BY MICHEL GONZALEZ – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
No one, least of all the owner or the general manager, seems to know what’s happening with the Miami Dolphins.
In the last 10 years, this franchise has been the most luckless, clueless, hapless club.
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Dude, the numbers sure don’t lie:
Seven head coaches: Dave Wannstedt, Jim Bates, Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, Tony Sparano, Todd Bowles and now Joe Philbin.
Thirteen starting quarterbacks, with a minimum of four starts: Jay Fiedler, Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, A.J. Feeley, Gus Frerotte, Daunte Culpepper, Joey Harrington, Cleo Lemon (yeah, the same Cleo Lemon who was booted from the Toronto Argonauts!), Trent Green, John Beck, Chad Pennington, Chad Henne and Matt Moore. They failed to sign Alex Smith, but added former Jaguar David Garrard, who is likely to be the 14th starting quarterback in the last 11 seasons.
Seven offensive coordinators: Norv Turner, Chris Foerster, Scott Linehan, Mike Mularkey, Dan Henning, Brian Daboll and now Mike Sherman.
Six defensive coordinators: Jim Bates, Richard Smith, Dom Capers, Paul Pasqualoni, Mike Nolan and now Kevin Coyle.
The most bizarre moves, and aftermaths, of the last decade of Miami Dolphins football — actually, decade plus 11 days, considering that the Dolphins traded for Ricky Williams 10 years and 11 days ago:
1. The ridiculous inability to find, develop and decide on a quarterback who could be even half as good as Dan Marino.
Over the last 10 years, Miami has traded a seventh-round pick for Sage Rosenfels, a second-round pick for Feeley, a second-round pick for Culpepper, a sixth-round selection for Lemon, a fifth-round pick for Green. They also used (wasted?) a second-round pick to select Beck and another second-rounder on draft Henne. None is on the team anymore and none was good enough to even become Marino’s waterboy.
They whiffed on Peyton Manning and when Matt Flynn chose Seattle over Miami as the prize of a thin free agent quarterback pool, it left the Dolphins scrambling and reconsidering how aggressively to go after Alex Smith, whom they also failed to sign. Now, they’re likely willing to gamble on Ryan Tannehill of Texas A&M with the eighth pick in the first round on April 26. Either that or go with David Garrard or Matt Moore. None of the above are very good options.
2. The ill-fated hiring of Nick Saban.
He was supposed to turn the Dolphins around and be the head coach for life, when Wayne Huizenga hired him early in 2005. His career highlights included going 15-17 and making a horrible quarterback decision by picking Culpepper over Drew Brees in 2006. He then skedaddled over to Alabama after denying at least a zillion times that he was going back to college football.
3. Not hiring Mike Tomlin.
Two days apart in early 2007, soon after Saban dumped the Fins to move to Alabama, Miami interviewed two coordinator prospects — among others — to replace the newly-departed coach. The Dolphins favored offensive coordinator Cam Cameron of San Diego over Minnesota defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. Cameron got the Miami job, went 1-15 and got fired. Tomlin got the Pittsburgh job, went 10-6, won the AFC North and is 55-25 since, with a Super Bowl win.
4. Trades that you wish you could do over.
Ricky Williams came in 2002 for two first-round draft picks and gave the Dolphins two terrific seasons, five lousy ones, and one-and-a-half suspended ones. Wes Welker was made a restricted free agent in 2007, and the Patriots stole him for second- and seventh-round draft picks. Those two picks turned into one season of center Samson Satele before he was dumped to Oakland for a sixth-rounder the next year.
The Brandon Marshall trade (for two second-rounders in 2010) was as close to a disaster as you can possibly get, but they did regain two third-rounders this year. They wasted two second-rounders on quarterbacks who barely had cups of coffee in Miami — Feeley and Culpepper.
5. Passing on Drew Brees and other front office disasters.
Saban chose Culpepper over Brees in March 2006 because Brees was rehabbing major shoulder surgery. Ten months later, Saban quit and went back to college ball while the 1-15 Dolphins of 2007 played with Lemon, Green and Beck. Funny thing, though: owner Wayne Huizenga wanted to sign Brees, but the top brass wanted Culpepper.
Huizenga said his football people were insistent that Culpepper, for reasons monetary and football and health, was a better choice than Brees. Miami is 37-59 since, with no playoff wins.
Clearly, when Huizenga brought in Bill Parcells, who imported Jeff Ireland from the Cowboys, he didn’t expect the disastrous personnel run that has ensued. And the man who bought the Dolphins from Huizenga, Stephen Ross, certainly didn’t expect Ireland to ask Dez Bryant the sordid question about his mother’s occupation in the run-up to the 2010 draft either.
The Ross-Ireland dumb-and-dumber act has failed to lure Jim Harbaugh and Jeff Fisher to coach the team and has failed to land Peyton Manning or Matt Flynn to run the offence.
Flynn must have repeated three or four times how much he liked the feeling he got from the Seahawks’ coaches and front office people when he was in Seattle. He wouldn’t say anything negative about Miami; he is very fond of his former offensive coordinator in Green Bay, Philbin. But clearly Flynn felt the love more in Seattle than in Miami.
It’s absolutely amazing how much failure the Dolphins have endured in the last 10 years. And the way this year is beginning — losing out on Fisher, Manning, Smith and Flynn — I’m amazed that Ross is putting up with it without blowing a gasket.
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