzpatrick didn’t have a position was a bunch of hooey. Since when is being versatile considered to be a disadvantage? Fitzpatrick could play safety or cornerback and could play either one well. He has the range and coverage skills to be an excellent free safety and could be a valuable chess piece for defensive coordinator Matt Burke. 2. On the down side, the blame for needing to draft a safety after previously addressing the position last year lies squarely on the shoulders of executive vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum. Tannenbaum has a bad habit of being enamored with “name” players and he did it again in this situation. He jumped at the chance to acquire T.J. McDonald from the Rams without properly evaluating his fit beside All-Pro Reshad Jones. Both should be strong safeties and the two didn’t work well together last year. Tannenbaum has to stop chasing names and has to give more thought to how both age and fit determine whether a player is right for the Dolphins roster. 3. Mike Gesicki and Durham Smythe were also excellent fits for the Dolphins and a good value where they drafted them, especially Gesicki who could have gone in the first round. Miami lost tight ends Julius Thomas and Anthony Fasano, and Dion Sims the year before last. This was a position of need and drafting young players - both a guy who could catch the ball in Gesicki and block in Smythe - was a necessary step to refilling that spot on the roster. Gesicki could contribute right away. 4. New running back Kalen Ballage believes he’s found motivation in being overlooked. “In my opinion, I don’t believe there are 130 guys that are better than me and definitely not 11 other running backs. It’s fuel to the fire and motivation for me and I’m just excited about the opportunity.” Ballage is just a fourth round pick and though the odds are he won’t be cut, if I were him I think I’d just be motivated to find playing time with the Dolphins instead of worrying about what other teams thought. 5. The Dolphins have one massive hole in their roster which they did not address: defensive tackle. Tannenbaum said they’re happy with what they have at the position and, fair enough, 2017 5th round pick Davon Godchaux shows promise. But depending upon Jordan Phillips to fill the void on the other side is a recipe for disaster. At 229 pounds, new linebacker Jerome Baker is going to need some help from his defensive linemen to keep him clean and allow him to make plays. I’m having a hard time seeing it, in spite of the acquisition of Akeem Spence from Detroit. 6. Speaking of Phillips, I simply cannot understand this organization’s stubborn insistence that Phillips will eventually develop the consistency needed to start and play at a competent level in what will now be his fourth year on the team. These delusions that this 2015 second round pick is anything but a situational backup are disturbing. Sticking with your draft choices just because they’re your draft choices in the face of years of evidence that they simply can’t play is a bad look for this front office at a time when the owner is reportedly losing patience with the franchise’s direction. I can’t imagine a well-run, elite franchise sticking with Phillips year after year with a faith bordering on religious that he’ll finally fulfill what they say is his potential. It is not an exaggeration to say that Ndamukong Suh literally stopped the run over the entire half of whichever side of the offensive line he was on in the face of constant double teams. And the Dolphins still were below average to poor stopping the run in recent years. Without him now and without an adequate replacement, the problem is going to be even more acute. The effect of losing those double teams on the inside is going to hurt Cameron Wake’s sack production as well. Even with the addition of Fitzpatrick, this defense took a step back in the off season.  7. I went through the entire NFL draft with post-selection comments and didn’t hear or read the phrase “alpha male” once. Let’s hope we’ve heard the end of it.
Every team in nearly all competitive sports is, to some extent, a reflection of its head coach. It’s no coincidence that the Dolphins players pointed the thumb and held themselves accountable when Adam Gase was doing the same during the 2016 season. It was not at all uncommon to hear Gase say in a post game press conference that he could have called a better play or could have done a better job of putting a player into a better position to succeed. Then Gase stopped doing that in 2017 and its no coincidence that complaints in the locker room about players not being accountable followed. Things like having an offensive line coach snorting coke before team meetings also certainly didn’t help. Gase has to stop calling upon players to be leaders and to start setting an example by being a better leader himself and his coaches have to do the same. 8. Want to have a little fun with a Bills fan in your life? Go up to him and point to #7 overall pick Josh Allen and whisper two words: “Jay Cutler.” Just don’t do it unless you have an extra pair of pants on hand for him to change into. Coming out of Vanderbilt, Cutler had loads of talent but never was able to win at the college level. The excuse was that he was surrounded by mediocre players. But his penchant for losing followed him to the NFL level anyway and his potential never translated to much in the way of playoff wins. Allen performed horribly whenever he was faced with a Power 5 conference foe at Wyoming. He might be able to correct flaws which have led to some terrible accuracy issues in college. But can you make a winner out of a guy who was a career loser when the heat was on? The Bills have bet big on it. 9. Overall this looked to me like a pretty poor draft in terms of talent and I certainly wasn’t alone in that assessment. But what counts more than my opinion or anyone else’s is what the NFL evaluators think. In this regard, the reaction of the Patriots to this draft was interesting. The Patriots had such a hard time finding players that provided adequate value in this draft that they made eight draft weekend trades. If their reaction is any indication, this could be one of the worst drafts in modern NFL history. 10. I find that I often see eye-to-eye with Dave Hyde at the Sun-Sentinel and his reaction to this offseason is no exception. When I look at the talent that the Dolphins have lost in the offseason, I am fascinated. Head coach Adam Gase has gone all in with the notion that if he gets guys who will do it right, he can win games with Xs and Os. He has sacrificed a great deal of talent to test the theory. The notion that you can win a game with brains over brawn and with hard work instead of a more talented roster is so extremely appealing to the average sports fan. Doing it with guys who just do their job and work as a team is what it's supposed to be about. There’s a huge part of me that really wants this to be true. But there’s also this huge part of me that is really wary. Everything in the NFL is dependent upon execution and there’s no doubt that knowing where you need to be and making getting to that spot your highest priority is a big part of it. But if your opponent is more talented than you, don’t they have a better chance of being capable of executing their part of the plan than you do? Can good coaching overcome a talent deficit? Yes. To an extent. Do the Dolphins have enough of that kind of coaching? Buckle up because we’re about to find out. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  In perusing the Internet in my never ending search for more NFL information, I came across this concise and to the point comment from Judy Batista at NFL.com:
