Over the last 5 years, Dolphins ranked number 2 in drafting.

[z926538]

Tony Sparano and Joe Philbin, but I would ask who was the GM over the last 5 years?

This isn't rocket science. Jeff Ireland has been the Dolphins GM for the last five years. Anyone who says otherwise is denying reality. The Dolphins paid him as GM for five years. He cashed the checks. If you ask the NFL office they will tell you he has been the Dolphins GM for five years. For the last five years his staff of scouts gathered information on the players. He worked with his staff to create the draft board using the principles that Parcells taught him. The Dolphins drafted from that draft board. In a few rare and well publicized cases Parcells overrode Ireland on the draft choice (Pat White pick), but for the most part they were in agreement and the Dolphins' choice was Ireland's work product.

The offensive line is a testament to the Dolphins poor drafting and by itself invalidates this so called study. Two first round draft picks, a second round pick, a third round pick, and multiple highly paid free agents have resulted in an offensive line that is among the worst in the league. Now some will try to blame this on the fact that some of our linemen are not "prototypical" for the WCO, but I say that if Philbin is as good a coach as everyone makes him out to be then he should be able to adjust his system to optimize the strength of his "maulers". The fact that he wasn't able to do so says something about him as a coach that I am not certain many of us on the board yet want to concede. The fact of the matter is that we have spent an inordinate amount of money on the offensive line and it is not any good. We drafted the wrong players and the fact that they are starting invalidates the entire study.

 

[Zounds]

resulted in an offensive line that is among the worst in the league.

Really? you think Miami has one of the worst lines in the NFL? I guess you didnt even bother looking up the stats, you just assumed they were bad because Ireland drafted them?....we gave up 37 sacks this year. Teams like the Jaguars, Packers, and Cardinals all gave up 50+ sacks on the year. Those are the worst blocking teams.

 

[z926538]

Really? you think Miami has one of the worst lines in the NFL? I guess you didnt even bother looking up the stats, you just assumed they were bad because Ireland drafted them?....we gave up 37 sacks this year. Teams like the Jaguars, Packers, and Cardinals all gave up 50+ sacks on the year. Those are the worst blocking teams.

I didn't say they were the worst in the league, I said one of the worst in the league. As discussed in another thread, ProFootballFocus.com recently graded the Dolphins offensive line as 23rd in the league. This is clearly in the bottom one third of teams in the league.

 

[FinHopeful]

You are 100% right We could start the worst players at every position and just because Ireland drafted them and they are starting doesn't make him a good gm. If your draft picks start and u win then this would be true. They can start a high school caliber team for 5 yrs what does that prove? It proves we don't know what good talent is

While I agree this study is only part of the story, it does have some value. Also, It is important to note that players playing for other teams like Ted Ginn count for the Dolphins draft ranking. There is value in continuing to play in the NFL since there are many draft busts.

 

[FinHopeful]

Five years of being the #2 drafting team in football and yet we havent made the playoff since 08. Color me skeptical.

We havent been awful, but even the biggest homer has to know that article is a tad misleading.

I am skeptical as well, but I do remember the incredible lack of talent when Parcell and company took over.

 

[Birdmond]

When you draft lunch pail type , blue collar players, you'll probably have a reasonable amount of success.

That being said, where are the play makers?

 

[Zounds]

I didn't say they were the worst in the league, I said one of the worst in the league. As discussed in another thread, ProFootballFocus.com recently graded the Dolphins offensive line as 23rd in the league. This is clearly in the bottom one third of teams in the league.

23rd doesnt make us "among the worst in the NFL". 30th would, but 23rd? I know you want it to look worse than it actually is so you can take shots at Ireland, but gimme a break man its 23rd not 32nd. That PFF ranking doesnt account for injuries either.

 

[z926538]

23rd doesnt make us "among the worst in the NFL". 30th would, but 23rd? I know you want it to look worse than it actually is so you can take shots at Ireland, but gimme a break man its 23rd not 32nd. That PFF ranking doesnt account for injuries either.

I don't think I have taken a shot at Ireland in this thread. If anything, I have tried to give him full credit for his work product by saying that the players he brought in, as good or poor as they may be, are better than the garbage he found here when he started. With regards to the offensive line, we have spent an inordinate amount of resource on the offensive line to the detriment of the rest of the team and we have not received the value we should have on that investment. If that is because Philbin and his coaching staff are incapable of adjusting their WCO scheme to effectively use "maulers", then let's blame the coaches. But if it isn't the coaches then we either drafted the wrong people or drafted people who are incapable of working as a team. In either case the state of our offensive line is a potent example as to why this particular study is nothing but crap.

