Tag Archive for: NFL

Adam Gase keeps failing forward fast

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It’s been quite the soft, lucrative landing for failed quarterback whisperer Adam Gase.

The former Dolphins head coach, who created more excuses than first downs last season before his firing, snapped up a job with the New York Jets. Now he’s got a second one there, after the surprising, oddly timed firing of Mike Maccagnan.

Gase is now the interim GM.

 

While Maccagnan wasn’t popular with many Jets fans, you don’t often see the top executive of an NFL team jettisoned (sorry) after the draft.

Naturally, there are rumors of a rift and a power struggle, because Gase certainly does seem the type.

He hasn’t typically played well with others… and does not like strong personality in his players.

Maccagnan was bringing some in.

Gase has rejected those rumors.

Others aren’t so sure.

All in all, this seems a positive development for the Dolphins, considering the Jets are division rivals.

The Dolphins now seem to have a competent person in charge, one who will likely be accountable. Brian Flores has shown that in his early press conferences. He is confident, but his ego does not appear out of control.

The Jets have a guy who thinks he knows everything, and doesn’t — and now has another major responsibility he probably won’t handle well.

 

Photo by our Tony Capobianco. 

Josh Rosen discusses overcoming the negative perception about him during his introductory news conference with the Miami Dolphins. (Craig Davis)

All Hail the Hebrew Hammer… or Chosen Rosen

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A new era of Miami Dolphins football starts Tuesday in Davie.

P.T.

That doesn’t stand for Post Traumatic, though it could.

It stands for Post Tannehill.

Ryan is in Tennessee, failing to feel pressure in the pocket, and a new sheriff is in town.

A sheriff who may celebrate the Sabbath.

Tuesday, the media will get their first close-up look at Josh Rosen in a Dolphins uniform, and we will have full coverage from camp. Hopefully, he will not express his concern for protecting the environment, for fear of angering a Dolphins beat writer.

Rosen is the strong favorite to be the starter this season, because he cost the Dolphins a second-round pick and because it doesn’t make much sense to start a 37-year-old like Ryan Fitzpatrick who might go on one of his weird hot streaks that cost draft spots. His new coach, Brian Flores, has welcomed him with some carefully crafted words, speaking last week about how he wants players to “want to know the why,” a trait that has been attributed to Rosen by many as a negative.

Also, Rosen has the best nickname on the team, better than even FitzMagic.

Or Chosen Rosen.

Well, it’s not really his nickname — it’s Ryan Braun’s — but who cares?

Let our Chris Joseph of Ballscast introduce it.

Tuesday, at last, it’s Hammer Time.

Brian Flores keeps QB door open at first rookie minicamp

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Josh Rosen isn’t on the field yet.

Neither is Ryan Fitzpatrick.

That will happen Monday, for the first official day of OTAs, when two quarterbacks 15 years apart compete for a job that should go to Rosen, unless he’s awful.

Still, new coach Brian Flores — in typical Patriots style — isn’t giving anything away yet.

Asked prior to the first day of rookie minicamp whether Fitzpatrick would get a fair shot to start, Flores indicated the journeyman — last of Tampa Bay — would.

Flores doesn’t say a whole lot — he likes first round pick Christian Wilkins’s energy, for instance — but he did have a really good sound bite at the very end.

One of Adam Gase’s issues was that he knew everything, and that wore on players and media. He could not be questioned. If something went wrong, there was some silly excuse. Finally, the Dolphins front office got as tired of that as the players did.

Flores seems to take a different approach.

Here’s an example:

He added that if players aren’t asking why the Dolphins are doing something, that means they are disengaged, and that’s not what he wants.

It may take some time for the Dolphins to be competitive, but the mindset appears to be better — at least at the start.

Dolphins sign a turnstile (er, tackle)

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It’s been said that the Dolphins don’t have a right tackle.

It’s still not clear they have a right tackle.

But they do have someone to stand there in a uniform.

Miami added Jordan Mills to the offensive line mix, taking the veteran off the Buffalo Bills’ scrap heap.

In his favor:

He has played 87 games, and started 82 of them.

Not so much?

This:

That’s 19.5 sacks allowed in the past three seasons.

That’s a lot.

That’s quite a few penalties too.

So this will be a dropoff from Ja’Wuan James, who is now a Denver Bronco.

Live look at Josh Rosen….

 

Why the Character Assassination of Josh Rosen?

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This has been an odd weekend, when it comes to the relationship between the Miami sports media and the Miami fans.

