One of the reasons why I am an advocate for keeping Jeff Ireland and Tony Sparano can be found in this yr's draft order: Bills 6th pick overall, they draft at the top of every round again this yr, they will land physically talented players, the pick of the litter as it were Jets 28th overall, and they have no 3rd or 5th rd picks due to the Tony Cromartie and Santonio Holmes trades, but they have the checkbook to retain both impending free agents along with Braylon Edwards. Patriots 30th or high, but check this out: -15th pick from the Raiders -30th pick their own -33rd pick they own the Panthers #2 draft choice which is basically a first round pick in terms of talent The Dolphins are locked into the middle of the draft, 16th or 15th in each rd, with no #2 pick, we are down to 6 picks overall, the only way we can compete with the other 3 teams in the division is by finding UDFA's/UFLers/CFLers and trying to find some gems in the muck and mud, say what one wishes about Ireland and Sparano's on the field prodcut, their ability to sift through that muck and find gems is unquestionable. This yr with the past 3 offseason FA signings, barring a severe roster shakeup there would not figure to be the money available to sign large money free agents, could be wrong on that as only time will tell, however when it comes down to it, the only way we can compete is to mine for more gems..again..or risk falling behind in the Talent Race in the AFC East as the deck is stacked against us. http://walterfootball.com/nfldraftorder2011.php
I don't know that Jeff Ireland has a special talent for finding UDFA's that somebody else doesn't have. Really Bess is the only guy that's made an impact. Our draft position, even if we lose out, is goign to be middle of the road. The more I think about this, the more I see Kevin Kolb as a real possibility.
Valid point. For all the complaining about the draft, we do compensate elsewhere. Still, if we lose the last two games (probable) and we have a top 15 pick with a stud sitting there ( I.e. RB like Ingram) I hope we take him
Drafting Ingram only makes sense if you acquire a veteran QB in another way, and even then, Ingram would be close to last on my list. RB's just don't matter all that much. Even the special ones don't make a huge difference on bad teams. Adrian Petersen and Chris Johnson aren't helping their teams do much winning.
I think the "trifecta" has done an excellent job building a core group of players on this team. I would imagine this year's off season would be similar to last years except with the focus being on offense, offense, offense. My only problem with keeping Sparano is he seems sold on keeping Henning around. That to me is a joke. If those two are a package deal then my opinion is let them go.
Draft position is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo overrated its beyond silly to wish for higher slot or worse claim its needed to fill holes that we have. Each round has talent, thus each spot has talent available.
Wake was a steal in the CFL. I'm all for keeping Ireland. Not Sparano as he has worn me out with his suggestions of henning being good. Not sure how you (Padre) can use this argument that the other teams are getting stronger to keep our HC and Jeff though.
Hell, the other joke about draft position....we held the #1 overall and to this day we debate and argue if we should have taken Jake Long or Matt Ryan in hindsight.....we held the #2 overall and we argue if Ronnie Brown was the proper pick. Draft position is over rated to find the players. We held a 30ish pick and selected Dan Marino (and I would wager Shula would not have taken him if our Pick was higher). Its a joke to claim a certain spot is more or less likely. Its meaningless. Its not the spot itself, its what you do with it and whether you get lucky (all picks are about luck) or out think yourself.
I agree with you that we certainly have a challenge when it comes to the draft, but it's a pretty big stretch to say that because of this challenge we should retain a coach who isn't getting the job done. Ireland's drafting has been just ok. He hasn't solved our team's biggest problem which is QB. I stated this in another thread, and I'll do it again here. Knowing what we all know about our QB situation, and that we still need a QB, if Ross has any doubts whatsoever about Sparano and company (which he certainly should based strictly on a 1-6 home record) do you really think he'll let this regime select the Dolphins next QB? Not very likely.
Because other coaches have a bright line between "starter" and "non starter" meaning 90% of the NFL plays their starters and then finds the best Special Teamers that they can and they simply never see the field barring injuries. With Sparano and Ireland, we have had 3 5th rd picks start out on Special Teams then move into playing time, Clemons, Jones, Carroll, he has found ways to get guys like McDaniel and Murtha playing time, and overall has done a far above average job at developing players. Put it this way, for all of the crying over Ernest Wilford, if Sparano did not have the balls to sit him Davone Bess would not have become the player that he is, it takes guys for a HC to sit a player they just paid 9 million dollars to and start a UDFA instead, as in few coaches in the NFL would make that move. That is one of the values Sparano brings to the Dolphins, he is willing to play whom he believes is the best player regardless of contract.
Agree with most everyone as of now. We're #16 right now at have a chance to climb up to #13. That doesn't help us in getting one of the big 4 QB prospects as almost everyone ahead of us need a QB. It may, however let us trade down again like last year. We either need to pull a blockbuster deal to move way up or we should deal our picks like crazy, especially for picks next year...
Yet another reason to sign a Veteran Qb rather than draft one. Without a #2 pick Ireland will look to trade back and try to recoup a 2nd rd pick, and trading for picks next yr is the downside of not extending Sparano or Ireland, common sense would dictate that such a trade would only hamstring them further.
Yeah, because that seems to have worked out really well for us in the past. Or for other teams who have tried the same (minus the Saints.) It's time for us to use a first round pick on a QB. I hope they move up rather than down. Trading down is a move for teams who have an established QB. We do not.
Like playing Gibral Wilson all season and keeping Clemons on the bench or playing Cam Wake 8-9 plays a game with amazing production his first season here but having the veterens PLAY 95% OF THE PLAYING TIME and we had the Will Allen injury to thank otherwise who knows when we would have seen Vontae Davis This season you have one running back averaging 3.8 yards per carry and one that averages 4.4 yards per carry...who gets more carries??? The one that averages one half yard less per carry Trust me Sparano has made quite a few mistakes regarding evaluations/playing time
What does player scouting and acquisition have to do with Sparano? When you have to give him undue credit to make a case for him.......there is no case for him.
Dude...OF COURSE Tony Sparano has input on the players that are drafted...LOL Do you think he is the little kid in the corner on draft day with the dunce cap on that can't speak until spoken to?
Actually the Jets do have a 5th round pick this year. They gave up last year's 5th round pick for Holmes. As for the Jets checkbook, they'll try to re-sign as many players as they can but they've also recently signed Ferguson, Mangold, Revis, et al to new deals and may have a cap to take into consideration.
I don't see money to sign FA's as an issue. We drop Penne and Ronnie, which is about $10M to start. Subtract J Allen, possibly W Allen, Crowder, and even Carey. We could do pretty much anything we want.
This is really odd because last night (or was it this morning?) I had a dream... I had a dream... I had a dream... that we had the 7th pick overall.
Nonsense plain and simple. We know now, now of course you can play "shoulda coulda woulda" Oh sure, feed the 34 yr old guy who has 6 runs over 6yds the entire season, and watch the offensive explosion.. Opinions vary, will say the "Sparano should have played Clemons more" is laughable, you have access to PFF, Wilson had 4 bad games to start the season then played an average game at Safety, Clemons was lost in limited duty in 09. As for "wake only played 9 snaps per game!!!" he was not an NFL caliber olb in 09, he could rush the passer, he couldn't stop the run.. The point behind this thread is, Ireland found the Clemons and Wakes, Sparano developed them, and that is the only way the Dolphins can compete in terms of talent acquisition in the AFC East. The patriots have 2 drafts in a single draft including more or less 3 first round picks, if Irish doesn't take a chance on those developmental players, how will we compete even in the medium term?
