Darlington: Ireland admits he made mistakes with the receiver position last year

He's been making mistakes with receivers since he has been here. Drafting Patrick Turner over Jared Cook? Who the heck arranged their draft board anyway to have Turner higher than Cook?

 

It still could be that the target is Jennings and not Wallace. He might just be trying to shrink the market and price for Jennings. A lot of teams might be leery of Jennings price if they believe Philbin with a need doesn't want him.

 

Wasn't there some rumor or speculation that Ireland's #1 target in that round was Ramses Barden, but that the Giants swooped in ahead of Miami and took him?

 

Doubt he cudda outbid the Bucs for VJ, but Garcon would have been a big help to Tannehill IMO.

 

Seems familiar now that you mention it.

Both Barden and Wallace went a few picks ahead of our taking Turner, and Cook went right after. I never felt good about the Turner pick, but tried to thing positive because back then I still had total faith that Parcells and Ireland always knew what they were doing.

 

Well honestly if he was going to screw up I'd rather it be with Jackson/Garcon last year and learn from his mistakes than Jennings/Wallace this year. Lets hope he learned his lesson and gets to work this year. Get some weapons for this team to put some freaking points on the board.

 

All we been hearing from the best Xs and Os posters we got here is that Wallace does not fit into Philbin's offense. If he does get signed, which I'm gonna doubt till I see it happen, I firmly believe the signing will only come with Philbin's total support. Maybe this will tell us that Philbin, and also Sherman are not so dogmatic in their offensive philosophies that they cannot change things a little to accommodate a very talented player. If that is so, then to me it could give Philbin a little of that "take his'n and beat you'n and take you'n and beat his'n" mantra that Don Shula had. Still too early to know for sure, but in this regard I see the actual pursuit of Wallace, if it happens, as a good sign that Philbin won't be pigeon holed as an offensive coaching mind.

 

Ireland has a "thing" for tall receivers, kinda like Al Davis has a "thing" for fast ones.

This has led to Patrick Turner and Ernest Wilford and Brandon Marshall.

 

There were a number of things that raised my eyebrow in that article but I honestly feel like I can't raise them on this board without being harrassed by certain people. It is what it is.

 

Yup. Time to put up or shut up Ireland.

 

My problem with the "he doens't fit into our system" arguement is that how do you know?? We didn't have anybody last year that can do what Wallace can do so how do we know that just isn't the missing piece of our system?? I tend to think that part of the system is left out when you dont have anybody that can play that role.

 

Good point. Last year, Clyde Gates did not really fit a matchup-precision passing game, but the reason he got cut was because he just wasn't developing as a receiver. When his cut was being discussed on Hard Knocks I don't recall Philbin using the reasoning of Gates not fitting the offensive scheme. Wallace if signed, will be a very expensive alternative to what they hoped and wished for Gates to be. JMO.

 

I don't really like the idea that he's going to a methodology in free agency where he's not setting prices, it's just the "GET IT DONE" **** that pleases fans but doesn't really end up being successful.

Neither Pierre Garcon nor Vincent Jackson are winners at their price points. Ireland was right to stay away from them.

 

The main thing that makes me want to think that article is pretty much spot on, is that Darlington wrote it. He is usually someone who thinks before he speaks and his predictions turn out better than about anyone else. I respect him as a writer probably more than any other in the football media world.

I'll never forget that 6 weeks before the 2009 draft he was on NFLN and stated with a good deal of certainty the Dolphins wanted Vontae Davis and would take him if available. I thought that was crazy because I thought VD would go 10 picks sooner or so.

 

This article kind of worries me, in light of the discussion of Ireland in the other thread, where he has a tendency to be conservative or ... Brandon Marshall!!!

Rumors of Wallace being the #1 target further worries that his moves may be over-reactionary this offseason.

But I won't judge until we suit up.

 

I would like to know??

I think it's a great thread to get everything out on the table.

we still have 5 days to go before we really know in terms of bluffing or What Phlbin really thinks of Jennings..

 

Isn't that the point of the Club Section?

 

Is anyone seeing a similar run in WR salaries that we saw in CB salaries a while back when Assante Samuel etc. were getting huge contracts?