“What are the Miami Dolphins doing? “The Dolphins have positioned this as a necessary culture change after a 6-10 season, but the bottom line is they have shed a lot of top-level talent in the last two weeks. Gone are Jarvis Landry, Ndamukong Suh and Mike Pouncey. The Dolphins moved quickly on the offensive line, acquiring center Daniel Kilgore and signing guard Josh Sitton, and they added receivers Danny Amendola and Albert Wilson, as well as quarterback Brock Osweiler. "The biggest addition, of course, will be the hoped-for return to health of quarterback Ryan Tannehill. But Suh and Landry – and Pouncey, when healthy – are dominant players at their respective positions and will not be easily replaced. The prism through which every Dolphins’ decision – every AFC East decision, really – has to be viewed: Does this get you closer to overtaking the Patriots? It’s hard to see that in South Florida right now.” I apologize up front to Dolphins fans who really believe that their team will be better with these offseason moves but I couldn’t agree more with Batista. The difference is that I know what’s going on. What we are seeing is the influence of head coach Adam Gase’s up bringing in the league. Gase cut his teeth as an offensive coordinator under head coach John Fox with the Denver Broncos. Fox, too, was a big fan of team culture. After falling out with team Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway, probably partly over what personnel changes needed to be made after a successful 12-4 2014 season that ultimately culminated in an early divisional round playoff loss. Fox then moved on to the Chicago Bears and Gase moved with him. There, Fox and general manager Ryan Pace inherited a team with loads of offensive talent. The problem is that the most talented players were also a pain to coach. Brandon Marshall and Martellus Bennett were wonderful players on the field and gave full effort but they were difficult in the locker room and on the practice field. Fox and Pace were faced with a choice - coach that talent and get the most out of it possible while live with and minimizing the headaches that sometimes came with it or… punt. And punt they did, ultimately sending Marshall to the New York Jets and Bennett to the New England Patriots for peanuts. The result of this improvement in team culture? Chicago went 6-10 in 2015, 3-13 in 2016 and 5-11 in 2017. And just like that, Fox was fired. Gase may well be on his way to the same fate as he follows his mentor’s path. As he searches for more compliant and obedient football players he arrogantly believes that he can win with scheme if he has players who will try harder to get to the right place at the right time. There’s some truth to that and you may have to occasionally let a player go to accomplish it. But the Dolphins aren’t letting one or two players. They’re making whole sale changes and, talent-wise, its been pretty consistently for the worse. For example, at slot receiver they’ve evidently decided quantity equals quality. Like you can stack Amendola and Wilson on top of one another and make one Jarvis Landry. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. It’s still a players game and talent ultimately prevails on the field. The key to unleashing that talent isn’t finding players to lead; it’s leading with what you’ve got. The key isn’t getting bunch of different players; it’s being a better coach. It too bad that Gase hasn’t come to that realization. The lack of perception is almost certainly going to burn him badly before its all over. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Dave Hyde related the other day about how, when he he co-hosted on the Joe Rose Show, former GM Charley Casserly was asked about the Dolphins move for a better “culture.” Casserly said, “Don’t sacrifice talent for character.” Indeed. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  Ignore the noise.
That’s my advice when it comes to the brew-hah-hah between Jarvis Landry and the Dolphins as negotiations take place for a long-term extension with the club. Landry’s agent, Damarius Bilbo, {has been going on the defensive} after Landry’s attitude and professionalism was. “The team has the right to use their methods and to do what they think is best, if that is to wait it out or to (franchise or transition) tag him. Mike Tannenbaum is a great guy. Adam Gase is a very passionate guy. Chris Grier is a very intelligent guy. They have everything they need to get this done. It’s been an open line of communication. It’s always been, ‘call me,’ which is why it was shocking to me to see some negative anonymous comments made in the media. The timing is very interesting. But it’s a process.” Bilbo has the right attitude. These kinds of tactics, where the team anonymously degrades the player in the media in order to bring the price down, are not uncommon around the league. The same scenario played out last year in negotiations between the Steelers and Antonio Brown where word was that {Brown’s act was “wearing thin”} last year. They are doing it again with Le’Veon Bell this year. In the end the Steelers got the deal done with Brown just as they will get the deal done with Bell. Because they need him and they know that they need to make him the highest paid running back in the league in order to keep him. The only question is how much. I’m not saying that the Dolphins wouldn’t like to see Landry keep himself under control a little better. But this deal with Landry isn’t going to come down to his act on and off the field. Its going to come down to money just like it always does. Specifically, the Dolphins have to decide if they want to pay the best receiver on their team like a number one receiver even though he lines up in the slot. Bilbo knows it. Tannenbaum knows it. Everything else is just sound and fury. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  1. In addition to the old “it's meant to motivate him - and it's working!” nugget, I’m reading now that people think that starting Davon Godchaux over Jordan Phillips will make his “stamina issues” less obvious.
