Finsmob Unleashed

I feel the need to reiterate a feeling I have made clear previously. So much is going around now with the FLA media about the Dolphins plans to tank the 2019 season. I think this is getting completely overblown. I don’t think for a second that new HC Brian Flores is coming here with a mandate from the owner to try and lose as many games as he can in order to procure a top pick in a QB rich 2020 draft. That AIN’T happening! I really wish that whole idea would just go away. Here’s what I do believe is the mandate, and take it for what it is, just one guy’s opinion.

What I do believe the plan is for 2019, is to not spend big money on free agent players, especially at the QB position. I think we will add our talent in the draft, and not necessarily a 1st RD pick, unless the QB we really want is available at our pick #13. I don’t think we’re going to trade up, I think we’re trying to get this roster as good as it can be, and therefore won’t be trading away any of our draft picks. In fact, my thought is we will be trading a few veteran players that can bring back some value and help us round out a nice haul in this year’s and next year’s draft. Ryan Tannehill, Reshad Jones, Devante Parker, Danny Amendola and Robert Quinn will be offered for trades to give us some additional draft capital. Most importantly, I think we’ll stay away from any free agent QB’s.

If we do as I say, and don’t sign a stopgap QB, that would mean a QB stable of our newly drafted 2019 QB, Luke Falk and Jake Rudock. All this doesn’t mean we’re trying to lose, but realistically, if we follow that path, it’s going to be much harder to win. I felt last season once the entire draft process was over that Baker Mayfield was the best QB in that draft. Mayfield went to a pretty talented CLE roster and only managed 6 wins. Sam Darnold got the Jets 4 wins, Josh Allen 5 wins, and finally Josh Rosen 3 wins. That’s the cream of the crop of what was considered a strong QB class, and the best outcome was 6 wins. What I’m trying to say is, it’s not trying to lose, it’s not easy to win under those circumstances. That’s not tanking, it’s truly rebuilding, and there’s nothing wrong with it.

Sadly, we will say goodbye to our longtime Special Teams coach Darren Rizzi. Unfortunately, once Rizzi interviewed for the HC position here, it made the likelihood of him returning as ST’s coach very slim. A newly hired HC wouldn’t want to compete with a coach who knows the players very well, and one that is already very well liked and respected the players. That’s too much to ask, and after any failure for the team, Rizzi’s name would surface as a replacement, and that just can’t work. The same scenario played out in CLE with Freddie Kitchens and Gregg Williams. Once Kitchens got the HC gig, Williams was out. He was out not because they could find a better DC than Williams, but because of the same conflict.

So 2019 will be a year of responsible team management, and hopefully we won’t fall back into the pitfalls of trying to get that one player that will put us over the top, because no one player can do that. Just get young talent at every position, solidify the roster, and with the purging of the expensive contracts, at some point we will hopefully be competitive and ready to make a playoff run, and at that point we should be flush with cap money to make a couple of important free agent acquisitions that put us over the top. This may happen 2 or 3 years down the line, so this will require patience from the owner Steve Ross, the coaching staff, and of course, the fans. I don’t count on 1 and 3 doing their part by any means, but hopefully, both can pull through as we ascend after finally doing things right here in Miami.