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Grading Dennis Hickey's first season

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by jinx, Dec 22, 2014.

  1. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    2012 isn't that long ago.

    Tannehill, Vernon, and Miller. That is three hits in the draft.

    Also, 2013 looks to have two hits in Sims and Jenkins.
     
  2. StillyStiff

    StillyStiff New Member

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    First 2 picks... Tannehill and Jonathon Martin.... It's nice not blowing a second round pick for a change is what I was trying to say
     
  3. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    I missed the word, "first"
     
  4. Clark Kent

    Clark Kent Fighter of the Nightman

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    As it stands right now, I'd give him a B.

    There was only so much this guy could do in one season. The Dolphins needed to fix the o-line and I thought they did the best they could with the resources they had available. There are some holes in the secondary, but Finnegan turned out to have more gas than anyone thought. And w/Jamar Taylor as a 2nd round pick, investing more resources into that position might have been a waste/overkill. I'm curious to see what he does this year with it. Obviously LB's were a concern, but not the most pressing need and we already had tons of money tied up into the position. Another area where I'm curious to see what he'll do. For the most part, he made a number of solid FA acquisitions that just didn't pan out because of injuries. It's the NFL folks, **** happens. Hard to penalize him for fluke ACL tears.

    Like CK said, the grading has to be incomplete until we see how his draft class progresses. So far, two immediate impact starters in the first two rounds was a great start. While I liked Trai turner > Billy Turner, BT could rise up next season and make rounds 1-3 a success. That hasn't happened in a long while...
     
  5. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    Of course. Draft grades can change a lot in the first four years. So much that after the first year it is kind of silly to rank them. However I don't have a time machine and this season is over, so I will grade it with the knowledge that the grade can change.

    As of right now, there are zero for sure failures. None of the draft picks have been cut. Which is a good sign in getting a good grade 3 years down the road.

    However that also doesn't mean that all 8 selections will be hits. Right now there are two hits and they both can be just decent players. If the rest of the picks do flame out, then it will be an O.K., not good enough draft.

    If Tripp pulls a Jenkins, Hazel takes over for Gibson, Aikens becomes a decent safety or better, and Fede becomes a good rotational defensive end or better, and Turner turns into a good starter at guard then this can be a great draft. (I still don't believe in Lynch, I don't see how he can make the team with Sims playing as well as he is.)
     
  6. Clark Kent

    Clark Kent Fighter of the Nightman

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    I'm with you on Lynch. I hated that pick. It made no sense to me and I don't think he's very good.
     
  7. HogsHDFinsfan

    HogsHDFinsfan New Member

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    Our team is avg. He gets a C.
     
  8. speed

    speed Banned

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    Dang it!
     
  9. DolphinGreg

    DolphinGreg Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    You don't wait "3 years" to judge decisions, they either make sense based on the information that is available or they don't. You're either like a move, hate a move or are neutral.

    I didn't love the Ju'wann James or Jarvis Landry picks. I probably would not have selected those players. However, they both played outstandingly well and that's why I'm not a GM. Congrats to Hickey! He knew a lot more than I did. He could see the ability in James and the special talent that Landry was.

    The rest of the picks seemed fair to me. I liked that we went O-line, D-line, LB, CB and WR. To me, those positions are perfect for the late rounds. The only pick I didn't like was TE Arthur Lynch from Georgia. Having watched him, I didn't see anything special. He isn't big or fast. He's not a great blocker. I really couldn't understand that selection.

    As for FAs, I liked the acquisition of Branden Albert. I thought it was a clutch signing. I really felt that we had to get him locked up and I was quite worried that it wouldn't happen.

    Moreno was icing on the cake for me. I didn't think he'd come out playing like he did. I thought he was a bit overrated coming from Manning's offense in Denver. His first game obviously shocked us all so it looked to to me like he would've been another surprising treat of a signing by Hickey. Once again, he simply knew more than we all did.

    I was neutral on Finnegan, Delmas and Williams (WR). To me, we needed help and they were temporary plug-ins who had solid game. Every team has signings like that in the offseason. I don't think they're worth grading honestly. Average production for average prices. What are you going to do?

