So what does your gut tell you about the Dolphins in 2015?

My gut tells me... if the Phins repair the offensive line to the point where it's even average, there will be no change at coach or GM. On paper, it looks like they've likely accomplished that.

 

Sort of silly poll to have right now as we have no idea what the offense will look like or how the new OLine will perform.

That said, it should be playoffs or bust for Philbin.

 

I don't like Philbin, but I think that if the team wins 10 games and/or makes the playoffs, he'll be back. I think that Hickey's fate is more likely tied to how "his" players play this season, unless its a complete disaster, in which case everyone goes.

 

Rightly or wrongly I think both are back in 2015.

 

I have never been a Philbin fan and I think we got stuck with him because Ross refused to get rid of Ireland at the time Philbin was hired. I think Philbin has proved over the past two years that he is mediocre at best as an NFL head coach.

That being stated, I would have no problem with him remaining the HC after the 2014 season, as long as the Dolphins make the playoffs. Anything less than a spot in the playoffs and he needs to be shown the door by Ross.

If Philbin is fired after this coming season, the next head coach should have major input on who the GM is going forward. He should not be forced to accept Hickey as part of taking the job. If the next head coach wants to work with Hickey, but isn't forced to work with him mby Ross, I would have no problem with Hickey remaining the GM in 2015.

I hope the Dolphins make the playoffs in 2014 and Philbin proves me wrong in regards to his ability as an NFL head coach. If not though, I certainly hope Ross makes another run at hiring Harbaugh, if he decides to leave the 49er's after the 2014 season.

 

Bill Lazor is currently viewed very favorably amongst the fans. The owner probably views him pretty favorably as well, because honestly he's not approaching the team from much different a perspective than the fanbase.

There's a lot of talk about how much Lazor is going to change up the offense, install new and cool things, all this movement, fast pace (which was already happening but for which the previous offensive minds are not getting credit), pre-snap motion, more deep passing, etc. All the stuff fans crave.

Yet Philbin has already gone on record speaking warily about some of these new ideas, particularly pre-snap motion. He wants that stuff to be on an experimental basis and if he feels it's detracting from communication, you get the feeling he's going to squelch it.

If that happens and the Dolphins struggle on offense, don't go to the playoffs, then Joe Philbin will be fired. I'm pretty sure of that. People tend to want to equate failure with conservative, so when the offense is sputtering it's going to be because they were too conservative. Joe Philbin has (accidentally or on purpose) set himself up as the figurehead of the conservatism with the offense, and so failures will be attributed to Philbin holding Bill Lazor back. We will hear complaints in the media and elsewhere that we had all of these things promised and planned, all of these different formations, motions, pace, deep passing, etc...and then we abandoned it. Philbin will be blamed for that no matter how logical the decisions actually were and he will be ousted as the last holdover from Mike Sherman's too-conservative offensive philosophies.

And with the offense just now losing one of the two signal-callers that operate on the field on any given play...I think Philbin will be tempted to dial Lazor back. So I do believe he'll hang himself, to an extent.

The big question to me is whether all of this bleeds over to Dennis Hickey as well. That could depend on the performance of his draft picks and free agents (e.g. Branden Albert, Shelley Smith, JaWuan James, Jarvis Landry, Earl Mitchell, Louis Delmas and Cortland Finnegan). If there are multiple fall-on-their-face failures without any significant wins...the fervor could sweep him up too. Remember that unusual success from some of Jeff Ireland's previous guys could also frustrate Ross and make him believe he sided with the wrong side of that feud.

Also have to remember the Jim Harbaugh thing is hanging over all this. Steve Ross will absolutely WANT to make a play for Harbaugh if he's available, as it would give the team instant credibility. And if Harbaugh does come to Miami, he's probably going to want to phone up Michael Lombardi as the two are close. And believe it or not? Lombardi did a nice job in Cleveland.

 

This is just an off-the-wall thing but Willie Taggart the head coach of the South Florida Bulls is literally Jim Harbaugh's best friend. They were best men at each others' weddings. Coach Willie is in Tampa and had an incredibly disastrous start in 2013, winning only two games. Even Skip Holtz, who is largely blamed for USF's downfall, won three games the year before. If Willie isn't able to turn the Bulls around in 2014 he could be looking at getting fired after only two years. And it's not out of the realm of possibility because the quarterback situation could easily be as dire as it was a year ago.