I’m really having a hard time understanding why people insist on making excuses for this guy. I know he’s a former second round pick but for heaven’s sake, let it go. He’s not good enough. Period. Time for the Dolphins to move on. I’m frankly disappointed that they haven’t and that they didn’t do more to protect themselves at the position before the summer started. 2. There are more than a few people who seem to be wondering why Lawrence Timmons isn’t playing middle linebacker given that he played inside in a 3-4 scheme with the Steelers. There are probably a number of reasons for this but one that’s apparently undersold is the fact that calling plays isn’t really Timmons' strong suit. Traditionally, the middle linebacker has the speaker in his helmet and fills this role. One of the things that the Steelers found out early is that Timmons is at his best when he’s unhindered by a lot of details. Dealing with a lot of Xs and Os isn’t his strength. You don’t want to make him worry about things like where guys are lined up. You want him to line up and just play. He can do that better on the outside. 3. If the Dolphins can’t get Jakeem Grant to the point where he can get through a game without dropping the ball, I just don’t see how they can continue to waste their time on him. They’d like to see Grant develop as a punt returner but, despite reportedly catching hundreds of balls in the offseason, he doesn’t seem to be much more reliable. They say that the biggest jump in performance for any player is between his first and second years. There’s a reason for that - the expectations are considerable higher and you need to either fish or cut bait. People don’t keep talking about how you are a young player still learning the game anymore and there are no more “rookie mistakes”. By your second summer you’ve either corrected them or the team moves on. For all Grant’s apparent talent, the first thing you have to do as a receiver or returner is get a hold of the ball and keep it. Unless he can show he can do that consistently this year, we can safely conclude that it’s never going to happen. 4. I was a little surprised and not a little concerned by reports that the Dolphins negotiated a contract extension with T.J. McDonald. I like McDonald well enough on the field but what’s the rush? He’s serving an eight game suspension after a second run-in with the NFL over disciplinary issues. I can’t help but think that if it wasn’t a problem he’d still be a Los Angeles Ram. Yes, you can protect yourself to some extent in the contract language. But it's not a good look. The Dolphins needed to show a little more caution here. 5. The most comforting thing about the Jarvis Landry domestic violence allegation? The NFL has video of the incident. Landry’s ex-girlfriend, Estrella Cerqueira, claims that the couple had a “vocal disagreement” but that Landry would “never, ever do anything to harm me or anyone else.” The problem is that Cequeira is the mother of Landry’s child and has a monetary incentive in the form of child support to downplay the incident. In any case, the camera never lies. One way or the other, we’ll know for sure when the NFL’s decision on whether to punish Landry or not comes down. 6. I sympathize with the Dolphins and their fans in terms of the injuries that the team suffered during training camp. But really, other than the loss of the starting quarterback - and the team ended up breaking even on that one - I don’t think the injuries have been that far out of the ordinary. Yes, the loss of your starting left guard hurts. But those things happen every year to every team. And it's not like Ted Larsen was anything more than a borderline NFL starter to begin with. Sure losing Raekwon McMillan hurts. But he was a second round rookie linebacker who has proven nothing. As for Koa Misi’s ongoing neck troubles, see the comment on Larsen above. If these are the only linebackers to go down this year the team can consider itself to be extremely fortunate. If your team’s depth can’t carry you through injuries like this - and I mean not just through training camp but all year - then you were never meant to win anything anyway. Only true mental toughness can sustain a winning culture in the NFL. Injuries can never be allowed to be an excuse for failure. Once that happens, death inevitably follows. 7. Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson going to the Seahawks for Jermaine Kearse and a second round pick was quite a shock. A seventh round swap was also involved. Richardson will fit in well with that locker room. I can’t imagine the Seahawks don’t win that division even with what looks to be a terrible offensive line. 8. Meanwhile the Jets take one more step towards first overall pick as the dump a 26-year old Pro Bowl defensive lineman in exchange for a wide receiver who has never had more than 685 receiving yards. And people in New York are steamed. One source told the New York Daily News, “We should have sent them Hack.” Amen. It’s now evident that quarterback Christian Hackenberg was way overdrafted. His physical talent was undeniable but after some very rough years as the Penn State quarterback, this was a gamble that the Jets should have never taken. The odds are good no one else in the league was even considering Hackenberg for at least another round and, truth be told, even with most quarterbacks being overdrafted nowadays he belonged in the fourth. It’s just one more piece of evidence that the organization is in total disarray. Rebuilding is the right thing to do there. Rebuilding with the current leadership under general manager Mike Maccagnan is useless. 9. Having said that, personally I think just throwing away the entire 2017 season in an effort to get the top 2018 draft pick and the chance to select a quarterback from the much touted 2018 class is a mistake. For one thing, its not a given they’ll be bad enough to get it. The Browns and the 49ers are both going to give them a run for their money almost no matter how bad they get and Buffalo is approaching the same territory. I’d say there are three consensus potential top ten QBs, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen. If one gets hurt or has a lousy year, one decides not to forego his senior year, and the Jets don’t get the first overall pick, they tanked away an entire season for nothing. Add the fact that history shows that only one of those quarterbacks will turn out to be a legitimate franchise quarterback anyway and you realize that the whole thing is ridiculously stupid. Whenever Dolphins fans get depressed and start to doubt their fandom after yet another loss to the Patriots or some similar event, they should pause, think a minute, then fall to their knees and thank whatever god they worship that they aren’t Jets fans. 10. On a related note, I never want to hear another Dolphin fan claim that they have it extra tough because they play in the AFC East. Half of the division tapped out before the season even began. ‘Nuff said. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  1. I can understand why the Dolphins are uneasy with Byron Maxwell at cornerback. I have never been comfortable with the Dolphins depending on Maxwell to hold down one of the cornerback spots and its no surprise that he’s having difficulty doing so (again). The problem that the Dolphins have is that they don’t have any good alternatives. Head coach Adam Gase explains what the Dolphins are trying to do: “We’re trying to play physical and really challenge the receivers and let our defensive line get there. Just keep that consistency going. You practice hard and do it right, I think good things usually happen.” The alternative that’s most commonly mentioned for the spot is Alterraun Verner. The problem? Verner is 5'10". Maxwell is 6'1". If the Dolphins want more physical play from their cornerbacks they almost have to go with Maxwell. And that’s a problem. 