Seven Stages of Mike Wallace Buyer's Remorse

I'm all for fielding a young receiving group consisting of drafted players on their rookie deals.

The problem is that you then turn around and tell us that drafting WRs high is a fool's errand. So the logical consequence of the arguments being presented—don't get big free agents, don't draft WRs high—is that our receiving group winds up consisting of a 3rd round pick (Patrick Turner), a 4th round pick (Brian Hartline), another 4th round pick (Clyde Gates), and a UDFA (Davone Bess). This configuration did not work out.

Why can't the lesson learned be "Get the best available players and then tailor your playbook around their strengths; don't get cute by asking the players to do things that have not historically been their forte"? That's pretty much the Dolphins' problem, asking players to do new and unfamiliar things at which they are not good. Wheeler and Ellerbe: go cover those guys. Jonathan Martin: block that guy. Daniel Thomas: run forward.

Personally, I think Wallace is being scapegoated. He's being asked to do something that requires time to complete, yet the offense is not providing the time needed to do it. If one were to list in order of severity the issues with this team, "Mike Wallace not catching deep balls often" would be like number 15.

 

I don't think it's hard to see how Wallace became one of the best weapons in football when he played with a Qb with a certain style, and I don't think it's hard to see why his production doesn't measure up to this point, at this point the things that Qb and oline was excellent at is not something we thrive at.

 

While Jennings as you noted has been only , "marginally better" than Wallace so far. I think you have to also look at the QB's Jennings has had throwing him the ball so far. I have to think that if Tannehill had been the QB throwing the ball to Jennings so far this season and not the hacks at QB for the Vikings, (Ponder and Cassel) Jennings would have much better stats than Wallace.

There is a reason Freeman will be starting for the Vikings this week after only being on the Vikings roster for two weeks. Ponder and Cassel are terrible.

 

Good thing we didn't draft Ponder.

 

oh ok

are we a worse team with Mike Wallace?

 

Based on the performance we've gotten? Yes. His performance on the field is a net negative, you can replace him with an average starting wide receiver and you would be better off.

When you consider other factors- Financial cost, opportunity cost, that idea that Tannehill is keeping his eyes down the field too long to use Wallace "properly", etc.? Abso-friggin-lutely.

We would have been better off signing Ted Ginn, frankly.

 

What continues to amaze me is that so many knowledgeable football fans could have such enormously unrealistic expectations for a WR that PFF had ranked near rock bottom in the league last year. Out of over 100 WR's!

Even at his peak when Big Ben was playing the best football of his life he was only a mid-tier player.

The NFL hype machine has lead many a fool down the path to fail after fail, and Jeff Ireland just can't get enough of it.

Wallace was never anything close to being a complete player.

The answer was never in crazy Marshall or overpaying a hyped guy like Wallace. Vincent Jackson should have been the Dolphins target as soon things began to sour for him in San Diego.

Jackson is a complete WR, excelling in all aspects of playing the WR position, a guy with superior intelligence, and prototypical size, excellent speed,one the leagues best blocking receivers, and a real red zone threat.

This guy deserves his money. Wallace is getting three times more than he is worth, and that is being generous.

Ireland is a complete idiot.

 

Yeah, ten minutes in time out for you DPate.

 

Ted Ginn Jr:
13 of 21(61.9%), 243 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 drops in 159 snaps.

Mike Wallace:
22 of 43(51.2%), 281 yards, 1 touchdown, 6 drops in 288 snaps.

If anyone should be in time out, it's Mike Wallace. The team should be looking at Rishard Matthews getting some snaps in his place.

 

Ouch. On all counts.


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I'll put you in timeout meister, you naughty boy.

 

Fair enough. I was genuinely curious.

Up until this point I agree. However I truly believe Wallace's best days as a Dolphin are ahead of him.

But I wouldn't be the least bit shocked if he stayed this course although it'd be extremely disappointing

 

Nope. Teams think of us and defend us differently because wallace merely lines up.

Ginn?

You did that same small sample comparison with hartline and marshall last year. I suspect this one will turn out the same.

 

We need the 2010-2011 Mike Wallace. That's the guy the league feared.

 

They fear him now. Check the video

 

Ok. My point stands. We need that production. Not an expensive decoy.

 

I haven't watched Ginn this year and I don't want to ish on his production but you and I both know it's more complicated than just stats.

