His Free agent signings haven't been the best, I agree. He has some good finds, though, like Randy Starks. IMO, Ireland excels in the draft and trading. His trades have been awesome, imo. First off season, trade for Jason Ferguson for only a 6th round pick. Traded for Anthony Fasano for a 4th round pick. Traded Jason Taylor for a second round pick. Traded Lorenzo Booker for a 4th round pick.In the second off season, he stole Mcdaniels away from Jacksonville for only a 7th round pick. Last off season, the big trade for Brandon Marshall. I wouldn't mind keeping Ireland as long as we upgrade the coaching staff. I like him and think he's built a good roster.
At the end of the day next year I think we'll probably be picking right around 10-14. As much of a fan as I am of Henne, having a QB like a Landry Jones that can scan the entire field, make the right throws, and just really isn't hindered in one way or the other would be fantastic. I'm sure if Henne has a good year you can get a good pick for him. Look at Kevin Kolb.
I'm not in any hurry to ditch Ireland. Sure it would be nice if he had more background in blueprinting and design, but until the likes of Polian or Pioli suddenly relocate to South Miami, simply a steady, grooming infusion of talent, in ANY variety of positions is a welcome change from my perspective.
That said if Ireland does stay next year who does he draft as a quarterback? Locker was the #1, Mallet the #2 this year.
Will Ireland go down as the most GM ever? NO! But in his defense, when I look at the roster he started with. Appears most people forget he inherited a team that was 1-15 and first couple of years BP was pretty influential on who was and wasn't on the roster. 2007 Players on Roster... QB: John Beck Trent Green Cleo Lemon RB: Ronnie Brown Lorenzo Booker Jesse Chatman Patrick Cobbs Samkon Gado Reagan Mauia Ricky Williams WR: Chris Chambers Tedd Ginn Jr. Marty Booker Derek Hagan Greg Camarillo Kerry Reed TE: David Martin Justin Peelle Aaron Halterman OL: L.J. Shelton Vernon Carey Anthony Alabi Cory Lekkerkerker Rex Hadnot Gene Mruckzkowski Chris Liwienski Samson Satele DL: Paul Soliai Rodrique Wright Steve Fifita Chase Page Anthony Bryant Keith Traylor Vonnie Holiday John Denney Jason Taylor Akbar Gbaja-Biamila Quentin Moses Rob Ninkovich Derreck Robinson Matt Roth LB: Channing Crowder Edmond Miles Derrick Pope Joey Porter Kelvin Smith Donnie Spragan Zach Thomas Mark Washington DB: Jason Allen Will Allen Yeremiah Bell Courtney Bryan Travis Daniels Donovin Darius Andre Goodman Tuff Harris Renaldo Hill Michael Lehan Jereme Perry Lance Shulters Lamont Thompson Travares Tillman Cameron Worrell K: Jay Feely P: Brandon Fields LS: John Denney All-in-all I would take today's roster over the one they took over without giving a second thought. This isn't college where a good coach/recruiter can do a turnaround in a year or two. In the NFL there are only so many draft picks and something called a salary cap that has to be adhered to.
My mistake I don't know why I wrote Mallett I knew it was Ponder. I really hope they just kick out Sparano and see if one of the other guys can do the job. Perhaps with a little more flexibility things can be done right. With regards to Henne, how much more can we get out of the guy? A 90-95 QB rating with excellent play, proper use of weapons is possible. Is he a guy that can tear up top coverage though?
This view that with some teams every pick pays off is really pretty silly: The following are the drafts of the Ravens, Steelers and Dolphins from 2008-2010 as of the end of last year, meaning it doesn't include 2011 draft or current status 2 games into season. The Ravens draft picks from the years 2008-2010... Total Picks = 23 Pro Bowlers = 1 Starters = 3 Backups = 18 Other Teams = 2 Out of NFL = 0 Steelers Total Picks = 36 Pro Bowlers = 1 Starters = 4 Backups = 16 Other Teams = 5 Out of NFL = 1 Dolphins Total Picks = 26 Pro Bowlers = 1 Starters = 9 Backups = 9 Other Teams = 8 Out of NFL = 0
Like week 1 against the Patriots... The only team that has shown it can't win without it's QB has been the Colts. Flynn went out and did well against NE. Haine looked good against the Pack. Cassell looked great in 08. Some teams could presumably succeed without theirs like the Saints, Steelers (who actually did last year IIRC), the Falcons probably, Kafka looked good in relief of Vick, etc., etc.,.
Neither does 416 yards it seems... It seems that Henne has thrown for over 300 yds, 7 times, and won only two...
