Sherif
Pro Bowler
I guess I still don't know much about Feeley. Where have all the good QB's gone? Was there no way to make a move for Garcia? :shakeno:
Jeff's Dolphin Journal
Be Careful What You Wish For... 02/26/04
You know, I was really looking forward to this offseason. Sure, finding out that Dave Wannstedt and the majority of his borderline-inept staff were returning was a major downer, but even with that, this was going to be a special offseason: this was the offseason that Jay Fiedler would be handed his walking papers after 4 years of painful-to-watch mediocrity, and the Dolphins would finally get a legitimate QB.
Or so I thought.
There were early rumors that the Dolphins were interested in Eagles’ third- string QB A.J. Feeley. OK, I thought, he’ll come cheap and give incumbent Sage Rosenfels a run for his money for the # 3 spot, and who knows, maybe he can even be our # 2. But never in a million years was I prepared for the news that came out last week.
As you all know by now, the Dolphins agreed to trade the Eagles their second- round pick in 2005 in exchange for Feeley. They then worked out a 5-year, $ 18- million deal with Feeley’s agent. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the draft pick and the salary added up to one thing – A.J. Feeley would soon be the starting QB of the Miami Dolphins.
Now, I disliked this move from the start – after all, trading a second-round pick for a third-string QB with limited experience sounds absurd. And it’s even more absurd when you consider that Koy Detmer was ahead of Feeley on the Eagles’ depth chart. However, I thought I should find out a little more about Feeley before I made my final decision on the deal. After all, Feeley was 4 – 1 as a starter in 2002, right?
So here’s what I found out.
Yes, Feeley was 4 – 1 as a starter in 2002 when Detmer and starter Donovan McNabb both went down with injuries. And yes, as new Dolphins’ GM Rick Spielman told everyone, Feeley did have a 4th-quarter QB rating of 85 in his starts. +
But if you look a little closer, you’ll see that Feeley’s 4 wins came against teams with losing records in 2002 – the Rams, Seahawks, Redskins and Cowboys. He lost the only game he played against a winning team, the 10 – 6 Giants. So, just how impressive do the 4 – 1 record and the 4th-quarter rating of 85 look now? To me, not very impressive; Feeley played OK against bad teams – gee, that’s great. And, it’s not like he lit it up against those bad teams either; he compiled a completion percentage of under 56, and he threw 6 TDs and 5 INTs – hardly numbers that imply future greatness.
And if you think maybe A.J. improved in 2003, forget it – he didn’t even attempt a pass.
OK, I thought – maybe he showed a lot of potential in college at Oregon. I’ve followed the draft closely for several years now, but I really didn’t recall much about Feeley. I consulted what is to me the Bible of draft publications – Frank Coyle’s Draft Insiders Digest (if you’re into the draft, the yearbook is essential www.draftinsiders.com) I pulled the 2001 Yearbook off my shelf, and quickly found Feeley on page 12. The first thing that caught my eye was where the DID ranked Feeley; he was # 19 in a QB class that has proven to be the worst in recent memory, with only Michael Vick turning out to be worthwhile. Ranked ahead of Feeley were such luminaries as Justin Coleman, Shane Griggs, Rashard Casey, Dolphins’ draft choice Josh Heupel, Josh Booty, David Rivers, and the Dolphins’ own Rosenfels (ranked # 7, incidentally). Honestly, it doesn’t get much worse than that.www.draftinsiders.com
I may be violating copyright laws here (sorry, JL!), but here is the first sentence of the DID analysis of Feeley: www.draftinsiders.com
"Talented senior backup completed an injury-filled career that limited his playing time to primarily his junior season." Two things immediately jump off the page in this sentence – “senior backup†and “injury-filled careerâ€Â. Not a good sign – in fact, a terrible sign.
On the plus side, the DID did use some positive terms in describing Feeley, including “talentedâ€Â, “athleticâ€Â, “good armâ€Â, “good decision-makingâ€Â, “can be a huge surpriseâ€Â, and “intriguing upsideâ€Â.
The following quote, though, tells me all I need to know: “Quality sleeper prospect with the arm and intangibles clubs look for in a 3rd-string passer.†Add in the fact that he threw only 13 passes as a senior, and had a major elbow injury, and I just don’t see much to excite me.