Point of this being, Jim Harbaugh's best friend is in Florida and could be open to rejoining Harbaugh's staff by 2015 (he was on staff at Stanford before taking the HC job at Western Kentucky). Jon Gruden is also in Tampa. Chuck Bresnahan (who was the defensive coordinator while Harbaugh was an assistant in Oakland) is in Tampa.

There may not be as much mental distance between San Francisco and Miami as people imagine there to be. If the 49ers and Harbaugh don't get a deal done, they won't keep him on in 2015 to serve out a lame duck contract year. They'll trade him. And you can damn well bet Steve Ross will be interested in that trade.

And Michael Lombardi, whom Jim Harbaugh had personally convinced to interview for the San Francisco GM job back when Harbaugh took the head coaching job, would probably also be available. He is right now an assistant to the coaching staff for the New England Patriots, as he has always had a very tight relationship with Bill Belichick.

 

Just to add to CKs point, I used to think that Harbaugh would not want out of San Fran, from following that whole situation over there pretty closely, I think that it's not out of the realm now to think he would leave, I've seen some signs that signal that his voice might be wearing thin, and he's not being respected enough by his front office..

If I was the GM of that team I would ask up him if he wants to get rid of Davis or put up with his BS, and if he wanted to get rid of any players that were out for themselves, they would be gone, it just seems that there isn't much trust going on and Jim doesn't have enough power.

 

The thing that did impress me about what Michael Lombardi did in Cleveland is that they seemed to absolutely operate by some of the principles that made the Patriots' personnel dealings so smart in the past. He traded Trent Richardson for a 1st round pick. He was right to do that. He WANTED to trade Josh Gordon back when Gordon had high trade value. Now all the sudden Gordon could miss a whole year on suspension. Despite Gordon's talent, he was right to try and make that trade. He traded a 2013 fourth round pick for a 2014 third round pick, and traded a 2013 fifth round pick for a 2014 fourth round pick. Any time you're able to do that, it's sheer brilliance IMO. In free agency, acquisitions like Paul Kruger and Desmond Bryant played well. He was able to pick up Brian Hoyer for nothing and he ended up the best QB on roster.

The biggest black mark from the year he spent there was probably the Davone Bess trade. Some claim they were not made properly aware by Jeff Ireland of all Davone's "medical" (i.e. psychological) issues. Others say they knew. He gave up pennies for Bess so if that's the biggest mistake then I think that says something.

People will say the biggest mistake was sticking with Brandon Weeden and perhaps they're right, but reality is he didn't have much choice. Both Norv Turner and Rob Chudzinsky went to the mat for Weeden, promising that he could play. Lombardi snuck his boy Hoyer onto the roster anyway, and he was constantly derided for it by Chud and Norv...until Hoyer clearly outperformed Weeden.

 

I think the unhappiness there is strictly over his contract.

He went there and immediately made the team relevant. They were a joke under Mike Singletary but he made them relevant. He took the draft bust at quarterback that they all regretted taking and he made the guy into the kind of winner that could take the team deep into the playoffs. He took a second round pick quarterback at a time when everyone thought second round pick quarterbacks were pointless, and damn near turned him into a multiple Super Bowl winner.

Now everyone in the organization is trying to take their share of credit for that. Meanwhile Harbaugh is still on the contract he signed when he was just a college coach that people weren't sure would actually make it as a pro coach.

He's pissed. That's the source of his discontent. He's clearly established himself as a top coach in a league that doesn't REALLY have very many of those, and they're nickel and diming him because he didn't technically win the Super Bowl and everyone else in the organization is trying to say a monkey could have piloted that roster to a Super Bowl.

It's a real situation that is developing and knowing Harbaugh's ego, yes he absolutely could jump ship. He's one of those types.

 

Both Philbin and Hickey stay because they Dolphins win 13 games and secure a first round bye.

 

I think Jeff Ireland definitely won't be here in 2015. I'm 99% sure.

 

I'm only interested in polls about Ross leaving. Everything else is just trickle-down goofonomics.

 

Has every right to be pissed off, if they knew what they had they would of extended him last year..keep pissin him off niners.

 

Do you want him to leave before or after he invests 300 million of his own money to upgrade the stadium? Just wondering.