2. The way the Dolphins continue to rely on Maxwell reminds me a bit of the situation with defensive tackle Jordan Phillips. Phillips is a second round draft pick that the Dolphins don’t want to give up on. But its far past time for them to cut their losses, especially now that Davon Godchaux has shown that he can handle the job. The Dolphins are probably thinking they can rotate in Phillips on passing downs which is much better than allowing him to get run over. But, unlike Maxwell, Phillips has shown me nothing that suggests that he can play defensive tackle in the NFL. Ideally the Dolphins should have planned for this failure and signed a veteran in the offseason. They won’t do it because they are evidently bound and determined to see what they want to see in Phillips but it’s still not too late to find someone on the waiver wire after this week’s roster cuts should they come to their senses and want to get in another rotational player. 3. No one is going to hear this but tight end Julius Thomas is already showing signs of being this year’s Mario Williams. He can’t block, he’s not getting open, and he’s showing every sign of being a Mike Tannenbaum roll of the dice that came up snake eyes. I guess we’ll see. 4. This isn’t going to shock anyone but you can count on DeVante Parker seeing a lot of passes this season now that Jay Cutler is the quarterback. Signing Cutler was the best thing that ever happened for Parker’s career. Past history tells me that Cutler walked into the first Dolphins practice, looked around, found the biggest guy on the field and said to himself, “There’s my guy.” Most people seem to think that this will cut deeply into Jarvis Landry’s targets. It won’t. Landry will get his passes out of the slot. But other outside receivers, especially guys like Kenny Stills and, most especially, Leonte Carroo, are going to suffer a great deal. In any case, Parker’s going to get the ball. Whether he’s open or not. 5. I’m very disappointed that linebacker Rey Maualuga is still apparently not in shape to play. The Dolphins need him to be ready to start the season badly. With the two-gapping Godchaux in front of him taking on double teams, the team needs a linebacker who can read the play and attack downhill to meet the runner in the hole. If the preseason has shown us anything, that is not what Mike Hull is. He’s getting caught flat footed right where he lines up four yards deep in the backfield. As it was put very well in the Sun-Sentinel on Tuesday, after Lawrence Timmons and Kiko Alonso the Dolphins might not have a linebacker who would get claimed by another team if they were waived. 6. One of the most interesting questions of the Dolphins offseason has been why the over-under for the team in Vegas is only 7.5 games. Based upon their performance last year, you would think that the over would be a slam dunk. And yet… these guys make their living setting betting lines and they have a bad habit of being right.So what gives? There are a number of reasons that are commonly given for why this could be.
Last year I wrote about that “new coach boost” that teams with new coaches can get. Every player concentrates just a little bit more because every player knows that with a new staff with no loyalty to any player on the team, every job is up for grabs - more than usual. Everyone is uncomfortable and that can lead to better focus and a boost in performance. This year that boost is gone. Don’t get me wrong. Adam Gase is a tough coach and I’m sure he’ll do what it takes to keep these guys on their toes to the extent that he can. But the fact is that they’ve all had a year with him now. They know him and they’ve developed relationships with him and, well, they’re more comfortable with him. It’s a different situation and it might lead to a natural let down - one that every team in the second season with a coach might reasonably expect to experience. But with the Dolphins it's even more than that this year. There’s a dichotomy in sports in general and in the NFL in particular that comes into play here. Over and over again you’ll hear that teams want to “sign their own”. They want to re-sign their own draft picks to second contracts rather than rolling the dice with free agent rejects from other teams. I’ve said it too. The Dolphins acted on their words this year. Boy, did they ever. They took care of a lot of their players with long term contracts - Kenny Stills, Kiko Alonso, Andre Branch, Reshad Jones. Ordinarily everyone would support this. But this isn’t just one or two guys they signed. It's a good chunk of their most important players. The downside is that they’ve made everyone, well, comfortable. Comfortable financially. Comfortable in that they know they aren’t going anywhere. Secure in their starting jobs into the future. A lot of guys. The truth is that this is something that we all want - me included - and I congratulate these players. It’s a feel good. And, hey, a little loyalty might boost performance, too, right? But there’s also this niggling feeling that a little discomfort isn’t always a bad thing. Here’s hoping the 2017 Dolphins aren’t going to make that doubt into disappointing reality. 7. The likely backup tackles for the Dolphins? The inconsistent Sam Young and undrafted rookie Eric Smith. Look for the Dolphins to rake carefully through the waiver wire to fortify this position along with defensive tackle (as usual) and, as mentioned above, linebacker (as usual) if at all possible. Otherwise they’re asking for trouble again the minute a starter goes down. 8. Is anyone else wondering if it's time to cut ties with Brandon Doughty? He certainly hasn’t done enough to make a case to be the backup on this team (or any other team) entering his second year. Teams should always, always have a developmental quarterback, especially teams like the Dolphins who have a coach like Adam Gase who can likely help develop one. Matt Moore isn’t going to play forever. A seventh round pick last year, it may be time for the Dolphins to consider other options if they already suspect, as I do, that Doughty doesn’t have what it takes. 9. I like Dave Hyde at the Sun Sentinel, especially when he’s going toe to toe with the smirking Omar Kelly on video. But I have to disagree mildly with him as he compliments Adam Gase on the way that he handled the Jarvis Landry trade rumor. For the uninitiated, Mike Lombardi was doing his typical troll job by “reporting” that the Dolphins were trying to trade Landry. Lombardi pulls things like this every once in a while to stir things up. Similar statements have never to my knowledge turned out to have anything substantial behind them. In this case, he’s likely referring to trade conversations that took place before the draft and almost certainly no later than May. That’s neither surprising nor helpful to his readers/listeners, especially when he’s trying to pass it off as something that’s currently relevant. In any case, Gase responded by sitting Landry down and addressing the issue rather than letting it fester - nice work! The problem is that Gase told him there was “no chance” that he’d be traded. And I guarantee you that’s a lie. If anyone calls to ask about Landry, the Dolphins have to listen. They might demand something that they think no one will pay this close to the start of the season and that’s fine. That means the chances are extremely low. Perhaps I’m being too picky about it but everyone has been surprised before and the truth is that the chances aren’t zero. 10. Yes, it's a disappointment that Charles Harris hasn’t flashed in the preseason. But all that means is that he might join the long list of defensive ends that needed a year to get their feet underneath them. Gase has it right here: “I remember when playing Oakland early in (Khalil) Mack’s career, that first year everybody kept talking about how he didn’t have any sacks and when you’re a coach and you’re watching tape, you’re going we don’t want to be the team that gets this guy rolling because he was close so many times. You know it’s just … that’s how it is.” Another recent example can be easily found in Atlanta where Vic Beasley followed up a disappointing four sack 2015 season with a whopping NFL leading 15.5 in 2016.