So here is what we know: A.J. Feeley has thrown a grand total of 181 passes since the year 2000, including his senior season at Oregon. He’s done nothing in all that time to distinguish himself in any way, and thus far can be summed up with one word – mediocre. I can’t comment on his upside, because he hasn’t done anything to prove that he even has any upside. He was considered a 3rd-string prospect by at least one major draft publication, and his NFL career has done little to change that assessment. This is supported by the fact that he couldn’t surpass Koy Detmer – who, let’s be frank, sucks -on the Eagles’ depth chart.
The most important thing I’ve learned in my limited research of Feeley is that he is in no way, shape or form worth trading a second-round pick for, nor is he worth a contract averaging over $ 3.5 million per season. Spielman has talked about how his “extensive statistical analysis†of available QBs put Feeley at the top of his list; this analysis consisted of studying stats from a grand total of six games! How “extensive†could his analysis have been? Is this a joke? I’d say so, and I’ll bet the Eagles are still laughing at this trade. I know the other teams in the AFC East are. This will go down as one of the worst trades in the history of the franchise.
I’ve heard a lot of people say, in reference to Feeley, “I don’t care, at least he’s not Fiedler.†Well, I’m here to tell you that you should care, because, and this is the scariest part of all – there is no guarantee that Feeley will be better than Fiedler, and if you want to go further, there is nothing in Feeley’s past to indicate that he’ll even be as good as Fiedler has been for the Dolphins. Those that know me can tell you that I am no Fiedler fan; in fact, during my weekly tirades while watching the Phins I have often called him the worst starting QB in the NFL. I wanted Jay off the team so bad, I was willing to pull a guy off the street and start him instead of Fiedler. But, now that Spielman has essentially done just that, I can’t stop thinking of that old adage – “Be careful what you wish for – you just might get itâ€Â.
One NFL executive was anonymously quoted as sying “They both got themselves firedâ€Â, referring to Spielman and Dave Wannstedt after the Feeley deal was announced. I couldn’t agree more.
As of February 26, the once-promising offseason I waited for has already been tarnished. I feel that, at this point, any moves the Dolphins make from now till September are essentially meaningless, because the Phins aren’t winning a damn thing with A.J. Feeley behind center. Call me negative, label me a pessimist, tell me I’m not giving the guy a chance. That’s fine, but give me evidence as to why I should believe otherwise.
This is a sad time to be a fan of this once-proud, now-laughable organization.
GO PHINS!!!
--Jeff
Jeff's Dolphin Journal
Be Careful What You Wish For... 02/26/04
You know, I was really looking forward to this offseason. Sure, finding out that Dave Wannstedt and the majority of his borderline-inept staff were returning was a major downer, but even with that, this was going to be a special offseason: this was the offseason that Jay Fiedler would be handed his walking papers after 4 years of painful-to-watch mediocrity, and the Dolphins would finally get a legitimate QB.
Or so I thought.
There were early rumors that the Dolphins were interested in Eagles’ third- string QB A.J. Feeley. OK, I thought, he’ll come cheap and give incumbent Sage Rosenfels a run for his money for the # 3 spot, and who knows, maybe he can even be our # 2. But never in a million years was I prepared for the news that came out last week.
As you all know by now, the Dolphins agreed to trade the Eagles their second- round pick in 2005 in exchange for Feeley. They then worked out a 5-year, $ 18- million deal with Feeley’s agent. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the draft pick and the salary added up to one thing – A.J. Feeley would soon be the starting QB of the Miami Dolphins.
Now, I disliked this move from the start – after all, trading a second-round pick for a third-string QB with limited experience sounds absurd. And it’s even more absurd when you consider that Koy Detmer was ahead of Feeley on the Eagles’ depth chart. However, I thought I should find out a little more about Feeley before I made my final decision on the deal. After all, Feeley was 4 – 1 as a starter in 2002, right?
So here’s what I found out.
Yes, Feeley was 4 – 1 as a starter in 2002 when Detmer and starter Donovan McNabb both went down with injuries. And yes, as new Dolphins’ GM Rick Spielman told everyone, Feeley did have a 4th-quarter QB rating of 85 in his starts. +
But if you look a little closer, you’ll see that Feeley’s 4 wins came against teams with losing records in 2002 – the Rams, Seahawks, Redskins and Cowboys. He lost the only game he played against a winning team, the 10 – 6 Giants. So, just how impressive do the 4 – 1 record and the 4th-quarter rating of 85 look now? To me, not very impressive; Feeley played OK against bad teams – gee, that’s great. And, it’s not like he lit it up against those bad teams either; he compiled a completion percentage of under 56, and he threw 6 TDs and 5 INTs – hardly numbers that imply future greatness.
