The guys over at the Draft Network have a new series called 'Bust or Broken' where they discuss whether failed players were busts or their teams failed to develop them - broke them.
Episode 3 looks at Dion Jordan.
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PhinFan1968 To 2020, and BEYOND! Club Member
Complete bust. One of the worst top 5 picks in history, IMO, at least for this team. Miami tried their *** off to get the kid straight...wasn't in him.
mlb1399 likes this. -
You can make the argument that Philbin and company were partly to blame for Jordan, given that they couldn't develop much of anyone. But I really think that the odds were against him succeeding most other places as well. I think he'd have had to go to the absolute perfect team and be used in the perfect way to develop into a special player.
As it was, the depressed look on his face as soon as Miami traded up to get him was the beginning of the end. What a weird gut punch that was as a fan to witness.Puka-head and PhinFan1968 like this. -
Puka-head My2nd Fav team:___vs Jets Club Member
He got a great second chance here in Seattle and couldn't do anything with it, busted like a coke dealer on Miami Vice.
PhinFan1968 likes this. -
I don't know if you guys watched the video but the general conclusion was that in view of the fact that Miami moved up to get him at the top of the draft, that his difficult background was known ahead of time, and that he was a versatile player during his college career, Miami didn't do what was necessary to help him succeed and ultimately contributed to breaking him.
They pointed to Miami's incredible front office dysfunction at the time where management weren't talking to coaching. Where Philbin didn't want to draft Jordan. How Jordan was left as a DE and required to add 20lbs in weight, and was rarely used with any creativity or versatility despite showing signs of success in those ways.
Essentially, the argument is that the platform was set for failure for Jordan from before he was drafted, and that a young man with his challenges was never going to be able to succeed in that environment.
It's worth a watch even if only as a reminder of how horribly bad the Dolphins have been run as an organisation.Dol-Fan Dupree and PhinFan1968 like this. -
You do wonder that if he had been left as an OLB instead of being moved to DE & required to add weight, it would have been less things for him to think about (although with his mental health troubles, it might still not have helped). Do agree that the coaching/management at that time was a dumpster fire, which helped no-one.PhinFan1968 likes this.
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This organization was such a hot mess I have ptsd just thinking about it. Literally wrote the playbook on what not to do.
PhinFan1968 likes this. -
PhinFan1968 To 2020, and BEYOND! Club Member
Oh they were Class A Dysfunctional...zero doubt. However, I put a lot of emphasis on personal accountability and responsibility. He showed ZERO of that in his time here, and that, to me, was the primary contributor to his lack of success. If putting on the 20 pounds killed his athleticism and ability, why didn't he lose it and regain "dominant" form after leaving? You put somebody like Tua's drive into a freakishly/uniquely-talented Dion Jordan, and he'd be a monster star in the league, no matter who the coaches are.
And yes, they knew he was lacking in the character department before drafting him (and had a HC that was not widely respected as a developmentally-sound coach)...completely wasted pick/trade. That was a MASSIVE case of GM thinking he's the smartest guy in the room, and proving he wasn't.
And at the time, IIRC, the organization was putting a lot of effort into helping him through his stuff, giving him 2nd chance after 2nd chance, and he kept spitting in their face.firedan likes this. -
If Jordan wasn't injured right asway and suspended multiple times, maybe he would have developed early on. He was a freak athlete and had the natural talent, so it's hard to say he was a "bust" in the traditional sense. It's more like the lineman we just passed on...he just wasn't mentally there to where he could be a professional. I was rooting for him in Seattle but I feel like it was too little, too late.
For those who don't know, Dion Jordan bounced from Seattle to San Fran, then played last year with the Raiders and had 3 sacks. He's currently a free agent so his career still isn't over quite yet.Last edited: Mar 22, 2021 -
That's not what anyone's trying to say here. Rather it's to invite the discussion about how much impact a team has on a player's development and how much is it on them? Obviously it's both. We know that bad organisations can hinder and even damage an individual player's development. That's not to take away any personal responsibility, it's simply to try to see the full picture.
The discussion series from TDN presents the question as a dichotomy - bust OR broken, but that's just a tool for discussion. In no way did the guys (or Jordan, as far as I know) suggest that Dion didn't bear responsibility or that he was just a victim. -
No one said that was the fault of the staff. No one said he doesn't bear some responsibility. The point is to ask what responsibility the organisation might bear, and looking at, it's hard not to see that the Dolphins FO/HC situation was a mess and that he wasn't used well nor given the best shot. That's a fair assessment.Dol-Fan Dupree likes this.
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I remember when we moved up in the draft to get to the third spot. I kept thinking...."oh yeah, it's Lane Johnson all...fricken...day"
tirty8 likes this. -
Maybe they were but how does the front office staff or the organization become responsible for his drug use? Even if he sat on the bench the entire time it wouldn't have mattered because of his poor choices. Where the staff was totally incompetent was the analysis of him PRIOR to the draft. After the draft he sabotaged himself. I don't think you can lay that at their feet.resnor likes this.
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He was a part time player in Oregon with off the charts athleticism... was still a very raw prospect at his position... but we picked him high... i think Ireland saw Jason Taylor ability in him...
not only did we pick him high... he was coming off shoulder surgery... it was just a bad, bad pick -
What are you talking about?
I just said the staff weren't to blame for his drug use.
The staff were responsible for how he was used on the field.
But I'm tired of repeating myself. Please go watch the video which belongs to the OP.
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Sorry I strung along 2 concepts into one thought. Didn't mean to imply you were saying staff responsible for drug use. That wasn't the intent at all.
I couldn't listen to all of it. When they started making excuses for his inability to over come his adversity off the field and imply that they could understand how all these bad things drove him to drugs since the Dolphins didn't have the proper "support system" they lost me. No accountability for his personal actions. It's always a by product of someone else's actions or inactions. Or how things aren't fair or optimal so they had no other choice. I'm calling bull****.Last edited: Mar 22, 2021resnor likes this. -
We saw him as an OLB at times in Miami. He was an even worse OLB than he was a DE in the NFL. He made some good plays like matching Gronk step for step in man coverage, but he was a compkete liability in the run game or zone coverage.
Essentially he could make plays if he had a free run at the ball carrier, but couldn’t shed a block from an arthritic grandmoter.
Poor diagnostic processing and poor functional strength are things he hasn’t been able to overcome.
sure our staff made a bad situation worse, but Dion was already busted before Philbin broke him.resnor likes this. -
As soon as he hugged Andrew Luck in his rookie season (I think week 2, right after we beat the Browns) instead of sacking him I had a strong feeling he'd be a bust.
resnor likes this. -
B. U. S. T.
No way around it. Was a terrible pick, and he didn't help himself.
Compete bust, and probably the worst pick in decades.JJ_79 likes this.