 

My gut feeling is we will be successful enough this year(playoffs) that everyone keeps their job. In 2015 I think we will be in the SB mix of elites. And then Bill Lazor will be THE hot name on the head coaching market. At that point there's almost no way possible to keep him and then when he's gone........

 

All I know is that Ryan Tannehill has the exact same set of skillset players if the season started today as he did last year...were really gonna find out how good Lazor is.

Good luck buddy.

 

Superbowl VS Green Bay.

 

Be fine with either. Now that his Real
Estate development is done here, he can gtfo before he bungles any more football related stuff.

 

Hickey signed a two year deal. Philbin has two years left on his deal. Coincidence? Ross stated harmony, above all else, was the primary reason Hickey was chosen. Certainly, the writing is on the wall that Ireland and Philbin were at odds with one another over personnel during their two year marriage. An arranged marriage at that. Jeff Ireland backed Mike McCoy for head coach and Philbin had no choice but to take on Ireland as GM if he wanted to be a head coach in the NFL.

We specifically know of a few instances of disagreement. Amongst them were Richie Incognito and Brandon Albert. We know Philbin is at least 2-0 regarding those two instances. I'm sure there's plenty more Philbin victories we can speculate about. And that's why Philbin is still here and Ireland isn't. And if Ross feels Ireland is responsible for the past two seasons failures (which he clearly does) than logic suggests that Philbin and Hickey will be given reasonable time to clean up Ireland's roster mess (which included over 100 million dollars in contracts to average-below average players) and let them develop the team with their vision.

So, I think both Hickey and Philbin are retained, barring a crazy bad 2014 season (6 wins or less). Perhaps a scenario like CK suggested could be possible. Harbaugh was his first love, after all. Predicting Ross's next move is a near impossible task. He isn't the most logical owner in the NFL. He basically sabotaged two regime's in a row, in unbelievably naive and idiotic fashion. Certainly, whatever happens, I hope Ross has learned from his failures with his half measure approach.

 

Agreed.

The fanbase will demand a playoff team this year, it SHOULD have happened last year. No way another 7-8 win season is good enough to keep the current coach/GM. Now, 9 wins (and no playoffs) MIGHT buy them both another year -if Harbaugh is not out there looking for work.

 

If we make the playoffs they stay, and rightfully so. If we miss the playoffs, they should be gone and rightfully so.

If they are out, I think I'd rather try and get Gus Malazhan than Harbaugh. I said it before, but I believe Harbaugh is really, really good for the first few years, but then the wheels are gonna come off. I don't think he's stable.

 

LB, it's pretty apparent by now that Ross is not the "reset" kind of owner....Look how long it took him to make a move on Ireland, and even then, Ireland finally quit instead of being fired... Barring a total collapse or another meltdown of the lockerroom, I just don't see him making any moves...

 

Yup, that would be a one game improvement each year. Personally, unless the team completely tanks, i'd like to see both back next year. I think teams are sometimes too quick to fire a coach before he has a chance to realize his vision with the team. Now, will i still feel that way if we go 8-8 again, barely missing the playoffs once again? Probably not.

 

I hear what you're saying. I really do. However you're ascribing rational behavior to a set of individuals who at times just have not behaved rationally. At the very best you can say they've not behaved according to rationales that make sense to us.

Here is the reality of firing Joe Philbin next year, if that happens. Steve Ross STILL has no "football person" attached to him or to the organization in an official capacity that he can trust to aid him in making the biggest decisions.

He sort of has Carl Peterson but Peterson is not officially attached to the organization, is not involved in anything day to day. His information is therefore incomplete and his motivations aren't often entirely clear. This last time out, he tried to stuff the ballot box in favor of guys that worked for him in the past. Ross had to be wondering if he was really trying to find the best candidate or if he was just trying to bring up his friends.

Supposedly Joe Philbin had Peterson's endorsement and in our hypothetical scenario where Ross is firing Philbin, that will not have worked out so well. Peterson also brought Ray Farmer to the fore of the GM process, and Farmer publicly embarrassed the Dolphins by turning them down in order to keep an assistant GM job. People can TRY and pretend Farmer knew he was being promoted in Cleveland, but that's a lie. That decision was made very quickly based on events that happened after Farmer decided to stay in Cleveland.

