Every one of us is entitled to a rant. All of us have been wrong. No harm in venting to and with the community. You're good bro. Everything is OK. We're always happy to hear your opinions, regardless of whether we agree with them or not. :)Im rambling the **** out of this post so if you dont have a couple of minutes to read it once, and then another couple of times just to get what it actually means, just move on.
Let me start off by saying there's not one single move this FO made in the last 2 years that was a **** move(questionable at worst) when looked at individually.. These moves when looked at individually were all legit, its when you look at the overall strategy that things start to look... Inadequate for a lack of a better word. I'll just keep this one on the offense because quite frankly, this D has warts but its good enough to win games in the NFL provided you field a top 10 offense, which is what you should always be striving for.
Picking Jackson at #18 is not a problem, picking Eich at #42 is not a problem, picking hunt at #39 is not a problem, picking Kindley at #111 is definitely not a problem. Picking Tua over Herbert at #5 was definitely not a problem. I mean sure hindsight captains will tell you all along Herbert was definitely the guy, but thats a very small amount of people and even then half of them hated Tua more than they liked Herbert.
So whats the problem? If all these moves were correct, how the **** does this offense suck so bad?
We often come across guys who's whole argument centers around "These guys are pros and you're sitting on your couch, I'll trust the pros to do their jobs". This is basically correct, you're not getting resistance from me on that one. Grier is absolutely better at evaluation footaball players than we are, Flores is obviously a better football coach than anyone here(hopefully) and basically everyone on the Fins coaching staff most probably know WTF they're doing.
That being said, having a bunch of competent people doesnt automatically bring success. You absolutely need someone to coordinate all these guys, formulate an overall strategy that makes sense and make sure everyone knows their role and execute it at a high level. This is where the Fins literally suck on offense. There is absolutely nothing that makes sense on the way this offense is built and run. They are actually doing worst than a coinflip.
There's nothing to evaluate on offense right now because the OL is incapable of giving even below average time for plays to develop.
Quick view of the OL: 2nd year, 2nd year, 3rd year(IR), 2nd year, Davis(who got the QB smashed in 1.9 seconds, and who's backup is, you guessed it, a rookie)
Quick view of the OL coach: 1st year(was playing in the NFL just 5 years ago)
Quick view of the QB: 2nd year(IR)
No one, not one player was put in position to succeed. Every single one of these players were put in a group that was just as clueless as they are. I'd bet a huge amount that any single one of these players would've performed a decent amount better if they were put next to a vet, or at the very least coached by someone who knows what the **** they're doing. I bet Jackson would've been alot better if he came into a situation where there were 3-4 vets on the OL, and I bet that statement is true for anyone of the green OL.
I also bet Tua would've looked alot better if he didnt play behind a group of OL that are all lost and the only one to look up to is someone who is also lost. Picks and money is great, but if all your picks go into the same unit or function, its a problem. All these coaches and management guys are probably good at what they do, but someone needs to oversee the overall strategy because right now, everyone seems to do as they please and the final product is alot of **** that dont make sense.
/rant
Minor nitpicks .... or maybe my own individual rants ....
Some of us who stated our preference for Herbert early and often took a LOT of negative comments and insulting comments and suggestions that opinions were not even based on football acumen. IMHO, that wasn't fair, and we were proven right .... this time. Reasonable minds may differ, but come on guys, let's not trash people with differing opinions.
One thing I think is very strong about Chris Grier is that he did indeed completely support Tua. He spent a LOT of FA money and a LOT of draft resources in an attempt to obtain and build an OL that suited Tua ... something never availed to Tannehill, despite years upon years of our requesting the FO do that. Tannehill was hung out to dry .... Tua was correctly built-around with an unbelievable amount of resources. We tried to draft OL who could also produce a strong running game to complement him .... and we drafted and/or FA'd every single position with high resources ..... and we built depth. Tua's story is still being written, as are the stories of our OL ... but just becuase it's not working now doesn't mean the GM didn't support him and build around him. Then, we spent our super-high draft pick on his favorite target .... who was worth the pick independent of Tua, but this was a hand-in-glove type of draft pick .... tailor made for Tua. We brought in his QB whisperer .... and our dual-OC's (disaster decision by Coach Flo, but not a GM Grier call) and that's the sort of thing half the QB's in the NFL are clammoring to get. Tua has been and is fully supported. That's a big credit to Grier for trying to build things the right way. If only we had done that for Tannehill, we might have been happy about our QB situation.
Lots of players have been put in a position to succeed ... but that's not a guarantee and the most important part of a head coach is who can he attract as a staff. When you get a competent OL coach who turns your guys into above-average line .... you need to recognize that and not fire him. Good coaches aren't interested in a rebuild with a head coach who fires everyone every year. This needs to turn around or Coach Flo is going to start sliding down the hill in his ability to attract coaches. And, he needs to turn it around with THESE COACHES and THESE PLAYERS. So, let's support our team, and try to help them feel that support so they can become the players their potential suggests they can become. The talent level at every NFL team is high .... the potential to turn it around is definitely there. This time last year we weren't so great either .... but we kicked it into gear.
Fins up!