Personally, I don't believe the player acquisitions in the drafts have been poor since Wanny left. I would actually rate our drafts as average or slightly above since that point. Our FA acquisitions have been more hit or miss. I would probably rate those as slightly below average. Overall about middle of the road on player acquisition. I don't see that as what has killed us. But I think that the coaching staffs since Shula left (with the exception of Saban) have been remarkably poor at understanding how to use those players talents. (As much as I hate Saban, he probably would have made Jason Taylor a first ballot HOF player had he coached him his whole career). IMO that, more than anything else is what has kept us out of the playoffs for so long. That more than anything else is what has destroyed any faith I had in Philbin.

 

Imagine where this team would be if Saban shared power with a good GM and grabbed Brees, Rodgers or some other good QB. We'd be competing with NE every year for the division and the league would be forced to respect us. I always thought Saban is/was a damn good coach despite his dictator ways and the fact that he quit on us. I really like the direction and attitude this team had under his leadership after the diaster of the Wanny years. IMO he could still be good coach in the NFL. Unfortunately it can never be for the Miami Dolphins again.

 

Jason Taylor is already a first ballot HOF.

 

I wiki'd Nick Sabans staff when he was with the Dolphins and it had a lot of coaches that were head coaches somewhere or will be. OC was Scottlinehan, qb coach was Jason Garrett, te coach was Derek Dooley, Assistant HC was Will Muschamp, Defensive Line was Dan Quinn. Man that was a good staff, that's what we need now.

 

Linehan is my favorite OC and did wonders when we had Gus freakin Freorotte as our QB. I was upset when he left. You could see a big dropoff in our offense when he left and was replaced by Mike full of Mularkey. Dan Quinn did a solid job coaching our DL when he was here, it was a strength of our team. He had Kevin Carter still playing at a high level with us. Muschamp had our secondary playing well despite a switch from man under Jim Bates to Saban's more complex zone scheme. Will Davis for example was a playing at a Pro Bowl level and fit well under that scheme.

We had a solid staff that first year with Saban. Its too bad we didn't have enough pieces to be contenders thanks to Wannespeil. It's too bad many of those assistants left for greener pastures and Saban ultimately walking away. Its realky a shame that he picked the wrong QB and sucked at drafting.

 

Basically reference the GML and search for Finomenal....THAT is how you escape the depths of mediocrity and become a perennial powerhouse.

 

I don't think he is. But Taylor was at his best when Saban put him in that 3-4 and let him use his instincts.

 

My drafting record says get on my level!

 

Agreed. He was Taylor-made (see what I did there?) for the Jack position in the 3-4.

Which would be perfect for Dion Jordan except... well you know.

 

two socks I don't know what you want us to do..we have all positions filled we just don't know if the arsenal we have in place is competant

 

The draft issue is all about their inability to find great franchise players.

We have undrafted/CFL Cam Wake and that's it, since Philbin couldn't handle Vontae Davis' immaturity. We can keep drafting safe trusty OLinemen in the first round...and we're going to stay a .500 team. Or we can keep taking lesser-known/projection quantities like Dion Jordan and Tannehill...and we're going to stay a .500 team. In the draft this team needs to start aiming for proven bigtime difference makers at high-impact positions.

 

I disagree on Jordan and Tannehill. I would say those are exactly the kinds of players that move a team over the hump. They are extremely talented players who play high impact positions. Now the question is do we have coaches that will know how to use their skills. We may have one in Lazor, but I don't have any faith that we have one in Coyle.

 

He'll be in on the first ballot without much difficulty.

 

Guys who began their college careers at positions other than the ones they got drafted for? Out of HS they were recruited for TE and WR. Neither had even two years of starting experience at their NFL position. Both were behind their peers in terms of experience. Dion Jordan was a classic tweener, then you add in the fact that he was recruited as a tight end and you're left with lots of variables and projection. Ryan Tannehill started for one full season and that year his preseaon top-5 team underachieved to the point of finishing unranked. Neither of them showed consistent greatness/dominance at their respective new positions you were drafting them for. Both were considered projections, and it just built in more risk.

Are they athletic? Yeah. Should our coaches do better? Yeah. But the coaches' jobs are much easier when they have guys with prolonged experience and years of dominant play - guys whose careers were always headed for a certain role and position, where you knew who they were as football players, and who for years worked on that specific craft.

 

I don't think there is any definitive evidence to refute the notion that Dion Jordan isn't simply a bust. A latter-day Vernon Gholston. They happen, you know.

 

I myself, think we should stop drafting and over paying projections.We have been hovering around 500 for Years now and we just have not been drafting very good prospects for the positions that we need..to heck with projections as we have bypassed and let go so many players that would have us consistently playing .750-.800 ball and winning the AFC East many times over and getting to and bringing the ultimate goal ( The Lombardi ) back to Miami. It finally looks like we are going to have a great stadium again, Our coaches have to get their heads out of their arse' or move on. Play the young ones drafted..Turner should never have rode the pine all year, Philbin needs to stay out of the play calls and manage our timeouts better..Now we lost Kacy when he should have been promoted to DC after Coyle's dismissal or at least bumping him back down to DB coach. Now we need COYLE to cut down on the BS plays and make things simpler for Defense to just ball. I want to see what Hickey can do this year..pretty good last year but we MUST hit on all of our draft picks and FA's this year and hitting on some nice UDFA again would be sweet. FA's I would like to bring in would be OL Franklin, CB Culliver, S Moore , RB Gore, DT Suh, LB Harris...Draft 1st Round DT Jordan Phillips, 2nd Round ILB Denzel Perryman, 3rd Round WR Breshard Perriman, 4th Round DE Chickillo, 5th Round TE Clive Walford, 6th Round .RB David Johnson, 7th Round QB Rakeem Cato...and then I know I need to cut players and also acquire some good UDFA..just my starter thoughts really. Maybe we could also bring in Gamble as Director of College Scouting or Player personnel where we would have him in the fold as well. Of Course, 2016 I WANT A NEW COACHING STAFF.