uh? Of course not. At the end of the contract, you evaluate whether you got value or not. My beef is that they made no effort to replace Brandon Marshall after trading him. (and no..signing washed up Chad is not an "attempt")
No, you can't just say he should have done something without pointing out what would have been a good idea. Free agency isn't a magical land of infinite opportunity. For example(I know you just mentioned WR but I was already looking at this)- The Dolphins needed another pass rusher. Going by PFF(A little unscientific, but stay with me) rankings, the following 2011 Free Agents at 4-3 DE/3-4 OLB/4-3 OLB have positive pass rush grades this season: Kamerion Wimbley Juqua Parker William Hayes Quentin Groves Of those players, is there someone the Dolphins should have signed? Someone who could have reasonably expected to fill the role, would have been reasonably cost effective, reasonably aged, etc. and so on? Kamerion Wimbley there are some arguments for, but I think there are equally strong arguments against. Juqua Parker is too old and not good enough to make the 3 million$ the Browns are paying him. William Hayes is being outperformed/produced by Derrick Shelby. So should the Dolphins have signed Quentin Groves? Quite arguably. Was it the logical solution to their problems who clearly should have been signed, and whose lack of signing is a damning indictment of Jeff Ireland? No.
So then should we not be evaluating 90%+ of the moves the Dolphins have made over the last 4 years then? No, Chad Johnson wasn't an attempt. What constitutes an appropriate attempt, then? Should we have spent a 1st round pick on Mike Wallace?
Based on our cap space, we couldn't have competed with signing most of the big name players when considering their 1st year salary + bonus they received, which is why we wisely went after temporary stop gap players to hold us over until we could better address our needs next year with the abundance of cap space and draft picks at our disposal. Honestly, do the complainers even look into this stuff before whining away, or do they just complain to complain? 1. We had to first make sure we had a QB who could run the new offense in case Tannehill wasn't ready. That cost $3.0 million. 2. We badly needed a stopgap RT/RG in case Martin or Jerry weren't ready (which trumps receiver). 3. We badly needed a stopgap DE/pass rusher [Westerman] until we could find a permanent solution considering Jason Taylor retired and Misi moved to LB. 4. We badly needed nickel CB help which was our defensive achiles heel last year IIRC. Enter Richard Marshall. 5. We needed stopgap receiver help to hold us over until we could properly address it next draft or FA. It's as if people are mad that Jerry is doing ok and that Martin is progressing quickly as a rookie to make Hicks not needed..... or that 2 rookie DEs have stepped up enough to make Westerman expendable.... or that Tannehill was ready by game 1 to make Garrard expendable. All the complaining basically revolves around the WR position, which is FOOLISH. We couldn't afford Vincent Jackson, and anyone who thinks Meachem, Lloyd, Robinson, or Manningham would've been the missing piece to this offense is seriously disillusioned. The only thing those guys would've accomplished is prevented us from being able to sign an expensive FA like Mike Wallace, Greg Jennings, or Dwayne Bowe next year. This is the same knee-jerk reaction that many fans had when they thought Mark Ingram would've transformed our offense prior to the 2011 draft. It's more sensical to wait a year and do it right with a player who is a better fit rather than make a rash decision now just to do so and leave yourself financially obligated to that decision for a few years.
Really? Having trouble counting, are you? Paul Soliai? Possibly one of the best FA signings in all of football this year, especially at just $6.0M/year. Have you seen how our stellar run defense is making opposing offenses more 1 dimensional much in thanks to his presence in the middle? Javorski Lane? future Pro Bowl FB. Yeah, he's a terrible addition to the team. Pat Devlin? backup QB of the future who actually looks competent and promising in our new system. Josh Samuda & Derrick Shelby? 2 more young, promising players who cost us virtually nothing. Marcus Thigpen? Gives us a spark in the return game. Richard Marshall at just $16.0M is a good bargain for Zona's 2011 defensive MVP, plus he allowed us to get a high 2nd for Vontae. Cam Wake & Brandon Fields? HELLO!! Premier pass rusher & punter whom we were able to re-sign before they could hit 2013 FA, so you might as well call them FA signings. Sorry, but that's a pretty damn good offseason considering we were hamstrung and had to make sure we had a QB in case Tanny wasn't ready, an OG/OT in case Jerry or Martin weren't ready, a stopgap nickel pass rusher in case no youngsters were ready, and a starting nickel corner at the very least. Are you nuts? See above. Why, just b/c you didn't get the mid level receiver you wanted who wouldn't have made much of a difference to the offense anyways? Seriously, who did you want? Who did we miss out on whom we COULD AFFORD after the more pressing positions like QB, DE, CB, and Oline were addressed? Do you understand the passing game revolves around spreading the ball around to where it's not just 1 receiver catching every pass, where as RT, RG, QB, nickel pass rusher, and nickel corner are significantly more involved in the game on a per play basis, and as such, those positions pose a greater liability than receiver if left unfilled?
Just curious if anyone has any figures on what they paid in total for this free agent class. I mean I know there's a lot of cheap dice rolls that didn't pan out. I think it just boils down to money though. He didn't spend a ton for these guys. I think David Garrard and Artis Hicks actually collected some good coin.
I totally agree. It's like Ireland is putting all his eggs in his basket for next year, assuming he will be here. I hope he is here next year but can't believe the risk he has taken by not making any decent moves to get us a win or 2 more for this year.
Thanks for spending the time it just gets old when you have to read posts over and over from some with blinders on that cannot see the whole picture and seem to be stuck in a rut following the minion crowd.
