Xavien Howard Seems Happy About The Flores Hire

[Digital]

Remember this feeling 12 months from now. If we tank, there will be a lot of not-pretty happening over the next 12 months. Our plan is to be GREAT. To do that we need an elite QB. To get that piece, we probably need to tank. Given our scouting department's ability to identify QB talent, it's not going to happen unless we tank.

It's not about having a great defense in 2019. It's about building the foundation to have a great defense in 2020 through 2030. It's not about scoring a lot of points in 2019. It's about building an offense that can dominate in this era of offenses. It's not about winning the turnover battle, it's about beginning to collect the right guys who will win that turnover battle down the road.

So if Flores sucks in 2019, just remember, there is a process in place … and trust the process.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

Absolutely, it's tragedy that a situation has been created by team owners and the NFL in which fans are so easily manipulated into thinking that players who want to get paid are seen as selfish, me-first mercs. Dude wants to get paid? Clearly a 'locker-room cancer' and not 'putting the team first'. A bunch of old billionaire team owners - an assortment of entitled racists, sexual predators, ****bags and literal criminals - and their well-paid league executive lackeys somehow convincing gullible people that they're the good guys and it's the players who are being unreasonable.

Awesome post. During my first months in Las Vegas I was standing in the Stardust sportsbook and made what I thought was a harmless sensible comment about rooting for some player during a contract dispute. I don't even remember what sport it was. But all of a sudden I was attacked from all angles, particularly from an older white haired guy who started ranting that ownership was everything and the players were lucky to be making above minimum wage. I had already noted that the perspectives of the young males in the sportsbook environment were vastly different than anything I had experienced in college, but that was the first time I had evidence of how it translated to the employer/employee relationship.

Years earlier here you would have received plenty of quick blowback regarding that post. And it would still happen in droves on other sports sites, specifically college football sites. I'm continually impressed with the evolution of this site since I joined in 2005.

There is nothing wrong with Xavien Howard's contract demands. I hope he dominates the process. This may be his only opportunity to complete reshape his life and lives of others in his family for generations to come.

I'm not sure I want the Dolphins to be the ones paying him, especially if trade kickback were particularly juicy.

BTW, I had a few friends from USC who majored in SPIN (Sports Information) and went to work for professional teams, like in public relations. The stories they have told me are astounding, regarding shenanigans and twists and outright corruption that go on behind the scenes. I fully believed all of the tales because they sound similar to some of the stuff I saw Jack Binion pull at the Horseshoe. Binion would get so drunk late at night he'd actually be bragging about falsifying financial records, and screwing the union, etc.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

Remember this feeling 12 months from now. If we tank, there will be a lot of not-pretty happening over the next 12 months. Our plan is to be GREAT. To do that we need an elite QB. To get that piece, we probably need to tank. Given our scouting department's ability to identify QB talent, it's not going to happen unless we tank.

It's not about having a great defense in 2019. It's about building the foundation to have a great defense in 2020 through 2030. It's not about scoring a lot of points in 2019. It's about building an offense that can dominate in this era of offenses. It's not about winning the turnover battle, it's about beginning to collect the right guys who will win that turnover battle down the road.

So if Flores sucks in 2019, just remember, there is a process in place … and trust the process.

That all sounds great but overreaction is inevitable if the bottom line is incompetent enough. Stephen Ross won't be immune. If let's say we are 1-12 next December then plenty of that will be accomplished by personnel and strategy decisions that will scream as inept. Attendance will be way down and complaints will be way up. That will translate here and everywhere. National media mockery. It will be severely difficult to remain calm and understand this was a necessary step. Our best players will look subpar, etc. Nothing will be going well.

I'm pretty good at projecting situational landscape. That is how it will play out.

And not everyone will survive it. Newly hired coaches will be gone. Players we thought would be here for the duration of the rebuild will be jettisoned. That is simply inevitable.

Flores would maintain partial benefit of a doubt through one season, although many who never wanted him in the first place will be calling for his ouster.

If it's every bit as dismal deep into in season two, then Grier and Flores are in trouble, no matter what the situation is at quarterback or what their contract terms are.

Normalcy is incredibly reliable

 

[Phinatic8u]

Remember this feeling 12 months from now. If we tank, there will be a lot of not-pretty happening over the next 12 months. Our plan is to be GREAT. To do that we need an elite QB. To get that piece, we probably need to tank. Given our scouting department's ability to identify QB talent, it's not going to happen unless we tank.

It's not about having a great defense in 2019. It's about building the foundation to have a great defense in 2020 through 2030. It's not about scoring a lot of points in 2019. It's about building an offense that can dominate in this era of offenses. It's not about winning the turnover battle, it's about beginning to collect the right guys who will win that turnover battle down the road.

So if Flores sucks in 2019, just remember, there is a process in place … and trust the process.

Grier loves Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield last year.

