yeah and don’t feel bad for us because we would like to strive for better things than a 4-7 season in year four of a regime knowing what we know.. We don’t have selective memory we would like to find the right people to elevate the franchise
No teams lose to lose, there a right way to do this once we are mathematically eliminated that is productive and constructive to your team and future
No offence to you as you are a good dude.But nobody is saying SB or bust. Hell I would be happy with a playoff win.Its been 25 years and that is unacceptable. I can truly see this team if I live that long going to 30 years if Ross is till the owner.
There’s a right way to lose after you’re mathematically eliminated? Am I understanding you correctly?
I completely agree, I want a playoff win too. I want a SB trophy and back to back championships just as much as the next guy. We're not disagreeing on any of that- everyone here shares that goal. I think where we fundamentally disagree is how to do that. For instance, everyone wanted to blow up the organization with Tannehill, Gase, and Ireland. How'd that work out? We're a very different team today but at the same time, our records really haven't changed all that much. And here we are once again, firing the GM and discussing whether we should fire the coach and the quarterback too. Without a cohesive plan, we're just throwing darts blindfolded hoping for a different result than last time. Tannehill went onto deliver playoff wins in each of his following seasons with the Titans. Gase went to NY and fizzled out...because it's the stinkin' Jets and that's what happens there. Flores has had a lot of success as a DC in multiple teams since leaving. Dan Campbell has had a lot of success too. So it's not like these people were why we didn't make the playoffs...not by themselves anyway...because they've all had success with other teams. When you look around the league, all the top teams have one thing in common- consistency. They don't blow it up, they're not a revolving door, and they tweak roster slots to put them over the top. Yet every 3-5 years like clockwork, we take a different route and receive the same result. This season, we're missing our top player in Tyreek, and we're missing all of our stating secondary. Now, we were losing with Tyreek on the field so I'm not trying to make excuses here, but we need to figure out why we actually had some success and aren't replicating that. We also blew up the offensive line...only of most of them to start the year on IR. All of this matters because there's an answer somewhere in there why we are currently a losing team. Grier had a plan to gut the team and rebuild with youth. Okay, at least there was a plan and we did hit on some players. But part of that plan was also to tank for Tua, which our head coach was against. So right off the bat, we made some stupid moves with the GM and the head coach on different pages. Calamity ensued and the plan got punched in the mouth. Then many of the successful youth got big second contracts elsewhere...meaning that we had no long-term gains. How do you pitch a youth movement and not keep the youth? We literally shot ourselves in the foot letting guys like Wilkins and Van Ginkel go. I'd rather take this team and this leadership over blowing everything up and throwing blind darts all over again. It does not work without a cohesive plan that everyone buys into. And we haven't done that in 20+ years. That's why we're 4-7 in year 5.
I like most everything you wrote except the part about letting players leave. Virtually every player that left, minus Van Ginkel never lived up to their contact. Wilkins may not ever play again. We would have been saddled with dead money for years. Even Ramsey hasn’t been elite with the Steelers. after the trade of Jaelan Phillips only eight starters remain from that 2023 team, and three of those — Tyreek Hill, Austin Jackson and Kader Kohou — currently are on injured reserve. The five starters who remain from that 2023 team that produced an 11-6 record, Miami's first 11-win season since 2008, are QB Tua Tagovailoa, FB Alec Ingold, WR Jaylen Waddle, DT Zach Sieler and OLB Bradley Chubb. Yes, there always is a lot of turnover in the NFL, but successful organizations usually do a better job at keeping a core intact. There always was something working against the Dolphins, though, and that's the financial commitments they made in acquiring some of those big-name players, and at some point the salary cap was going to come into play because not enough of the Dolphins' nucleus consisted on talented young players on their rookie contract. MMorris, Smythe, Williams, Long Jr., Holland, X, Hunt, Armstead and Wilkins were the significant losses. Armstead being the only guy on that list worth a damn this year. It’s been a real problem with the wrong position picks especially not addressing the O Line. Either the injury problems it’s not a surprise that we started the year so bad. Look at the Bills, Allen took an absolute beating in the last game because they’re missing 3 or 4 OL. They had been relatively healthy for the last 3 years. With the state of the secondary, the defense has actually played well. Losing Phillips has been realized yet but we were never going to pay him at the end of this year when his contract was due. So what happened to all that talent? WHERE THE 2023 DOLPHINS PLAYERS WENT Let's look at those starters gone from that 2023 team and the reason behind their departure RB Raheem Mostert — Released in February in 2025, now with Las Vegas Raiders: After his record-setting season (21 touchdowns) of 2023, Mostert took a major step back in 2024, was overtaken by De'Von Achane as the lead back. This was not a significant loss. TE Durham Smythe — Released in February in 2025, now with the Chicago Bears: Smythe always was a complementary player, but his performance dipped in 2024 and he was supplanted as the main blocking tight end by Julian Hill. This also was not a significant loss. C Connor Williams — Left as a free agent in 2024, signed with the Seattle Seahawks before retiring: This was a case of bad luck for the Dolphins because Williams was playing Pro Bowl-caliber football before he sustained a really nasty knee injury in that dreadful Monday night loss against Tennessee. G Robert Hunt — Left as a free agent in 2024, now with the Carolina Panthers: This always was a tricky one because Hunt was a really, really good player, but he got a huge contract for a guard. The argument still could be made that he should