Awesome article on Dolphins Rebuild (The Ringer)

[WesternNYDolfan]

What 2020 Can Teach Us About NFL Team Building

The Dolphins dramatically improved—even though they weren’t supposed to. For teams that are apparently tanking, like the Jets and Jaguars, the lesson is that there is no one way to build a contender.

www.theringer.com

Talks about how our rebuild is the new gold standard.

 

[The Goat]

What 2020 Can Teach Us About NFL Team Building

The Dolphins dramatically improved—even though they weren’t supposed to. For teams that are apparently tanking, like the Jets and Jaguars, the lesson is that there is no one way to build a contender.

www.theringer.com

Talks about how our rebuild is the new gold standard.

This is an outstanding article, and flies directly in the face of any "tanking" narratives.

 

[Fin Fan in Cali]

I think the most important thing that the Miami Dolphins found out is how important it is for the GM and Head coach to be on the same page, and to have a very good Head coach.

 

[FinsGonnaRock06]

Nice Article thanks for sharing

 

[Fin Fan in Cali]

Building a football team for the short term is a hell of a lot less difficult than the long term. A good guidepost for this is FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of the NFL Executive of the Year Award, a list consisting of many fired executives like Reggie McKenzie, Mike Maccagnan, or Ryan Grigson. These are GMs who capitalized on some good players, made solid short-term decisions, and had a little luck to help them overachieve in a given year. “For the seven fired GMs [who won the award in the last decade], the average time from winning executive of the year to being unemployed works out to a brisk 1,122 days, or just over three years,” the site said.

 

[Fin Fan in Cali]

What 2020 Can Teach Us About NFL Team Building

The Dolphins dramatically improved—even though they weren’t supposed to. For teams that are apparently tanking, like the Jets and Jaguars, the lesson is that there is no one way to build a contender.

www.theringer.com

Talks about how our rebuild is the new gold standard.

Thank you for posting.

 

[NBP81]

This is an outstanding article, and flies directly in the face of any "tanking" narratives.

Not really IMO... I dont think anyone reasonable ever implied that players/coaches were actively trying to lose games on gamedays. I think the big divide is created by anyone's definition of a tank.

From the article:

" They traded two of their best players to net a total of three first-round picks. No team in NFL history used as many players in a season as the Dolphins did last year. They did not tank, they purged."

Call it what you want if you dislike the term "tank", but fact is the moves they made werent made with winning 2019 games in mind, they were 100% certain that those moves would lose them games.

 

[ForksPhin]

Good article, but they didn’t dive into Miami’s rebuild as deeply as they should. Signing players like Van Noy, Jones, and Ogbah was key, but how about more discussion of how successfully Miami used the draft assets they acquired in 2020. Not to mention, the upcoming draft riches they will be deploying 2021?

 

[Rev Kev]

This is an outstanding article, and flies directly in the face of any "tanking" narratives.

Purge or Tank if semantics help you feel better the roster was dissected with the long term goal of acquiring the best QB prospect and the plan was executed to perfection gaining even more picks in the process

 

[hoops]

I don’t often say this but Flores and company have shown me on d that whatever they target/add in free agency to that defense this offseason I’m gonna give em the benefit of the doubt.

even Shaq Lawson who isn’t all that dynamic with the pass rush has been a solid piece to date. A 2nd tier signing that’s paid off in terms of overall play. And I did not like that signing at the time at all.

they added a bunch of pieces that have all bought in.

 

[rafael]

This is an outstanding article, and flies directly in the face of any "tanking" narratives.

IMO "purging" and "tanking" aren't really all that different. They both mean that the FO is sacrificing the short-term to create a better foundation for the future. Nobody reasonably believes that players or coaches aren't trying to win. That's the baggage in the "tanking" term that gets people up in arms. But it's just noise. Whether you call it purging or tanking, the fact of the matter is that the FO was looking to create a foundation for a rebuild and was not worried about finding the players that were most likely to bring wins in 2019.

 

[The Bopkin]

I don’t often say this but Flores and company have shown me on d that whatever they target/add in free agency to that defense this offseason I’m gonna give em the benefit of the doubt.

even Shaq Lawson who isn’t all that dynamic with the pass rush has been a solid piece to date. A 2nd tier signing that’s paid off in terms of overall play. And I did not like that signing at the time at all.

they added a bunch of pieces that have all bought in.

I agree. I wasn't sure how all those pieces would fit, but when you get production from every single free agent acquisition minus one, it seems to me as if you know exactly how you plan to use that player and know what kind of player you are getting.
It seems like those most basic of common sense principles: Sign guys that fit what you do, or sign them with the plan to fit what you do around their skills.
There is always that possibility that once a guy gets paid his motivation will crash, but that also goes to knowing what kind of human you are signing to play.

 

[Dan13Forever]

What 2020 Can Teach Us About NFL Team Building

The Dolphins dramatically improved—even though they weren’t supposed to. For teams that are apparently tanking, like the Jets and Jaguars, the lesson is that there is no one way to build a contender.

www.theringer.com

Talks about how our rebuild is the new gold standard.

Good find. Good read.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Not really IMO... I dont think anyone reasonable ever implied that players/coaches were actively trying to lose games on gamedays. I think the big divide is created by anyone's definition of a tank.

From the article:

" They traded two of their best players to net a total of three first-round picks. No team in NFL history used as many players in a season as the Dolphins did last year. They did not tank, they purged."

Call it what you want if you dislike the term "tank", but fact is the moves they made werent made with winning 2019 games in mind, they were 100% certain that those moves would lose them games.

True. And for about 1/4 of the season, Miami resembled an expansion team. That the group ended up with five wins was pretty astonishing.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Building a football team for the short term is a hell of a lot less difficult than the long term. A good guidepost for this is FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of the NFL Executive of the Year Award, a list consisting of many fired executives like Reggie McKenzie, Mike Maccagnan, or Ryan Grigson. These are GMs who capitalized on some good players, made solid short-term decisions, and had a little luck to help them overachieve in a given year. “For the seven fired GMs [who won the award in the last decade], the average time from winning executive of the year to being unemployed works out to a brisk 1,122 days, or just over three years,” the site said.

Winning long-term is difficult. That's the real challenge. I love the moves Miami made in free agency, but most are on on short-term contracts.

There's a bit of a catch 22 there. If a player performs well, like Ogbah, his two year $15 million contract is a bargain. But he will deserve to be paid after 2021. Same with some other players.

So, while the Dolphins continue to put the finishing pieces together (offensive fire power mostly), the challenge will be to keep good players, or identify cheaper solutions.

That's going to be the next step for Grier and Flores. Fortunately, the salary cap with such a young team should give Miami the time to build.