Dolphin fans may just need to be patient with Harris. The result might be worth the weight. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews 
It's been interesting monitoring the reaction of Dolphins fans to the signing of new quarterback Jay Cutler. Just as has always the case with Cutler, few fans are on the fence when it comes to opinions about him. Love him or hate him, he always gets a reaction.
As someone who lives in Chicago and watched almost every pass Cutler threw there, I think I can say with some confidence that the Dolphins did pretty well with this signing. They didn't have a lot of choice in terms of quarterbacks this late in the game and, truthfully, Cutler and Tannehill are almost the same guy statistically.
Cutler's career passer rating is 85.7 vs. Tannehill's 86.5, practically a dead heat. And it's not coincidence that both men had the best years of their careers under former Bears offensive coordinator and current Dolphins head coach Adam Gase. Cutler threw for 3,659 yards, 21 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions with Gase in 2015 and Tannehill tossed for 2,995 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 picks in 13 games a season ago. In particular, in drastic contrast to most of the rest of his career, Cutler was a model of consistency in 2015. He posted passer ratings of at least 88.4 in 10 of 12 starts including ratings of 151.0, 117.0, 100.5 and 100.2. Dolphins fans would not be the first to ask why Cutler, a quarterback with a well-deserved reputation for being particularly difficult to manage, connects so well with Gase. In order to address that, you have to look at what Cutler's major problem was under other coaches. I have contended for many years that it was the simple fact that Cutler has trust issues. He really doesn't trust anyone on or off the field. This has been historically evident evident in every aspect of Cutler's life where he even got cold feet and backed out of his engagement before evidently realizing he'd made a huge mistake and went through with marrying Kristin Cavallari. But our business with Cutler is on the field where that lack of trust was evident in the way that he plays football. Cutler has always been a classic "see it, throw it" quarterback. He typically waits for receivers to come open, then uses his arm strength to try to force it in too them before the window closes. This can work in the modern NFL but it only gets you so far and there is a ceiling for virtually every quarterback of this type. Good teams with good defensive backfields won't allow those open windows for enough time for anyone to be able to consistently fit the ball in. For that reason, offensive coordinator after offensive coordinator tried desperately to get Cutler to throw with anticipation to his receivers. They had limited success primarily because Cutler never could bring himself to trust that the other players would be in the right place when he threw the ball. Inevitably, there would eventually be a mistake where Cutler threw to a spot and the receiver wasn't there. Interception. Have it happen a few more times and, poof, Cutler was back to waiting before throwing the ball. The key to Gase's success where those others failed was that, somehow, like Cavallari, Gase persevered and got Cutler's faith to the point where he could actually execute the offense the way it was designed. In this respect, Gase's answer when asked the reason for Cutler's success in 2015 was interesting (the emphasis is mine). "I just see the way that he's decisive," Gase said late in the year. "He knows exactly where he's supposed to go with the ball. The thing that's been most impressive has been how he's controlled the line of scrimmage in the no-huddle setting. It's allowed him to really show who he is. I know he's been somewhat of a quiet guy around here. But I think there's more to him than what he's shown in the past, and we're seeing that. "I think Adam gave him full reign and comfort to be himself and to be a leader and really step up," he said. "Be a little more vocal. Connect in a different way with other players and other people than he did in the past." The results were evident in Cutler's play as receiver Eddie Royal stated quite accurately: “The word trust comes in. Sometimes the timing is not going to be there but you still have to play. You have to trust that the guy is going to be in that spot when you throw the ball. Jay has done a great job doing that, knowing where the guy is supposed to be and trusting that he is going to be there because a lot of throws are timing throws.” Gase has a well-deserved reputation for adjusting to his players and playing to their strengths. His work with Cutler in 2015 took this to another level. Cutler is extremely intelligent but coaches by their very nature are micro-managers. Most of the best ones like to control every aspect of what goes on once players take the field. To give that up is extremely difficult but Gase did it to a larger extent than, evidently, anyone else Cutler had ever had to deal with and it paid off. By trusting Cutler and giving him more control over his environment, Gase got Cutler to return that trust to the benefit of the entire offense and, indeed, the entire team. He threw the ball to the right spots. His turnovers dropped drastically. He was a different quarterback. The Dolphins were extremely lucky to be able to pick up Cutler when they did and to have the right coach in place to take full advantage of his talent. Not many teams can survive the loss of their starting quarterback for an entire season. But if Gase can repeat what he did with Cutler in 2015 - and there's little reason to believe he can't - it seems evident that the Dolphins should be able to compete this season with little or no drop off at the quarterback position. Bottom line, it's going to be alright, Dolphins fans. Trust me. This story was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  1. I found it interesting that Dolphins Executive Vice President of Football Operations Mike Tannenbaum was so anxious to make it clear that the Dolphins were open to trading back in the draft to pick up more picks.
