Serious question about the last 22 years

[tggeorge]

Have we had any coach, GM or qb that you would consider successful? Like a coaching group or GM that you look back and think I wish they would've stuck with that and let it grow? I ask be sometimes continuity is what leads to success and this 3 year spin cycle is starting to kill me.

For me, I guess it's a shame Pennington wasn't healthier, maybe tannehill or maybe Fiedler was unappreciated.

Sadly I can only remember the cleo lemons, Feely, Philbin, cam Cameron, jeff ireland...

 

[JKS4]

Tannehill deserved better.

 

[BobDole]

Hickey wasn't so bad.

O'Shea shouldn't have gone anywhere.

Tannehill is what Tua has to look forward to if we can't assemble a decent staff or team around him.

Pennington was a nice detour.

Fiedler was the reason those fins teams didn't amount to squat. Could you imagine what Marino could've done with all that talent?



There are definitely more coaches who should've stuck but this team isn't worth the research.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Rick Spielman. Rick Spielman has been a competent NFL General Manager for a number of years now. Maybe not great, but he's built playoff teams that have actually won NFC playoff games. The Miami Dolphins would have been in a much better place right now if, after firing Wannstedt, we had elevated Spielman to General Manager and let him hire a new coach and oversee the personnel department.

I also think we grossly mismanaged the development of Ryan Tannehill, as we are doing with Tua. It is not too late to give Tua a fighting chance to be great here, by the way.

 

[Austin Tatious]

No. Wanndtedt had a good record but he inherited a good defense, although he did go get Ricky.

But it’s canceled out by his refusal to draft Drew Brees (an insanely obvious pick) in 2000 when you already had two pro bowl corners and you drafted a bust in Jamar Fletcher. They passed on Anquan Bolden and made a host of other mistakes. Grier and others are developing at this time. Learning from boobs.

The Dolphins didn’t draft Drew Brees, and didn’t clinch the trade with GB for Hasselbeck. In 2005, Aaron Rodgers was in the mix for number 1 or 2. He was discussed on this very site. Then we took a part time running back instead.

If you got Brees, Hasselbeck or Rodgers, the whole trajectory changes. Maybe you land a better coach than the Cam Cameron, Tony Sparano, Joe Philbin, Adam Gase convoy of idiocy. You don’t have to keep squandering picks figuring out QB and presumably you are building a more fruitful roster without squandering high picks in trades or direct drafting of AJ Feeley, Chad Henne, Pat White.

It has been a mess and it coincides with Chris Grier’s tenure. He is learning like a sponge how to be incompetent. He’s never seen a well oiled front office, so how could he preside over one?

 

[tggeorge]

Hickey wasn't so bad.

O'Shea shouldn't have gone anywhere.

Tannehill is what Tua has to look forward to if we can't assemble a decent staff or team around him.

Pennington was a nice detour.

Fiedler was the reason those fins teams didn't amount to squat. Could you imagine what Marino could've done with all that talent?



There are definitely more coaches who should've stuck but this team isn't worth the research.

Is my defense I was 13 during the Fiedler days so all I knew was we were winning haha. Seemed like a good competitor tho. Remember they thought Damon Huard was going to be the answer lol

 

[tay0365]

Though hated what they expected on Offense, Sparano and Wannstedt did OK.

Also, though Dan Campbell did very little since leaving the Dolphins, the possibilities of what he could have done if he had been kept the HC were intriguing. Lions could get better as time goes by.

 

[tggeorge]

Though hated what they expected on Offense, Sparano and Wannstedt did OK.

Also, though Dan Campbell did very little since leaving the Dolphins, the possibilities of what he could have done if he had been kept the HC were intriguing. Lions could get better as time goes by.

Sparano and the wildcat was certainly fun but think they maxed out that gimmick before leaving.

I will say Campbell was one of my favorite just because you knew where he stood, knew he cared and was very intense!

 

[Spiff]

It has been a mess and it coincides with Chris Grier’s tenure.

Shout it from the mountain tops.

 

[Fin-Loco]

Rick Spielman. Rick Spielman has been a competent NFL General Manager for a number of years now. Maybe not great, but he's built playoff teams that have actually won NFC playoff games. The Miami Dolphins would have been in a much better place right now if, after firing Wannstedt, we had elevated Spielman to General Manager and let him hire a new coach and oversee the personnel department.

