Former Dolphin Minkah Fitzpatrick speaks on fallout with Miami

[djphinfan]

Your rookie year, be a football player, not just a free safety..If I recall he wasn’t playing too much free safety at Alabama..

 

[The Goat]

Uh, yeah...

Yeah, no.

 

[kosaboy]

All players and coaches are egotistical or they never would have made it to the NFL. If you don’t think you are among the best players or coaches in the game, you have no chance of having success in the highest
level of the game.
Some players and coaches just have a different way of dealing in public but come game day, every player better believe he is better than the player he is going up against or he will soon see what the NFL stands for
if he isn’t one of the best. That NFL being “not for long”.

I think there is a big difference in being a confident player or coach and being egotistical. You can believe in yourself and your ability without letting your ego run wild. A confident person can understand they dont always know everything but someone with a big ego believes they are always right.

 

[lurking]

All players and coaches are egotistical or they never would have made it to the NFL. If you don’t think you are among the best players or coaches in the game, you have no chance of having success in the highest
level of the game.
Some players and coaches just have a different way of dealing in public but come game day, every player better believe he is better than the player he is going up against or he will soon see what the NFL stands for
if he isn’t one of the best. That NFL being “not for long”.

This is just BS, I’ve known and have met quite a few Players. Mike Kozlowski used to work for me, Bob kuechenberg lived behind me, Manny Fernandez is my father‘s next-door neighbor. I’ve been on ski trips with Kim Bokamper, Bob Baumhower and others
And none of them were what you claimed them to be.

 

[lurking]

Going rogue as in going from one practice drill to working with other dbs in another drill. We're not talking about going rogue in games "We're talking about practice!. We're talking about practice man!"

Oh, so that makes it OK.

 

[rickd13]

I tend to think, Minkah handled the whole situation poorly. He went from being excited about his multi role position on defense, after the draft; to whining about how he was being handled. Two different stories in a one year time frame. What changed? There seems like there was some mishandling on Miami's part as well. But overall, Minkah just didn't want to be in Miami anymore. As a life long fan, I want player's, who want to play for The Miami Dolphins!!!

I'll tell you what changed. Miami was in rebuilding mode evidenced by the Tunsil trade and Fitzpatrick wanted no part of it especially after that debacle against Baltimore.

 

[RastaMan407]

Both sides played a role through all this. That being said he moved on and so did we. It’s a learning experience for both sides.

 

[rickd13]

Wish they would've just put him at deep middle and called it a damn day.

I hate egotistical coaches sometimes.

That isn't his best position.

 

[Mach2]

There are three sides to every story, yours, mine and the truth. Wish i could have heard from Flores if he was made available to talk about it.

Meh

That's not the "professional" way to handle situations like that.

I realize, inquiring minds want to know, but not what high character HCs do, IMO.

 

[Mach2]

Wish they would've just put him at deep middle and called it a damn day.

I hate egotistical coaches sometimes.

But that's not the "design" of Flo's base philosophy.

I don't think ego played a part, other than coach is a my way or the highway type of guy.

Shula was the same way, and that is a part of what made him such a highly respected HC.

 

[Mach2]

Anyone remember the dudes name in NE, that Parcels called "she", when he was talking to the media about the injury report?

That was hilarious, at the time...

 

[Sirspud]

I expected the article to be a lot better. It actually rambled pretty bad without saying much. The only thing it really goes over was that he once left a drill to go to a coverage drill. But it wasn't even fully explained why he wasn't in that drill and why he was in what he was. I could conjecture, but that's pretty stupid to have to do after reading an article.

Good coaching staffs rarely have good players go rogue. Just saying.

 

[EJay]

Maybe this will shine a light for some fans to realize that sometimes when a young player doesn't look overly impressive in their early seasons it might be because of their usage or the scheme they're in. It's not always all on the player just not living up to expectations.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I’ve often contended that a player’s career in football is often dictated by the team he goes to and the coaches he plays for.

We’ve seen so many examples over the decades of players looking lost one place then serviceable, if not a star, elsewhere.

Like players themselves, coaches often underachieve and/or make mistakes. Sometimes they don’t see the talent in a player. Sometimes they misuse them. Sometimes they play favorites. It happens.

IMO, this kind of thing happens in football more than any of the other major sports.

Circling back to Minkah Fitzpatrick, we don’t know what the long term vision/plan was by Flores. Perhaps he chose to ‘misuse’ Fitz temporarily due to roster circumstances. Or perhaps it was deeper than that and he was trying to make a point and teach the kid something. Or maybe he really did just make a mistake. Who knows?

As a fan that championed drafting Minkah and defended him from the naysayers, I do agree with those questioning his character and ability to be a team player. I very much disagree with how he went about showing his disagreement (based upon how he explained it in the article).

These guys aren’t working at Starbucks. Entry into this business requires a draft. They don’t get to choose where they play and for whom. Not until FA, anyway. And even then, once the contract is signed, they don’t get to decide how they are utilized. They are paid to play and perform. Not to make coaching or front office decisions.

Furthermore, players of the past have endured far worse treatment yet still went out and honored their contract to the best of their ability. Doing anything else is behaving like an entitled petulant child. Which, unfortunately, has become more of the norm in recent time.

We don’t know what Flores and staff were going to do in the long term. But whatever it was, Minkah should have bought in like a team player until such time that he was a FA.

After all, it’s never the goal of any coach or franchise to misuse a player to the point of intentionally derailing their careers or getting them injured. Well, not unless your name is Al Davis anyway.......

 

[Sirspud]

I mean it was two ******* games. As we saw, pieces were moving around all year because the players and staff had an uphill climb. When we see how many guys were excited about playing on defense and moving around, Minkah's actions were childish. I would not of cared had he said "hey, this isn't working out we should part ways." after the season. What happens if Pittsburgh falls off now that big Ben is showing age?

Dude we had street free agents who shouldn't have been on an NFL field all things considered. Of course they were excited to play just about anywhere on the field. Actually talented NFL players don't feel the same way.

I imagine if people unemployed had my job right now they'd be satisfied (and I try to think about that a lot, that I'm lucky to be an in industry that's stable right now). But for those of us who have who have worked for my company for a while, when the managers pull some stupid, poorly thought out stuff, of course we get a little ticked off. Of course we send messages to each other whining about this or that. We have a certain level of expectation that we will be allowed to do our jobs properly.

 

[EJay]

Anyone remember the dudes name in NE, that Parcels called "she", when he was talking to the media about the injury report?

That was hilarious, at the time...

Terry Glenn. One of my favorite Buckeyes.