I love ya bro, but I just don't see it the same way this article does. Here's why.
1. I would MUCH rather have had the 1st pick in the draft, and never needed to trade up and be certain we had a healthy and elite QB. I would have taken Joe Burrow.
2. Byron Jones joined us for one reason ... we offered the most money.
3. Van Noy joined us for two reasons ... we offered the most money AND he knows the system fits him to a T ... well maybe 3, because he knows and likes Coach Flo too.
4. Ted Karras joined us for one reason ... I think we were the only team that even offered him ... and we were definitely the team that offered the most money.
5. Erick Flowers joined us for one reason ... we offered the most money ... and probably too much money if I'm honest.
6. Lawson joined us for 3 reasons ... we offered at least as much money as anyone else, he has a DL coach who knows him and believes in him and can get the best out of him, and he's a mediocre talent going to a place with no competition.
7. Oghba (sp?) joined us for one reason ... we offered the most money.
IMHO, none of these FA's changes their mind if we lost the Patriots and Bengals games. Sure, when they need to justify it, NONE of them are going to be honest and say it is because we offered the most money, that's just human nature. They're going to say what makes them look best, AND most supports their new team and makes them liked in the locker room. Such as they'll say they wanted a ... chance to be a leader ... to be in on the ground floor ... building something great here in Miami ... I'm sucking up to the coach, errrr I mean the coaching staff here is great ... this team has a lot of great players ... we're on the cusp of turning the corner ... the fans are fantastic ... yadda yadda yadda.
I believe we made very big mistakes pulling out those games against the Bengals and Patriots. But as a coaching staff, you can't tell your team you are trying to lose. When you win, you build on that momentum, because you can't push the do-over button. Coach Flo did what he needed to do, but in his heart of hearts I'm fairly confident he wishes we had lost those games and gotten the top pick. If we end up trading UP to get a QB, then it will be almost impossible to argue otherwise.
Those meaningless games were counter-productive wins ... not the source of our FA approach. MONEY, no state taxes, and having a ton of draft capital to rebound were the reasons we hauled in the FA class we did. I simply do not believe those wins were the FA's motivations. I think they just said that because it sounds good. And honestly, I'm glad they said that, because it does help build a culture here ... even if 100% of the locker room knows they're simply paying lip service and their real motivations were money and playing time ... which is just another way of saying future money.
I'm a Fitzmagic fan, have been since he was at Buffalo, but him pulling out those two wins really hurt our rebuild plan. It's very similar to the way Matt Moore's late season heroics rallied from the driver seat of Suck for Luck sweepstakes to the Tannehill consolation prize. Sure, it felt good to the locker room at the time, and it helped Moore's career ... but we never rebuilt, in part because we never quite had enough draft capital for our front office to make it work.
Personally, I wish we had lost the Bengals and Patriots games, because those meaningless wins in no way made me feel better about that miserable season, it just stripped away a layer of the silver lining. That's my $0.02 on it. Other opinions may differ.