Thanks for posting that! It's great to hear former players agree that tanking for a franchise QB is the right thing to do. I do think it's interesting though that people are so hesitant to use the word "tanking" (as if "dismantling" is any better lol). I think the Mark Cuban experience is in the back of the minds of a lot of people that speak for a franchise (though it probably wouldn't apply to former players): Cuban got fined 600k for admitting the team tanked and for telling players the best thing for the franchise is for them to lose. Tanking is OK as long as you're not TOO transparent about it lol. And we're doing this at the right time too. If Cleveland's tanking (the only truly serious tanking for a roster-wide rebuild so far in the NFL) ends up producing a winning season this year (they haven't had one since 2007) I think a bunch more teams are going to do this. Same trend in baseball and basketball: once it's shown to work others follow. And it's a LOT more difficult to tank successfully when you're not the only team doing it. So we're doing this at the right time – right when there's a hot QB prospect and before tanking is more commonplace.
Hmmmm, I just read the article and while I seem to be on the opposing end of this “tank”, a term that I absolutely despise, it was Keith Simms’ comment that perked my intrigue... “Remember what Jimmy Johnson did in Dallas” There are a lot of similarities. While Adam Gase is no Tom Landry, Ross did Fire Gase and bring in a first year NFL head coach. While Kenny Stills and what’s his name are no Herschel Walker, we did make a monster trade for numerous draft picks. Now the question becomes, will we draft a Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin on offense? Will we build a powerhouse offensive line that gives our “Aikman” time to make spectacular throws to our “Irvin” and open holes for our “Smith” to set the NFL rushing record?
We already have two potential Irvins in Parker and Williams...if they catch the darn ball. And while Drake is no Emmit, he's clearly good enough if he has some blockers out in front of him....his vision is insane good. So that really brings us to Aikman and that offensive line- do we already have our Aikman? Or could Tua be that guy? That's the million dollar questions. Everyone loves to speculate but it really all comes down to the next draft- if Grier picks well, this season was a brilliant move. If he picks poorly, then he's crippled us for the next five years. Or maybe we land somewhere in-between with another 8-8 team, which isn't horrible with a young roster and lots of picks in 2021 as well. Unless we get our Troy Aikman though (or already have him in Rosen), then this will be a hard sell as the Dolphins community looks back.
Yeah.. but there's a big difference: Dallas drafted Michael Irvin in 1988 and Troy Aikman in 1989 before the Herschel Walker trade. In other words, Dallas already had their franchise QB before the trade. And almost certainly Rosen isn't that QB. So while I have no issue with creating a smash mouth type of football team, you NEED an above average QB in the mix (statistically) and right now we don't have one. I should also add that Troy Aikman was drafted with the first overall pick.. before the Herschel Walker trade.
The dolphins having as much interest as they had on Jadaveon Clowney gives me confidence that Chase is the pick.. he is basically a clone of Clowney.
Reminds me of Chester Nimitz comment about Iwo Jima... "Uncommon valor was a common virtue." Applying that to football games is a bit over the top because nobody is shooting at players on the field. .. but it still rings true.
Correction CBrad, you didn’t just Tank for Tua, you also tanked for an extra 3 first round picks, and an extra 2nd so far.. Tank for Tua+3 1’s+2 2nd’s