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How Dolphins mess was avoidable

Dolph N.Fan

Dolph N.Fan

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Six years of bad decisions and bad luck at quarterback: How Dolphins mess was avoidable

▪ After the 2018 season, owner Stephen Ross dismissed coach Adam Gase, explaining that Gase “wants to win.” It couldn’t have been any clearer that Ross wanted to tank the season and position the franchise to select the best quarterback in the draft, later identified by the Dolphins as Joe Burrow. But instead of signing a quarterback bad enough to engineer a two-win season, they opted for one good enough to prevent the Dolphins from accomplishing the paramount goal of a tank season and snagging the golden-arm QB of their choice. Predictably, Ryan Fitzpatrick was good enough to lead Miami to five wins. Josh Johnson, A.J. McCarron and Blaine Gabbert were all free agents that year. None might have torpedoed the Dolphins getting Burrow. All would have been cheaper than Fitzpatrick.

▪ They still had another chance to get the tank on track after they inexplicably traded a second-rounder and fifth-rounder for Josh Rosen in April 2019, only to find out he couldn’t play a lick. If general manager Chris Grier or Ross had simply ordered then-coach Brian Flores to continue playing Rosen after he struggled badly in three starts, Fitzpatrick wouldn’t have had the chance to win games against the Jets, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and New England — wins that eliminated the Dolphins’ dreams of Burrow.

Deciding to give Arizona a second round pick for Rosen — who had one touchdown, five interceptions and a dismal 52.0 passer rating in six games as a Dolphin — prevented Miami from drafting Pro Bowl receiver DK Metcalf, who went two spots after that second-round pick that Arizona foolishly used on Andy Isabella.

▪ The decision to sign Mike White in the first hour of 2023 free agency was a puzzling one, as we wrote at the time. White had the lowest passer rating of any of the top dozen or so available backup quarterbacks in that 2023 free agent class. The Dolphins knew that his deep ball metrics were historically dreadful, that he wasn’t mobile, and that he had 12 career interceptions, compared with eight touchdowns.
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Signing Ryan Fitzpatrick was the start. Not that it was his fault.

There was never any patience involved in the rebuild. They wanted to be competitive sooner rather than building it the right way and taking the long, arduous road which was required.

You NEVER build a team around WR's. Been saying it for years and got a lot of push back from people telling me how important WR's are.
 
We should have also just kept Adam Gase for another year if our intent was tanking in 2019. I'm sure we was still under contract anyway, so just let him coach for another year.

I think Grier signed Fitz thinking he would be really bad but he was much better than expected. Trading for Rosen was another mistake. We just tossed a 2nd round draft pick in the toilet. We could have just signed some random bad QB if our intent was to tank which we all know that it was. That should have secured the number 1 pick in the 2020 draft.

Imagine what our version of the triplets could have been.

1. QB Burrow

18. WR Jefferson

30. RB Taylor

Of course Grier still would have a lot more work to do in building up the OL and defense but he probably wouldn't have done that right either.
 
At the end of the day Stephen Ross will never be a Super Bowl champion owner. So it’s irrelevant to nitpick at the individual decisions.

I get excited about the potential of this team every year, regardless of the circumstances, it’s who I am as a die hard fan.

But we have an owner that cost us first and third round daft picks chasing Tom Brady. So the payoff will never happen with gold bar boy.

The crazy part is that we were handed a winning lottery ticket from Houston and turned into flash instead of substance.

Selling the farm for WR’s = LOL.

Trading for Chubb was another catastrophic moment. It showed more lack of patience. Creating the oldest, most expensive roster in the league wasn’t great planning.
 
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VAFinsfan72 said:
We should have also just kept Adam Gase for another year if our intent was tanking in 2019. I'm sure we was still under contract anyway, so just let him coach for another year.

I think Grier signed Fitz thinking he would be really bad but he was much better than expected. Trading for Rosen was another mistake. We just tossed a 2nd round draft pick in the toilet. We could have just signed some random bad QB if our intent was to tank which we all know that it was. That should have secured the number 1 pick in the 2020 draft.

Imagine what our version of the triplets could have been.

1. QB Burrow

18. WR Jefferson

30. RB Taylor

Of course Grier still would have a lot more work to do in building up the OL and defense but he probably wouldn't have done that right either.
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I still can't believe Miami gave up a 2nd and a 5th for Rosen
 
Dolph N.Fan said:
I still can't believe Miami gave up a 2nd and a 5th for Rosen
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In all honesty, that is one of the most forgivable mistakes our franchise has made in Grier’s time as GM. I did not think Rosen would pan out, but the 62nd overall pick is by no means a guaranteed starter. I could make a long list of more egregious things Grier has done.
 
ThePeopleShow13 said:
In all honesty, that is one of the most forgivable mistakes our franchise has made in Grier’s time as GM. I did not think Rosen would pan out, but the 62nd overall pick is by no means a guaranteed starter. I could make a long list of more egregious things Grier has done.
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Of course we have the benefit of hindsight, but it’s a series of bad decisions that have a domino effect on future ramifications of the team.

The Dolphins could have had DK Metcalf who went with the 64th overall pick. There’s a lot of cases throughout numerous drafts where Grier just missed on a pick before or after, or traded it away.

Bad luck? Maybe. That said, it becomes clear that many of these bad luck instances have piled up under his umbrella of influence.
 
The Ghost said:
Signing Ryan Fitzpatrick was the start. Not that it was his fault.

There was never any patience involved in the rebuild. They wanted to be competitive sooner rather than building it the right way and taking the long, arduous road which was required.

You NEVER build a team around WR's. Been saying it for years and got a lot of push back from people telling me how important WR's are.
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I disagree I think that team would of competed for a playoff spot in year two of the rebuild but Flores was handcuffed and forced to play Tua when he wasn’t ready
 
ThePeopleShow13 said:
In all honesty, that is one of the most forgivable mistakes our franchise has made in Grier’s time as GM. I did not think Rosen would pan out, but the 62nd overall pick is by no means a guaranteed starter. I could make a long list of more egregious things Grier has done.
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Totally disagree. I hated that move vehemently.
 
djphinfan said:
I disagree I think that team would of competed for a playoff spot in year two of the rebuild but Flores was handcuffed and forced to play Tua when he wasn’t ready
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That’s an odd gripe. Buffalo would’ve shellacked us week 18 regardless of who QB. Tua played pretty well in 2020, especially considering his supporting cast.
 
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