Hickey and eDefensive Players Should Share in the Blame

[So Be]

No one is complaining about the draft. Next.

We were stuck with Ellerbe and Wheeler's contracts, and there was nothing available in FA at LB. I thought we could have added a better OG at a higher price but, it's debatable. We did not know of Pouncey being out until FA was pretty much empty. Who knows how the OL would have been with him at center?

I thought we should have signed a better and younger CB than Finnegen. There were options out there, although more expensive ones. Hickey had a lot of cap space left over but with few better options to spend the money on. A GM also has to look at future cap space, not only the year in play.

This year will tell us much more on Hickey's value as a GM. He did pretty well in year one.

 

[DuderinoN703]

If Hickey focused more on LBs and left the OL to be **** like it was last year, you'd complain Hickey screwed up the OL.

 

[TheWalrus]

You eat paint chips when you were a kid??? Read again, never mind I'll spell it out for you......YOU CANNOT JUDGE HIM FOR ONE OFFSEASON ESPECIALLY WHEN HE INHERITED AND WAS SADDLED WITH BAD CONTRACTS.
For the love of God at least give him one more offseason before you roast him.

Awww. Someone sounds butthurt.

You say we can't judge him after one offseason yet you were doing just that, saying the draft looks solid and praising the Albert signing. Pick a stance. Either we can judge him or we can't.

 

[Third Eye]

What is an eDefensive player?

eDefensive players primarily smoke eCigs. So the OP is saying that Hickey and our eCig smokers like Wheeler, Misi, and Finnegan are to blame for the defensive debacle.

 

[tazthenomad]

No one is complaining about the draft. Next.

We were stuck with Ellerbe and Wheeler's contracts, and there was nothing available in FA at LB. I thought we could have added a better OG at a higher price but, it's debatable. We did not know of Pouncey being out until FA was pretty much empty. Who knows how the OL would have been with him at center?

I thought we should have signed a better and younger CB than Finnegen. There were options out there, although more expensive ones. Hickey had a lot of cap space left over but with few better options to spend the money on. A GM also has to look at future cap space, not only the year in play.

This year will tell us much more on Hickey's value as a GM. He did pretty well in year one.

This+. Yes, Hickey signed some players with past injury issues but there were not a lot of options out there. This isn't like going to Walmart and if you have money you can buy what you need.

I will agree with the OP on one point. Coyle doesn't tackle and he isn't the one who would take plays off or give up when they were beaten.

 

[So Be]

Awww. Someone sounds butthurt.

You say we can't judge him after one offseason yet you were doing just that, saying the draft looks solid and praising the Albert signing. Pick a stance. Either we can judge him or we can't.

This forum can judge anyone anytime they want to. A perfect example was when Lamar Miller fumbled in PRESEASON, and many wanted him cut the next day. LOL

 

[killerb58]

Have not been here for sometime as I tend to get drawn away for long periods.. However, the Coyle situation in my view is a no brainer..He must be let go. Over the past couple of years his Defense has fallen apart and he has never been able to make the adjustments in games when Miami needs a Defensive stop.. This year takes the cake as the last 4 games... We allowed, 28, 41, 35 and 37 points to ensure another 8-8 season and no playoffs..

 

[So Be]

This+. Yes, Hickey signed some players with past injury issues but there were not a lot of options out there. This isn't like going to Walmart and if you have money you can buy what you need.

I will agree with the OP on one point. Coyle doesn't tackle and he isn't the one who would take plays off or give up when they were beaten.

When the team does not draft well for a number of years, you have no choice but to go to FA. Players are FA because of injuries, wanting too much money, and age for the most part. You roll the dice and take your chances. Sometimes you win with a guy like Grimes but, mostly it's trying to fill needs on a short term basis.

Look at this year's team. Players to get excited about are Tannehill, Miller, Landry, Jenkins, Jones, James, and OV. All draft picks, and more look to be developing.

 

[Show Me Your TDs]

You guys have it turned around. I'm not saying Hickey's job should be on the line or anything. I applaud many of the moves he made. Drafting James and Landry paid immediate dividends. He also hit on Earl Mitchell in the DT rotation.

My only criticisms of Hickey was the failure to find credible competition at the LB position through either the draft or free agency, and his reliance on players with significant injury histories. Tripp and MCCain couldn't have been expected to be ready to play, but he had to know upgrades were needed for Ellerbe and Wheeler. Is the GM to blame for injuries? No, but the GM has to take injury history into account when relying on players to start. The absence of Finnegan and Delmas definitely hurt the secondary.

I noticed that most of you criticizing the post didn't address the argument that some of our supposedly star players on defense actually had subpar years.

You failed miserably to understand the limitations imposed by the previous GM (and just how the cap works). How does one solve as many holes that were created by Ireland in one offseason. When the previous GM goes all in and hands out contracts like he doesn't care to average players, 2014 was a consequence of it.

LB: Ellerbe and Wheeler could not have been released and were forced to stay on the roster. A new GM coming in realizes this when looking at their contract. Horrible players who shouldn't even been given half the money they signed for back in 2013. While I would have looked at Chris Borland in the draft, Hickey decided that the OL was more important (and he should have since no blame should go there) and coaches talked up Misi to the middle. The experiment didn't work out and you can't blame Hickey for that. I blame the coaches since anyone who saw his change of direction would have know he was going to be late to most plays based on his play on the outside.

