At least some potential excitement. Three 400+ yard games with limited opportunities. How many 400 yard games did Tannehill have in his entire career?
Blech.. he's profoundly mediocre... so he'll fit in nicely. The franchise is gonna play in the Toilet Bowl next year... I'm stoked!.
And what will that get us? I like the guy he’s a character the player will like him also I’m sure, but how does and aging QB solve the issues we have at QB? This signing reeks of last minute rush. They missed out in their top two candidates (supposedly) and they rush to sign Another Ryan for about what we could have probably kept Tannehill for since he was willing to negotiate but I assume we just moved on? This move will not work in our favor to get Tua Ryan will win 4-5 games and if our coaching is better we might win more. So unless we have some magic deal in place where we’re signibg on of the top 2-3 qb’s this year we’re kinda back in the middle of the pack .500 team again.
You make a valid point, it most certainly feels like a last minute rush deal, as was Pennington and Jay Cutler from years past. Tannehills time here I think was just simply up. Who else were we supposed to trot out at Quarterback? There would have been an outrage from Goodell on down had we just started Jake Rudock the whole time. Signing Fitzpatrick allows us to look as if we aren't trying to tank the season in deliberate fashion. I mean....Lets see what we do on draft day. I'm willing to bet you a Ben Franklin that we draft a quarterback in one of the first three rounds. The idea is most certainly to find a franchise quarterback. We probably aren't in the running for Kyler Murray, but Drew Lock is definitely a possibility should the Broncos pass on him. Ryan Finley, Will Grier, Kyle Shurmur, Tyree Jackson, Trace McSorley, etc are all possibilities in the later rounds. All Fitzpatrick does is guarantee us entertainment while we lose games. He's an entertaining player, he'll provide excitement and he'll keep us competitive while losing. The guy will throw downfield, he's got the balls of an elephant...I mean what's not to like in a down year? If we somehow catch lightening in a bottle with him and win 11 games, then we're a playoff team...That's awesome too. How many times since 2000 can you say we've been a playoff team? Chances are he entertains and we still suck and we should all be good with that IF the idea is to tank for 2020. Now....Lets say we start Fitz for a few games and he bombs, stinks the joint up like we've all seen him do....OK the Fitzmagic is gone...Lets see what the rookie can do. All of a sudden, it's exciting again, we're getting a nice long look at our rookie to see what he's made of. Or we're getting a look at Falk (essentially a rookie), or Rudock (I hope not). Either way, there is intrigue at the position that hasn't been there since Tannehill was a rookie. For once there shouldn't be any expectations and anything good that comes out of this will be pleasant surprise. What if we draft a Trace McSorley and he just has "it" at the NFL like Russel Wilson did? I mean.....It happens from time to time. Either way, we're sitting pretty...Ugly...but potentially very pretty on down the line. Another scenario is Fitz is a placeholder, the rookie doesn't impress, and we go for one of the top QBs in 2020. Either way I have a feeling we will find our guy either in this draft or the next year. Signing Fitzpatrick is merely a way to keep the fans entertained for a few games. I know i'm already thinking about buying a Fitz shirt. The guy is an eccentric character and i'm glad we have him for the time being. He's no Aaron Rodgers, but he's certainly a like able player at the position. Certainly better than Bortles or Trevor Siemien who I thought was going to be the guy. Christ, i'm glad we dodged them.
A damn good leader. His teammates love him. and he will flash some very exciting plays. Perfect stop gap. He also will turn the ball over in bunches at times. But there is nothing wrong with being excited for him as a persona and a flash big player. Breath of fresh air. I love it.
This signing hints at the type of QB Flores likes. Fitz is a very smart QB. I'm willing to bet that this move not only takes us out of the Kyler Murray and Tua sweepstakes, but also signals that we're looking for value in 2020, not a big splash. Instead I bet we try to find some hidden gem QB talent in the mid-late rounds over the next couple years. Fitz will be our QB for multiple years while we draft his replacement in the later rounds and coach him up.
If Ryan Fitzpatrick is the Dolphins starting QB going into the 2020 season it will be a a sign of massive ineptitude.
Do you think Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to start 32 games for the Dolphins the next two seasons? He better not for this franchises sake.
I don't think there is any team in the league that is taking that strategy with regard to the QB position in today's game.
I think it's unlikely he plays all 32 games, but I can definitely see him being the Day 1 starter in 2020 before handing the reigns over to a rookie half way through the season. I'm not under the delusion that this situation is going to be resolved in a single offseason, and I'm expecting multiple down seasons before we recover. We're literally been told as much by the brass. Additionally, all of the moves being made right now point toward being conservative and patient. It's possible they could be targeting someone in 2020, given the fact that we're collecting draft picks and cap space, but I don't see that guy starting Day 1 for this team. So yeah, I'm predicting (and I could be wrong) that Fitz will be on the field for the Dolphins for more than 16 games.
Sorta like hiring a defensive coach when everybody else was looking for the next McVay? Or like how everyone else is trying to get FAs and all we're trying to do is get more draft picks in 2020? I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we tried to trade down from 13 in order to get even more picks in 2020. Seems like Grier and Flores aren't into doing what everyone else is doing.
