Comparing Miami Dolphins to San Francisco 49er's Internal Structure

[HoneyB]

I added this to the bottom of one of our threads, but since it's important, I think I'll separate it.

We are the most similar to the San Francisco 49er's:

a. Coach Harbaugh is restricted to coaching, and making game day moves.
b. GM Baalk controls FA and the draft.
c. Chief Operating Officer Marathe controls the cap and negotiates contracts, receiving input from the GM.
d. All three report directly to the owner.
​

I don't like to link to other Miami Dolphins blogs, and never do, but in this case I think it gives us some perspective. The Phinsider blog outlines the power structure for all 32 teams. It's a must-read, to understand this issue:

http://www.thephinsider.com/2014/1/25/5343964/nfl-power-structures-who-really-runs-a-team

Yes, we are a mess.

But most of this, imo, is a symptom of committing to a lame duck coach (s) for another year. That's why all the real GM candidates have stayed away from the very beginning. in 2015, it will be a different story. But even with the situation we were stuck with, we still had one or two decent candidates who were willing to sign on. Licht was a good candidate, for example.

I think we should just go with Gaines at this point and ride out the year.

 

[flynryan15]

Here is the problem I see it when comparing Miami to this formula. In Miami

1. A wants to do part of B
2. We don't have a defined C, but we have a person that thinks she is C and C wants part of B also.
3. D wants A, B, and C to report to him, but he also enters E(Peterson) and F(Blue rRibbon Committee) into the equation.

The Niners get it to work well because they have a involved owner that is capable of making decisions, right decisions. The Dolphins have a owner that isn't capable of making football decisions on his own.

 

[Rhoadsy13]

I agree I'm not sure why so many in the media & fans get so upset about the structure in place. There are teams like the Patriots, Seahawks, & Rams that the GM has no final say. Other teams like Broncos have a football czar over the GM. This opportunity with Fins gives them final say over personnel & does not tie them to Philbin & as you can see by Ross's past he is very loyal.

 

[HoneyB]

Here is the problem I see it when comparing Miami to this formula. In Miami

1. A wants to do part of B
2. We don't have a defined C, but we have a person that thinks she is C and C wants part of B also.
3. D wants A, B, and C to report to him, but he also enters E(Peterson) and F(Blue rRibbon Committee) into the equation.

The Niners get it to work well because they have a involved owner that is capable of making decisions, right decisions. The Dolphins have a owner that isn't capable of making football decisions on his own.

We don't know if any of that is true. Philbin seems to want to stay in his lane. There were personal problems between Philbin, Ireland and Aponte, and that all may be gone now that Ireland is out of the equation. As far as the Niner's owner, he's a silver spoon from New York, so how is that much different than Ross?

 

[flynryan15]

We don't know if any of that is true. Philbin seems to want to stay in his lane. There were personal problems between Philbin, Ireland and Aponte, and that all may be gone now that Ireland is out of the equation. As far as the Niner's owner, he's a silver spoon from New York, so how is that much different than Ross?

Because he grew up around football and in the Niners organization he knows how football works. Ross is a rich guy that bought a toy and has no idea how it works. He is like doctors that buy airplanes and kill themselves flying it or a Kennedy.

 

[dlockz]

I agree I'm not sure why so many in the media & fans get so upset about the structure in place. There are teams like the Patriots, Seahawks, & Rams that the GM has no final say. Other teams like Broncos have a football czar over the GM. This opportunity with Fins gives them final say over personnel & does not tie them to Philbin & as you can see by Ross's past he is very loyal.

BB has final say and is the defacto GM so not applicable
As for the Seahawks McLoughlin is the CEO just like Garfinkel. All things done are a collaboration between GM and coach.
In January 2010, the Seahawks made a splash with the hiring of Pete Carroll as its head coach. Schneider came on board one week later. It was a rare case in which the head coach had hiring control over the general manager. The Seahawks Front Office has been a collaboration from the beginning. Schneider has control over salary cap and contract issues and works closely with Carroll on personnel matters. Generally, Schneider will scout the players and report to Carroll who has final decision over roster moves. The relationship has been described as Schneider setting the menu and Carroll picking specific players off of it. This was a selling point to lure Carrol from USC and the GM was chosen by Carrol.

The Rams wanted Fisher so they conceded to let him choose his general manager.

None of these jobs are anything like Miami's.