Jake Long Speaks

I have no doubt we offered him a contract. All the reports at the time said we did. Ireland himself admitted that we did. You'd have to be pretty stubborn to continue to believe we didn't. Personally I thought it was a mistake to offer him a contract and said so at the time, often. If we had paid him $8 - $10 mill/per then I'd be counting that as a mistake against Ireland. Anybody objective who has watched him and Martin play this preseason or puts any stock in PFF's grades (where last I heard Martin was at least top 10 while Long was 107th) would be pretty sure that I was right. Conversely, anybody who was banging the table for us to bring him back should feel pretty confident that they were wrong. It doesn't even matter if you think Martin will play worse once the season starts b/c it's painfully obvious that Long is not worth a third of that $8 - $10 mill/per. So there's no way I'm bitter about him leaving. If anything I'm relieved. We are far better off with him in St. Louis. It's also better for Long. He's a better fit for their system. I'm sure it became obvious to Long as well. And I'm sure that's why he made the decision he did.

 

He's p-ssy whipped. It was his wife's decision.

 

I think it was his hurt oversized ego that made the decision for him.

 

I understand why he left. In the end, I don't care. He's gone, who cares? The decision to not take Ryan though makes my head want to explode. But then again, I should be used to that at this point.

 

Which is basically double talk for the Rams offered more guaranteed money.

 

I think Jake was only the 2nd or 3rd lineman to go #1 overall in the modern era. Tells you something. Failed draft pick no matter what. Yeah you're going to miss on QBs and other positions at #1 overall but you gotta take a swing and not bunt. You keep swinging until you hit a home run. Or better yet get some .350 batters in there instead of .200 batters.

 

Now everyone blasts Jeff Ireland, but I think he saw this coming and hence why he drafted Martin last year...

 

Maybe it's just me but through his first 3 seasons Long was on a HOF trajectory. I've no doubts injuries have played a massive part in his decline.

Any time your draft pick goes to the Pro-Bowl his first 4 seasons in the league cannot be classed as a wasted pick no matter where he was picked overall.

 

So much chatter about a guy who didn't want to be here.

 

It's because he was the number one pick overall drafted by the Dolphins coupled with the fact that you're reading a Miami Dolphins fan forum. Hope that helped.

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Yeah at the time I was ambivalent about the pick. I thought that Jake might be a great player but I knew we needed a new quarterback. Now though it's obvious that was just one in a long line of horrible decisions in the draft.

 

Agreed. When you're drafting in the Top 5, even Top 10, really -- but especially # 1 overall -- you want an impact guy that you sign for four years and you're pretty sure you'll be extending somewhere down the line so that the player is with your franchise for the best years of his career. I love how the guys on ESPN or NFL Network, when folks draft lineman high, say, "You plug him in for the next ten years." Well, we got four from Jake, and really, only three of them were really good. And then >poof< he's gone.

I get that there are going to be hits and misses anywhere in the draft, and especially later in the first round, we've seemed to have our share of John Avery, Jamar Fletcher, Yatil Green (injured, but still...), and Jason Allens. Then, there are guys with some talent but don't fit for whatever reason like Vontae Davis. Hopefully, you make up for those in later rounds and with late first round picks like Pouncey and Odrick - although, if you look at our history, I don't think we show well, here (but I'd need to go thru all the other teams to get a fair comparison, and I don't have time - just blindly judging, though, I don't think we're in the top half of the league). But when you pick in the Top 10, Ted Ginn, Ronnie Brown (who's in my avatar, but had an up and down career and not really what you want from a #2 pick overall), and, especially, Jake Long... you want guys that last as Dolphins and are impact players throughout their careers in Miami. Largely, we've failed in that capacity in the first round. If we get the pick to click with Tannehill, well, that may cover a 100 sins, but time will tell on that one.

Back to Jake, I liked him while he was a Dolphin, and I wish him the best. Really, there were four guys we were looking at in that draft. Jake, Long, Chris Long, Matt Ryan, and Vernon Gholston. So... it could have been worse. But, yeah, it should have been better.

 

Those that say that's a failed pick, and I'm honestly on the fence, do you proclaim that Mario Williams was a failed pick since he left Houston?

 

I agree and I think losing out on Fisher will turn out to be a major mistake for Ross. He decided that letting Ireland have final say over player personnel decisions was more important than letting Fisher have this power. This decision will come back to bite Ross in the rear end, IMO.

 

I'm a big Philbin fan and wanted him as our HC over Fisher. I don't see that turn of events as a mistake.

 

When fans are homeristic towards players, coaches, GMs, etc. that emotion does a complete 180 when that player, coach, GM is no longer on the team. The irrational hatred is as illogical as the blind faith and loyalty.

 

As some never understand faith or loyalty and never will.

 

Yes, I do..

 

I'd say just about everyone on this board has blind loyalty to some degree. I mean, we did suffer through a 1-15 season and plenty of other mediocrity. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm just answering the question. When you invest as much time as we all do following this team and it's players, emotion plays a part whether we're willing to admit it or not.

