Why Jeff Ireland is just as responsible for this mess as Tony Sparano.

Defend his picks all you want. The fact is that the players he has selected for his team are 0-4 this season and 14-18 in the last two seasons. I don't see any of the players you mentioned still being around in three years when the new regime finally is able to bring in their players. I just hope Ross is smart enough to get rid of a GM who has done a terrible job during his tenure with the Dolphins. As far as picking another team to review their selections over the last four years. I have absolutely no interest in how other teams do in the draft or free agency. I only care about the Dolphins and how they do in selecting talent. From what I have seen from Ireland, he has failed in providing the talent needed to upgrade the team.

 

So you think the right frame of evaluating the Dolphins draft is being actively and willfully ignorant of the reality of what drafts actually look like and their success rates, and in lieu of that you can just eyeball it?

What's does a good draft look like, then? How many players do you come out with at what quality?

 

If Ireland survives by way of Ross supporting him and then hiring a coach that doesn't have huge name cache he has a very good chance to stay as Dolphin GM beyond these four years. If he drafts Andrew Luck, he may be looking at a very long career as Dolphins GM. I can't think of too many GMs that have drafted a franchise QB (if Luck succeeds) and then proceeded to be fired for at least a while down the line.

 

Exactly how is a team which is 0-4 and rated near the bottom in just about every category in the NFL, considered to be average? It certainly appears to me that you have no understanding of the game of football. The object of the game is to WIN. The Dolphins are not winning and the talent on the team, along with the coaching is the reason they are not winning. The coaches will suffer the consequences soon enough for their inability to win games. Ireland should suffer these same consequences for his lack of ability to provide the Dolphins with quality players on their roster.

The fact that you would defend someone who has failed to upgrade the team in so many areas, clearly shows that you have real no interest in seeing the Dolphins move forward as a franchise. I am sure the fans of the Jets, Patriots, and Bills would love to see Ireland remain as the Dolphins GM. This would assure them of no worse then third place in the AFCE for as long as Ireland remains the Dolphins GM.

I was a season ticket holder for 40 years. This year was the first time in the last 41 years that I did not renew my tickets. I have spoken to the season ticket office on the phone and I have written them two letters explaining why I did not renew this season. I have also assured them that once Ireland and Sparano are gone. I will be happy to purchase four season tickets once again. If Ross fires Sparano and keeps Ireland, I won't be attending games again next year.

 

Oh man this is too good. This is way too good. Say that Ireland retains his job and the Dolphins pick #1. Guess where Ireland went to school? He was the placekicker for Baylor University. Hmmm.....

 

I think this line of prompting also requires a second point. What chance has Ireland had to select a quarterback, that for good or ill will make or break his tenure? When I compared the Falcons and Dolphins drafts, it wasn't even close... The Dolphins have drafted better, and Matt Ryan is really the Falcons saving grace. Parcells power was at its absolute highest when Henne was selected, and Ireland when he's had full continue has been pretty much stuck in a "due diligence" phase on Henne- One that looks pretty justified in light of what Henne has done.

The only guy that Jeff Ireland has "picked" so far is Matt Moore. It's arguable he had an opportunity in do otherwise this offseason, but picking up Orton clearly wasn't the right decision. Who did they miss in the draft? Ryan Mallett, who ended up falling into what round to a team that could spend most of his rookie contract training him?

 

Jeff Ireland isn't responsible for the entire content of the team, and you're totally unwilling to actually consider the part he is responsible for. There are other factors at play that really I don't think need to be discussed in this conversation such as coaching, injury, etc.

I don't really care how long you've been a fan for or how good a fan you think you are. It's very easy to look at what a draft is and give your opinion on it.

 

Not sure if I understand your reasoning there in saying that Odrick is playing good and then saying Koa Misi is not being put on the field even though Odrick is not performing?

 

Drafting isn't the only thing that makes a GM good, or bad. Exhibit A: 2011 Miami Dolphins roster.

 

It's pretty fair to say 2010 and onward was basically Jeff Ireland. 2011 especially was Jeff Ireland so let's look at that. (Pat Turner was him too)

Odrick, Misi, Jerry, Pouncey, Clay, Thomas, Jones, Gates. Those are the most important draft picks to mention. He's also made a point of not cutting John Jerry. He's made stupid move after stupid move in FA. He's an alright drafter. Maybe a little above average when you consider his ability to find big finds as UFAs.