Do not be surprised if Kyler Murray is a target. Even with a trade up.

 

[Digital]

That all sounds great but overreaction is inevitable if the bottom line is incompetent enough. Stephen Ross won't be immune. If let's say we are 1-12 next December then plenty of that will be accomplished by personnel and strategy decisions that will scream as inept. Attendance will be way down and complaints will be way up. That will translate here and everywhere. National media mockery. It will be severely difficult to remain calm and understand this was a necessary step. Our best players will look subpar, etc. Nothing will be going well.

I'm pretty good at projecting situational landscape. That is how it will play out.

And not everyone will survive it. Newly hired coaches will be gone. Players we thought would be here for the duration of the rebuild will be jettisoned. That is simply inevitable.

Flores would maintain partial benefit of a doubt through one season, although many who never wanted him in the first place will be calling for his ouster.

If it's every bit as dismal deep into in season two, then Grier and Flores are in trouble, no matter what the situation is at quarterback or what their contract terms are.

Normalcy is incredibly reliable

Well I think that's the common expectation.

But, this is the first time I've heard Mr. Ross ever say the things he is saying, which suggest he is fully onboard with tanking. Whether he changes his mind once those pressures are applied, who knows. And let's be clear here, the person firing people is Mr. Ross. He has shown that he is a man of his word and he is not quick to pull the hook on people. So this really hinges on Mr. Ross's character, not the rest of the situational landscape.

Personally, I fear every step of this process. I fully expect Coach Flores may not manage this well and we'll end up 5-11 having missed out on all the top QB's in 2020 and to even get #3 of those QB's have to squander several years of draft picks to trade up … and I call that a complete and utter failure. If Flores can hold his water and maintain this team to 1-3 wins, I will be ecstatic, but I'm not sure he will. But if he does, and Mr. Ross fires him, I'm putting full blame on Mr. Ross. Because Coach Flores is being asked to tank … not win games, and while it hurts everyone's pride to do so, Coach Flores took this job knowing the ask.

It is the economics scenario a "prisoner's dilemma." If both stick to the plan, everyone succeeds. If anyone does not stick to the plan, everyone's incentive is to be the first person to break from the plan. The plan is to tank.

 

[Digital]

Grier loves Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield last year.

Do not be surprised if Kyler Murray is a target. Even with a trade up.

I think Kyler Murray is the best QB in this draft, and I don't rate Haskins or anyone else even close to him. But, I would still wait for 2020 when there are at least 3 better prospects.

Murray isn't just small, he's the smallest. Baker Mayfield is almost 6'1, he's not really that small. Drew Brees is like 5'11 and a half. The only really small guy is Russell Wilson at 5'10. Murray is 5'9. Wilson does everything right, and came in as an excellent pocket passer. Wilson opened up the market for guys like Murray. But, Murray has leverage of baseball, and while things worked out for Russell Wilson, no team likes to negotiate with their highest salaried player when he has real leverage. Unlike Wilson, Murray is an actual runner. Wilson uses his legs to buy time to throw, and makes sure he goes out of bounds or slides unless it is a crucial game/play. He protects his small frame. Murray runs like a runner, taking those hits, and at 5'9 and not bulked up like Muscle Hampster, he's not going to last long with that running style. RG3 never learned to play like Wilson, and unless Murray does, he's going to have a very short career. I'm not investing my 1st round pick and the future face of my franchise to someone with all those risks. I hope Grier doesn't. Just wait until 2020, that's when there are good prospects to be had.

I get it, we've been unimpressive for a decade and a half now … people can't wait to grab any glimmer of hope. But if we want to escape the treadmill of mediocrity, we need to embrace this opportunity, suck for a year, and get a great QB who can fuel a team that competes for the Super Bowl for the next decade and a half. Impatience just wrecks us for another 5-15 years, IMHO.

 

[russianbear]

Absolutely, it's tragedy that a situation has been created by team owners and the NFL in which fans are so easily manipulated into thinking that players who want to get paid are seen as selfish, me-first mercs. Dude wants to get paid? Clearly a 'locker-room cancer' and not 'putting the team first'. A bunch of old billionaire team owners - an assortment of entitled racists, sexual predators, ****bags and literal criminals - and their well-paid league executive lackeys somehow convincing gullible people that they're the good guys and it's the players who are being unreasonable. As soon as a player speaks out he's a troublemaker, silenced by the threat of allegedly upsetting the highly sensitive and delicately balanced emotional state of the locker room, a perception continually fueled by conveniently timed stories and leaks from league (and therefore owner's) mouthpiece Adam Schefter.

