Ireland no assurance for 2014 http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap20...no-assurances-for-miami-dolphins-return-in-14
Ireland is going to have to answer the question of why Incognito was on the team after the incident last May, and also why the team drafted Jonathan Martin so high when other teams had taken him off the board. There is also the question of the disconnect between Ireland and Philbin when it comes to personnel.
You should put Marc Columbo on there and take off 3/4ths of that list, because it doesn't make a lot of sense. Smiley and Grove played pretty damn well before suffering what were essentially career ending injuries, and Ireland didn't injure Lance Louis either .
They were overpaid from the very beginning. Injuries are a part of the game. Justin Smiley was signed despite a history of injuries. The same goes for Jake Grove. Really, the only quality free agent signing the team has made under Ireland is Randy Starks, up until Brent Grimes came in this year. Outside of those two, I cannot think of a single stand out free agent signing that the team paid big money to get.
I credit Parcells for Grove and Smiley. Seems like I read a comment from Smiley back then that Parcells had him on the phone the minute free agency opened that year. Grove was in 2009, but Parcells still had his hand in the mix to that point too.
we go ten and 6 and finish this run, you will have to reassess everything you thought about the Miami dolphins.. Irelands guys will have got us to this position..Irelands guys have shown resiliency..heart and good makeup.. philbin will have to ressess his issues with ireland as well.. we've seen some glaring weaknesses from the gm..but I think he has enough finds if this team finishes that you give him another.. top 10 team in youth..#1 or #2 team in salary cap space, all draft picks need to be taken into consideration
Jeff was still the GM then. He had a hand in the decision. I'm not going to give him a pass and shift the blame to Parcells, as much as I dislike Bill Parcells. They were a team making those decisions.
As I have maintained, you do not gloss over what has happened in the previous 5 years under Ireland's watch regardless of how this team finishes this year. To reassess is something that will do nothing but kick the can down the road.
He's been okay enough to make us mediocre(before 2013)-to-good(2013), but the problem is: Do you trust him to turn us into a consistent team (something we'll need to prove next season by making the playoffs), a team that can dethrone the Patriots, and a team that can get you 12, 13 wins and a super bowl? That, is the big problem with Ireland. You have to trust that he can build an O-Line, which he has not been able to figure out, and which is really the main reason Miami is not currently in great shape for the Division Title (no way we lose the Ravens/Bills games with even a slightly better O-Line), unless the Pats completely collapse and lose their next two, which seems unlikely consider the Bills head to New England in week 17. Tannehill is actually doing things to mask some problems, but eventually we need to protect him and get him a consistent run game, without creating another big hole someplace else, which means we need to move from mediocre/slightly good drafting to Great drafting.
I don't want to take two steps backwards while the team is on the rise. This never ending mission to fire Ireland is like watching dumb and dumber.
If we go 10-6, he won't be fired. I still think he should be. I'm more interested in the coaching staff. I'm not a fan of them, at all.
Honestly, I've gone back and forth a million times. His Oline building is atrocious and he's had his share of misses, but at the same time he drafted a QB that is growing and leading this team to wins and has had hits with his "acorns." I almost feel like it's a 50/50 split. If he is the center of the Wells investigation and what is found has done or will do harm, then yeah he probably will be fired. But if Miami goes 10-6 or 9-7 and makes the playoffs I find it hard to justify firing either Ireland or Philbin. You go to the playoffs and get rid of either of them sets the table for serious ridicule and setting a team getting better, back.
I'd really like to know the truth about Philbin and Ireland's relationship. Philbin is the guy I believe in right now. I think RT17 was his and Sherman's pick. I think he knows how to build a locker room, ironic I know. I would want to know who he sincerely would want to work with as a GM. If it's not Ireland, than he couldn't be removed fast enough.
No... It's tough. He's done some good things like bringing us out of salary cap hell and given us a bright financial future. Then, he signs terrible players with the surplus he's created in an effort to save his job. I absolve him of Mike Wallace because I wanted him... and still think he can make impact plays once the line is fixed. Then again, trading Marshall was ******ed. trading VD wasn't so smart either. I'd love to have Grimes and VD right about now... He's signed some big deal contracts, namely LB's (Wheeler, Ellerbe, and re-signed Misi) to big deals and aren't very good. And has made other questionable decisions outside of the draft. Speaking of the draft, he's terrible... A few nice picks here and there but his misses are ridiculously bad. He misses within the first 3 rounds like no one's business with talent on the board. We have people on this forum, for free, who do a better job of picking guys in mocks... No thanks, Jeff. It doesn't matter anyway, because he's coming back. 8-6, with 4 losses @ 4 points or less, and almost a guaranteed shot at the playoffs given the Ravens final 3 games vs. our final 2? He's here to stay. Hope for the best.
and if we find someone who we know is an upgrade at GM, then I'll be first in line to get rid of Ireland. But, I have this big fear that we fire Ireland, promote someone like Aponte and get stuck with someone much worse than Ireland. Firing someone like Ireland without having an upgrade in mind can set us back years and put us back in the toilet where we were before.