When Wallace came here I thought it would be a major plus and to this point it hasn't been but I don't put that on Wallace, it's a team thing, it usually is. I figured we'd stick with the style of play we had last year, run, run, play action, Miller and Thomas to punish the D, Hartline-Keller-Gibson to move the chains, Wallace to deliver the KO's, etc, etc. Instead we seem to be going with this pass happy stuff, mostly quick passes, which we all know isn't Wallace's strength.

Still, if you take the actual production and combine it with the the instances where Walalce-Tannehill failed to connect due to their own errors/miscommmunication then there's reason to be optimistic IMO. Wallace has been behind the defense but under thrown quite a few times, I can remember 4 of them off the top of my head, 5 if you count the one he caught vs Baltimore. Wallace had a deep ball go right trough his hands vs Nawlins, and a couple more occasions where he was open but either sat down when Tannehill expected him to run through or vice versa, and it happened again in the red zone vs Baltimore last week. There was the holding call on the corner route that denied MW a potential TD last week, (shoulda been a PI IMO) and Gibson got arm barred in the opposite end zone w/ no call whatsoever. The sideline route where MW's heel landed out of bounds comes to mind. There have been a handful of drops mixed in as well, and don't forget MW was tackled on the 1 inch line vs Indy. Clay gets the TD on the stat sheet but Wallace-Tannehill made it happen and if RT had given him a better throw MW woulda walked into the end zone.

These aren't talent, scheme, or effort issues, they're execution and familiarity issues and I think they'll go away as RT and MW spend more time playing together. If the running game gets on track MW could still have a big year.

 

You are absolutely correct. I never saw Ponder as a realistic starting QB in the NFL, but obviously Rick Spielman felt differently.

It just shows what happens when teams in need of a QB, reach in the first round and draft a player who is no better than a late round draft pick. From the 2011 draft, Cam Newton appears to be the only QB drafted in the first round who is bound to be a top tier QB in the NFL. Jake Locker may turn out to be a decent QB in the NFL over the next few years, but only time will tell. Gabbert and Ponder are no better than career backups.

In fact two of the best three QB's in the 2011 draft were taken in the 2nd round, Dalton and Kaepernick. I suspect that if Freeman doesn't work out for the Vikings the rest of this year, Spielman and Frazier will both be out of a job after this season. Spielman needs to be fired for drafting Ponder, if for nothing else.

 

I gave proper deference to that specific magic at the top of the thread.

With you demanding you're right and that you don't have to explain or demonstrate anything because of some sort of perceived expertise in statistics? This would only been like the third or forth time.

 

I don't think it's more complicated than that in this case. One of the fundamental selling points of this deal isn't was that Mike Wallace wasn't a one-trick pony. That's seemingly fallen by the wayside with Wallace's inability to really do anything particularly well, even the one thing he was supposed to be gold at.

Errors and miscommunications are a failing, not a mitigating circumstance. It's not really something you throw your hands up and say it happens. None of our other guys are doing that kind of stuff at that kind of level. Charles Clay is pretty well known for it, and he's still managed to rally and be more productive than Wallace. Brandon Gibson is operating under the same parameters being new to the team and hasn't had the same mental mistakes.

 

When you consider the snaps he's taking away from Matthews, yes.

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I can't really say I disagree with this in hindsight. But I do have hope that Wallace will turn it around somewhat.

The most baffling thing to me is the type of attitude Wallace has displayed while on the team, and how this was either A) unforseen, or B) known, but the signing still happened. He just seems like the type of player that Philbin wants no part of. Other than being seemingly incapable of picking up the offense thus far, he's been a diva, malcontent.

 

Here's the thing with Mike Wallace and I didn't read the whole thread so apologize if I'm repeating. I was kind of worried from the get go that he would never live up to that contract. And honestly, Jeff Ireland probably was too. The thing people don't realize is that these huge contracts are pretty easy to walk away from if the player isn't performing in a couple of years. Once again, even though I have very little faith in Ireland, I don't blame him for paying too much to get what was arguably the best free agent WR. Best case, he plays great and ends up being worth it. Worst case, out some guaranteed money, maybe a cap hit, but can walk away from the majority of the contract in a couple of years. I'm no capologist, but I think that's how these things usually play out. And even with the horrifying play of the offensive line (the thing Ireland should be blamed for) the offense is playing better than it did last year, and Mike Wallace is a part of that, even if it isn't a big enough part to justify 60 mil.

