The Dolphins are so desperate for defensive backs that today they signed a guy who can’t even play for them.

Safety T.J. McDonald is suspended already, and he cannot play until at least Week 8, assuming that he passes all drug tests and assuming that the NFL approves of his formal reinstatement request.

Of course, Dion Jordan was in the exact same situation before, where all he had to do was stay clean and serve a three-game suspension.  However, during his suspension, he got suspended again for using drugs again.  I won’t be naive again.  You see, I used to think that it would be easy for Dion.

These were his choices:

  1.  Don’t do drugs for three weeks, and then in three short weeks, you’ll be back playing and earning a millions of dollars a month.
    OR
  2. Take more drugs, remain poor, and become the biggest bust in Dolphins draft history.

Dion chose Option #2.   Let’s hope T.J. McDonald is a bit smarter.  Let’s hope the executives who signed this guy are smarter.

In related news, the Dolphins finally got rid of Dion Jordan.   Steroids, ecstasy, secret knee operations…. He did it all, and still remained on the team for 3 years.

Dion Jordan was the icing on the cake for the worst draft in Dolphins history. In 2014, we drafted such perennial all-pros as Jordan, Don Jones, Caleb Sturgis, and of course, Jamar Taylor,

 

41 Comments

  1. I love the move. Look what happened to us last year. This guy can play and man can he lay guys out on the back end.

    The patriots sign cook and we counter by signing another guy how can knock the hell out of him (Hopefully the ball too) if he is needed.

    In the end this is a low risk high reward move for the Dolphins. If he keeps out of trouble and plays well we should have the inside track to resign him to a 3 year low risk lower pay deal after that.

    This is not like Jordan because McDonald is a proven player who dosnt have the duribility problems Miami is constantly plagued with.

    On top of that HE WANTS TO PLAY FOOTBALL and has declared he will do what he needs to in order to clean the mess up.

    So in those ways he is much different from Jordan.

    Time will tell if it works but it’s low risk not a 1st round pick!

  2. Dion Jordan officially waived by the dolphins

    1. Author

      Yes, Axel broke this before I could! VERY VERY curious why they kept him around so long.

  3. No idea why they didn’t at least let jordon compete for a role in training camp. I know he’s been awful but he was the 3rd pick in the draft! Odds are he would of dissapointed at camp anyway but still I wish the team held on to him for a little longer.

    1. Author

      Fair question, Zach. Pay him league minimum just to take reps in pre-season games, so that our real players don’t risk injury.

  4. Did he fail another physical? If so, then I can understand why they cut him. This regime didn’t draft him and tried to give him a chance but he failed to meet the team halfway. Those comments being made by the Miami front office recently about drafting and signing guys that love football where thin-veiled shots intended specifically for Dion. Good move and past due.

  5. Miami’s new front office philosophy seems to be to pay guys that perform as Dolphins and sign free agents from other teams to prove it deals and make them show that they can contribute in this system before they get rewarded with a long-term deal. I like it. Keeping Dion despite his consistent issues would contradict that and therefore send the wrong message. All he probably had to do was show this new front office something, anything, and he’d probably have a job still. But like myself they kept waiting on a moment that failed to ever materialize. And I doubt that they would re-sign him to a league minimum deal if he can’t pass a physical.

  6. Dion Jordan failed his physical.
    And Shula would NEVER have signed McDonald!

    1. BB constantly signs guys like McDonald and wins so what’s your point? This is low risk they can cut him anytime if he’s a fraud.

      Disappointed in Jordan what a waste of a life. He obviously didn’t hold up his agreement with Gase so he cut him don’t blame Gase at all. They will most likely go LB, DE or OG specifically Lamp only first round now. BPA….

      1. Jordan made plenty of money for himself and is set for life even though he did nothing.

        As far as McDonald, the jury is out….we’ll see.

        1. The jury is out?

          Nate Allen and Michel Thomas are battling it out for the safety sport!

          That’s the sub par Nate Allen (sub par is a nice way of saying crappy) and Thomas (as in I got tourched all year in 2016) will be barreling it out.

          If McDonald wasn’t suspended they (Allen and Thomas) would be battling for number 2 spot.

          Oh ya don’t forget Rambo…. I think he is still on the team!

          So we sign a guy who is a starter clearly more talented then any other safety on the roster and Admin and company thinks the move sucks?

          Why? Because he can only play half the season?

          That’s half of the regular season guys. If we go deep into the playoffs like the AFC championship game tack on three more games…. now that’s 11 games he plays…..

          For next to no money!

          Great move IMO

          1. Screwed up on ‘scripted drugs? One of the lowest rated Safeties in the league?

  7. ” deep into the playoffs like the AFC championship game ”
    LMAO!!

    Quit the kool aid and stop with your delusional nonsense!

    1. It’s possible look at the AFC who’s really strong besides NE? Most of the old powers are getting weaker heck Ben may even retire making steelers worse. It’s wide open and the Fins are at least trending in the right direction the team looks better today than last year and they haven’t drafted yet.

  8. I like the signing. It’s another 1year “prove it or lose it” deal. After reading some of his quotes it seems he is ready to own up to his mistake and move forward. But here’s my question for you guys- Isn’t cheating in an NFL game a much more egregious offense than driving under the influence? Brady, who did indeed cheat and tried to cover his tracks by doing so, serves only 4 games suspension as opposed to McDonald who must serve 8 games suspension. To me the Brady offense is much worse and I’m trying not to be biased. I believe the Dolphins will, and should, appeal this suspension.