The Dolphins have a huge advantage over much of the rest of the NFL for one reason - they are apparently satisfied that they have a good starting quarterback and don't feel that it's a need. That puts them in a position to take advantage of those teams that do. Number 22 would ordinarily be a long way to trade up to get back into the first round to take a quarterback. But with so many teams with a need at the position, teams picking at the top of the second round may feel that that's what they need to do in order to get their guy. The Dolphins also have the Giants, the Texans, the Chiefs and the Saints sitting behind them in the first round. This could definitely be the year to look at the team successfully trading back in what looks like a very deep draft at a couple positions of need. 2. I also have found the debate about whether the Dolphins should take a guard in the first round to be entertaining, seeing that it has led to some Sun Sentinel-on-Sun Sentinel infighting. For what it's worth, I think Omar Kelly has the right on this debate. Dave Hyde seems to subscribe to the somewhat old fashioned idea that guards aren't that important and that they can be picked up late in the draft. The truth is that it depends on what kind of offense you are running and, especially, on what kind of quarterback you have. If your quarterback is working mostly from the pocket, keeping a clean space in front of him is far more important than completely controlling a defensive end on the edge. Good pocket quarterbacks know when to step up almost by instinct and, given room to maneuver, they can keep their eyes down field if the pocket isn't too muddy. That's where a really good pair of guards can be extremely important. Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill definitely falls into the category of a quarterback who could benefit from this kind of thinking. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have been prevalent in the organization for some years with some really bad guard play coming from the likes of Dallas Thomas, Jamil Douglas and Billy Turner taking place in front of Tannehill. Meanwhile they have spent first round picks on tackles Ja'Wuan James and Laremy Tunsil. The presence of Adam Gase may change all of that, however, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Dolphins go guard in the first round this year. 3. I've heard it said that the Dolphins did a good job of filling their holes in free agency so that they can go in any direction in the NFL. Hogwash. As outlined above, guard is a need but it is far from the only one. Cameron Wake is 35 years old and Andre Branch, Terrence Fede, William Hayes and Julius Warmsley are all below average defensive ends with limited upside. At the third linebacker spot the Dolphins are still sticking with Koa Misi despite seven years of direct evidence that he's not an adequate answer at the position. And, worst of all, at defensive tackle the Dolphins have Ndamukong Suh with a whiff of a hope of a dream that Jordan Phillips will somehow magically turn into a good, consistent player in his third year in the league on the other side. That's no way to build a roster, folks. The Dolphins got by with some poor defensive talent last year because they had some good coaching and there's no better evidence of that than the fact that Vance Joseph was hired as the Broncos head coach. This despite being the coordinator of a Dolphins defense that was statistically well below average (30th against the run and 18th in points allowed). Now Joseph is gone but much of the talent deficit is still there. The Dolphins badly need to build at the line of scrimmage in this draft on both sides of the ball if they want to compete as an elite team. And they have a lot of work to do. 4. Speaking of Tannehill, as good as he was last year, he seems optimistic that there's still a lot of room for improvement in his second year under head coach Adam Gase. “I’m looking to take a big step forward this year,” Tannehill said. “You’re kind of getting your feet wet, especially in the spring of your first year. You’re learning, you’re trying to take in as much information and new stuff as you can. Along the way, you miss a few things or you’re not as good at a few things as you’d like to be. You combine that with having a year of tape and film and just being in the offense, you should some big improvements throughout the spring. Zero in on the details, getting a little more comfortable with things and once you get into the season, you’ll see those things paying off.” One of the smartest things the Dolphins have done in the last ten years is hire a head coach who can coach quarterbacks. Tannehill was barely an average quarterback before Gase arrived. Now he's arguably on his way to being in the upper third of the league if he's not already there. If you've got a quarterback, you have the opportunity to compete every year. If you don't, the best you can do is the occasional spurt where you get lucky and stay healthy in virtually every other area. Coaching is a huge part of that and if your quarterback guru isn't the head coach, you are going to quickly lose him to another team. In that respect, the Dolphins are set for a long time to come. 5. The Dolphins caught a little bit of a break when the New England Patriots opted to offer Buffalo restricted free agent Mike Gillislee a contract. The Patriots hosted the restricted free agent on a visit last week and have made him an offer. The Bills did not match the offer to Gillislee, which means the Patriots will have him. I've long held that Damien Williams is an undervalued asset for the Dolphins, one who is a valuable special teams contributor and one who I still think could share carries with a bigger back on many NFL teams. 6. One of the things that came out of the pre-draft press conference was that the Dolphins were making defensive adjustments that would eliminate the need to look for a prototype defensive end. This really shouldn't have come as a great surprise. The Dolphins showed quite a bit of interest in signing defensive tackle Dontari Poe in free agency. Poe is a mountain of a man at 346 pounds who really fits best in a two gap defensive scheme. A two gap scheme is one where a defensive lineman takes a blocker head on and is responsible for the gap on either side of him. A one gap scheme is one where a defensive lineman shoots a gap and is only responsible for that gap. It is usually the scheme run by teams such as the Dolphins who, at least up until now, have expected their defensive linemen to penetrate and disrupt in the backfield. This certainly is what Ndamukong Suh will continue to do on his side of the field, meaning that the Dolphins might be planning to run one type of scheme on one side and the other type of scheme on the other in certain situations. The guess here is that new defensive coordinator Matt Burke has decided to follow Adam Gase's lead on offense and adjust his scheme to the personnel and game situation. This means that