His FA moves are abominal. Terrible. Randy Mueller was better at that. Dave Wannstedt's dreaded Spielman was better at that. I can say for certain that if I were GM I would have done a better job signing free agents. I have no qualifications for being a GM. None...

 

Odrick is playing well relative to his skill-set and what has been asked for him. He's a solid pass rusher on the interior. He can hold his ground, and read and react well. He's doing so at a degree where he could be a solid starter with little play time. He's a success in that regard.

He's not an outside rusher though, and that's what they're asking of him mainly. That's asking of him things above and beyond his skillset. Richard Seymour is the best guy in Odrick's skillset in the past decade, and he was ineffective as a pass rusher as a 4-3 DE.

 

Matt Ryan isn't a proven franchise quarterback at this point.

Right now, in his 4th season, he's performing like an average starting quarterback. He's performed better, and he's performed like a quality quarterback, but he's also been characterized by inconsistency, and he's at a point in time in his career where that's sort of a point of importance.

Andy Dalton yesterday completed 50% of his passes for 1 TD, 2 INTs, and a 64.4 QB Rating.

He's not been neglecting the position. When you've got a recently selected quarterback, you've got to do your due diligence, and the jury is still very much out on Chad Henne given how he's performed this season. Drafting a quarterback right now would have been premature.

 

This isn't just about Ireland and the draft, even though I put him near the bottom of all GM's when it comes to making the best picks on draft day. It also has to do with his selections during free agency. He and Parcell's did a job job signing Wake. Dansby, last year appeared to also be a good pick up, but his play this season has been below average. Burnett has been a flop so far and he is certainly no upgrade over Crowder. Of course Crowder has nothing good to say about Ireland, so Ireland was happy to get rid of him. Even if it weakened the defense overall.

Ireland may or may not have hit on Pouncey, only time will tell. But he has done a terrible job of drafting or bringing in offensive linemen in free agency who improve this unit. In fact the offensive line this year is worse than it has been in the last four years. Ireland also was treated like a dummy by the Denver Broncos when he agreed to trade two number two drafts picks for Marshall. Marshall has been nothing but an average wide receiver with the Dolphins, who has dropped more TD passes then he has caught.

Trading for Reggie Bush and paying him five millions dollars a season is insane. He was never the feature back in New Orleans and as Crowder says, he is nothing but a glorified wide receiver. Other than Vontae Davis, Ireland has been terrible when it comes to selecting talent for the secondary. I don't see a single starter, other than Davis who could start for most teams in the NFL, and many of these players couldn't make the roster of the better teams in the NFL.

Ireland has done nothing to upgrade the QB position since he selected Henne in the second round four years ago. He continues to live with this mistake and that is one of the major reasons the Dolphins are 14-22
over the last two plus seasons. Overall Ireland would rate a grade of, D-, as GM of the Dolphins.

The fact is that no matter how you look at it. Ireland needs to go, along with Sparano and hopefully Ross makes the right hires this time.

 

This isn't entirely about the draft, but obviously you plan to defend Ireland. no matter what I say. Also, no one said Ireland was entirely responsible for the content of the team. I have made it very clear that I think Sparano and the rest of the coaching staff need to be gone after this season. Personally I don't even think you are a fan of the Dolphins, but merely an apologist for Ireland. Because the fact is that almost every real fan of the Dolphins in recent weeks have come to the conclusion that the Ireland/Sparano era needs to come to an end, as quickly as possible. The only individuals who seem happy with the job Ireland has done as the Dolphins GM are those individuals who root for the teams in the AFCE, not named the Miami Dolphins.

 

Wow, Comparing Odrick to an all pro like Seymour. The major difference between Seymour and Odrick is that Seymour actually has a NFL level skill set. So far Odrick has failed to prove he even deserves to be an NFL player.