    1. Agreed but I’m sure that the suspension is standard for that offence. Either way he’s owning up to it which most players don’t so hopefully that helps.

  9. Has he appealed the suspension yet? A lot of times guys can get, for lack of a better term, a reduced sentence.

  10. I guess we’ll find out in Week 9.

  11. Screwed up on ‘scripted drugs? One of the lowest rated Safeties in the league? Not sure I understand this one?

    1. Where is he listed as the lowest rates safety? I’ve heard nothing but good things if it weren’t for this black mark on his resume he would have received Big money. I also read the article posted above seems pretty positive…

      1. According to Pro Football Focus, McDonald was the 58th-ranked safety in the NFL last season.

        1. OK so he may not be as good as advertised but it’s only costing them a minimal amount to find out or cut him. If anything he’s decent depth. No harm done either way.

  12. Pretty sure that mugshot you put up is of Iman Shumpert of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wow!

    1. You are 100% correct. I didn’t think anyone would catch it.

    2. Author

      Oh, man. I borrowed that from a TMZ mugshots file. I can’t believe they screwed it up, and then I made it worse by trusting them. My bad, thanks Rick J !!

  13. Author

    Back to my previous post about the schedule for a moment: Here is an interesting tidbit from the NFL itself. Note how beholden they are to the TV people. Not how their attitude is “Poor old us. We only have 4 people to put this whole schedule together.” They have billions of dollars and unlimited employees. Don’t give me you sob story nonsense about how hard it is. Start your damn job 5 months ago, when the schedule was already determined!!

    http://operations.nfl.com/the-game/creating-the-nfl-schedule/

    1. Sounds like a very cushy job to me. They don’t even create the schedule, they just sort though the millions to pick the “best possible” translation- most profitable available. I wonder what they do once the schedules are finished?

  14. If you compare this schedule to the other sports playing over 80 games then it’s a joke. Especially when the indoor sports compete with concerts which make more money for the venue.

    1. Author

      True. Baseball schedules 162 games, plus has to work in rainouts during the year, and they get it all done and announced in 4 days.

  15. Do you guys think that the Fins should pick up the 5th year option for James 8M, resign him long-term at lower cap or ride out the last year? If they let him go it’s another hole to fill…

    1. I definatly wouldn’t let him go, but at the same times it’s not likes he’s perfect. If he would agree to a reasonable salary then if I was the team I would sign him long term no doubt.

      1. Agreed he just needs to be decent and if they can improve the OG play the oline should be good enough. I still draft a OG in round 2-3 depending on who’s there. Overall in a perfect world I go LB, DE and OG and hit on all three. If the right guys aren’t there at 22 trade back and get another pick to add more depth at DT too. May even be the better move in the long run.

        I’m doing a mock draft for the Fins on hoopla next week what is everyone elses ideal scenario in the draft? I’ll report back how it goes.

    2. Author

      I think you have to keep him. He’s a decent, if not solid, contributor down in the trenches.
      Some elite QBs win games no matter who their linemen are. But Tannehill isn’t one of them. He seems to thrive on consistent line play, so we need to help him out with that. I’m not concerned about the money at all. Money gets freed up just as fast as it gets spent, and it always works out. Quick example: When we signed Suh for an outrageous salary, which Dolphins did we have to let go and which players did we demand take a pay cut…all in order to afford Suh?
      Answer: No one. We just paid him and somehow found the money. Happens every day.

      1. And the cap keeps rising which diminishes the cap hit every year moving forward. Patsie fans don’t understand this they lost their minds on Suhs signing… either way you are correct I’d sign him to a respectable contract and just increase the talent at OG so that the whole line is better.

        What realistically would you like to see happen in the first 3-4 rounds perfect Fins draft?

        1. Author

          Realistically, I hope we snag several linebackers and hope one or two stick. The Dolphins tend to get one new player, per position, at a time. And that hasn’t worked. Kiko Alonso last year was a great addition, but we basically only added one linebacker, so the unit as a whole suffered. The year before it was Kong Suh. We added one tackle, but the entire unit didn’t benefit. It hasn’t worked when we place one add one man to a weak unit. We need to bolster the whole unit.
          That’s what I want. What I expect to happen is that we’ll draft a DE, a WR, and a few OGs. We always do.

          1. So you would go LB, LB in the first two rounds or a LB later on as a backup? I think the problem is that they’ve always had too many holes to fill. This year should be plug the few ones left and pick the best players while they’re at it. I hope so!

  16. The more I look at the team the more I think Miami should take a defensive tackle if a good one is available in the first round. I know we have suh but outside of him there’s not much else, Jordan Phillips isn’t very good and he’s about to be starting next to suh. Doesn’t matter how good the linebackers are if defensive tackle becames a huge weakness when suh has to leave the game.

    1. I’m hearing this quite a bit they definitely need another decent DT. I guess you look at the current starters and who’s worse . . . Phillips, Misi, Larsen or Branch.. Even add Nate Allen?

      Out of all of them Misi can’t be counted on although playing nickel so much it isn’t as critical. Larsen who knows? It isn’t so much Branch but the age of Wake and Hayes is a one year so they need youth. After Allen you have McDonald coming in later on so is it that critical? Those are the questions but I think whomever falls to them that’s the best player I draft or move back and take another pick.

    1. Heard it was a charity event too…..

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