fans can start looking for quite a bit more diversity and originality in how the Dolphins will handle their defense. It also means quite a bit more complexity and it should be interesting to see how the team handles it. 7. A lot has been made of how difficult the last six games of the Dolphins schedule are. They play the Patriots and the Bills two times apiece along with the Broncos and the Chiefs. The New England, Denver and Kansas City games, I get. But, division rival or not, trouble with them in recent years or not, the Bills are still the Bills. They, along with the Jets, should be the reason why the Dolphins make the playoffs, not an excuse for failing to do so. 8. One of the more inexcusable actions to occur in the offseason was the way that the Washington Redskins handled the allegations by former Redskins player and radio personality Chris Cooley that GM Scot McCloughan was drinking again and that it was affecting the way that he did his job. What was the response? Do nothing and say nothing, leaving it out there that McCloughan, a recovering alcoholic, was back off the wagon. McCloughan was eventually fired by team president Bruce Allen, who effectively replaced him in the front office. Allen now says that he talked to Cooley privately with McCloughan present. Why didn't he respond publicly? “There was someone who said on the radio that there was jealousy. Then, there was somebody who said we were trading Kirk Cousins for Tony Romo and giving the Cowboys draft picks. Then Chris said what he said. Then somebody said ‘X, Y and Z.’ I can’t keep up with sports-talk radio; I don’t ever want to keep up with sports-talk radio. If I had Twitter, maybe I would say, ‘This is false! This is false! This is false!’ . . . Every time somebody throws something against the wall to speculate, we’re not going to respond to all that. That’s what the media does. It’s impossible to answer all of the foolishness that’s out there,” Allen said. Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com comments: Of course Allen can’t be expected to respond to every single thing that’s said on sports talk radio. But this wasn’t just any old thing. This was a guy who works for the team speculating that alcoholism was affecting the team’s G.M. That would have been a time for the team president to speak up. Allen didn’t. I don't ordinarily use this space simply to quote someone else and add "me, too." But this time I'm saying it with emphasis. Me, too! This was an inexcusable way to treat an employee. The only thing that would have been worse would have been to falsely imply that the rumors were true, which Allen effectively did for weeks by simply not commenting up until the publication of this interview many weeks later. 9. One of the most enjoyable aspects of draft season for me is reading the anonymous quotes from NFL personnel scouts and executives that Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Bob McGinn collects. There are always a few surprises here. Probably the most interesting article of the series this year was the one that McGinn did on DeShone Kizer. Like many athletes are big football schools, quarterbacks are apparently worshiped on the Notre Dame campus and it evidently affected Kizer because McGinn's scouts absolutely eviscerated him. “You look at that team, they’ve got players,” an AFC personnel man said. “There’s no way they should win just four games. It was because of this guy, the quarterback. Boy, at times he looked bad. He was so bad against Stanford in the first half that they benched him.” “You look at that team, they’ve got players,” an AFC personnel man said. “There’s no way they should win just four games. It was because of this guy, the quarterback. Boy, at times he looked bad. He was so bad against Stanford in the first half that they benched him.” An NFC personnel man described Kizer as a selfish player worried mostly about status and money. “That’s what drives him,” said the executive. “It’s all about him. Prima donna. Thin-skinned.” We all know its lying season in the NFL and its possible these three men are all hoping that Kizer will fall. But his own actions lately have seemingly backed this evaluation up. On April 20, Kizer was quoted as comparing himself to Tom Brady and Cam Newton. “Name a college quarterback who goes into the game-plan meetings on Monday and throws his notes at the coaches,” Kizer said. “No one else game plans the way I do. No one else prepares the way I do. No one else knows football the way I do. No one else is as big as I am. No one else is as powerful a runner as I am. Pat Mahomes might throw the ball 80 yards and I can only throw the ball 72, but I guarantee he can’t throw an out route the way I can. No one else can do what I can do. And I’ve truly figured out in this process, if I can maximize all my potential in every aspect of the game – this is bold – I do have the ability to be the greatest quarterback to ever play. Imagine taking Brady’s intellect and Brady’s preparation and putting it on a guy with Cam Newton’s body. Why can’t I be the greatest? The only thing stopping me from it is me. That’s what’s driving me now.” OK, the guy is confident. Not very unusual if you are a quarterback. Probably a lot of them think it even if they don't say it. But Kizer, apparently realizing how arrogant he sounded, decided to claim that his comments were taken out of context the very next day. Not even drafted yet and he's already blaming the media? Apparently upon thinking about it (and probably talking to his agent), Kizer thought so, too. Because the NEXT day, he decided to effectively retract his claim and own up to the quote. The point? Kizer's first instinct was to blame someone else after his misstep. He then decided that didn't sound too good either and that he'd better say what he had to protect his brand. Sounds pretty much exactly like the kind of guy the anonymous evaluators were describing. Even his college head coach said that he needs more time to grow not only on but off the field. As Miami fans know well a la Dion Jordan, most NFL draft picks don't fail due to lack of talent. They fail because they don't have the attitude it takes to succeed. And Kizer sounds to me like he's got a great deal of Ryan Leaf in him. Bottom line, heaven help the team that spends a high draft pick to draft Kizer. 