From what I see, Hicks has collected about 300 grand so far. I’m not sure if his $1.2M salary is guaranteed as he didn’t play in the season opener and was cut on a technicality. Garrard took home $1.1M. http://nyjetscap.com/Dolphins/dolphins2012.php
I agree with most of your post but I still think we could have done better than Naanee. I agree about spreading the ball around but you still need that one clutch receiver that presents a challenge to the defense, who can get separation and a threat to break the big gainer any time. frankly our receiving core is thin and doesn't really put a fear in anybody. Maybe we don't need an alpha receiver but we definitely need more than Naanee.
Is that what your looking for in your free agent classes? A group of pro bowlers? Hmmm...now I see the problem
That's understandable. To be fair, we would've had more than Naanee if Johnson hadn't gotten himself in trouble. He would've sufficed for a 1 year stopgap IMO. There were a few decent options out there, but at their midrange cost we might've been left financially unable to pursue Wallace, Jennings, or Bowe next year, and I'd personally rather wait a year and hold out for a real prize than settle for a guy who isn't a true difference maker. We also have to factor in that the receivers themselves have a say in the matter, so we can't just call "1st dibs" and take who we want. If you're Brandon Lloyd, where would you rather go---- to NE with Brady, or Miami with a rookie QB and a new offense that you haven't had a chance to see in action? Ditto for Mario Manningham as he's not the type of player I'd want to overpay for to sway him from San Fran. Vincent Jackson was unaffordable at our 2012 cap space. That leaves Meachem & Laurent Robinson who aren't close to being worth $6.0+ million per year, especially in our offense that's predicated upon spreading the ball around. At that price, you wait a year and either fork out the money for a true difference make like Wallace or take a receiver with one of our two 2nd round picks and save ourselves $5.5 million/year to use elsewhere. Just my 2 cents.
Considering we had tons of cap space it's a legitimate complain. Never mind, that's next year. This year was Tampa. Silly me.
They didn't improve the team. He re-signed guys? Congratulations. Consider the talent lost last offseason vs. talent acquired. Bell/B.Mars/Vontae >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> R. Marshall, Naanee.
So you're saying you wouldn't have done anything different than Ireland? You consider that a successful offseason? I can tell you that I wouldn't have traded Brandon Marshall. It's so hard to say who the Dolphins should have signed because the whole thing is a cluster****. Where do you start? This team is built backwards. If not for Tannehill, I can honestly say I wouldn't watch this year.
So if we gave out top 10 pick away for free you wouldn't have watched? Well I probably wouldn't have either, but what a ridiculous scenario.
No I got what you said. If you assume our offseason would be the exact same just without Ryan Tannehill, the only conclusion to come to would be we just lose or give away our pick for nothing. If not for Tannehill, our draft would be completely different. So how could you make such a distinction? What if we would of drafted Russell Wilson if we passed on RT? Would you still not watch then?
It was absolutely the right decision for Jeff Ireland not to do much in the off-season if the players that were worth signing to the team weren't there. You cannot wish good, cost-effective players into existence, and just spending money to look like you're doing something in the absence of opportunities is not appropriate. I would have done things differently than Ireland, but there's very little I can point to and say it would have been a good decision based on evidence at this point. Basically all I can hang my hat on is the idea they could have replaced Paul Soliai more cost effectively, and even then given how Kendall Langford has played even that wasn't a huge winner.
an "attempt" is signing a more competent receiver or devoting a first day pick to the position in the draft. I was lukewarm on the Brandon Marshall trade...then hated it when they didn't replace him. Had they flipped the picks they got for Marshall for a guy like Wallace....I would have personally kissed Jeff Ireland's *** on national TV. My information was that they did attempt to replace him, and they failed due to unrealistic demands from their trade partners. So they do have that to blame.
The successes are self evident at this point, and the failures as well. We have HALF of a super bowl team. it should be a helluva lot closer than that. We are still *****ing and moaning about the same weaknesses, for years now.
I think that's a key. You can forgive the record over the time period if you feel like you've got the team in place that can win a Super Bowl. If that were the case then you just chalk it up to it taking a few years to build something great. You know, the whole "Rome wasn't built in a day" thing. On the other hand, you can forgive if you find yourself in a situation needing to re-stock and re-load, if you were actually really good for a while. There are ups and downs in the NFL, and you can buy success sometimes that won't necessarily last, and sometimes you do find yourself in that position of needing to re-load. It happens. But can you forgive the combination of the two? You were never very good, you never had a team that could have even sniffed the Super Bowl no matter how many breaks went your way, no matter who is coaching the team...yet you also find yourself in a position of having a current bare cupboard and needing a big 2013 off season ($50 million under the cap, five picks in the 1st thru 3rd rounds) to re-stock the cupboard. I mean I just don't see how that's acceptable.
How can you possibly expect the team to have the kind of appearance in the part of your post I bolded if it's still trying to find an adequate quarterback? Your post gives the impression that, because the team isn't contending for a Super Bowl, Ireland must not have built the team AT ALL. Rather, it could be the case entirely that the team's overall deficiency is determined largely by the quarterback position, with the rest of the team having been built quite a bit.
You guys also seem to forget that the player has a say in if he signs here or not. From what I hear Ireland went after some players who didn't want to play here. He tried, but if they don't want to be here, they won't sign. Remember Olin Kreutz?
Only because you asked so nicely. Saying I wouldn't have traded Marshall in the first place wasn't an answer? How about Mark Anderson?
It's CK's assertion that the team has found an adequate quarterback, and that the same holes that the team has had outside of that are still the same. It's not an outlandish proposition.
No, you're bored. You disagree with my overall opinion so you're creating straw men. You knew what I meant. Tannehill is the only reason this team is watchable, for me, because the team has no playoff aspirations.