Dolphins , out of nfl 0 ? Are we sure that is accurate? Off the top of my head I don't think Pat White is playing for any NFL team ...
they never let year 4 happen before they revolted, criticized, and created a negative culture...no sarcasm.
The bottom line is it looks that he nailed the picks, so those are two assets for this franchise moving forward with or without him, thats what the thread was for, to understand how big that is for our team moving forward...I think it was a move that should be respected to take the center and move up to get the back, they both have flashed serious talent in two important positions..
Good point...source was "Sporting News Draft 2011." Checked again and has "0" out of NFL, but obviously wrong on that one.
Talk about premature. Daniel Thomas' game wasn't THAT good. Lest we forget, Samkon Gado gained some yards as a rookie and midway thru the season Don Banks did a hypothetical re-Draft where Gado was like a top 10 pick. Eep.
Very premature with this. Pouncey is showing promise but he's getting overpowered quite a bit at times as well. Thomas we've actually seen very little of at this point. One 100 yard game, while promising, tells me nothing about his longevity. Overall I think Ireland had been sufficient at drafting. His major flaw that reared it's ugly head glaringly this year is his poor ability to manage a roster and his FA decisions. You could make an argument Ireland is a good talent scout possibly but his roster management IMO is atrocious. You need a complete GM. After this offseason I'm convinced Ireland is NOT that guy. We'll be starting over yet again if Ross is smart.
better than Mark Ingram's regular season and Ryan Malletts preseason, thus far..and we've seen our guys play in regular season action under tough situations. The 2 for one was the right choice if they play like they have, not sure why you can't acknowledge that.
That's one problem with the lockout and free agency after the draft. No way of knowing we could have signed Baas. Maybe his wife is like John Tait's wife and no way she'd want her David signing to play in a Sodom and Gomorrah like Miami. He didn't have a choice when he was in S&G West, in San Francisco. Heck, I don't even know or care if he is married or not. Bottom line is no way we could be sure we could upgrade the C spot in free agency. Would you have been ok with Ingram, Mallett and another season of Joe Berger?
Lets Not give Credit to Irish..... Ireland has the number 1 overall pick and the 15 pick in the first rd of 2 drafts., It's not that odd that 90% of the fans in here could have done as good job with those picks. (Long also Parcells pick) What have you done lately picked up Dansby, Wake, Burnett, Marshall all good. But in putting a team together with good talent and chemistry, come on, look at what we've done the last couple of years.... Constantly rotating in and out hasbeen free Agents in which most are our own. Inability to bring in and SIGN ligitimate talent when available and still craving cheap over the hill major gamble retreads (many from Dallas). Unable to upgrade QB, could be big trouble if backup RB is needed......all common sense in basic football 101....... I mean if you think this team has been thoughtfully rebuilt over the last few years and that Ireland has added and evaluates players in a timely fashion...I just disagree and personally can't see how people this devoted and into football can't recognize the inadequacies that get repeatedly played out.. Although it has taken most in here way to long a time to finally begin to realize something is wrong in Davie We are going no where until their is a new FO who actually has more of a clue then the one we have..........
For a rookie RB's first game in the NFL, I think most coaches would be tickled to death with Thomas' performance.
I am starting to believe that Ireland may have done as much as he could do for this roster. He has done some things well like rebuild the front 7, get us some pretty respectable skill players but Im not sure he can do what is necessary at FS, OL and possibly QB. The team looks like complete mush which is a reflection the coaching staff and him. I might give him 1 more year but I wouldnt let him stand in the way of getting Bill Cowher for example if Cowher wants his own personnel man.
I don't think that a truly bad Head Coach wins a Super Bowl. You could look back and argue that Barry Switzer was a figurehead who won with Jimmy Johnson's guys, but while that may be partially or completely true, Switzer was not a bad HC. Or, take the case of Brian Billick, who I don't think much of yet don't consider a bad HC; ditto Gruden.
Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? Seriously? You're making judgments about draft choices 2 games into the first regular season. That's fine, happens all the time, but now you're going so far as to pretend those judgments are so OBVIOUSLY CORRECT that you're trying to imply that other people are being ridiculous for not changing their opinion and agreeing with you...after 2 regular season games? Really?
