UPDATE:

The NFL just suspended Ezekiel Elliot for 6 games for smacking a woman around. I have to feel that Jarvis Landry will get at least 8 games, because his domestic violence led to an actual police report, etc.
At least he didn’t trip over his own two feet and tear his ACL (Tannehill) or trip over his own teammate and tear his ACL (McMillan).

 

Back before the draft–all during the spring as a matter of fact–I repeatedly said that the Dolphins needed to spend all their draft picks on LBs.

Many people thought I was crazy.  The Dolphins certainly didn’t listen.   Now they wish they had.

In 2016, we had among the worst linebacking crew in NFL history.   Not a single impact player.  No game changer.  No one with Zach Thomas’s smarts or A.J. Duhe’s ballhawking.   Instead, we had the likes of Jelani Jenkins and Donald Butler and Spencer Paysinger.     Koa Misi was in his usual place, resting at home on I.R.  The team cut Zach Vigil and kept Mike Hull on the bench.   Terrible management of a horrible group of players.  Thank God for Kiko Alonso winning the Charger game for us.

The Dolphins addressed this glaring need by drafting a bunch of NON-linebackers.   A DE in the first round and a bunch of WRs and DEs later.   The one  LB in between was Raekwon McMillan.  We drafted ONE (1) linebacker.   Only one.   Yes, we got an aging Lawrence Timmons from the Steelers, but that does not help in the long run.

Koa Misi not playing in 2017 surprises no one.  But losing McMillan for the year in a meaningless practice game…on special teams no less?   That one hurts.   It hurts worse because we have no one else to step up.  The projected 3 starting LBs were Alonso, Misi, and McMillan.  Two-thirds of them are gone.  Jenkins could have filled one slot, but they let him walk.   Now Timmons can fill the one slot, and probably Mike Hull the other.   That leaves us ZERO depth.  No one.

Meanwhile, we have about 47 DEs on the roster and 136 DTs.  (Not to mention 452 different WRs).   Aren’t you glad we drafted so many of them?  Seriously, did you watch the Falcon game deep until the end?  I couldn’t keep track of all the different WRs out there.  Why soooooooooooooo many WRs and DEs, but no LBs?

The team’s biggest need last year as “addressed” by drafting only one LB, who promptly went out and tripped over his own teammate on his very first play as a pro.

Stephen Ross came on the air in the second quarter to talk about Coldplay and soccer.

Bob Griese had the line of the night.  Jason Taylor mentioned that Mean Joe Greene intimidated him, and Griese simply said, “Me too!”

Nat Moore watched McMillan walk to the locker room on his own and assumed he was fine.  Uhhh, no Nat.  People can walk on a torn ACL.   Thanks for the false hope though.

The Dolphins had a year to get ready for the first play of 2017, and when it came time for it, they delayed.   Jarvis Landry had to call a timeout BEFORE WE COULD RUN OUR VERY FIRST PLAY.   It’s gonna be a long year.

I also have to address the insanity of having Raekwon McMillan cover punts in the first place.   Especially when the roster is at 90.   Especially in a scrimmage game.   There are 40 extra players on the squad who Adam Gase could have thrown to the wolves, but NOT our prized linebacker.  All reports indicate that McMillan was going to start.  It’s a ridiculous coaching decision to use a rookie stud on a meaningless special teams play in a practice game.   Adam Gase still has so so much to learn.

36 Comments

  1. Injuries are killing this season and it’s not even half way through August. Just another year being a dolphin fan.

  2. Injuries happen to every team. The injury to Tannehill was a positive especially long term as now they will draft QB’s. Ajayi will prolly be fine.

    The Fins were lucky injury wise the previous few years IMO.

  3. Author

    The NFL just suspended Ezekiel Elliot for 6 games for smacking a woman around. I have to feel that Jarvis Landry will get at least 8 games, because his domestic violence led to an actual police report, etc.
    At least he didn’t trip over his own to feet and tear his ACL (Tannehill) or trip over his own teammate and tear his ACL (McMillan).

    1. The NFL is insane for that suspension of Elliot. If the justice system says he is innocent it’s crazy for the NFL to think they can supersede that decision.

      1. Author

        Well, it’s like steroids. You can legally buy HGH at GNC Vitamin store. You can also legally smoke weed in California. So if Phillip Rivers lights one up, legally, can the NFL suspend him??
        Yes, somehow.

      2. The justice system did not say he’s innocent.

        Its unfortunate that the beating of women isn’t ok with the NFL.

