I side with Shula on this one. Smith wanted leverage to get as much money as possible, and not one single team offered him the contract he wanted while he was holding out. It's not just Shula that said no. Furthermore, the contract he got ($13.5 mil over 4 years) paid him more than Marino made during that time (Marino made just under $13 mil from 1993-1996).

I don't think paying Smith such a record deal would have been a wise use of funds given that our offense was really good from 1993-1996: #5, #3, #7, #13 in points scored. Our defense was the bigger issue. So yes it worked for the Cowboys, but I don't think Smith gets us a SB, especially with the salary cap coming into play in 1994.

 

My reading of Shula’s response to Smith is that he thought Smith was being unethical. Smith wasn’t offering to work for the phins at a cut rate price either.

as cbrad said we needed a lot more help on the other side of the ball than we needed a RB.

 

There's also the forever unanswered question of how good Smith would have been outside of Dallas, and away from their amazing OL. He was obviously a good player, but there will always be a debate about how much of his production came from running the ball endlessly behind that OL.

And while he remained productive, his career had three clear phases. 1990-1995, where he was at the top of the league. 1996-2000, where he was good not great. And 2001-2004, where he was old and playing out the string. Had he been on a lot of other teams, that second era might have been pretty pedestrian, and the Dolphins OL was flat out bad at run blocking.

I absolutely wanted a better run game in those years. Its a crime that we had one of the worst and it held us back. But trading a kings ransom and then paying Smith that much would have been the wrong move. And its not like Jimmy traded for him when he started in 96 either. And few knew him better.

 

Old man yells at cloud

 

You just shut your filthy whore mouth right flipping now! Eternal Ban!

:2guns::death::hang::plzdie::jump::shuriken::nutkicker::gun_bandana::hammer: