This thinking has kept us perpetually average. Each year, we bank on getting key players back from injury without insuring the same problems don't repeat themselves.
This OL has been a problem for over a decade. Just getting people back won't make us better.
We waited for Pouncey to get back. We waited for Albert to get back. We waited for James to get back. We have ALWAYS relied on subpar Gs. Then when we bring in Sitton, we still don't address the long term problem.
What we need is high draft resources spent on the OL. We have suffered crucial and frequent injuries on the OL. Yet, we do NOTHING about our depth. We plug in subpar starters and when they go down, the guys they beat out step up. Which, if you're following, are below subpar.
Yes, Sitton returning will be a tremendous boost. But what we really need to do is double down. Sitton returns AND draft two quality Gs in Rounds 1 - 3.
For one season, we need to not have the ENTIRE success of this team dependent on Gs and the health of interior OL.
This is the epic failure of this Front Office. Not guarding against injury in the most injury-risk positions on the team is an absolute failure.
This year's true possibilities died when Sitton went down. And that was predictable and known by the HC and FO from day one. Not protecting the QB and the success of this team after a decade of the same problem year after year should result in the firing of people in most organizations. Not here.
I agree with all but the "epic failure of the front office" bit.
I am only willing to measure the front offices performance from 2016 on, which is after Gase became our Head Coach. There was so many problems at so many positions that it should have been obvious to longer term Dolphins Fans that not all the problems could not be addressed in a single draft. Even when we did get potentially good players, the unrealistic expectation of instant performance drove many posters to claim these guys were poor selections. This includes Tunsil and Howard and Drake. I have read too many negative posts about these men to ignore the knee-jerk reactions those posts represented.
It is clear to me that many draft picks take 2 to 3 years before they demonstrate a consistent level of skill at their positions. A few, a very few, do seem to click the first year, such as Fitzpatrick has.
So far as I am concerned, when 1/2 or more of a draft class pan out (they perform as well or better then the players they replace) you have had a good draft. I feel we have had 3 good drafts, but won't know how good for another year or two while those draftees develop.
The front office seems to be working well together, which is something many posters say wasn't the case before and isn't the case now. I suggest we let the record of wins during Gase's tenure be the measuring stick. Are we getting more wins now then before Gase arrived? Is this happening under the most adverse conditions the team has ever seen (except for bully gate)? Have we gotten into the playoffs more often then before?
I do not consider buts, ifs or other kinds of Hamster droppings an acceptable basis for argument. Are we playing better? Are we able to come from behind and win? Can we beat winning teams such as the Patriots or the Titans?
For me the answers to all these questions to be yes. This doesn't occur when a front office is an "epic failure" Our current front office is doing pretty well since I became a fan upon Gase's arrival. Whining about the front offices performance doesn't address how they have performed the last three years. I have observed good performance and it seems to be getting even better each year.
Please forgive my extended post, but my observation of the "Front Office" complaints is they do not represent what I have been seeing the last three years and are often weighted down in complaints going back 10 years or more. This and the lack of any rational analytical reasoning is a real sore point with me, and I'm a pretty easy going guy. It takes a lot to get me wound around the axle, but misrepresenting the front offices recent performance is, in my opinion, totally unjustifiable.