Yes, yes, yes, we are all a bit taken aback/coping with the Dolphins deals thus far. Let's put that aside for a second.
I want to focus on WHY the deals we've seen got done. People are blankly assigning these deals to Tannenbaum because they appear moronic (and I don't blame people for that), but the fact is these moves point to input from his new coaches Adam Gase and Vance Joseph. -Especially Gase, and here's why:
Both Gase and Joseph said when they were hired that they pride themselves on gearing their sides of the ball to the personnel they have, putting the players in the best positions to succeed by playing to players' strengths. This inherently implies an "I'm smarter than you are" attitude to other coaches in feeling they can get more out of players simply by properly scheming around them. I have absolutely no idea if this is true, but it was around the 500th time I heard Gase say this that it became obvious this is a core aspect of his identity the team's identity moving forward.
So, if you are a coach who thinks he can transform a player simply by putting them in a situation they have had prior success in, who do you target? Maybe...
Byron Maxwell - A successful zone corner in Seattle put into a man scheme in Philly. He has one bad year and is called a bust. Dolphins want to put him back into zone scheme.
Kiko Alonso - A successful MLB moved to OLB, then injured. He has one bad year when he is able to play again and is labelled "a shell of his past self". Theoretically Dolphins want to put him back at MLB, where he was a stud.
Mario Williams - A DE who was forced in Rex Ryan's scheme to drop back into coverage and do less straight rushing the QB. He has one bad year, and is labelled "Lazy". Dolphins want to use him as their primary pass rush specialist.
Now, none of this is to say ANY of this is going to be successful, but it at least shifts the thinking from "Tannenbaum did this all alone because he has the IQ of a bug" to thinking that's more in line with what Gase has repeated about himself over and over. He believes himself a "player optimizer", and with limited options out there for some major holes on defense, these are his "wounded animal" rehabilitation projects.
We will see VERY early on in the season just how good Gase's method is for reviving players to their past glories. I'm now scouring the remaining free agent market with this thinking in mind, trying to predict who the Dolphins will target. Spotlight is on players who were successful 2 years ago, had "one bad year"...but were in different schemes for that year. There is a common thread here, gentlemen.
Flawed as it may seem on the surface, there IS some method being deployed behind this madness. Fingers crossed it works out. Lord knows this team needs to win at some point within our lifetimes.
