Barry Jackson is awesome, and when he says something I believe him. No reporter is 100% right, because they're lied to by the organization fairly often. But, Jackson has managed to be clear to the team that he's not interested in a scoop that is a red-herring. He wants information that is accurate, so the team tends not to use him to leak disinformation. For that, I am very happy to hear any news from Barry Jackson, because it has a better chance of being accurate.
The team has said Tua is our guy. I love that Grier said this not Coach Flo, because it allows Coach Flo to maintain his stance that he plays the best players ... most of the time. That helps keep the locker room vested in Coach Flo's approach and believing in their Coach. But, Grier can say whatever he wants, and his messages are often disinformation--as they should be because he has no locker room to manage. Grier's messages are the Dolphins' poker face in the high-stakes game of draft capital management. We want teams to think we might draft a QB ... so when Grier says Tua is our starter .... Tua and the team take it as a public vote of confidence, and other teams simply ask why Grier (disinformation?) says it and Coach Flo remains cryptically non-committal. That is the perfect combo for the Dolphins.
So, when Barry Jackson says we believe in Tua--I believe Barry. When he reports that we're not interested in Watson--I believe him. If we were to replace Tua with another QB ... I doubt it would be one who will command a mamoth salary and who has already made waves by publicly displaying lack of respect for his team's ownership and administration. Yes, many owners are jerks and idiots ... but Ross surely knows he is part of that idiot owner category, and the last thing he wants is his billion dollar toy humiliating him publicly and re-branding the franchise as dysfunctional. So, someone like Tua who is always respectful is imminently preferable to someone who is going to make the owner look terrible. Again, Ross can't help but be clueless about football; but he can help giving a platform and megaphone to someone who will point it out. So, I doubt the Dolphins are interested in Watson. While the Dolphins are very much OUR TEAM ... at the end of the day, we're just adopting ROSS' TEAM.
From Grier's standpoint, if he can upgrade the QB position--the most important position in all of sports--he will. But in this instance, his hands are likely tied. Even if they weren't, that's a career-ending decision if it doesn't work out ... and Grier is doing great things right now, so why would he throw it all away for a gamble on a disgruntled player when he is poised to cement himself as a great GM with one more draft full of high picks? (4 picks in the top 50).
What Jackson said makes sense. The Madden mentality of wheeling and dealing players without consequences is not the reality of the NFL. In the unlikely event we decide to move on from Tua, we would draft his replacement, not trade for him.