have been a priority and maybe sacrifices should have been made elsewhere. T Terron Armstead — Retired in 2025: Yes, injuries were a constant factor with Armstead, but there is absolutely no denying he was an elite left tackle more often than not when he was in the lineup. The saving grace here is that the Dolphins look like they have a great replacement in place with Patrick Paul. DT Christian Wilkins — Left as a free agent in 2024, now without a team: Wilkins no doubt was a core player for the Dolphins, but once no deal on an extension could be reached for him, he became too pricey for a good (maybe very good) player. But his departure did leave a hole that was filled quite well by Calais Campbell in 2024 but not so much this year. DT Raekwon Davis — Left as a free agent in 2024, now without a team: Davis was a serviceable starter, but not an impact player that the Dolphins have missed. LB Andrew Van Ginkel — Left as a free agent in 2024, now with the Minnesota Vikings: This one is problematic. The Dolphins left AVG leave without so much as extending him a contract offer, according to his wife, and he's continued his progression with the Vikings with a Pro Bowl season last year. LB Jerome Baker — Released in 2024, now with the Cleveland Browns: Baker was a solid player for the Dolphins for six years, but not necessarily a difference-maker. LB David Long Jr. — Released during the 2024 season, now without a team: Long was elected as a team captain in his second year with the team, but then was demoted and then released. Long was replaced by Tyrel Dodson, who has been every bit as good as Long was when he was playing well, if not better. S Jevon Holland — Left as a free agent in 2025, now with the New York Giants: Holland had flashes during his time in Miami, but never quite was the player some portrayed him to be. His departure is not the reason the Dolphins have fallen on hard time. CB Xavien Howard — Released in 2024, now retired: Howard was a great player for the Dolphins for several years and he even played some high-end football in that 2023 season when injuries weren't affecting him. CB Jalen Ramsey — Traded in 2025, now with the Pittsburgh Steelers: The Dolphins didn't pay much in terms of assets to get Ramsey, but he did put a ding on their salary cap but renegotiating his contract not once but twice in his two years in Miami. So your main point about consistency is really important. Getting rid of Grier might be the piece that was missing towards that. Who knows what a new GM will result in.
We also dont want the new Gm handcuffed to a declining Qb and coach. Let him decide what he wants to do instead of Ross saying take it or leave it.
Grier promised a "perennial playoff contender" by building through the draft. There's only two routes there- sign and keep talent, or hit on virtually 100% picks since you're letting them walk or trading them in 3-5 years. For instance, Achane is worth a 1st round pick, maybe even more. So you send him to Cleveland and play the next man up with an additional 1st for next year. As long as you're getting quality talent, it's very easy to build that way. The only problem is, the hit rate for finding a quality starter is quite low in the NFL. Everyone knows that (except Ross). Several of the players you listed were average NFL starters- which doesn't sound like a good thing. But if you're committed to building through the draft, it's actually a great thing. Holland, Baker, Van Ginkel, Davis, etc...you can't let those guys go without a serviceable "next man up." The start of this season was inexcusable on defense and it's because we let so many "average" guys walk. If we trade/release Tua, we're in rebuild mode unless we pull a rabbit out of the hat somehow. And if the next GM is average, he'll get us a few quality starters in the draft after trading away Achane, Micah, Waddle, etc. Hopefully we can trade Tyreek too...there's no telling if he'll be the same receiver post-injury. But whatever happens, we're going to need 15+ starters and we won't have that many daft picks (and we won't hit on every pick either). So it's a 3+ year project all over again with zero guarantee that the next team will be any better than the one we're watching right now. Trading away Holland, Baker, etc. are the reason we're struggling this season. And hey, we're on a win streak and maybe magic happens al the way to February. We're only in this position though because we found starting-quality talent and then failed to keep them around. That's 100% on Grier for so many reasons, and it's a mistake that we've repeated for the past two decades. The Fins can win through the draft or free agency; I'm not trying to argue that point at all. But I am saying that the next GM needs to have a plan and then actually see it through. If it's another youth movement, then we need to keep our youth or hit enough so we can readily replenish talent.
You can’t pay mediocre to average players the amount of money that they got. I get what you’re saying but no one, and I mean no one can plan on having 5 guys on IR in your secondary.
But why'd they hit free agency in the fist place? That's 100% on Grier for not locking those players down well before those contracts expired. You let a guy hit free agency and it's like telling them, "We don't care if you remain in Miami or not, you mean nothing to us." Now, I realize we had the unique problem of several guys playing well above their rookie contract values. That's exactly how you build a championship team though- you have keep most of them in the building. For instance, a few years back New England had an offensive line that was all taken outside the 1st round, and all drafted by NE. Now look at what we do; draft linemen in the first and still start 2-3 journeymen from other teams. It's a huge difference.
Listen, I always root for the Phins to win. However, in a season like this, it just isn't the same. The wins are hollow, because I don't believe the team can legitimately complete, so I know in the long run, a win just potentially prevents ownership from doing what needs to be done.
If there was a Joe Burrow in this draft, I would be in full agreement with you. The fact that there is no clear cut, can't miss quarterback, OR even a generational talent at any position makes the recent win streak acceptable, despite as hollow as they feel. We'd be picking 11 in the draft today. By seasons end, it may be 15. I do agree that the wins make it harder for Ross to clean house, which may ultimately lead to more frustration.
