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http://espn.go.com/blog/miami-dolphins/post/_/id/13958/miami-dolphins-lead-nfl-in-dead-money (http://espn.go.com/blog/miami-dolphins/post/_/id/13958/miami-dolphins-lead-nfl-in-dead-money)

Thank you, Jeff Ireland.

Only now are fans beginning to see the damage he did to this team.   His drafts seem to be no better than his predecessors. 

That Jordan pick at #3 looks worse by the day. We usually don't miss on first rounders, let alone that bad. Gonna have to nail this draft AND have Billy Turner turn into a serviceable RG this season in order to make up for Ireland's shit.

Which is why I didn't like signing Suh to such a huge contract. '

Also, I thought these moves were designed to free cap space, not create dead money. 

They sacrificed the dead money to free up the cap space. This wouldn't be necessary if we didn't strike out in free agency under Ireland.

Why are you a fan of this team again? You never seen to appreciate anything this team does, even if it is successful.

I do, actually.

Since this team has not been successful since 2008, I haven't had anything to appreciate

More like, "Thank you, Mike Tannenbaum."

Dead money is money you are spending on players no longer with the team (i.e. that you have chosen to get rid of).  We weren't leading the league in dead money last year.

..........................

I don't want Tannenbaum, but I can't blame the guy for dumping the crap he inherited.

As far as 1st rounders go:

2008 - Jake Long
2009 - Vontae Davis
2010 - Jared Odrick
2011 - Mike Pouncey
2012 - Ryan Tannehill
2013 - Dion Jordan
2014 - Juwaun James

Aside from Jordon who really has had a mixture of his own stupidity and our coaches, can't complain about this list. Before this was pretty bad, but for the past 7 years I'd say we have drafted pretty damn well in the first.

Somebody on the board said on an earlier thread that Jake Long was a bust

Tannenbaum didn't sign players to those inflated contracts.

Way to take something out of context. Long was a bust FOR THE RAMS. Miami got an elite player (all pro + numerous pro bowls) for 5 years and got rid of him at the perfect time. He was (and is) one of my favorite players, but it's a brutal game. Considering what the Rams paid, he was clearly a bust for them.

Jake got paid, good for him, and he never gave up trying. He's just not elite anymore and cannot stay healthy.

Yes I wouldn't say Long was a bust for us. Worst thing for us is the fact he couldn't stay healthy enough for us to re-sign him.

When you take a player no 1 overall and you don't resign him because he never finishes the season, that's a bust.

Agree 100%

It is unfortunate about the dead money, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses and move on.  Its like making a bad decision and marrying an a-hole.  At some point you have to decide whether you are going to go on living with the a-hole or dumpe them and take a short term monetary hit and try to get moving in a positive direction again.

Yes, that would be a bust. "Never" finishes the season doesn't really apply to Long, though. He started every single game of his first three seasons in Miami before injury starting being an issue. And even then, he "only" missed 6 games of his last 32 in Miami.

He didn't have to get rid of Wallace at a time where it would cause a huge dead money cap hit; he chose to.

As far as Long goes, I don't know if there's some term in between "bust" and "hit," but that's what I consider him.  He was a good player (overall) while he was here, and if he had been able to average that going forward, he would have been a great pick.  But if you're honest about it, the only reason he isn't a bust is because Miami didn't re-sign him past his first contract.  That isn't good.

Vontae was traded away for a 2nd after two years.  If Jake Long is a bust for STL and not MIA, then Davis would be the opposite.
We let Odrick leave after his first contract.  Again, not a bust, but not exactly good.
Pouncey is good, Tanny is good-ish (TBD).
James is TBD.

To be honest, my memories are contaminated by the absolute horror show of the post-Shula first rounders.  I'll give you that our first-rounders have been much more productive over the last decade.

I don't agree that he didn't have to get rid of Wallace.

Wallace had three strikes against him.

1. After beating the Browns 23-10 in his first game as a Dolphin, Wallace was visibly upset because he only got 1 catch while Hartline had 9 and Gibson had 7.

2. During the 2014 offseason, Tannehill scheduled practices with the receivers to introduce them to the new playbook. Everyone showed up except Wallace and Hartline. Hartline because he was recovering from the PCL injury and Wallace because he claimed to be on vacation. It turns out he was just in Texas, where he has a home. That same season, when Wallace was asked why he and Tannehill didn't work on the deep ball more often, Wallace said he didn't want to be running go routes in practice to keep his legs fresh.

