The under-the-radar realities that made Phillips over Najee a smart move and a quick six-pack of notes. | Page 3 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

The under-the-radar realities that made Phillips over Najee a smart move and a quick six-pack of notes.

Also this:

▪ ESPN analysts continue to question Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for his playbook comments, which — as explained here — do not warrant the attention or criticism that they’re receiving.
“What the hell? What the entire hell?” former NFL safety Ryan Clark said on ESPN’s Get Up.
“He should have lied. What do we always say about Alabama players? They’re the most NFL ready. They understand playbooks. They can process. He was supposed to have a quick trigger because he understands.
“Now he had a quick trigger because he had four first-rounders playing on his team? You’re not going to have that in Miami. Not only is your body beat up, but you ain’t that smart either? If I’m Brian Flores, this is something I do not like hearing.”

Quick aside: The “ain’t that smart” comment is unfair. From all indications, there is no concern at all with Tagovailoa’s intelligence or mental aptitude.


Here’s my quick aside: it’s ironic someone used the sentence “ain’t that smart” considering “ain’t” is not a word, and reluctantly got put into the dictionary a couple years ago.

Maybe Ryan Clark ain’t that smart, either.

If we are going to use this standard in the forums, then roughly 55% of the folks posting will get insulted.
 
Agree completely, but with that said.... didn't Tua get an abysmal wonderlic score??? I know that's not the end all be all, but a 13 is brutally terrible.

People said Jameis Winston wasn't that bright and couldn't process quickly/grasp the playbook and he DOUBLED Tua's score with a 27.

I'm a big fan of Tua but even that is concerning.

Marino & Benny R, if memory serves, scored similar to where Tua did. Lets not even get started about V Young.

OTOH, Fitzmagic and Alex Smith nearly aced it. Tannehill IMO is probably around Fitz & Alex.

What am I driving at? The Wonderlic is a reading comprehension test and not suited for all types.

There needs to be something similar to the ASVAB to truly gauge a players mental acumen
 
Tua is no lock to be on the team beyond this year.

With what we've invested in him, only a true Tua hater would hope for him to fail, but we have the ammo to take another QB next year if he flounders.

This is not a problem either.

Only problem is Grier won't be here to draft the next qb.
 
Tua is no lock to be on the team beyond this year.

With what we've invested in him, only a true Tua hater would hope for him to fail, but we have the ammo to take another QB next year if he flounders.

He's got an $18mm dead cap hit next year. He's gonna get 2021 and 2022, barring a complete meltdown. Miami has 2 first rounders in 2023...it's set up perfectly to try agin at QB then if it doesn't work out.
 
He's got an $18mm dead cap hit next year. He's gonna get 2021 and 2022, barring a complete meltdown. Miami has 2 first rounders in 2023...it's set up perfectly to try agin at QB then if it doesn't work out.
...and while that is a hefty hit, the number you cited is only accurate right now.

If he is traded (designated post June 1st of next year, 2022), his dead cap would only be 4.9M.

Even if it were more, moving on from a failed QB is rarely cheap these days, but go back to over the cap, switch it to 2022 and designate it as a post June 1st trade, and you will see how small the hit would be. Remember, all of these rookie deals are 4 years with an option year. After this year, two of his years worth of bonus will be gone, and all all guaranteed monies would go to his new team if traded... and someone would take him.
 
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...and while that is a hefty hit, the number you cited is only accurate right now.

If he is traded (designated posted June 1st of next year, 2022), his dead cap would only be 4.9M.

Even if it were more, moving on from a failed QB is rarely cheap these days, but go back to over the cap, switch it to 2022 and designate it as a post June 1st trade, and you will see how small the hit would be. Remember, all of these rookie deals are 4 years with an option year. After this year, two of his years worth of bonus will be gone, and all all guaranteed monies would go to his new team if traded... and someone would take him.

I get it. The thing that I hate about the June 1st designation (or, rather, using it as a cap relief measure) is that the money doesn't magically disappear. It just moves to the following year. And if Miami is moving Tua at that point, it means they're going to be selecting a QB high in the draft. That's not a scenario in which Miami should be kicking the can down the road.
 
It isn't that much worse if you were to designate him as a pre June 1st trade.

As I've said, after this year, half of his signing bonus money will be off of the cap as he will have played two of the four years... and the biggest problem would be with his guaranteed salaries... which is why he is uncuttable, but trading him is different. The new team eats all of the future guarantees and we'd only be on the hook for the remaining signing bonus money... it isn't that bad-- maybe Ereck Flowers level.