In the past 10 years there have been a mere two quarterbacks of the 33 drafted in the mid to late rounds (fourth round or later) who are current starters for their teams (Kirk Cousins and Dak Prescott). That's a mere six percent. You stand a 94% chance of drafting a non-starter by waiting to the mid to late rounds to draft a QB. Your point about "coaching up" players is a valid one, but there is likely an interaction between the ability to coach up players and the level of individual skill required to play a position, in terms of the success of coaching up players. The quarterback position has been called the most difficult position to play in all of professional sports, and probably with good reason. That probably isn't a position you can coach up. There is too much individual ability required.
Fitz is perfectly capable of throwing five TDs in any game OR five INTs. He has more lows than highs, but it won't ever be boring unless they take the ball out of his hands and expect the run game to carry the team. With a patchwork OL, there won't be much of a run game though. I believe the front office expects Fitz to fail more often than he succeeds, but he does give them the appearance of trying to win this season. Without a lot of help around him, a 2-4 win season seems very possible. If they trade back and grab a QB like Lock to sit and learn, I'm okay with that. If the plan is to grab a top QB in 2020, I understand their thinking. At this point I just want to see a real franchise QB in Miami and I don't care how they go about it as long as they find one.
Your argument is that’s it’s not really possible for a coach to improve a QBs performance through said coaching? Uhh...
Fitzpatrick had a much better season last year than Tannehill ever did. That said, his team went 2-5 when he was the starter. He doesn't play well enough to carry a team, and so he fits well with the "tanking" some have proposed the team will be doing. You simply amass inadequate talent around him and lose.
If it were, don't you think more mid- to late-rounders would be starters? Why are 94% of the QBs drafted in those rounds not being coached up enough to be even starters, let alone starters who make it possible to win a Super Bowl? And you misstated my argument. My argument is that teams aren't waiting until the mid to late rounds to find starting QBs, and for the reason that QBs drafted in those rounds can't be coached up sufficiently. The proof is in the pudding.
QBs drafted in later rounds need more help like oline, etc. It's not all about coaching for them to be successful.
Given that we're talking about 94% of players here, really the argument should be that any QB drafted in the later rounds who was a success isn't a product of some necessary set of surroundings, but rather that he should've been drafted earlier and was a mistake in that regard for the teams that didn't draft him. Those (two of 33 in the last 10 years) QBs had the individual ability to be drafted earlier, and should've been drafted earlier, not that they benefited from some miraculous set of surroundings. The Tannehill era has made us stray too far from the belief that QBs thrive as a function of their own ability, not their surroundings. That philosophy needs to be put aside with the recent evidence that Tannehill himself wasn't sufficiently good.
Disagree completely. I think that Brady hugely benefited from going to the Pats. He wasn't a high pick because he hadn't shown an ability to take over games etc in college. Tannehill was definitely put behind the eight ball being drafted by the Dolphins. The situation definitely makes a difference.
I do think over the years, the QB position has become so vital that GMs don’t often have the guts to attach their career to less heralded prospects. There is talent there for sure though. However, I will amend my original statement to also include the possibility of the team trying to trade back in the first round and selecting a QB there.
I have definitely seen worse things to anticipate in the last 53 years of watching this team. Fiedler, Lucas, Frerotte, Harrington, Lemon, etc., etc., etc. In for a penny, in for a pound!
You’re choosing who many people believe is the QB with the greatest individual ability of all time to illustrate the importance of the QB’s environment?
What if the overhaul isn't coming until 2020 and I don't just been Tua or whoever we want in next years draft. We've seen a lot of player turnover this off-season in terms of players leaving and we're slowly getting picks for next years draft. What if the point of Fitz coming in is to inflate the numbers for Stills and Parker so that we can trade them next off-season for picks and completely build the type of team Flores has in mind? The pieces are slowly being manoeuvred so that we will have a lot of cap space and a decent number of picks come the off-season and it gives Flores a year to fully investigate his own team to see if they can do what he needs them to.
You do realize that you perfectly summarized Matt Moore, don't you? For those that forgot, he was the guy who sat on the bench for 6 years while occasionally stepping in to defeat rivals with 100+ QBR games. Why isn't Matt Moore the starter today? Well, he spent a career behind turn-style lines and took so many hits to the noggin, his brains were basically scrambled. The "big news" here isn't that we signed Matt Moore II to replace Tannehill...it's that we have a smart, aging vet scheduled to start behind gaping holes in our offensive line. Don't forget we just let two starters walk...one of whom that started more games than anyone last season. I don't care how good/bad Fitzpatrick may be; he'll just look plain bad if we don't protect him.
Based on what? I just find it pretty incredible that a guy was so underwhelming in college that he was barely drafted, but now he's supposedly the GOAT...and we're to believe that the team environment had nothing to do with it. Watching Brady, I didn't see anything physically that makes him the GOAT. He doesn't have off the charts arm strength, he doesn't make throws that other QBs can't make. The one trait people say he's elite in is his decision making...but even that I question with the rumors and reports of his in helmet mic not shutting off. Literally nothing about him says GOAT. Just because other people think he's the GOAT doesn't mean they're right, nor does it mean I have to agree. Other than team wins
I think it's just a reminder that talent doesn't have to come exclusively from the first round, even though it is statistically more rare and the given example is the statistical outlier. The following mid-late round guys have won the Super Bowl in the last 20 years: Tom Brady - Round 7 Nick Foles - Round 3 Russel Wilson - Round 3 Kurt Warner - Undrafted Brad Johnson - Round 9 There's talent out there.
The only environmental constant across Bradys long, successful career is Belichick. Only two conclusions make sense: 1) Belichick would’ve done just as well with lots of different QBs of varying abilities, or 2) Brady has tremendous individual ability.