And if you think maybe A.J. improved in 2003, forget it – he didn’t even attempt a pass.
OK, I thought – maybe he showed a lot of potential in college at Oregon. I’ve followed the draft closely for several years now, but I really didn’t recall much about Feeley. I consulted what is to me the Bible of draft publications – Frank Coyle’s Draft Insiders Digest (if you’re into the draft, the yearbook is essential www.draftinsiders.com) I pulled the 2001 Yearbook off my shelf, and quickly found Feeley on page 12. The first thing that caught my eye was where the DID ranked Feeley; he was # 19 in a QB class that has proven to be the worst in recent memory, with only Michael Vick turning out to be worthwhile. Ranked ahead of Feeley were such luminaries as Justin Coleman, Shane Griggs, Rashard Casey, Dolphins’ draft choice Josh Heupel, Josh Booty, David Rivers, and the Dolphins’ own Rosenfels (ranked # 7, incidentally). Honestly, it doesn’t get much worse than that.www.draftinsiders.com
I may be violating copyright laws here (sorry, JL!), but here is the first sentence of the DID analysis of Feeley: www.draftinsiders.com
"Talented senior backup completed an injury-filled career that limited his playing time to primarily his junior season." Two things immediately jump off the page in this sentence – “senior backup†and “injury-filled careerâ€Â. Not a good sign – in fact, a terrible sign.
On the plus side, the DID did use some positive terms in describing Feeley, including “talentedâ€Â, “athleticâ€Â, “good armâ€Â, “good decision-makingâ€Â, “can be a huge surpriseâ€Â, and “intriguing upsideâ€Â.
The following quote, though, tells me all I need to know: “Quality sleeper prospect with the arm and intangibles clubs look for in a 3rd-string passer.†Add in the fact that he threw only 13 passes as a senior, and had a major elbow injury, and I just don’t see much to excite me.
So here is what we know: A.J. Feeley has thrown a grand total of 181 passes since the year 2000, including his senior season at Oregon. He’s done nothing in all that time to distinguish himself in any way, and thus far can be summed up with one word – mediocre. I can’t comment on his upside, because he hasn’t done anything to prove that he even has any upside. He was considered a 3rd-string prospect by at least one major draft publication, and his NFL career has done little to change that assessment. This is supported by the fact that he couldn’t surpass Koy Detmer – who, let’s be frank, sucks -on the Eagles’ depth chart.
The most important thing I’ve learned in my limited research of Feeley is that he is in no way, shape or form worth trading a second-round pick for, nor is he worth a contract averaging over $ 3.5 million per season. Spielman has talked about how his “extensive statistical analysis†of available QBs put Feeley at the top of his list; this analysis consisted of studying stats from a grand total of six games! How “extensive†could his analysis have been? Is this a joke? I’d say so, and I’ll bet the Eagles are still laughing at this trade. I know the other teams in the AFC East are. This will go down as one of the worst trades in the history of the franchise.
I’ve heard a lot of people say, in reference to Feeley, “I don’t care, at least he’s not Fiedler.†Well, I’m here to tell you that you should care, because, and this is the scariest part of all – there is no guarantee that Feeley will be better than Fiedler, and if you want to go further, there is nothing in Feeley’s past to indicate that he’ll even be as good as Fiedler has been for the Dolphins. Those that know me can tell you that I am no Fiedler fan; in fact, during my weekly tirades while watching the Phins I have often called him the worst starting QB in the NFL. I wanted Jay off the team so bad, I was willing to pull a guy off the street and start him instead of Fiedler. But, now that Spielman has essentially done just that, I can’t stop thinking of that old adage – “Be careful what you wish for – you just might get itâ€Â.
One NFL executive was anonymously quoted as sying “They both got themselves firedâ€Â, referring to Spielman and Dave Wannstedt after the Feeley deal was announced. I couldn’t agree more.
As of February 26, the once-promising offseason I waited for has already been tarnished. I feel that, at this point, any moves the Dolphins make from now till September are essentially meaningless, because the Phins aren’t winning a damn thing with A.J. Feeley behind center. Call me negative, label me a pessimist, tell me I’m not giving the guy a chance. That’s fine, but give me evidence as to why I should believe otherwise.
This is a sad time to be a fan of this once-proud, now-laughable organization.
GO PHINS!!!
--Jeff