 

Presuming what Darlington has heard is true, and not the most elaborate smokescreen ever, we are either going to get Wallace by any means necessary or Ireland and the team will once again get left at the alter after declaring they won't be outbid. I don't think either is a great scenario.

I do want Wallace and I understand that in fA you have to pay the freight. Just the way it is. But allowing this kind of stuff to come out again is just amateur hour. How many times do we need to get burned?

 

What exactly is the negative here?

 

If Wallace goes some where else and others do as well, is there a trade we might not be aware of, and who would be the target?

 

What can you bring up on this board without being harrassed?

 

You don't think it's a negative that over the past 4 years we've gotten turned down by almost all of our top targets for either players or coaches? I think Dansby is the one targeted guy we landed.

I get that you don't want Wallace and are willing to wait another 5 years for Ireland to build through the draft, but certainly being constantly spurned is not good for an organization.

 

Turned down? Its a contract negotiation. Two sides reach an agreement. This isn't players turning down Miami for less money.

 

I agree that Darlington tends to be better than most of the local guys but there just seems to be too much inside knowledge in the piece that it comes across not smelly right.

The quote also made me wonder what the heck he is talking about

This isn't college so I assume by homegrown talent he means former Dolphins. Other than Welker is there a former dolphin WR who is killing it in the NFL?

 

Go ahead man, DJ and I got your back..

 

I can not imagine the undesirable nature of the Dolphin organization not getting to Ross if that is the idea here. Surely he would know this. And he would know it centered on Ireland, and any other person in the organization. I tend to analyze a lot and I don't see this as a conspiracy. Or slight. But it could be. There is no doubting free agents have not been jumping to Miami. And is some regards that makes absolutely no sense. No income tax, beautiful beachfront areas, warm urban life. Something doesn't match here. Players would rather stay in Pittsburgh, or Chicago? I have to admit it doesn't match up. But is this all Ireland's fault. I will say my benefit of a doubt is wearing thin if things don't fall better this year. I can handle the Manning thing last year, and the Flynn situation worked out right. But if I even thought members of this front office were destroying the desirability of being a Dolphin I would jump off their band wagon in a flash.

 

The VJ contract year surprised me and everybody else. I certainly would have been critical of Ireland had Miami been the one to give VJ that contract. As for Wallace, I see the redflags and believe that Jennings is a better schematic fit. I fully expect that he will sign a contract north of what VJ signed last year. I'm not sure who I would prefer between the two. Going into last year I would have said Wallace easily, but now, I don't know. IMO Wallace provides some needed speed (to improve spacing and attack deep outside zones), but has limitations as well (full route tree, all three WR positions).

 

Last year's free agency is becoming more clear. It didn't appear to be a wash by initial intention, but because Jackson was not signed it became a wash. Question is was that by design, or was a reflection of the ineptness of the organization?

 

Are you kidding me? This is a discussion board and now those of us who would like to know are going to be denied actual insightful discussion because the pain-in-the-arse crowd is discouraging people from actually sharing their opinions? This is why we need tighter control on tone of voice on how people address each other on here so we WANT to share opinions, and know it will be civil even if we disagree.

This right here is how something like the Wall Street Journal level of information can quickly sink to lowest-common-denominator National Enquirer stuff.

More bickering and gossiping and insulting one another, less actual insight.

Wonderful.

 

IMO the mods do a pretty good job.

 

If the Dolphins intended to sign Jennings, this would help bring down how much leverage Jennings and his agent believed they had on the Dolphins.

Partially true misinformation, imo, with Darlington as the mouthpiece for Ireland. Darlington gets a story, Ireland gets better positioning for contract talks with Jennings, everyone wins.

Reminds one of the Parcells-Peter King relationship. Use the media to your benefit.

 

I don't disagree with these sentiments - but I'll say it again - isn't that what the Club is for? That place is a ghost town and we're here wishing for exactly what the Club provides, right?

 

Well, it could certainly be even worse around here and I appreciate the job the mods do, but seriously, when posters are saying they don;t want to share because of the reactionaries they'll have to deal ith it certainly doesn;t make the board better nor the discussion stronger.

 

This is a great point in the article:

If one of Ireland's weaknesses was being out-of-touch with how the market values players, then this rule change will render that weakness as a GM entirely moot. Which is great news for us.