10. Miami fans, there is one thing you should always, always be grateful for. Let's set the scene. It's 2014 and you've got the 22nd pick in the draft. You like Johnny Manziel. Your GM and head coach don't agree. He's 5'11", can't see over his linemen and can't throw from the pocket, something that every good NFL quarterback has had to do well since the 50s. To top it all off, your scouts can't find one single person on the Texas A&M campus who is willing to say that he'll grow up. But you're the owner and you like him. So what do you do? You reportedly overrule everyone and take the guy no one wants. And what happens? It's a disaster because, well, no one wanted him, he can't throw from the pocket and he never grew up. Fast forward to 2017. You are again in the draft room and this time you are drafting first overall in part because, well, you hitched your wagon to Manziel in 2014. Again, you want a quarterback. The top guy is someone from North Carolina named "Mitchell" Trubisky. You like him. Your head coach - the only one of the three men making decisions at the top who is a football guy - doesn't agree. He's OK but he only started for one year in college and he needs a lot of development. Your head coach wants a sure fire impact player who is the consensus best pick in the draft, Myles Garrett. But you are the owner and you want a quarterback. So what do you do? Do you: a. Learn from your previous mistakes, go with the football guy and take the slam dunk first overall player or b. Overrule him and take the quarterback. Again. Who wants to bet that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam chooses "b"? Do whatever it is that you normally do. Get down on your knees and bow your head. Turn towards Mecca and bow. Sacrifice a goat in your living room. Do whatever it is and then say the following: "Thank you.” “Thank you for not making me a Browns fan." This column was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews  When I was in my early 20s I went through a repeated cycle every six months that most people likely go through. I’d go out, often to a party and get very drunk. This would inevitably lead to what we might kindly call a “rough night.” After turning my intestinal tract inside out for most of the next morning, I’d say the same thing every time. “Never again. Never, ever again.” But it did happen again. Every six months or so I’d go out and apparently, with the previous incident being ancient history in my young and - let’s be honest - really stupid mind, I’d repeat the cycle. Over and over. This didn’t stop until I hit my late 20s when a switch apparently clicks on for most of us and the feeling that you’re not invincible and that you are in the process of doing something you’re going to seriously regret later hits and actually sticks. But it took a long, long time with many repetitions for that to happen. Which brings me to the case of recently signed Dolphins defensive back T.J. McDonald. First the good news. The Dolphins have a gap at safety opposite Reshard Jones. Last year’s free agent acquisition, Isa Abdul-Quddus, has been released after suffering a severe neck/shoulder injury that likely won’t allow him to play in 2017, if ever again. McDonald appears to be an ascending player who could help the Dolphins a lot on the field this season in that capacity. Here’s a scouting report from ESPN Rams reporter Alden Gonzalez: "T.J. McDonald, listed at 6-foot-2 and 217 pounds, is a hard-hitting safety who was ideal for the aggressive style of former Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Last season he also made some pretty drastic improvements in coverage. Pro Football Focus had him with an opponents’ QB rating of 68.8 while serving as the primary coverage defender, which was nearly half the QB rating he surrendered over the course of his first three seasons (121.6). "McDonald played in every game last year and registered six defended passes. At 26, he was also a young free agent. He should provide the Dolphins with a major lift in their secondary for the second half." The bad news has to with that last part: “for the second half.” As in “for the second half of the season.” Because McDonald is suspended for the first eight games for his violation of the league’s substance abuse policy. Though there are no reports of an initial violation, an eight game punishment almost always means that it’s a result of a second encounter of some type with the league. Admittedly a lot depends upon the circumstances surrounding that first rules violation. But it’s fair to ask what the odds are that McDonald is in for a third suspension, which almost always is for an entire 16 game season. If you listen to McDonald, the Dolphins have nothing to worry about. "For me, definitely this is something that will never happen again," McDonald said on a conference call Friday. "I've learned, I've owned up to it, and I definitely want to grow from it. " Uh huh. I’ve heard those words before. Heck, I’ve said those words before. Yes, I didn’t lose millions in free agency because of it but mine wasn’t the result of being under the influence of drugs, either. In fairness, even McDonald acknowledges that actions speak louder. "Yes, obviously words are only so much. For me, I definitely … This is something that will never happen again and I’ve learned (from it) and owned up to (it). I definitely want to grow from (it). (My) priorities changed, everything’s changed. This whole experience is something I’m definitely going to grow from.” So what reasons do we have to believe that will be true? Well, getting away from the west coast won’t hurt. McDonald was born in Fresno, California and went to college at USC. As the son of former NFL player Tim McDonald, it’s fair to assume that he didn’t grow up in poverty. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t bad influences around the area for him. Getting away from all of that with a move about as far away as you could get probably won’t hurt McDonald’s chances of staying clean. Of course, Miami offers its own set of temptations. Objectively speaking, a good look at the statistics behind these violations yields interesting results. The data that I’ve collected for players suspended for more than one violation of the substance abuse policy from 2013 to 2016 are in the following table (suspensions were considerably more rare before that, leading to very little useful data).   Each of the players listed which was suspended more than four games, presumably for more than one violation of the policy. Dion Jordan was included because, as most Dolphin fans know, his four game suspension was in response to a known second offense.
Of the 15 players in the table, seven (almost half, bolded) appeared again for a third presumed violation – so far. You can expect that number to grow, perhaps a lot, because six of those second offenses came in 2016, not allowing much time to pass for a third offense. In other words, if McDonald actually manages to stay out of trouble, he will, to a certain extent, be beating the odds. What does this means for the Dolphins? Well, for now, not much. His contract is reportedly for one year at the veteran minimum. The problem will come if McDonald performs well and the Dolphins are faced with re-signing him. At that point, Miami will be walking into dangerous territory. The odds say that making a long-term commitment could have consequences. Unless, that is, McDonald’s young brain finally syncs up with his mouth when he says, “Never again. Never ever, again.” We shall see. This column was written by Tom Shannon. Follow him on Twitter: @bearingthenews |
Latest Dolphins News
PhinManiacs Columnists
All
Story Archives
May 2019
|
RSS Feed