Short story long, I'm not so sure Ross is going to love the idea of turning once again to Carl Peterson to be the football man steering the ship during another big hiring process. And when Ross looks to his left and looks to his right and tries to find another football man he trusts to help him do that...don't be surprised if he locks eyes with Dennis Hickey out of sheer desperation, especially if one or two of Hickey's acquisitions look promising.

 

I think Petersen and Ross are a lot closer than you think. They're both partners in FanVision, and IIRC, they work out of the same office in NYC. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Petersen has a lot more involvement with the Dolphins than we are led to believe. It would make sense that if Petersen has a hand in things to a certain degree, they did their best to downplay it and keep it from being publicly known.

Also, IIRC, didn't Petersen work with the league in identifying potential GM candidates?

 

LOL at the cockamamie theory in this thread that there is some rift between Philbin and Lazor that will ultimately result in Philbins firing. The theory was bad enough on its own but what sends it over the top is they theorize that Ross sees everything exactly the same way they do and the firing is almost just a formality at this point.

I have my own cockamamie theory: Lazor probably agreed to come here based on assurances that the staff's seats aren't any hotter than your typical NFL staff, i.e. they will be judged on performance but they aren't on some playoffs or bust ultimatum. He would have to really believe in Philbin as a coach or be a complete moron to come here under such a scenario. Plus, Ross has proven to err on the side of caution and stability.

The two scenarios in which I envision changes: win less than 8 games and Philbin may well be fired, but the same can be said of 90% of coaches in the league. If Jim Harbaugh wants to come here and we didn't have a great season then the whole staff could be in trouble.

And LOL at the idea Lomardi did a good job in Cleveland. He actually kept more cash in the bank than Ireland did going into the season and traded away one of their best players for a future draft voucher. What he did makes little sense considering their seats were obviously pretty hot. That team didn't have a chance to succeed.

 

There's already a rift between Joe Philbin's and Bill Lazor's offensive philosophies. That's not a theory. Philbin pretty explicitly outlined it. Just as there was a rift between Tony Sparano's offensive philosophies and those of Brian Daboll. Sparano realized that he needed to change his conservative philosophies and let Daboll bring a lot more complexity and pass aggressiveness to the offense. Has Philbin had a similar realization? We know he wanted no part of firing Mike Sherman, so maybe not. To an extent he has ceded to Lazor, otherwise he wouldn't be experimenting with these ideas that he clearly doesn't believe in. But his language also suggests that he'll force Lazor to dial it back down at the first sign of trouble. That's not me speaking, that came directly out of Philbin's mouth.

Keeping money in the bank during an individual cap year is relatively meaningless due to the fact that cap space can be carried forward and redistributed at will. And I'm not sure Michael Lombardi had any reason to expect that he was on the hot seat right from the day he was hired. His owner has been roasted around the NFL for firing people so quickly after hiring them. And if Trent Richardson was really one of their best players that goes a little ways toward demonstrating why Lombardi had a daunting task in front of him that shouldn't have been expected to be accomplished within one year. That Trent Richardson for a 1st round pick trade is being widely regarded as an unqualified win for the Browns, everywhere except in Indianapolis where they're clinging to the hope that Richardson will pan out and trying to take a blind eye to the fact that Donald Brown outperformed him by a country mile last year (as did Ahmad Bradshaw).

 

So there's a chance? The thought makes me want to cry

 

And Ross' answer to this lack of centralized knowledge was... to promote Dawn Aponte.

 

lets hope not.

 

I predict that even if we win the Super Bowl you will find something to ***** and troll about.

 

My gut is making strange noises.It could be because its predicting the Dolphins future but I suspect its just telling me that I am hungry.

 

My gut tells me that 2015 is next year, and with so much time between now and then anything could happen to alter the course of the Franchise. Its not even July yet, long way away from anything truly becoming clear at this point in time.

 

There is not a rift or at the very least there's no evidence of one. That is nothing more than your interpretation and based on the info we do have is not fact.

 

So nobody else's gut is grumbling that Ryan may go Into the season with the same exact skillset players?..

Our defense better be top 10

 

Our skill players weren't as much of a problem as the oline and OC. Both things have been upgraded.

 

our starting skill players have not been upgraded, Jarvis Landry can only do so much.

 

Your post didn't really address what I said.