3. He pulled himself out of the last game of the season. This upset several teammates and we saw unanimous quotes about something needing to be done about him. And of course, this all culminated this week with Pouncey's quote about the front office making the right moves etc.

I think Wallace wore out his welcome, not just with the coaching staff, but with his teammates.

Additionally, if Wallace had no future here, why not get rid of him now versus in 2016 where he would still have an impact on dead cap and we're scheduled to take a $29 mil hit for Suh?

Better to clear all that money out now than to have it saddle us next year.

We have an offensive coordinator that runs the offense.
We have a defensive coordinator that runs the defense.
So what, exactly, is the head coach supposed to be doing?  My understanding is that it is precisely those kinds of issues (i.e. dealing with players) that Philbin is supposed to be managing.  What else does he do here?

When you need to get rid of your best WR because your head coach can't manage him, and then your best CB because your head coach can't manage him, and then your best WR AGAIN because your head coach can't manage him, where does the problem lie?

Back to the dead money issue: if MIA got rid of Wallace next year, the dead money cap hit would have been greatly reduced.

I agree with the overall pattern you're pointing out here.

However, I think Wallace would be gone regardless of the coach. The Steelers didn't exactly clamor to keep him around and he had the same issues coming when he come from Pittsburgh. He is what he is.


Not greatly. Wallace signed an $11 million signing bonus, divide that by 5 his dead cap number drops by $2.2 million per year. So we would have gone from $6.6 million this year to $4.4 million next year. However, if we didn't make a decision by this week, he would have gotten an additional $3 million roster bonus that we avoided paying this year.

Exactly. What IS Philbin's job? Other than to call timeouts on defense in one score games to help the opposition, of course.

Like most head coaches he manages the offensive, defensive and specials teams coordinators among other things like dealing with the media, working with the GM in putting together the roster, etc. I'd say he has a pretty full schedule without having to manage the players.

Well the question is did he get rid of them because he couldn't manage them or because he didn't wan't to or a little of both? I suspect it's the latter more than the former. Every head coach makes decisions about who he wants on the team. It's not just about being able to manage them it's about being able to get the most out of them. If a coach feels that he's not getting the best from a player either on the field or in the locker room, then he certainly has the right to look at replacing them. Mind you it's not up to him alone. I'm sure that Tannenbaum, Hickey and Philbin all discussed what the future was for Wallace in Miami and they decided what was best was to move on. If it was the wrong decision, you can't put it all on Philbin, there will be plenty of blame to spread around. I wasn't on board with moving Wallace this year either I would have given him 1 more year, but I could be wrong. We'll see what happens.

What does "managing the coordinators" entail?  He's not exactly Rex Ryan when it comes to dealing with the media, so that isn't saying much.  And it's not like he's making cuts and adding players for 2 hours a day during the regular season.

His job is to motivate his players and get the best out of them, as well as manage the clock during a game.
He has done a pathetic job at both of these things.
The single best, most complete game the Dolphins have played since he arrived is the one he had nothing to do with.

I knew if we looked hard enough we could find something the dulfins we et re number one in.   >:D

I'm guessing you typed this on your cell phone...using only your elbows...while driving...on a very curvy road.

I am not good with cell phone keypad

Film study of both his team and the opponent and then working with the coordinators to prepare the game plan each week. This is probably one of his most important roles and probably requires the biggest part of his time. The coordinators are then tasked with making sure the team is prepared to execute that game plan.

So you mean Hickey and Tannenbaum don't do anything during the year, just sit behind a desk and collect a paycheck? Every week there are decisions on if players will be available due to injury, do they need to sign someone, put someone on injured reserve, who is gonna be active and who isn't etc. It may not take 2 hours a day, but I'll bet it's a lot more time than you imagine.

This accounts for exactly how much of his job? 5%? 10%? Exactly what do the coordinators do? This isn't part of their job as well? Isn't every single coach on the team responsible for getting players ready to play? Philbin sets the game plan and lets his coaches know what he wants and then it's their job to get the players ready to execute it.

He does suck at this, but it's really not nearly as big of a part of his job as people make it out to be.

Seeing as how Miami laid down and died two seasons running, I would say motivating his team IS a big part of his job and he is terrible at it. As far as managing the clock goes, it's a pretty big thing when you cost your team games with how bad you are.

I thought we were past defending Philbin for being terrible, isn't that an agreed upon certainty at this point like gravity?