This is why I will always come out on the side of Le'Veon Bell; a player so obviously being manipulated through the 'flogged half to death through a cheap rookie contract and franchise tag before being cast aside broken to negotiate with another team for some long-term security' process that the league and teams have colluded to create. And all the fans can point to is that "I'd happily go to work for $14mil a year, what's his problem?" What's his problem? More like what's the ****ing billionaire team owner's problem paying market value and offering him some security to a player who has put himself and his health on the line (and don't even get me started on the league and owner's attitudes towards concussions and brain injuries)? It's a crying shame that fans see players as the ones causing issues when they want to get paid. "But he's selfish because of the effect that it will have on our cap". Well who the hell benefits the most from the cap? And who has the power to step aside next time the CBA is negotiated? Yep you guessed it, not the players. The owners and league implement a cap to protect their wealth, and then claim that a player is harming the team and it;s cap situation wanting too much, and it's generally accepted that the players are the problem in this situation?

So if a player wants to maximise his earnings in the short time that he has playing the game (and risking his health while he does so) then I say go for it, I don't begrudge any player wanting to do so, and certainly not because of some bullshit invented number that owners lean on to protect their wealth and use as a 'not putting the team first' stick to beat anyone who challenges them.

I agree with everything you said especially about the media positioning owners as angels and athletes as selfish when in reality it's the other way around. In a lot of cases that's how the owners got to the top in the first place, by being selfish and manipulative.

My concern is not about what we pay the players. My concern is what motivates the players. Of course they all want to make money. I GET IT. We all do, for the most part.

Maybe I'm letting semantics get the better of me, but I believe there are players who put pride of accomplishment over (or at least on par with) dollars. Players who put winning a Superbowl, and being constant contenders as their number 1 initiative. I want players who are fueled by a passion for greatness beyond that of simply getting paid and checking out, because that happens, a lot. You see a lot of players get their money and start showing up overweight or out of shape.

Now, in all fairness we haven't exactly bred a culture as a franchise that encourages that type of mindset. Obviously the Patriots have.

I'm not saying that just because Howard said "I want to be the league's top paid corner" he's one of those guys. What I'm saying is that he might be, and I'd rather hear players talking about how they want to be in the HoF one day. Because in all likelihood, a player in the HoF was at one point the highest paid at his position. I would be cautious with Howard.

Just the way I perceive things.

 

[Phinatic8u]

I think Kyler Murray is the best QB in this draft, and I don't rate Haskins or anyone else even close to him. But, I would still wait for 2020 when there are at least 3 better prospects.

Murray isn't just small, he's the smallest. Baker Mayfield is almost 6'1, he's not really that small. Drew Brees is like 5'11 and a half. The only really small guy is Russell Wilson at 5'10. Murray is 5'9. Wilson does everything right, and came in as an excellent pocket passer. Wilson opened up the market for guys like Murray. But, Murray has leverage of baseball, and while things worked out for Russell Wilson, no team likes to negotiate with their highest salaried player when he has real leverage. Unlike Wilson, Murray is an actual runner. Wilson uses his legs to buy time to throw, and makes sure he goes out of bounds or slides unless it is a crucial game/play. He protects his small frame. Murray runs like a runner, taking those hits, and at 5'9 and not bulked up like Muscle Hampster, he's not going to last long with that running style. RG3 never learned to play like Wilson, and unless Murray does, he's going to have a very short career. I'm not investing my 1st round pick and the future face of my franchise to someone with all those risks. I hope Grier doesn't. Just wait until 2020, that's when there are good prospects to be had.

I get it, we've been unimpressive for a decade and a half now … people can't wait to grab any glimmer of hope. But if we want to escape the treadmill of mediocrity, we need to embrace this opportunity, suck for a year, and get a great QB who can fuel a team that competes for the Super Bowl for the next decade and a half. Impatience just wrecks us for another 5-15 years, IMHO.

He is 5' 9" and 7/8".

He's 5'10 and battling over inches isn't going to make or break a kid.

 

[Digital]

He is 5' 9" and 7/8".

He's 5'10 and battling over inches isn't going to make or break a kid.

That's good! Then he's almost Russel Wilson's height. I thought he would measure smaller at the combine.

 

[susser2000]

Not if he gets hurt this year, or if he wants an unreasonable extension. His cap hit is under a million this year and the first year franchise tag is not going to be bad.

Can't play scared when dealing with one of your top players. We saw this happen with Landry (I'm fine that he's gone) and everyone saw this happen with the Redskins and Cousins.

Players like it when teams show them a commitment, if the Dolphins don't show commitment and try to play the long game with X, there is probably no chance he re-signs here.

 

[Phinatic8u]

That's good! Then he's almost Russel Wilson's height. I thought he would measure smaller at the combine.

Yeah the guy who measures kids at OU came out and said that's how tall he was when he measured him last year.

 

[Digital]

Yeah the guy who measures kids at OU came out and said that's how tall he was when he measured him last year.

I like Murray and hope he succeeds. Still not convinced he'll skip baseball though. Also scared of his size being a running QB. But he can do a little of everything, and if he does play football, he can become a good QB.