I also think we grossly mismanaged the development of Ryan Tannehill, as we are doing with Tua. It is not too late to give Tua a fighting chance to be great here, by the way.

Rick Spielman was garbage here besides pulling off getting Ricky. We never got a QB worth a crap and our O Line was trash as well then as well. If he was that good, why would the team that he was GM of be mediocre at best? Go through the drafts he was in charge of. Channing Crowder, Vernon Carey, etc. Let's not romanticize things just to make things up.

 

[The Bopkin]

Wow, great question.
I liked the Rick Spielman answer, but remember he panicked and started trading away draft picks for half-assed running backs once Ricky retired. I seem to remember giving away a 2nd rounder for Lamar Gordon??
But I think Miami's greatest error at that point was to have put all their chips on Ricky. What if he had broken his foot week1? They had nothing behind him. If you're going to ride that running game, you better be prepared for injury, and they weren't. How much of that neglect was on Spielman, how much on Wannstedt we won't know.
I also wonder- after 2004, if Spielman had been given the keys, who would he have sought as HC? Likely he doesn't dog Saban into coming over, once rejected(I remember a story of Saban pulling Spielman into his office, showing Spielman tape of all Spielman's draft picks, and berating him(Spielman) as to why those picks weren't good enough). How would THAT choice have changed history?
Also, wasn't Spielman the GM in 2004, when we traded up one spot for Vernon Carey? There was a big hubbaloo about that too. I think that was Spielman.

 

[The Bopkin]

Rick Spielman was garbage here besides pulling off getting Ricky. We never got a QB worth a crap and our O Line was trash as well then as well. If he was that good, why would the team that he was GM of be mediocre at best? Go through the drafts he was in charge of. Channing Crowder, Vernon Carey, etc. Let's not romanticize things just to make things up.

I'm pretty sure Channing Crowder was a Saban 2005 pick, and Spielman was gone. But you're right about Carey.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

The short answer is no. Miami has rarely put up a winning team over a two-year or longer period of time.

No general manager has focused on building the right way, the foundation of offensive and defensive line. The team ignored the quarterback position when Marino was nearing the end, or failed to develop a quarterback. The quarterback misses show why the Dolphins have been bad for so long...Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Jackson, Wilson and maybe Herbert.

Jimmy Johnson goes back a little further than the OP's time frame. I liked what JJ put together on defense, but he was just too rigid in his offensive approach.

I think every regime has been too impatient, wanting to win right away and making short-sided decisions.

 

[Fin-Loco]

Rick Spielman. Rick Spielman has been a competent NFL General Manager for a number of years now. Maybe not great, but he's built playoff teams that have actually won NFC playoff games. The Miami Dolphins would have been in a much better place right now if, after firing Wannstedt, we had elevated Spielman to General Manager and let him hire a new coach and oversee the personnel department.

I also think we grossly mismanaged the development of Ryan Tannehill, as we are doing with Tua. It is not too late to give Tua a fighting chance to be great here, by the way.

Additionally, Spielman ran the drafts for years here and his last year was the GM.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Wow, great question.
I liked the Rick Spielman answer, but remember he panicked and started trading away draft picks for half-assed running backs once Ricky retired. I seem to remember giving away a 2nd rounder for Lamar Gordon??
But I think Miami's greatest error at that point was to have put all their chips on Ricky. What if he had broken his foot week1? They had nothing behind him. If you're going to ride that running game, you better be prepared for injury, and they weren't. How much of that neglect was on Spielman, how much on Wannstedt we won't know.
I also wonder- after 2004, if Spielman had been given the keys, who would he have sought as HC? Likely he doesn't dog Saban into coming over, once rejected(I remember a story of Saban pulling Spielman into his office, showing Spielman tape of all Spielman's draft picks, and berating him(Spielman) as to why those picks weren't good enough). How would THAT choice have changed history?
Also, wasn't Spielman the GM in 2004, when we traded up one spot for Vernon Carey? There was a big hubbaloo about that too. I think that was Spielman.

Spelman, to me, was constantly in the panic mode or reactionary mode. Terrible in Miami, but he has made the most of his second chance in Minnesota.