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I’m sure you all read the reports (it’s been in all the papers and online this week).  It seems that the Dolphins fired OC Chad O’Shea because his offense was too complicated.  More specifically, the players had a hard time adapting and learning it. I’m sure there’s a lot of truth to that, but there must be something more.  The Dolphins had a J.V. roster, and in all honesty, they should have lost 17 games last year.  What gained them 5 wins was some innovative offense.  In each win, there was some well-timed trickery, plus some outstanding effort by the WR corps.   And don’t forget,Read More →

As you know, in the weeks leading up to the draft, I was hoping we’d draft Tua.  And I obviously got my wish.  I think his upside is tremendous, and that counteracts his risk of injury.  He’s exciting and young, and I think that is what we needed. But… this isn’t really a “but” at this point, but rather a few things I’ve noticed recently that MAY start to be cause for concern. First, Tua already has endorsement deals in place, and he’s already promoting Muscle Milk drinks.  That is clearly his right and it takes nothing away from his athletic skills.  But in the backRead More →

Week 1. Sept. 13 @ New England Patriots. Week 2. Sept. 20 BUFFALO BILLS. Week 3. Sept. 24 @ Jacksonville (Thursday night). Week 4. Oct. 4 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS. Week 5. Oct. 11 @ San Francisco 49ers. Week 6. Oct. 18 at Denver Broncos. Week 7. Oct. 25 Los Angeles Chargers. Week 8. Nov. 1 Los Angeles Rams. Week 9. Nov. 8 @ Arizona Cardinals. Week 10. Nov. 15 New York Jets Week 11. BYE Week 12. Nov. 29 @ New York Jets. Week 13. Dec. 6 Cincinnati Bengals. Week 14. Dec. 13. Kansas City Chiefs. Week 15. Dec. 20 New England Patriots Week. 16. Dec.Read More →

I hate to break away from the Don Shula thread, but life does indeed go on, and we can certainly discuss The Coach at any time. In the meantime, I’m happy to report that Albert Wilson is staying.  He agreed to a salary cut and contract renegotiation in order to stay put.  As many of you know, I love both Wilson and Jakeem Grant, but with Malcolm Perry getting a lot of buzz, there are only so many fast little guys the Dolphins can keep.  And with both Grant’s and Wilson’s injury history, I’m sure that’s why they drafted Perry. I think Perry is anRead More →

The accolades are flying in on virtually all news networks and sports blogs.   I cannot even keep up. Rather than cite a long bio here, let’s open it up to your thoughts and your stories/memories about Don Shula.  I know a few younger readers don’t even remember his coaching.  But for us others, what are your thoughts on Shula personally?  His impact?  His coaching style? We’d love to hear from you all…  Read More →

I’ve spent nearly the entire week reading up on our draft picks before writing this.  In general, I am pleased with the selections, and I certainly feel the Dolphins are better off today than a week ago.  Would love to hear from you all on your overall thoughts. Obviously, each pick comes with strengths and weaknesses.   But interestingly enough, most of the “weaknesses” for this crop of rookies are actually mysteries, not weaknesses.  These question marks include: Can Tua stay healthy? Will he play at all in 2020? Is Austin Jackson ready for the NFL, or still several years away as many have said? Will NoahRead More →

So I was very happy with the Tua pick.   My gut was telling me to make this pick, and I’m glad the Dolphin Chris Grier agreed.   The young Flores boys seemed to agree too, as they were so eager to grab the phone and talk to Tua. I was going to vow to learn how to spell and pronounce his last name, but I gave up already.  Incidentally, Tua is just a nickname.   I cannot pronounce or spell his real first name either.  So he is Tua for life in this blog. Austin Jackson and Noah I. (another young man whose name I won’t tryRead More →

Okay, I’d love to chat with our group here during the draft, and I’ll open up the chat room before the draft commences at 8 Eastern. Also, reader Justin and some friends are having a Zoom video draft party, and I’m working with him to provide the invite links here.  Zoom is pretty fun an easy, and you just have to click the link.   If you have Zoom, you’re in.  If not, it will ask you to download it, which is quick and easy. I’m going to TRY to do our chat room while I’m in Justin’s Zoom party, so we’ll see how that goes.Read More →

With everyone concerned about Coronavirus, I’m sure a lot of our excitement about the draft and the schedule release has been curtailed.   But with 10 days to go for the draft (and probably any day now for the schedule release), it’s finally starting to hit me. I hope you all are safe and sound. A lot of the same rumors continue to buzz around, plus some new rumors, plus some contradictions of the original rumors.   The bottom line?   IT’S ALL RUMORS!  We don’t know.   The good news is that we only need to wait 2 more days to find out. I’ll begin by saying this one lastRead More →

I see a lot of debate about if the draft should still be held in 3 weeks or postponed because of all the corona situations.  Some NFL executives say they need more time, since in-person meetings and physicals can’t take place right now.   It’s true that no in-person interviews can take place, but it’s ridiculous to think these scouts need more time. I think the draft should proceed as normal. One of the more convincing parts of this comes from an article I read about “What if we delay the draft and give GMs more time to evaluate players?”   Will their info-gathering be any better?  TheseRead More →

So now that the free agent signings have slowed down, the “graders” are starting to rate how all the teams did.   Most “experts” seem to be giving the Dolphins a grade of around B to A+.  People tend to like the new Dolphin acquisitions, but many of them thought we overpaid. I’m fine with that.  We have plenty of money, and overpaying is insurance that some other team won’t outbid us.  Plus, my long-time readers know my core belief that the salary cap is just a fluid, flexible number.  There’s a long history in the NFL of teams being at or over their cap limit, andRead More →

So, here is the list of new Dolphin free agents.   I placed these in order of who I  feel were the best acquisitions.   My analysis is not just based on how good the player is, but also based on the necessity of filling the void.  That’s why I have Shaq Lawson rated as my #1.  We have a desperate need at DE because Charles Harris has been a bust since Day One.  Taco Charlton got thrown under the bus a little last year.  He came in mid-season, and that’s always tough.  I’d like to keep him around to complement Lawson and Ogbah.   But Harris?  Bye.Read More →

Corona delays notwithstanding, the “legal” free agency period is here.  It’s sort of official as of right now, but not officially official until Wednesday. Anyway, not much to cover yet, but we can begin our comments and discussion now as it looks like Miami will be signing FA guard Ereck Flowers and FA end Shaq Lawson.Read More →

The Dolphins ended an era in releasing Reshad Jones this week.  Despite his frequent injury and his career-long penchant for talking about how good he was and how much money he should earn, he was an impactful player for the most part. Jonesey is the latest casualty of the bizarre world of the Dolphins.   Yes, I know it’s early, but this is not the way to rebuild. You want to get younger, so you get rid of 22-year old All Pro Minkah Fitzpatrick and 25-year old All Pro Laremy Tunsil. You want to save all your money so that you can afford to re-sign yourRead More →

The new CBA is in the hands of the players now to vote on, and several prominent multi-millionaires (Ooops, I mean players) are balking at it. Vocal multi-millionaires such as Maurkice Pouncey, JJ Watt, and Russell Wilson are against it. There are two main changes.  First, the season would be 17 games long (4 or 5 games if you’re JJ Watt, who always gets hurt).  Second, the playoffs would have 14 teams instead of twelve.  Only the TOP seed (not top 2) in each conference would get a first-round bye.   I’m not opposed to either of those provisions, although I prefer to keep the seasonRead More →

As you all probably have seen the last few weeks, there is no news anywhere in the football world.   (Except maybe that the XFL started again, but the rules are so ridiculous, I lost interest after 20 minutes. The local reporters have told us for two years that the Dolphins are taking Tua.   But now they’re switching to a variety of alternatives to cover themselves for the inevitable if/when Miami picks someone else.   All of a sudden now–out of the blue and with no truth–they’re saying that the Phins love Justin Herbert the most now.  It went from Tua to Burrow to Herbert in theRead More →

The danger of winning some truly meaningless games in December is unfolding before us.   The San Diego Chargers need a quarterback.   They pick AFTER the Dolphins, but they could easily trade up and move ahead of us.  If they want Tua, the possibility is there.  If the Dolphins value Justin Herbert more, then it’s not a big deal.  Let the Chargers THINK we want Tua in order to force them to trade, and then pick Herbert anyway. Sweet! It’s really intriguing how this will play out.  The Dolphins had some good drafts lately under Chris Grier, and we need one more.  Christian WilkinsRead More →