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2016 did us in

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YellowFlags

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Anyone else feel that the 2016 season killed us? Instead of realizing it for what it was (a cake schedule with winning a unsustainable amount of close games) we doubled down and thought we were ready to compete with just a few roster changes. We were basically a 7-9 to 8-8 team last year.
This is horrible for our front office as it means we should have been rebuilding. Instead, we awarded large contracts to current players that will make the actual rebuilding process that much longer and more painful. Either our coaching staff or our front office (or both) made some serious misjudgements on our actual level of talent. This means that in 2018 we hope for either two things 1) a repeat of 2016 with a extreme amount of luck and a soft schedule (with another likely playoff blowout loss) or 2) we look at reality and take stock of our talent level and build for the future. This means writing off the 2018 season.
This means a lot of salary shedding and a year or two before we are ready to compete, and a lot of it I believe stems from 2016.
 
Actually I think the team was aware of what needed to happen, in that it signed TJ McDonald, Ted Larsen, William Hayes, Lawrence Timmons, and Julius Thomas, drafted Charles Harris and Raekwon McMillan, and reportedly tried to trade for Richard Sherman.

Last year the team was the following pieces away from being competitive in the playoffs:

1) A better receiving tight end.
2) Laremy Tunsil's playing as advertised at LT, a better RG, and a healthy Mike Pouncey playing as he did in his prime.
3) DeVante Parker's playing as advertised.
4) Improvement in the run defense as a function of Hayes, McMillan, and Timmons.
5) Improvement in the pass defense as a function of Harris, McDonald, and Richard Sherman (attempted).

Notice however that none of that panned out, other than perhaps the improvement in the run defense. On top of that Tannehill was hurt.

The team was aware of what needed to be done, but the measures it took just didn't work, and its starting QB was hurt.

The biggest disappointments in the above equation (other than the injuries) in my opinion are 1) Tunsil, and 2) Parker. Those are two of the past three first-round picks.
 
In order to have been “done in,” you have to assume that we were at some lofty perch and that somehow we have fallen off? We rarely have been in contention for a playoff spot, or near the top of the AFC East in the past 15 years, so as long as the Patriots repeatedly run away with the division, the Dolphins are going to continue to spin their wheels. I think we have been somewhat competitive....we did get on a nice roll, but we have always had a lot of problem areas, like our offensive line, linebackers, DB’s, etc.

Losing Tannehill pretty much ended any chances we had to be competitive, and then Gase compounded the problem by bringing in a has been QB (Cutler) who was ready for the broadcast booth.
 
<O> said:
The biggest disappointments in the above equation (other than the injuries) in my opinion are 1) Tunsil, and 2) Parker. Those are two of the past three first-round picks.
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And the other 1st round pick is on IR. So the last three 1st round picks have done nothing for us this year.

The plan...if you want to call it that...to address the issues were clearly a horrible execution of talent evaluation and spending. That should be no surprise to most. This front office has failed for over a decade at talent evaluation...Tannenbaum only enhances the failures. Grier has been part of the failures for a decade and whoever our pro scouting executive is he clearly has no clue what he's doing. How many trades and free agent pickups have working in our favor? How many have failed? I'd estimate over 80% have failed in the last decade...not many people get to keep their job with a failure rate that high but they do in Miami.
 
It didn't/doesn't matter what the Dolphins play like. Mike Tannenbaum will never add depth to a roster for as long as he lives.
 
The only way 2016 killed us is because we didnt get surgery on RT to try to get him back for the playoffs and it caused a 2017 injury.
 
season was doomed as soon as Tannehill went down. the front office/coaching staff deserves some blame for moves like bringing in Cutler, big extensions for average players like Andre Branch, and not addressing positions they filled with stopgaps, like G, the previous season. saying we should clean house one year removed from the playoffs is overboard considering he hurdles we ran into.
 