    I liked the slew of O-line guys we brought in: Colledge, Fox, Smith, etc., but in all honesty I was really hoping that we'd find at least 1 long term starter. Colledge may be that guy but his back issues really undermined his abilities when they cropped up. Fox and Shelly look like serviceable back-ups, which is nice as we move forward.

    I also liked the UDFA RBs we brought in: Williams and Darkwa. You have to get yourself something out of the heap of un-drafted players and I concur with Hickey that RBs are probably the most valuable and capable amongst that group of UDFA players.

    Oh, and Soliai was over-paid by the Falcons. I was happy to let the declining Soliai walk for the price that was on the table.


    Overall, I'd say I was very happy with the improvements. Clearly, Hickey's offensive acquisitions are already making an impact (Albert, James, Landry, Williams) while several of his defensive picks show promise (Tripp, Fede). If Billy Turner and Walt Aikens turn into anything, it will be a golden off-season.

    The only question I have would be the FA O-line guys: Colledge, Smith, Fox. Is there anything there we can rely on moving forward? With that in mind, I'll give him an A-.
     
  10. dWreck

    dWreck formerly dcaf

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    B. Could have done more, but im happy with what panned out. Injuries really suck.
     
  11. my 2 cents

    my 2 cents Well-Known Member

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    Although I come here occasionally I do not post more than 2-3 times a year for historical reasons...however I do think this particular subject matter is one I would like to weigh in on.

    The specific personnel choices are something open to debate although I think Hickey did a poor to below average job on evaluations....the issues IMHO only that would give me cause to fire him yesterday is his complete lack of vision for building a roster and while it is nice to have functional players like Landry, James, Mitchell, there are many instances in just one year of poor to extremely poor resource management. Signing Shelly Smith for 32K a snap is more criminal than it is bad resource management..........

    Again the roster management is horrific when you look at the pieces and what the QB you have can do...and some is not his issue but I think regardless of where you fall on the RT17 debate we can agree he is much more effective with the short game than the long game so you do not need elite pass protectors and vertical WR's, and a guy with 85% of his catches under 10 yards down field is found in the 4-6 area not for a 2 AND a 4......

    Clearly I think you have identified a QB that is most effective short and protecting the ball, ala Jay Fiedler. So what you need to win with this type QB is an elite defense that will flip the field when your 92 play drives stall and can get you a 3 and out to flip the field......you need an intermediate size WR with ball skills and macro target type body, if you are going to have a dink dunk short game QB that has significant deep ball issues teams will crowd the line so getting to the second level is less important than maulers inside and athletic second level tackles are a luxury.....my point is the lack of vision and building a team around the skill set of your core is simply way beyond Hickey seemingly...

    For instance if you are bringing in Lazor and going to go with a ball control offense based on a really short passing game you don't overpay to get a RT you might have had in the second....in hindsight you take Kelvin Benjamin and maybe Juwan James but someone else and by forgoing the movement you have 2 extra picks in the second and third.......true you do not have Jarvis Landry but you have Kelvin Benjamin......you do not need elite tackles in this offense.....you do not sign Brandon Albert, you go get a Giancoma or Strief or even stick with Clabo at RT..you might have ended up with James anyway and if you do not you have two more chances at high level players on the defense you need to properly build a team around a system that will require long drives and ball security......so sorta a long drive by post to express my pinion that many issues are fun debates but the core issue to me is bigger picture lack of understanding that the sum of the parts have to complement the other parts to be an elite team not matter the "system".....not just the parts..but generally I think they guy has sucked at both.

    Merry Christmas or whatever your choice of celebratory end of year frolicking is...be safe and have a great 2015 and I will see you on some drive by posts.
     
  12. Tannephins

    Tannephins Banned

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    That entire rationale revolves around thinking Ryan Tannehill is limited to the short passing game, and I'm not sure the team knew that prior to about midway through this season, nor that it'll be true in the future.
     

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