All of that said, I hope he succeeds and I might even put a few bucks on him winning the MVP this year (the odds are very high), but I'm not married to him, and neither are the Dolphins... if he plays like Sam Darnold, we could move on with relatively little consequence-- other than some broken dreams.
 
I just don't understand how you could consider Hunt's mediocre performance our "best lineman by far". Even the always amusing PFF site only gave him a 65.8 score and charged him with 3 sacks and 8 (!!!) penalties in limited duty. This wasn't good...

His skillset is mauling and run-blocking... he's a Guard on any team that doesn't run a right-handed power rushing scheme. On the Titans, he could be a Right Tackle.

He's also slightly overaged for a rookie...

edit: PFF's raw scores for our linemen:

Austin Jackson 848 snaps, 5 penalties, 4 sacks, 52.3 score
Ereck Flowers 857, 3, 5, 65.9
Ted Karras 1068, 3, 2, 65.3
Solomon Kindley 748, 5, 4, 51.3
Robert Hunt 722, 8, 3, 65.8
Jesse Davis 1055, 2, 1, 62.6

Hunt received the least snaps, but had the most penalties, and his three sacks came at about the same rate as the others. For the life of me, I can't see how Hunt's performance was better than mediocre. Flowers had the best score, and Davis was clearly the most disciplined... and even Kindley and Jackson managed to score well enough while playing injured for many weeks-- Hunt came in healthy when the NFL players were starting to get beat up.
If there is logic is calling Hunt 'best lineman by far', I sure can't see it. Maybe we can call him, the one rookie who was not battling a foot injury?
You are of course entitled to your opinion and I don’t particularly care if you “can’t see it” but I watched and rewatched the games and in my opinion he was “by far” our best linemen and RT was the least of our problems, especially in the second half of the year.
 
You are of course entitled to your opinion and I don’t particularly care if you “can’t see it” but I watched and rewatched the games and in my opinion he was “by far” our best linemen and RT was the least of our problems, especially in the second half of the year.
So... no metrics. No opinions sited from actual football professionals. No testimonials from his teammates... just a vague feeling that you have (that you didn't want to draft any linemen)?
 
So... no metrics. No opinions sited from actual football professionals. No testimonials from his teammates... just a vague feeling that you have (that you didn't want to draft any linemen)?
Dude stop. You discredit PFF then go on to to use it to support your OPINION and your obvious bias.

But since you are so into PFF and need justification from “actual football professionals” try reading the article itself before trying to pick a fight.

“The decision to move Robert Hunt to guard so early in his career is puzzling in this sense: During the final six weeks of the season, Pro Football Focus said he was fifth best of 37 qualifying right tackles.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/...y-jackson/article251400358.html#storylink=cpy
 
I'm interested now in how they are going to use Phillips. DE? OLB? Are they going to move him around? Is he going to be used sparingly being as he's a Rookie and learning the playbook? Are they going to keep him mainly at one position in his rookie season? Looking forward to seeing it. I like this draft alot. Waddle, Holland, Eichenberg and Phillips are all ones that I'm expecting decent things.
 
- Phillips was my one and only good call in the draft, I posted we should and will take him at 18. The concussions are a little concerning, but hey almost every pick has a concern of some type or the other. I'm really hoping for a breakout rookie season for him.

- I put very little stock in wonderlic scores. There are just so many different types of "intelligence" - the wonderlic only measures a very narrow band of one type.

-I think Tua is a very earnest, eager to please type. Eager to please his family, coaches, teammates - which are good things; but also more eager to please the media than most players and coaches, at least for now. He actually opens up and tries to honestly answer some (not all) of the questions. He emphasized the word "really" in this over harped on statement. There's a difference between knowing something and REALLY knowing something in all sorts of things - sports, arts, music, vocations, academics, etc. We all know this in those varied things we're really good at. Tua knew the playbook as well as most or all rookies that haven't played in the system for years. But rookies don't REALLY know the system, and just Tua was earnest enough to actually say it.
 
I'm interested now in how they are going to use Phillips. DE? OLB? Are they going to move him around? Is he going to be used sparingly being as he's a Rookie and learning the playbook? Are they going to keep him mainly at one position in his rookie season? Looking forward to seeing it. I like this draft alot. Waddle, Holland, Eichenberg and Phillips are all ones that I'm expecting decent things.
Obviously we have to wait and see how he is used.

He did play both LB and DE in college, so he is familiar with, and experienced in, the demands and assignments for both.

I would say it depends on a couple things. Can he set the edge against the run on early downs? How fast he can learn various responsibilities within the scheme?

We rotate a lot of guys in and out so I have no doubt there is an immediate role as a 3rd down pass rusher.

Anything else we get as a rook is iceing on the cake.
 
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