They were not whiff picks, but they were the wrong picks using long term thinking. Ireland is an impulse shopper.
Ireland cannot ever get it right. He is constantly creating new holes to fill. That is why we are stuck in mediocrity.
At the time of the picks under Ireland the picks made sense and they were not on implulse if you follow his drafts. Now whiffing on the picks is a whole other subject and is all in opinion of the person. Lets look back at the picks made and what was happening at the time that led do many of the decisions of those picks. I will break it out by draft and year.
Long, Merling, Henne, Langford, Murphy, Thomas, Hillard, Parnalle, Dotson in 08
V. Davis, Pat White, Sean Smith, P. Turner, B Hartline, J Nalbone, Clemons, Gardner, Folsom in 09
Odrick, Msi, Jerry, AJ Edds. Carroll, Jones, Spitler, McCoy in 10
Pouncy, Daniel Thomas, Gates, Clay, Krearse, Wilson in 11
R. Tannehill, Martin, Vernon, Ednew, Miller, Kaddu, Cunningham, Randall, Mathews in 12
Year of the line. In 2008 the trificita arrived and Parcells announced his philophy to the world prior to the draft that for building the team was first build the lines on the team so he sent his boy Ireland shopping and we drafted 3 offensive, 3 defensive lineman along with 2 late picks on RB and the 2nd rounder on Henne in that draft. We also traded a late pick for Tony McDaniel so make that 4 picks used on defensive linemen. At the end of this year the decision was made that the Wildcat was out path to sucess so next was the
Year of the playmeakers. In 2009 to take the next step and draft for the wildcat and offensive and defensive play makers. So we drafted 3 recievers, 3 defensive backs and Pat White to make the wildcat hum along with another offensive lineman late and a linebacker. After 2009 Parcells realized that the Wildcat failed, we needed a offensive playmaker plus our defense had collasped so we fired the defensive coodinator and tht next years draft was the
Year of the new defense, linebackers and Brandon Marshall. In 2010 we drafted 3 linebackers, traded 2 picks for Brandon Marshall, drafted 2 defensive ends types and OL Jerry. After the phins offense failed to deliver in 2010 the offensive coordinator was fired , Ricky Williams, Ronnie Brown, Patrick Cobb L. Polite and the ground and pound were jettisioned and 2011 becames the
Year of the new offense and the need for speed. In 2011 with our offensive line still in shambels and no running backs our first 4 picks were spent on offensive weapons to spread the field with the emphsis on speed with the last couple of late picks thrown in for defense. At the end of 2011 after firing the head coach, jettisioning the starting QB and enduring the worst right tackle in the league we enter the this year as the
Year of the new Quarterback. Our first pick was spent on a QB and our second on a tackle to protect him.
So Irelands picks are not random at all in fact you can almost predick them and under Parcells you could almost pick the players we were going to draft before the draft because of the requirements of size that Parcells demanded in his drafted players. I believe that Ireland has moved away from that model after reviewing the players selected in 2011 and 2012. I beleive this is a good thing because now Ireland has a greater pool of players to choose from. In other words if the guy is a little shorter and lighter than what I call the Parcells model Ireland is drafting the guy. During his frist 3 -4 drft under Parcells you could see the positions that Ireland was going to draft early in the draft along with the probable players but later in the draft Ireland would sway from that model and in many cases as have been commented his later picks and college free agents have worked out better than his picks in round 2-4. In this years draft Jeff I believe finally broke that mold and other than Egnew and possibly Kaddu the picks look fairly solid all the way down the line.
So what to expect in the 2013 draft I am predicting spending that first picks on defensive end to rush the passer, with the next 3 picks to be WR/TE, CB and OL maybe not in that order.
I expect and hope in FA we pick a big name reciever, good guard, punishing RB and qb. In FA other than the reciever type these other positions should be affordable with the veteran QB a backup type.
I hope and expect us to resign Hartline, Fasano, Clemons, Smith and maybe Bush. These guys except maybe Smith should be affordable, young and fit the system.
Because of salary, age and depth at certain positions I see us letting Starks, McDaniels, Long, Moore and Bush probably walk