 

It is funny how the Carolina Panthers who drafted Jimmy Clausen in the 2010 draft had no problem using the first pick in the 2011 draft on a QB. The Patriots used a third round draft pick on a QB, even though they had just signed Brady to a new long term contract. The fact is that Henne ended last season on the bench and the Dolphins and Ireland did absolutely nothing in an effort to upgrade the position. Ireland has in fact neglected an upgrade at the QB position for the last three years. You seem to love the term average. The fact is that Henne played in three complete games this season, prior to his injury yesterday. He was 0-3 as a starter in those games. How is this average? I guess the team could go 0-16 for the season and you would see this as merely average.

I bet you were upset when the Dolphins fired Cam Cameron. Jeez, he was the coach of a 1-15 team and by your definition of average, you must have considered him an above average head coach.

 

And yet you refuse to actually justify this in any way, shape, or form. It's not that difficult, just show something even the slightest bit empirical.

No, I didn't compare Odrick to Seymour. I said Odrick is being put into a position where Seymour was not particularly successful. What you should be drawing from what I said that if a guy like Seymour can't be successful as an edge rusher, than Odrick probably will not. There's really an obvious quality assessment being made here and it's not at all what you're drawing from it.

Odrick, right now, is playing better than some starting NFL 3-4 DEs. He might not end up being them most optimal pick at the position, but he's doing pretty well given the circumstances.

 

Here is the thing with Jeff Ireland. I'm not going to separate his moves from Parcells moves, because this was a team effort. Jeff has had four years to put together a team, and at this point, he has question marks at the quarterback position, along the offensive line, at running back, at tight end, at linebacker, and major issues in the secondary.

Outside of his time on Carl Peterson's staff in Kansas City, the biggest portion of his experience has come alongside Bill Parcells. You can expect that he is going to struggle when he isn't going by the Parcells philosophy on picking players, and if he sticks with that philosophy, then there is likely going to be a tremendous mismatch when it comes to what the coach wants to do.

 

Obviously you are a fan or relative of Ireland. So no matter what I say concerning how terrible a job he has done as the GM of the Dolphins. You have no means to look at the job he has done in a rational manner.
The empirical evidence to exactly how lousy he has done in selecting talent for this team is merely to look at the teams record each year after their 11-5 season in 2008. They have become a worse team each year since 2008. While their record was 7-9 in both 2009 and 2010, the fact they lost the last three games in 2010 shows that the team was in decline last year. Now with a 0-4 start, the Dolphins are on there way to their worst season since 2007 when they were 1-15.

As the GM of the team, Ireland was hired to provide an upgrade in talent on a yearly basis. The team is suppose to be improving as the talent gets better. Instead, under the leadership of Ireland the talent on the team has not improved overall in the last three years. All a GM is judged on, after all is said and done, is how the talent he selected for the team performs on the field. The talent Ireland has selected during his time as the Dolphins GM has performed below average and this year it has performed well below average.

As far as your statement that Odrick is playing better than some starting DE's in the NFL. First of all he is a first round draft pick and as such, he should be the starting DE if he was as good as he suppose to be when they selected him that high. Also perhaps you need to check his stats through four games. He has seven tackles and one assist during this period. This averages out to two tackle a game, if you count the assist. That is not much production for someone drafted as highly as Odrick was. Ireland traded down to select Odrick and to pick up a second round pick in 2010. The second round pick was Misi. I am not impressed by either of these selections and as I stated earlier, I think the entire 2010 draft will prove to be a complete bust in the next few years.

Once Ireland and Sparano are fired and a new regime comes in. I don't expect to see any of the 2010 draft picks still on the Dolphins in the next two to three years.

 

I absolutely do. Everyone does. It's very, very easy, if you're willing to put bare minimum effort into it.

Again... Do you disagree he's played more snaps wide of the tackle than he has to the interior? Do you think that's an appropriate way to use him? Can you name any other players like him that get used that way? Were they successful? Please, enlighten me.

 

Ehhhh Cory Redding maybe. I doubt he does it in their nickel though.

 

I don't think he does, it's Suggs at DE on the weakside and Jarrett Johnson at SOLB on the strong side in a 4-3 under, and I think they've got a bunch of guys who sub in for Johnson as Nickel DE.

 

Man the Colts fire off the ball fast. I would love to see a defense that takes advantage of player's skill sets. You can't convince me that Starks-Odrick wouldn't succeed inside as a one-gapping one technique and three technique.