 

I think the organization viewed the signing as a potential loss-leader. It created a lot of excitement in the middle of a campaign for public money.

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Jeff Ireland and Joe Philbin did not have stadium renovations in mind when watching film of Mike Wallace.

And I can tell you for a fact that Wallace had no impact whatsoever on proceedings in Tallahassee. Zero.

 

He's the same guy, things around him are different, you want 2010 Wallace then you run that offense with that style of Qb, this offense runs on progressions from the pocket at all costs..the GM Is responsible to know if his skillset can transition into a different style offense and Qb...

Wallace is having an impact he's a good player, he just has to become a more rounded receiver to thrive in this offense, he has to sharpen his skills for lack if a better team, but he is having impact.

 

I'm not sure I believe that.

And if a blockbuster signing on the opening day of free agency was their idea, then why Wallace? Why not Jennings or Welker? Two guys that seem a much better fit for Joe Philbin and any timing offense really

 

Sincerely doubt welker even talked to anyone but Denver. Probably where he wanted to go from the second he heard he was to be a FA.

I'm not concerned about Wallace. Im not thrilled, but he can blow a game wide open at anytime. It hasn't happened yet but knowing it CAN happen is still exciting from a fan perspective. I don't pay his contract so what we paid for him doesn't matter to me. And as already mentioned, we aren't in cap hell.

 

He wasn't worth the money but hey we need a guy like him so we were not in a position to bargain for him, we had to overpay. The season is still young but honestly he needs to stop dropping the ball its aggravating and theres just no excuse for the sheer amount of drops he's had and the spots he's had them in. If it continues he'll be on his way to another team in year 3, who knows how it will turn out now. What sucks is that the player we need on offense is Brandon Marshall, I know people will rationalize the trade and blast me, but he's a future HOF receiver who makes crazy catches on a weekly basis, Ryan needs a true goto guy, not a guy that stretches the field here and there but a guy that we can milk to move the chains.

 

the problem is, when marshall was here, we needed a guy like Wallace.

It's a cycle.

 

When Marshall was here we needed a guy like Ryan Tannehill.

 

Wonder how keenum Allen would fair in this offense.. But we needed a speed guy to stretch the defense.. Next year we get a few guys to give tann some time to throw it down field...

 

While it is certainly true that Mike Wallace would have better numbers with more down the field throws if the line could block, he would also have better numbers if he were a better route runner and was more than just a down the field receiver.

 

LOL!! Blaming Ryan for Mike Wallace's inability to make an impact is like blaming him for the OL's poor protection at this point. I haven't seen Mike blow past any corners, and I haven't seen him improve and refine the finer details of playing the game like route running. This is a signing that shouldn't have happened because he didn't fit the scheme. Why is it that Ryan Tannehill is the reason Mike Wallace isn't as productive, but Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson are having no problems being productive in this offense? It's quite simple. Both of those two receivers are better pass catchers that run much better routes. Ryan can trust that they are going to be where they are supposed to be. He can't trust that in Mike Wallace yet.

 

Not to mention, Ellerbe for Dansby was not an upgrade, and Wheeler for Burnett was a push at best.

 

Jennings has 2 less catches for 5 more yards. They couldn't be much closer stats wise.

 

Did you ignore the rest of his post where he specifically said Jennings had to go through 3 quarterback changes so far this season?

 

I think it is a much better strategy to get players that actually fit your scheme. And yes, I would still be against drafting wide receivers high in the draft.

The most productive rookie WR this year is Kembrell Thompkins, an UDFA. He has a 1.03 WPA on the year.

I think the best strategy to take with this position is the way the Green Bay Packers address it. I was a strong advocate for understanding the process and building the receivers from within, and I would have supported using 2-3 2nd to 3rd round picks in a row on this position to build from within.

 

We could have also dealt a late round pick for Nate Washington.

 

This idea that wide receivers change the way a team plays you coverage wise is probably one of the more overstated and overrated "impacts" of this position. In fact, I don't believe there is an impact at all. Take the Saints game for example. The Saints lined up Keenan Lewis on Mike Wallace in man to man coverage a majority of the time, and he did not have deep safety help. Wallace couldn't beat him. Even on the play that Ryan put the ball on Mike's hands down the field, Lewis was in Wallace's hip pocket the entire game.