<O> said:
Actually I think the team was aware of what needed to happen, in that it signed TJ McDonald, Ted Larsen, William Hayes, Lawrence Timmons, and Julius Thomas, drafted Charles Harris and Raekwon McMillan, and reportedly tried to trade for Richard Sherman.
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We also signed Cutler and Maualuga and gave Alonso and Branch massive contracts. None of THOSE moves point to a team that's rebuilding.
 
montequi said:
We also signed Cutler and Maualuga and gave Alonso and Branch massive contracts. None of THOSE moves point to a team that's rebuilding.
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That is the problem, and it is going to cost us two seasons ( this year and next year to shed some of this weight). For all this "talent" that we have, the stats indicate we are far closer to Cleveland than being at the Bills level; much less the Patriots. You could actually argue that Cleveland is in a better shape than we are with the draft capital they have plus their salary structure.

Perhaps it was politically impossible for the front office to sell the story that we weren't really a playoff team last year. There are little if any moves we can do next year to make a difference from this year. Getting Tannehill back will help (mediocrity would be a vast improvement), but the holes on the line, LB play, RBs, TEs, and even the D-Line are not going to be fixed in one year with a team in bad salary cap shape.
The
A good draft obviously helps, but to depend on nailing just about every selection is of course impossible.
 
YellowFlags said:
That is the problem, and it is going to cost us two seasons ( this year and next year to shed some of this weight). For all this "talent" that we have, the stats indicate we are far closer to Cleveland than being at the Bills level; much less the Patriots. You could actually argue that Cleveland is in a better shape than we are with the draft capital they have plus their salary structure.

Perhaps it was politically impossible for the front office to sell the story that we weren't really a playoff team last year. There are little if any moves we can do next year to make a difference from this year. Getting Tannehill back will help (mediocrity would be a vast improvement), but the holes on the line, LB play, RBs, TEs, and even the D-Line are not going to be fixed in one year with a team in bad salary cap shape.
The
A good draft obviously helps, but to depend on nailing just about every selection is of course impossible.
Click to expand...
We are not in bad salary cap shape. We can manuever and have over 44 million in cap space. Also, it’s really easy for fans to say “let’s rebuild” when in actuality that means to lose games. Teams do not do that in the nfl. The reason they don’t do this is because people will get fired if they lose.
 
Suh's contract did us in. Not just the amount, but the thought process that this one man could be a Defense.

You can't build a Defense around a DT. But you can build an offense around a QB.

When we start prioritizing the LB as a integral part of this team's design, this team's fortunes will change. Think of our great D's, what did we have? LBers.

And I don't need to hear how one injury ruined the possible answer this year. Where is the depth? One LB can't fix this.

We have continually poured resources into pressure from the DL. But unless you have someone protecting that second level, we'll continue to have issues against the run AND BE UNABLE TO STOP GRONK.

Jesus, Gronk will have retired and we have done NOTHING to address his presence in the AFC East his entire career. How pathetic is this glaring hole in our team defense? Stop Gronk.
 
We should have paid Calais Campbell instead of giving free money to Branch whom I felt was just a role player who had a few good games in a contract year.
 
Two things did us in.
- Failed to address the OL
- RT refused to get surgery.
 
phinfan40353 said:
Suh's contract did us in. Not just the amount, but the thought process that this one man could be a Defense.

You can't build a Defense around a DT. But you can build an offense around a QB.

When we start prioritizing the LB as a integral part of this team's design, this team's fortunes will change. Think of our great D's, what did we have? LBers.

And I don't need to hear how one injury ruined the possible answer this year. Where is the depth? One LB can't fix this.

We have continually poured resources into pressure from the DL. But unless you have someone protecting that second level, we'll continue to have issues against the run AND BE UNABLE TO STOP GRONK. The problem with our defense is no pass rush when you really need it on 3rd downs ...it’s non existent for the most part.

Jesus, Gronk will have retired and we have done NOTHING to address his presence in the AFC East his entire career. How pathetic is this glaring hole in our team defense? Stop Gronk.
Click to expand...
 
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