 

Blitz, there is a decent chance he really didn't want to be here..

 

Yes. It is, frankly, not entirely a dissimilar situation. Fast start, things looked promising, injury issues with a decline, team and player make decision to separate. Better than Bush or Young, but in the end, a number one overall pick leaving after that relatively short period is a failure. Maybe it could not entirely be helped, or be blamed on a GM, as they don't control injury, but it is still a failure.

I think Williams had the higher upside though - a dominant pass rusher is a better proposition than a dominant LT I think.

 

I'm not arguing, Dj. I'm only giving my thoughts on why fans turn so quickly on players and talking about our emotions towards our favorite team.

Honestly, I could care less about Jake Long.

 

I wouldn't call Mario Williams a failure, he was arguably the best player in the draft and he played so well for Houston that he was rewarded with a massive contract when he hit free agency...it was just from another team. Houston couldn't afford to pay him as much as Buffalo did, whereas with us we could've kept Long if we wanted to, we certainly had the cap space, but we didn't want to pay him what he asked for because of his injuries and declining play. It's also different because we passed on a stud QB for Long, Houston didn't.

 

I know your not arguing, I was just trying to get the point across why some fans might have legit reasoning behind their anger.

What I don't like is the lack of loyalty, this is a guy we made the #1 pick, paid him 50 mill on a rookie contact, overpaid him during the last two years of the contract with his subpar play and injuries, offered him to reup, and he bolted..he didnt take into consideration that he got more money that he deserved..

Last year I saw some things on the field and in interviews that led me to state that I don't think he will resign with us..I saw some lackadaisical attitude on the field, I saw some bitterness with the fanbase on the treatment of his buddy Henne, and I don't think he felt a sense of loyalty to the new regime.

 

Mario Williams is not even in the top-10 players of the 06 draft.

 

My bad, meant to say he was arguably the best in the 1st round. But I'd say he's top 10, you can put Ngata, Jennings, Evans, Mangold, MJD, B-Marshall, maybe Tamba Hali and Dumerville above him.

 

We are still suffering and still here Jake moved on with his large bank account. I'm sour about it to a point but will move on with you and all the other Phins but I do hope we start to win on a regular basis.

 

He is a former shell of his old self anyway.The last couple seasons were not all that compared to his early years.In the end it he was not the best choice as the number one pick in the draft but I don't blame him for that.Injury caught up with him and I doubt he ever is the dominating LT he once was.

 

I've never held injuries against a GM unless the player came in with an injury red flag. I wasn't a big fan of the Yatil Green pick back in '97, but I understood the goal of the pick. So even though it may not have been my choice I wasn't going to rip the team for it years later as some fans did. It's a violent game and injuries happen.

 

The instant Martin's name appeared on the screen on draft day, the first thought that crossed my mind was contingency plan for possibly losing Long the next year.

 

Mario Williams play declined the last couple seasons with Houston for various reasons just like Long. So no it's not different.

 

Simplest answer he won't/can't give- his wife. She couldn't stand living in South Florida. Who can blame her? The traffic is out of this world obnoxious and courtesy is extinct. St. Louis is easier if you grew up in Lake Tahoe and she'll have much less competion braking in to television. Happy wife, happy life.

 

I have no problem with you feeling that the Dolphins are better off with Philbin and not Fisher. I don't agree, but that is why there are forums like this where we can all express our opinions concerning the Dolphins.

I hope Philbin was the right selection and that he has a long and successful tenure as the Dolphins head coach. I just think Fisher was the better choice at the time. The fact the Dolphins tried to hire Fisher before they turned to Philbin, after Fisher decided to take the Rams job, shows that Ross was more interested in Fisher than in Philbin when he was looking to hire a new head coach. For some reason, Ross just loves Ireland and the reason Philbin is the HC of the Dolphins and not Fisher is because Of Ross's love affair with Ireland, IMO.

 

Then thank god for Ross' love of Ireland, because Jeff Fisher is the most overrated coach in NFL history.

 

long's play declined due to injuries and scheme change, yet Ireland still tried to resign him and offered more money then Stl, which to me is a mistake on Ireland's part, a sort of half step "your play has slipped, here is more money then market is offering".

That makes little sense, and sounds like organizational pride at work over evaluations.

 

More guaranteed money?
Link?

It's the amount of the guaranteed money that shows how serious you're wanted here.

 

If Miami was willing to offer Long $7M+, they likely would never have let him hit FA.

 

Dont forget Sparano made him play in meaningless games while he was injured.He may be bitter about that because his play deteriorated after that season.It may have even shortened his career.

 

I have read several times from different sources that Miami tried to sign Jake Long but he just wasn't taking it. I wish him well because I liked him as a Dolphin but he evidently didn't have confidence in Miami or got his feelings hurt. At the time I would have preferred Matt Ryan but once we picked JL I was okay with it. I truly believe if he plays all year this discussion will continue but if he gets hurt the discussion will stop with a sigh of relief.