 

[Zounds]

I don't think I have taken a shot at Ireland in this thread. If anything, I have tried to give him full credit for his work product by saying that the players he brought in, as good or poor as they may be, are better than the garbage he found here when he started.

You called him a poor drafter. How is that not a shot?

 

[z926538]

You called him a poor drafter. How is that not a shot?

It's like libel law. Stating the truth about a situation is not the same as taking a shot. Our offensive line is what it is. These players were obtained by Ireland. Are you saying that the problem with the offensive line last year was that Philbin and company are incapable of getting the best out of these players?

 

[Cleetus]

The proof is in the pudding people, this is the year that Ireland either gets credit for being a good GM or He gets totally exposed for not being good. You can blame Parcells, you can blame Sparano but this is his second year without Sparano and more than that without Parcells to blame. Give us a winner, one win in the playoffs would satisfy me, give me hope that this is a team on the upswing and that we do have a competent GM, otherwise it is just more of the same mediocrity or worse that we have been living wth for the longest time with this team.

 

[Zounds]

It's like libel law. Stating the truth about a situation is not the same as taking a shot. Our offensive line is what it is. These players were obtained by Ireland. Are you saying that the problem with the offensive line last year was that Philbin and company are incapable of getting the best out of these players?

Its nothing like libel law. Saying that our OL is among the worst in the league is an OPINION (which you think is a "truth"), which cannot be held up against a law wich is written in black and white.

Again, you keep going back to the OL like its some kind of metric as to a GM's performance. You could say that the OL we currently have was drafted for a different scheme, yes. That doesnt make Ireland a bad drafter or Philbin a bad coach. It means they havent had enought time together to get what they need.

 

[rent this space]

It's like libel law. Stating the truth about a situation is not the same as taking a shot. Our offensive line is what it is. These players were obtained by Ireland. Are you saying that the problem with the offensive line last year was that Philbin and company are incapable of getting the best out of these players?

PFF also said Ireland drafted 2 of the NFL's top 5 safeties(both in the 5th round). You sure it's truth and not opinion?

 

[z926538]

Its nothing like libel law. Saying that our OL is among the worst in the league is an OPINION (which you think is a "truth"), which cannot be held up against a law wich is written in black and white.

Again, you keep going back to the OL like its some kind of metric as to a GM's performance. You could say that the OL we currently have was drafted for a different scheme, yes. That doesnt make Ireland a bad drafter or Philbin a bad coach. It means they havent had enought time together to get what they need.

I'm not the one who judged our offensive line 23rd in the league, PFF did. I keep going back to the offensive line because the amount of resource Ireland has allocated there. If Ireland had made four high round draft picks and multiple expensive free agent signings for Wide Receiver with the same results, we would be discussing the Wide Receiver position.

We're going to have to agree to disagree about the quality of Ireland's drafts. You think he has done well, I think he has done poorly. He's still employed and the Dolphins are still on a four year losing streak, so he must have some uncanny talent for organizational survival - perhaps he has been studying with Matt Millen.

One final comment about GMs and Head Coaches in the NFL being able to work together to draft the players they need: In most situations in today's NFL a Head Coach gets three years to turn things around. Three years. You don't have enough high draft picks in three years to completely rework all the key positions on your roster. So a head coach had better be able to coach up the players he has now because he doesn't get enough time to wait to get everything he wants in personnel before he will face the retain/fire decision. If the Dolphins aren't appreciably improved over 7-9 next season, both GM and Head Coach will deserve the hot seat they will find themselves on.

 

[Zounds]

I keep going back to the offensive line because the amount of resource Ireland has allocated there.

Well in all fairness we were a top rushing team in 2008 and 2009. Our investments in the OL paid off. If it werent for injuries to Jake Grove, Justin Smiley, and Jake Long, we would have likely continued that success into the 2010 season. Couple that with poor coaching by Henning and Sparano, and you end up with the patchwork line we have this year, which still wasn't that bad. So when you look at the performance of a unit, you also have to look at other circumstances such as coaching and injuries, and not just focus on the GM.