Zach is on now..... Asked if the Dolphins disrespected him. Says he felt things could have been better, but it was fine. Says the only thing that was a punch in the gut was the day he was cleaning out his locker, Drew (Rosenhaus) asked if he could say thanks to the fans via the media room. Team said no, he's not a Dolphin anymore, he's got to do it off premises. Zach says he's ok with it though. Says he bleeds aqua & orange and that won't change. That's just the way they are. But feels they could have handled JT better in the public. "Gotta get a better spokesman". Don't wanna be hard on Jeff Ireland. But he the way he talks about a all-timer like JT as a first/second year player. "If you don't have a need for him, that's fine. But tell him up front. Don't go thru the media like that." Zach is passionate about this. He says he doesn't like seeing the organization look like that (this aspect). "You gotta respect great players". I'm not doing this interview justice. Zach is really passionate here. Fantastic interview. "I talked to Jason, trust me. He's SAD! He waited as long as he could." He's sad that they never made an offer. That's all he wanted. Says he just wanted to be wanted. Dolphins didn't show any interest. Says he HATED watching how they used Jason this year. Says Rex Ryan is gonna have a damn sight better plan Says the Dolphins crossed the line on this deal. Again, I'm not doing the interview justice. He's saying A LOT more than I'm typing. He's not bashing the organization. Saying a lot of good things, but he's very honest about his feelings about how some of these things are being handled, and how he hates seeing them make this particular kind of mistake. Says Jason went to Costa Rica AFTER the team canceled the meeting.
i'm in agreement with everything he's said so far. i love how he said that no matter what happened that he was still a dolphin at heart.
Wow. As I said, this FO shows no loyalty to it's players, so we shouldn't exactly require such from the players themselves.
Well, as long as Sparano / Ireland / Parcells are around, JT isn't going to be able to sign a 1 day deal and retire here. He may never get that opportunity now. Makes you realize how much class Dan had to turn down Minnesota.
Says it's unreasonable to ask Jason to wait until after the draft to find a team. There might not be an opportunity! You can't gamble like that. "I hate to say it, but going to the Jets made him better". Says he's gonna have to cheer against Jason.
Zach said exactly the same thing. But not so much the Dolphins, just the league in general. It's not the same as it used to be.
to be fair, zach and JT were never this FO's players. Parcells wasnt bought in here for feel good moments about faded players, he was brought here to win football games and get a team in shape for a playoff run. I think this FO has done that better than anyones done for this team since Jimmy Johnson. i love zach and jt, but id trade their entire careers to see miami in a super bowl...
Zach said that his situation is different because he had other options. Jason didn't. Would he have ever signed with the Jets? Says if they'd have asked him that day when he cleaned out his locker, probably. Reiterating how sad Jason is. All he wanted is an offer. He would have signed it. The Dolphins put him in a tough situation. Great interview. Not doing it justice.
Zach talking about the mindset. He just can't root for the Jets, ever. 12 years as a Dolphins.....he won't even root for Jason if the Jets reach the Super Bowl. Hopes JT balls out and has a great year. But he won't ever root for that team. "Even if it's family, I can't do that."
To sum up that one part of the interview "I wish the organization did a better job of handling it's stars." Sid makes a great point: "It ends ugly for Dan Marino, Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor"
As dissappointed as I am with this news, I can't hold Parcell's or Ireland to blame. They're not the face of the franchise, but rather the gut of it, and its simply unfortunate for JT things didn't work out. It does however underscore Zach's situation, and prompts us to question what assurances do we have, what factors are in place, and who ultimately is responsible for seeing that Zach's retirement as a Dolphin, IS underway to being realized, formalized, and finalized? I would assume such matters are left to the business side of franchise affairs, whereby the actual football operation merely looks on, in ceremonial support. If this is the case, I'd like to see some evidence that plans are being made, so that Zach's wishes WILL be both respected, and met with the utmost consideration, a player of his unprecedented reputation among the fandom deserves.
Let's not forget Ross. If Huizenga still owned the club, he would probably want to show JT and Zach some consideration, regardless of who the FO or coaches were. But, with Ross in charge, Ross has no particular loyalty to JT or Zach, so would not intercede on their behalf unless there were a total fan revolt that affected ticket sales.
Zach is the greatest Dolphin EVER!!! He has always been loyal and was a DOMINANT player... Zach attack!!!!
I laughed my *** off when he talked about hitting Fireman Ed with a drink and knocking him off that guys shoulders But yeah, no one will ever accuse this regime of being "delicate" with it's players on a personal level. I agree with Zach here. It IS a business, but at the same time you have to understand a fanbase has loyalty and attachments towards players. I'm not upset that they didn't want to sign JT back for another season, but I think he deserved for them to at least let him know that.
As Omar or one of the beat writers mentioned I believe letting JT go has as much to do with his pull with the fan base and media as his age. He can make plenty of money in Hollywood after he retires though so I can't believe JT would do this only for the money... Oh well, time to move on I guess.
Yea but would Parcells of done that to Lawrence Taylor? Hang him out to dry like that? JT is just a great a player as LT was if not better. You just dont do that to Hall of Famers. I call BS, and mark these words we will lose to the JEST this year and I garanDAMtee JT will have sometime of not everything to do with it. Rex and JT will make sure of that. Sad day IMO, about as bad as the day Marino was FORCED to retire.