        1. Jay the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.

          1. I know….that is NOT an INNOCENT finding!

  4. Author

    The Herald’s Barry Jackson, who I respect far more than the other beat writers, is griping today (Justifiably) about the Dolphins not signing LB stud Zach Brown when we had the chance.
    But Barry is still letting the Dolphins off the hook too easily by NOT griping about the Dolphins refusing to draft LB depth. It’s easy to pass on signing a free agent if you plan to draft 3 or 4 potential rookies who can do better. Fine, go ahead and pass on Zach Brown, but make damn sure you draft SEVERAL potential LBs who have a chance to help. Don’t draft just one guy for a position that you need the most.
    Barry is correct: We SHOULD HAVE grabbed Zach Brown. But that’s only half of what we should have done.

  5. What we SHOULD HAVE done is drafted a high pick QB……our biggest need for 10 years now.

  6. Agreed on McMillan why was he out there on special teams when he’s a projected starter? Especially preseason!

    Maybe they drafted WR because of Landry? Probably doubling down on Parker getting hurt too….maybe they can trade some of them for LB’S as it looks like they have some decent talent there.

    A little surprised that the bills imploded should have 4 free wins in division now if they don’t implode themselves from injuries…

    1. Author

      Yes, confirmed unfortunately. Looks like a possible concussion again. Next up, Damien Williams.
      Attention Mr. Gase: Do the undrafted, 5th-string defenders who are guaranteed to be cut and guaranteed will not be Dolphin…do those guys need to practice their tackling against our starters? Use those bums to cover kickoffs instead of your starting stud middle linebacker, and don’t let them come near your starters.

  7. Lippett now out for the year achilllies. I noticed they signed two more WR’s and an Olineman. Olineman fine but why not a LB, RB or even CB to replace the injuries? Hopefully that comes up next…

    1. Author

      Yes, it’s amazing the amount of quality starters we’re losing. Some will argue that losing Tannehill is NOT a bad thing, but time will tell.
      But losing a ton of depth with Lippett gone. McMillan’s will hurt worse, because we didn’t have depth at LB to begin with. Those idiots in management assumed Koa Misi would be a star this year, but he never got to a practice. And Mike Pouncey? We all know what’s coming soon. A lot of starters gone, and it could get worse. Man, this is amazing.

      1. The good news is that it’s better now than later and they currently have decent replacements but if further injuries hit those positions the Fins are screwed. Unless they bring in additions to bolster the weak areas…just seems like move WR’s will be cutting a bunch of good ones already!

  8. You’re funny Admin – “some will argue that losing Tannehill is NOT a bad thing, but time will tell.”

    Sorry dude, but a lot of us don’t have that kind of patience or time for this Tannehill experiment anymore.

    1. Author

      Well, the T-hill injury cost us $10 million in cap space that we could have used to lure some LBs into camp. Now we’re in serious trouble financially, even if Cutler excels.

      1. !0 mill is nuthin compared to the 6 years and 60 mill we wasted on TannePuke.

        Final year of Tanny on the roster unless he takes a 1 mill backup role.

  9. The Herald is reporting that the Dolphins overall ‘fan experience” is the worst of all 4 S Fla pro teams. Thanx Ross!

  10. How does a guy that gets flat CUT by the Bears get 10 MILLION from the Fins?

    1. Author

      The coach loves him for some reason. Ten million dollars’ worth of love!

      1. That’s the going rate and they are desperate. The team admitted that they brought in an experienced qb to show the team that they haven’t given up. The locker room apparently is positive so that was part of the trade off. Cutler leaving Chicago was probably mutual as they stunk! He looked pretty good which was nice to see.

          1. Yes the bears were a great team but cutler ruined them….cracks me up.

              1. Sarcasm you seem to always blame the QB for a teams failures maybe we should just have the QB’s do drills to determine who wins games. Save us all the trouble of having all these players around. Haha!

    1. Honestly, everyone agrees with you Cutler is trash but what other options did they have.

      Only other person i can think of is Kaep (who everyone hates) and RG3 but when your starting QB goes down because of an injury you shouldn’t sign an injury prone QB.

      1. Well Axel, it doesn’t sound like FlyerFinFan agrees that Cutler is trash.

        I agree they didn’t have many options and I’m not really faulting the signing (except for the money), but I do think Matt Moore is better at this stage.

        1. I’m not a big cutler fan but I get the signing. You can’t go into the season with just Moore and Doughty. They had to instill confidence that if things do in fact click they have a chance. Besides cutler is a lot better option than most out there at least he knows the offence which is critical right now. Who would you rather have the sanchize? I keep telling you that there aren’t a lot of qb options out there like you seem to think…

      2. See Axel,…….FlyerFinFan doesn’t think Cutler is trash!

        1. Name me a better option out there right now that’s my point and if you say sanchize I know that you’re nuts! I do believe that they can win with a Moore/Cutler option although but I’m an optomist…

Leave a Reply to Jay Cancel reply