DL: This was supposed to be a strength going into the season and Hickey did not resign Soliai which I don't blame him based on the contract he received from Atlanta. The Earl Mitchell contract was a great price for a young staple along the DLine. He also resigned Randy Starks to an excellent one year out contract just incase his plays falls off like it did.

DB: Signed Delmas and was an excellent one year stop gap. Why would anyone have an issue with this signing. The one signing I did not like all offseason was the Cortland Finnegan one and after hindsight it looks like most of us on Finheaven were right. While he played alright here and there, he is a shell of the former player he once was. After seeing the contract Nolan Carroll signed I would have rather re-signed him assuming he wanted to come back.

Still not sure how you would blame Hickey one bit for the defensive failures. You can only resolve so much in one offseason especially when your replacing someone who signed horrible players to horrible contracts in the previous season.

 

[So Be]

The problem I have here, with many a post, is wanting to get rid of a player without any option in replacing him. How can you do that?

 

[Fin Fan in Cali]

The problem I have here, with many a post, is wanting to get rid of a player without any option in replacing him. How can you do that?

There needs to be a succession plan.

 

[Fins1971]

Have not been here for sometime as I tend to get drawn away for long periods.. However, the Coyle situation in my view is a no brainer..He must be let go. Over the past couple of years his Defense has fallen apart and he has never been able to make the adjustments in games when Miami needs a Defensive stop.. This year takes the cake as the last 4 games... We allowed, 28, 41, 35 and 37 points to ensure another 8-8 season and no playoffs..

We allowed 28 to Ravens while our offense only scored 1 TD. When you don't score TD's the other team eventually will.
21 of the points that the Patriots scored came off of 2 Tannehill Interceptions and short field and a blocked FG returned for TD.
14 of the points that Minnesota scored came off of Tannehill Interception and Landry fumble.
The last game against the Jets was a defensive meltdown. But once again the offense failed to score for the last 28 minutes of game. When you go for long strentches without scoring the other team is going to score and take momentum.

To me the players are mostly to blame. The defensive scheme and players were working fine near midseason when we were tops in a lot of defensive categories. Then our offensive production dipped and we started getting injured on defense. Then the whole thing fell apart. Just too many injuries to both sides of the ball to overcome.

 

[Fin Fan in Cali]

The problem I have here, with many a post, is wanting to get rid of a player without any option in replacing him. How can you do that?

Also do these players need to be transitioned off the team or is Joe just Dansbing them off the team for his own benefit?

 

[TheWalrus]

The problem I have here, with many a post, is wanting to get rid of a player without any option in replacing him. How can you do that?

Well, if a player is below average then they should be easy to improve on. I also don't think there's anything wrong with deciding that a player is not "the answer" at their position as a prelude to looking for their replacement. You're not always going to make that determination and find the answer all in one moment.

 

[AJ Duhe]

You failed miserably to understand the limitations imposed by the previous GM (and just how the cap works). How does one solve as many holes that were created by Ireland in one offseason. When the previous GM goes all in and hands out contracts like he doesn't care to average players, 2014 was a consequence of it.

LB: Ellerbe and Wheeler could not have been released and were forced to stay on the roster. A new GM coming in realizes this when looking at their contract. Horrible players who shouldn't even been given half the money they signed for back in 2013. While I would have looked at Chris Borland in the draft, Hickey decided that the OL was more important (and he should have since no blame should go there) and coaches talked up Misi to the middle. The experiment didn't work out and you can't blame Hickey for that. I blame the coaches since anyone who saw his change of direction would have know he was going to be late to most plays based on his play on the outside.

DL: This was supposed to be a strength going into the season and Hickey did not resign Soliai which I don't blame him based on the contract he received from Atlanta. The Earl Mitchell contract was a great price for a young staple along the DLine. He also resigned Rnady Starks to an excellent one year out contract just incase his plays falls off like it did.

DB: Signed Delmas and was an excellent one year stop gap. Why would anyone have an issue with this signing. The one signing I did not like all offseason was the Cortland Finnegan one and after hindsight it looks like most of us on Finheaven were right. While he played already here and there and is a shell of the former player he once was. After seeing the contract Nolan Carroll signed I would have rather re-signed him assuming he wanted to come back.

Still not sure how you would blame Hickey one bit for the defensive failures. You can only resolve so much in one offseason especially when your replacing someone who signed horrible players to horrible contracts in the previous season.

I think your arguments hold a lot of weight, especially on the anchors that are the big contracts for Wheeler and Ellerbe. It is true that the coaches are at fault for misrepresenting the ability of players. I'm not privy to practice performance as the coacihing staff is, but when you look at game performance, a player like Wheeler shouldn't be on the field based solely on his cap number. I would rather have a young player like Tripp making similar mistakes learning on the job than a poorly performing veteran like Wheeler making the same mistakes he made a year ago.

The secondary was a problem due to an unusual amount of injuries. However, a 1-year stopgap like Delmas is only valuable as long as they give you the 1 year. Delmas' injury history suggested that we shouldn't have relied on him as much as we did.