WHOA, that's just ignorance to the 10th degree. Ironic you made a Lifetime tv reference about my post but now you're hypocritically throwing up Hard Knocks as if it's Walter Cronkite. You'd have a point if Aponte had say over the drafting of Tannehill or anyone else for that matter, but guess what- Ireland had already drafted him, and FYI- there's a rookie wage scale. And you might have a point if she set the course for who would or wouldn't be targeted in free agency.... or if she were responsible for the philosophy that would be used to transform the roster and how willing or unwilling Miami would be in mortgaging the future for immediate gains. It's already known that Ireland had a plan in place to get the team into the pleasant 2013 cap situation, so make no mistake about it- Ireland as GM wanted this cap situation.
I could be wrong but I thought Philbin was against firing Sherman b/c he openly stated he thought he did a good job in so many words. I believe he even answered a press conference question about it after one of those last two disappointing offensive showings where he seemed to fully support Sherman. His hand could've been forced to fire Sherman, no?
IMO, we will never totally know that answer. However we do know that autonomy over the coaching staff is written in his contract. Ross may have encouraged him along those lines, but again we'll probably never know for certain. I wouldn't place a whole lot of weight on press conference comments. What else would he say? "Yeah guys, I'm really disgusted with Sherman as a play caller and intend to fire his *** next week." Even if he's thinking anything similar, he won't openly admit it at a post game press conference, or before the fact, probably nowhere else either.
No way pappy, haven't you read Smahtaz's post. Clearly Aponte would be the one identifying Mack b/c of her extensive background in pro scouting and knowledge of systems and schemes. Then she'd devise a dollar amount b/c of her extensive background player analysis to allow her to determine an appropriate value. And lastly she'd determine how long we'd sign the player for b/c of her extensive involvement in player analysis as it pertains to who is already on the roster and who may or may not be ready to assume that position, plus her extensive knowledge of the draft and its prospects to let her know if the signing can be a short term one or if we're looking for a long term solution. In layman's terms her job as far as I understand is to move money around and structure contracts as beneficially to the cap and owner as possible, like what you said. However, as you and I know, that alone isn't going to put a team $45 million under the cap or whatever it was. That occurs when the GM has a conscious plan to get that far under it, including the decision to not mortgage the future for the present. Ireland stated this much following free agency this year [that he had a plan in place to get us to this type of free agency year]. It doesn't get much worse than making Dansby the highest paid ILB or heavily overpaying Hartline, Ellerbe, or Wheeler, but she obviously didn't have the authority to stop them from putting pen to paper.
Agree to disagree. You cannot prove what her involvement is in football matters. You also cannot prove what personnel experience she has gained in two decades working inside and outside of her role of accounting. I can't disprove anything. Regarding the Philbin hire, her involvement could vary from her opinion on football theory, to simply packing Ross' lunch. We don't know the level of her Philbin hiring process involvement. And we don't know if she will ever be involved in the hiring process again. For me, it's a non-issue. If we went 12-4 and had a dominant season, I would be on the Irish train, saying it all came together for the s.o.b. But that did not happen...not remotely close unfortunately for all of us. My point was that, his "raise" was not a valid comparison to Sparano's extension. I gave an explanation and example why. You can disagree though. Because, as often they do, the media was running wild with slanderous speculation. He squashed it. And I believe it was more for the fans than his potential hires. I do think he cares about his fan base. C'mon, where is Armando pulling this stuff from then? All this comes out after the mutual parting of ways? Call it what you want, I think its obvious though. Time, space, and football wise, I think it is physically impossible for Aponte to take in a game, and then quickly write out notes and get them to Philbin. I think this is ridiculous, to accuse Aponte of writing his post game speeches. And I have yet to see him bring note cards to a press conference where he is asking the media's question. Its nonsense. I think a GM needs to think about hiring personnel to become a winner. No one is going to take this job thinking: " okay, when are these two going to screw me over." We will see the quality of GM we hire in time I suppose, and we can let that validate this argument. Are they really scared to work here. I agree with some of this. I think hiring Philbin out from Ireland's grasp could be viewed as undermining. But as I and a lot of others have said, very few GM's have any control over hiring or firing head coaches and the coaching staff. Ozzie, Baalke...those guys control the 53 man roster, and that is pretty much it. That is the GM standard, and it is our standard as well. He offered Fisher full autonomy as a coach and hiring his staff, but gave him the standard line that the Harbaughs and many other coaches have to work around: "someone else buys the groceries." He kept Parcells on as czar. He did not hire him though. And at the time, after an 11-5 debut season, we all would have went bat**** if he had not kept him on. As far as Peterson goes, I have yet to hear him meddling or getting in anyones way on a day to day basis, or in a recurring fashion. Never saw a press bit that he interfered on a potential signing. He is Ross' friend and a football expert, and it doesn't surprise me that he utilizes him for these big decisions. And quite frankly, I think its a good thing. King Carl has a pretty good track record in this league. If it wasn't for him playing hard ball over the Trent Green trade, no one here would have much issue with him. And I've been a harsh critic of Ross. I think he utterly failed us in the past, and not knowing football etiquette, and the Harbaugh debacle set us back half a decade. I've been livid with the man. But I think he is growing, and for better or worse, we are stuck with him. My bottom line is, he has done 2 major things that I like thus far, after this demoralizing 2013 season. He got Sherman and Ireland out of the building. And thus, I have softened my stance on him, for now.
I think the GM should be given control of hiring staff - after this season. Ross can do whatever he wants, of course. But, I would tell the GM he will be given final say over the coach starting next year. I also think he needs to get the guys he wants regardless of cap implications. If you hire a guy to be the GM you have to trust him. He has to be a guy you want to run the Dolphins franchise for the next 10-20 years. Not a 3-5 year mercenary. He needs to be a "team player" of course and work together well with the coaching staff (Philbin) and work together well with the money side (Aponte). Ross is an odd ball. He is not a heavy hands on owner - like Jerry Jones who is basically the GM. And, he doesn't really know the game. But he also doesn't really have a President type figure who runs the team for him. I think the whole model he has is flawed. But, hopefully he does hire the right guy who can turn the franchise around.
the best solution/fit for Miami? Brian Gaine for GM & McAdoo at OC. we need competence & continuity not political correctness & discord... the die is cast for the Philbin Regime in 2014. it is in our interest to let it play out without more politics & distractions. would like to see Pennington enter the franchise in a coaching or offensive advisory capacity.
None of us fans really have enough information to know which candidates would be best for either position, but especially the GM position.
Obviously a franchise record in sacks and an implosion late in the year can change perceptions quite a bit but IMO Philbin honestly believes that Sherman did a good job of running the offense his boss wanted him to run. Ironically, the Jets loss which led to Sherman getting fired was one of the best called games he had all season. He used the screens, the draws, the rollouts, ran the ball early and stuck with it like a lot of us were begging him to do. But it doesn't matter how good the play calls are if the players don't go out and execute or the refs allow blatant PI's to go uncalled.
No, no you didn't. - Farmer hasn't admitted why he didn't take the job but some speculate it was because he didn't want to work with a woman. - There's reports Caserio said him not taking the job had nothing to do with Philbin at all. - Licht wasn't offered the job. - Gamble & Decosta weren't offered anything and have declined all takers. - Dawson wasn't offered the job either.
