By Carl Cabey
Four years ago the Dolphins finished the season 1-15. They brought in Bill Parcells and he hired Tony Sporano as the head coach and Jeff Ireland as the general manager after he leaves. The trio was giving the nickname the trifecta. They were supposed to be different from the previous GMs. They were supposed to bring Miami back to the winning ways they experienced in the 90s. Similar to many before them however, the trifecta failed to get the fins a franchise quarterback for the Miami Dolphins. They chose Jake Long with the 1st overall pick over Matt Ryan in their first full draft and settled for Chad Henne in the late 2nd round.
They weren’t in position to draft a quarterback in any of their other drafts and didn’t want to trade up to get one. That led to Bill Parcells stepping down and a season later Tony Sporano getting fired. Last year Ireland’s first full draft by himself was solid. Nothing special about it and he went with a lot of safe picks. Pouncey was a player the Dolphins plugged in and will be able to contribute for the next 10-12 years. They traded up for Daniel Thomas. Thomas shows promise if he can stay healthy, however RBs are a dime a dozen now and that trade may not have been needed especially with DeMarco Murray going in the 3rd round and leading the lead in rushing. They were alleged to like Jake Locker and Christian Ponder, but didn’t want to move up and get either one of them. Other than Jake Long who was the 1st overall pick in the draft, none of the draft picks have been selected to the pro bowl. With the release of Philip Merling only Jake Long remains from that draft. When looking back at the drafts the Dolphins have drafted solid 1st round starters, the problem however has been its 2nd and 3rd round guys haven’t contributed much or haven’t been very good. Ireland will need to have a very good draft if he wants to keep his job after this season. Which makes you wonder if he will be able to draft Ryan Tannehill and have him sit for a year when he needs players who are ready to come in and play this year.
The Dolphins hired Joe Philbin the former offensive coordinator from Green bay. Green Bay built that offense through the draft getting players that fit their system. He wants to build the Dolphins that same way and Miami is happy about the fact that they have 4 picks in the top 75 and hope all 4 of those players can get on the field and contribute for the team right away. Stephen Ross desperately wants a franchise quarterback, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do in the first round. I know some people are high on Ryan Tannehill and nobody knows him better than new Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Sherman who was the head coach of Tannehill’s team Texas A&M. Tannehill however played wide receiver for the first 2 seasons and you have to wonder why he moved him from quarterback for a guy that wasn’t great. We don’t know how much time Ireland has to turn this team around, but we do know it’ll be interesting to see what they do in the draft with their picks. If he has more misses than hits the Dolphins will be looking for a new general manager sooner then later.
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