There is uncertainty at every position and your logic could be used to justify every single position we could have taken. Every single one. If we took a running back and someone said well I'm sure you could have picked up a Reggie Bush or Ahmad Bradshaw, it wasn't necessary to take a running back, then here comes someone pointing out that all the uncertainty surrounding the free agent process means it was OK to take a running back. If we took a quarterback to back up Chad Henne and groom behind him, and someone says well we could have picked up someone like a Matt Moore to back up Chad Henne, here comes someone saying yes but the uncertainty surrounding the free agency and lockout meant that they didn't know a Matt Moore would come available, or that he'd be interested. Therefore, it's not all that great logic. Joe Berger was not an "awful" Center a year ago. We had an awful interior OL, which needed to be improved, and you can accomplish that a number of ways. Free agency was destined to produce a lot of available options, at Guard, at Center, at every position. It's not THAT big of a leap of faith to think you could use free agency to re-vamp the interior of the OL to where you don't have to draft a Center the highest a Center has gone since the 1970's.
And it wasn't two for one, it was two for FOUR; Ireland spent three picks on Thomas. As for "doubling up;" you know the one position Ireland has never doubled up on? Quarterback. All that doubling up on all those other positions, but he never bothers to pick two QBs in the same draft, or even draft one and sign one as an UDFA. And hey, while we're being thankful for all this bounty, let's not forget to thank Ireland for this stable of haircuts that pass for Defensive Backs. One move that stands out as a particular stroke of brilliance was trading Greg Camarillo, a productive WR, for Benny Sapp.
Obviously, Ireland should have drafted Ryan Kerrigan, who is on pace for 64 tackles, 8 sacks, 8 INT-return TDs, and Mason Foster, who is on pace for 96 tackles, 8 sacks and 8 forced fumbles.
That's not close to true. Go look at the last decade of #1 picks. Long is the best pick since Peyton Manning, and the best at his position since before that. Way more than 10% of the fans wanted Vernon Gholston(absolute bust) or Chris Long(good, but not worthy of the pick).
If memory serves me correctly, which it doesn't always , Miami was in negotiations also with Chris Long and Glenn Dorsey. I will give some credit for Jake with the #1 pick. Also, a lot of fans were calling for Miami to take Mallet with the top pick this year...or at least trade down into the bottom of the 1st round and get him. What a reach that would have turned out to be as he lasted until the 74th pick. It was reported the Steelers were trying to trade up to get Pouncey in the 1st round. Ireland has been in a position where he has to draft for "need" and value. Some of the GMs have the luxury of drafting BPA, not so much for the Dolphins...yet.
Thomas shouldn't be treated as an runaway success, but then again you're not at all in a position to be critical of those people given you've spent the last week tiptoeing around and qualifying statements that don't look good in light of on the field performance. With Pouncey too, to a lesser extent.
All I'm saying is...we get all excited thinking about what a bright future Koa Misi has, and then a year later most people are thinking he's just a guy. We get all excited about what Derrick Rodgers is bringing to the table in his rookie year (wasn't he co-DROY or something like that?), but where did his career go? We got all excited about what Crowder was showing in his first year, and I've been a backer of his for years and even I'll admit he's only beem mediocre. How good did Nolan Carroll look last year, barely missing that interception against the Browns and the following it up by making sure he intercepted the next team? A year later he's dog food. Phil Merling, what a great player he's going to be, did you see that interception for a touchdown against the Jets? A couple of years later, we can't even trade him for a Domino's pizza. Chad Henne, his first couple of games starting, everyone (including Jeff Ireland, who said so publicly) is saying they're absolutely positive Henne is a good starter in this league. A couple of years later he's the most controversial figure on the team and even his backers are only hoping for him to at most be a top 15 or top 20 quarterback. Donald Thomas, whoa boy Donald Thomas, clearly the second coming of Keith Sims. I mean, what can't that man do? Answer: make an NFL roster. Travis Daniels, after his solid rookie year people proclaiming him a 10 year starter. Where is he now? Where was he a short few years after that rookie year? And yet I'm being obstinent because I won't acknowledge that, based on the first two games of their career (sorry, correction for Daniel Thomas, the FIRST game of his career), the combination of Mike Pouncey and Daniel Thomas was CLEARLY the best this franchise could have done at the top of this Draft.
Getting boring in here. Some people just don't want to get it or honestly can't. Trying to convince these people ...well might as well just bang your head against the wall....They will find out eventually and a few more loses will bring them mostly all around, much like they are beginning to finally see the pitiful shape that the team is already in, or can't make up any more semi logical excuses. Pitiful shape..... no not due to Ireland's building plan, Sparanos state of the art coaching abilities. Sparano is just over his head and Ireland hasn't help mostly with his half *** addition and rotating FA's........My last post reply I mean come on....how do you get through that ?............ But everyone has a right to their opinion.........