I don't see how they were overpaid when they both put up high quality performances. Injuries are part of the game, especially for injury prone players, but I don't think there was any reason that Jeff Ireland should have been expected to assume that they would suffer career-ending injuries. In the context of free agency, they've had other successes as well. Frankly, in the context of free agency and the typical success rates it, anyone who isn't an outright bust and is playing up to most of their previous performance should be regarded as a success. Chad Pennington, Matt Moore, Jake Grove, Justin Smiley, Richie Incognito, Karlos Dansby, and Kevin Burnett should be seen as free agency wins, even when some of those players were overpaid or washed out due to injury.
Their relationship must be pretty good then if tannehill was Philbin and Sherman's pick. A gm will never pick a guy he doesn't want, especially a top ten pick, just cause the coach wants a certain guy. The coach won't get blamed for the pick, the gm does. And in this case, the gm deserves the praise too.
Unless something comes out the pending investigation he stays another year easy. If he the one orchestrating the cover-up of Rotten Richie and the golf outing volunteer, then I could see Ross dismissing him for cause.
This GM vacillated on that pick though. He liked him, but he couldn't get over the fact that Ryan didn't have 3+ years as a starter under his belt among other things. Jeff admitted after the pick that he broke one of his rules when selecting Ryan Tannehill. I'm not sure we would have taken him if we had not hired Mike Sherman. Jeff went as far as calling Duke Tobin with the Bengals and asking him his thoughts on Ryan Tannehill before deciding to take him.
All due respect, both Philbin and Ireland will have to answer that question, not just Ireland... I know there are reports that after the incident in May that Philbin wanted to dump him, but really, can we believe these conflicting reports (i.e. one day reports are that Ireland is safe for next season, the next day it's reported that Ireland is NOT assured) Which do you really believe ?? Again, these reports probably all have some truth to them, but what is that truth...we sit here and read these things and try to connect the dots...it's nearly impossible. As proof, I submit that most fans felt assured that Ireland would not be retained last year...there were reports that he was on the hot seat...there were few reports that he was safe...bottom line is that what is leaked to the media is basically fodder to keep them (reporters) off the trail of what is really happening behind the doors in Davie...
It's a win in the context of big money free agency. There's certainly an argument against engaging in big money free agency, but when most teams in the league are willing to play in that market some time or the other I'm not sure you can write it off as a fool's errand or hold anyone to a seriously negative standard when they engage in it. You've also got to put "success" in the context of outcomes. When such a large number of big money free agents perform objectively poorly or are otherwise busts, getting 75% of what you paid for and not suffering long term cap ramifications is a better than average result.
Well, the report that Jeff was assured that his job was safe came from Armando, who is a known mouth piece for Jeff Ireland. Armando had just spent the previous month bashing Joe Philbin, which I think is something that originated from Jeff in an attempt to deflect the blame to his head coach. Armando will do anything to make sure he keeps Jeff as his inside source on all things Dolphins. I personally trust Ian Rappaport more than Armando when he states that Jeff has in fact not been assured that his job is safe.
Why do you keep building this dramatic soap opera where Ireland and Philbin hate eachother and Ireland wants to use the media to destroy Philbin. You sound like an NFL conspiracy theorist.
I'd judge him on the rest of the roster. Not because he found Ryan Tanehill. Tanehill is already here. He can't find another QB. Think about it. How long ago should Polian have been fired? EDIT: Spelling
There's no grounds for comparison there at all. Ireland has drafted way better than Bill Polian did for the last long while of his career. Ireland may have gotten more players out of single drafts than Polian did in multi-year stretches.
Generally concur. I think trading VD was a good move. He never would have done well here. Trading Marshall, in hindsight, was really bad in part because JI did not do well with the picks. But, you are dead on with the rest, imo. He can't scout and draft an O-lineman for the life of him. Unless he just gets lucky. Jerry and Martin? Ugh. And several others. He has missed on so many draft picks that would have been great to have on the team now! If the team does not make the playoffs he needs to be gone, imo, but the challenge is, can you get a GM who will be top calibre and stay with the team for a long time who won't go out and gut the staff? If a GM wants total control - will he rip everything apart and start over? The Ellerbe contract was ridiculous. Hate it. Could have signed McKinney without giving up a pick as well - and now he's lost a pick. Ridiculous! He did a good job with Grimes - but if Grimes is not on the team next year that would be a total fail! He should have tried to sign Grimes to a multi-year deal already. I still like the Wallace signing. I agree; had the OL been better this year and had RT been willing to air it out a bit more, I think Wallace would have 7-8 TD's at this point and people would be pretty happy with him. He had a long bomb right there in the Pats game but Tanny got hit as he was releasing it and it wound up short. The fact is, Wallace is getting open and just needs to know he's loved and we just need Tanny to get the ball to him.
This does not make any sense? You're saying that he shouldn't be judged on the guys he drafted because they are already here?
