Well, I think we are finally beginning to be able to answer the question "Who is Jeff Ireland as a GM?" For a long while, we didn't know how to distinguish Parcells hand from Ireland's hand in the draft decisions and player evals. Now, with a new coaching staff in particular, we see Jeff adapting very well to getting the types of players this staff wants and needs. he is still prudent, for the most part, but willing to make some ballsy moves (perhaps in part because he can sense he needs to prove himself this year to get his own contract extended). Jeff is showing a side of his GM-ing style that is giving us a clearer picture of him, his philosophies, his ability to adapt, work with a coaching staff, take appropriate risks, etc. Hello, Jeff Ireland. Pleased to meet you at last.
Exactly! All those years with Parcells running things we saw Parcells and Parcells' philosophies. The few exceptions were guys like Marshall (we know Ireland had to talk Parcells into it) and Wake (an upside gamble in one area we know Ireland was in charge of). Ireland is clearly more of a risk taker than Parcells and is not married to any prototype. I bristle whenever someone says they "know" what Ireland will do based picks made while Parcells was in charge or even when Ireland was making picks for a different coach. If that's their basis then they don't know anything.
getting younger, faster, more athletic, more playmaking, more bold, less concerned with specific size-height-weight blueprints. Still likely to add a fast, move TE rather than a big inline guy.... and seemingly has a hard on for Tavon Austin whom Parcells likely wouldn't have as any sort of draft priority. Appears quite different IMO.
I think it is more likely that what we were seeing was Parcells as reflected by Sparano. I think Sparano shared many of the Parcells values, etc. and I think Ireland was picking the kind of players Sparano wanted for the kind of schemes Sparano wanted to run. His last year here we made a several moves that seemed like a break from that vision -- Reggie Bush, Brandon Marshall, etc. Now Philbin dictates the style and scheme and Ireland finds players to suit that.
That's part of it but it's not just that b/c Ireland admitted that Parcells took players off his board. To me that means that they were probably players Ireland liked but didn't fit Parcells prototype.
And I was one of those people, Raf, but not because I was confident I knew who was behind the decisions. I just didn't have clean data about Ireland himself, so when I wanted a model to predict why our FO might do, I used the imperfect assumption that Ireland was, at the least, on board with all the decisions on his watch. It's so great to finally see Ireland as his own man, as it were. And I see some (if not many) of my assumptions may have been wrong. On the other hand, Ireland may have been exactly who I thought he was, but the pressure of a contract year is pushing him to change his ways. Another factor is Philbin's influence on what we want in players at each position. Still, I'm impressed that Jeff is not Parcells. He's got some of thy traditional old school thinking, but is also more willing to deviate from it than Parcells seemed to be. Thrilled to have a GM I am gaining respect for.
bla, bla, bla.... all he did was spend the free money on some guys..... lets not get too gushy over Free Agent signings .... Everyone's talking like he's a different GM now ?.......He had no problem dropping other failed pickups before this. As yall know I'm one of Ireland's biggest fans....( sounds funny, i know ) But this is all it takes to win you over as his critic ?... splurging in free agency and cutting a few older players... ? c'mon man. The mindless bashing almost made more sense. Its comical that you guys have to make excuses to justify all the annoying *****ing you've been doing....... Summary : " oh no i like him too now....... he has a totally different approach. Philbin must be helping him, cuz Sparano wasnt hurting the roster, thats for sure. "
There are clear differences from what occurred under Parcells. Specifically he's not married to the prototype that Parcells was. Tannehill didn't fit all the rules that people claimed he lived by; not enough starts, wasn't expected to contribute significantly year 1. Ellerbe is shorter than the LB prototype. Egnew and Cook don't fit the Bavarro type, but rather are receiving types. There's more, but the point is that he is picking types he wouldn't have picked under Parcells. Personally, I was not one of those that criticized him too much for those picks since we didn't know which were his (other than a few like Marshall, Wake, Bess). But it always bothered me when posters would claim they knew what Ireland would do b/c of the picks that happened under Parcells. So maybe the correct way to say it is that the philosophy shift started last season, but the critics are just figuring it out now.
My thoughts exactly. The past three years of criticism of this front office have been validated by the front office's own actions. So while we're doing well in free agency so far, let's not forget how we got to this point: Ireland passing on Mike Wallace and Jared Cook in the 2009 draft for Patrick Turner, for example. Those things happened and still count in the minus column. But it's good to see mistakes being corrected, even if the person who made them is doing the correcting. There are still many, many more mistakes to fix.
The point is that that Parcells was in charge. He was the one who's flawed philosophy was directing things.
I specified the last three years. Parcells has been gone for three seasons, since prior to the 2010 season. And personally, I don't let Ireland off for the years prior, since he held the title of General Manager. But just to avoid that argument, I limited to three years.
There hasn't been a philosophy shift IMO. Jeff Ireland signing Mike Wallace isn't any different than him trading for Brandon Marshall. Him signing Ellerbe and Wheeler this year isn't any different than signing Dansby and Burnett before. The difference everyone feels now is the byproduct of what happened last offseason. The team has a QB and a coach that people have confidence in.
Even then he would have been drafting for Sparano/Henning. I don't see guys like Wallace and Cook fitting in with Sparano/Henning. And BTW I was one of those making some of those claims about needing the explosive WRs and pass catching TE. I just think the blame on Ireland was misplaced.
Agree that having a promising young QB and a coach that seems competent can hinder some frustration. But I think their are HUGE differences in The Ellerbe/ Dansby signings.