Three local reporters have been extremely vocal in their criticism of the Miami Dolphins’ Josh Rosen trade and general draft approach, which is entirely within their rights. Reporters don’t need to like everything a team does. It’s better if they don’t at times; there are some beat writers in this market who go along with whatever the team says at all times, in exchange for access, and that’s not ideal either. But for at least one of the three (and not the two that this writer respects, Omar Kelly of the Sun-Sentinel and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald), some of this Josh Rosen criticism comes off as  personal.

You’d get whiplash trying to follow all of that writer’s Dolphins opinions over the past 25 years, since they seem to fluctuate based on whether that athlete, executive or agent is giving the writer the inside information he wants. But again, this one has been weird, even though some of it is expected, since Rosen is outspoken politically, with views that don’t align at all with that writer.

On March 5, that writer tweeted that “trading maybe a 4th for Josh Rosen is a win-win. If he grows up and balls, they may have their franchise QB. If he stinks, he helped team #TankforTua while giving impression they were trying.” That’s an extremely lucid take. And it’s fair to point out that the Dolphins did not trade just a fourth round pick for the second-year quarterback out of UCLA on Friday. They traded a second-rounder and a 2020 fifth-rounder, though it was a lower second-rounder (No. 62 vs. No. 48) than they originally had, and they did pick up a 2020 second-rounder in that earlier deal. So it’s sort of like they did trade a fourth-rounder.

But again, evaluating Rosen as a player, and deciding he isn’t worth something, is totally within reason. Changing your mind is within reason. Some of those in the Five Reasons Sports Network did that to some degree as well. Circumstances change. Evaluations change.

I mean, our guys on Three Yards Per Carry don’t even agree with each other on the trade, and our network is split down the middle.

That’s all fair. That’s sports.

What’s not really fair is the character hit job on Rosen.

We’re not dignifying this by posting any screen-shotted tweets (and it took a while to find someone in our network who isn’t blocked), but this was the quote in that tweet: “I’ve talked to multiple people about Josh Rosen today. The play is not what troubles. The person does.”

So, unnamed sources about someone’s character?

That’s sort of well, journalistic malpractice.

Is it because of what that writer tweeted earlier Friday that “it was safe to believe Dolphins would NOT give up their second round pick (48 overall) for Josh Rosen”? (Again, true that they didn’t give up 48 ultimately, even if that’s splitting hairs.) …

Is it because Rosen wore a “f— Trump” hat on a Trump golf course, and that might offend someone who has devoted so much energy to trashing Colin Kaepernick?

Whatever it is, it appears to be total BS.

This guy seems like a fairly swell person, no?

OK, maybe he could have faked that.

This too….

Well, there’s a segment of the political population that doesn’t care for either LeBron James or Chris Long, and thinks they should “shut up and dribble” or, in Long’s case, “shut up and sack” or something.

But what about these tweets from someone who would seem to know better — the Cardinals’ respected broadcasting voice?

A guy who happens to do a lot of national work for ESPN?

Oops, sorry, a screenshot slipped in.

OK, OK, Pasch works for the team.

The fans probably hate Rosen, though, right?

I mean, he wasn’t good last year, and apparently he’s a personality problem.

Oh, and even that writer’s colleague:

No, throwing under the bus is reserved for reporters, apparently.

Well, maybe just one here.

Because others seem to get it.

Best and worst tweets from the Josh Rosen trade

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For some, what the Dolphins have done over the last two days has been impressive.  To others, it has been quite the opposite.

After day one of the NFL draft, much of #DolphinsTwitter was in perfect harmony over the Christian Wilkins pick.  Every. Single. Account. tweeted out the GIF of him doing a split at the National Championship game, and the provocative picture from the Ohio State game.  But for the second straight year, fans, experts, and analysts were all impressed with the Dolphins first-round pick.

And then day two came and the rumors that the Dolphins were interested in Josh Rosen had split twitter into their usual civil war.  No one knew what would happen.

Soon we would find out, the first domino would have to fall.

Miami traded down with the New Orleans Saints.

And then, the seemingly unexpected happened.

What came next was mass disarray and quality entertainment.

Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Josh Rosen trade on Twitter.

Is Ethan Skolnick of Five Reasons the three-eyed raven?

 

 

And the best of all..

 

 

Dolphins seeking specific trait for their rebuild

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The Dolphins have been a dull football team for a long time.

And while it would be an unfair accusation to say they’ve been a dumb one too, they haven’t exactly been marked by their overall intelligence. Unlike the Patriots, who seem to adjust to every circumstance, between or within games,the Dolphins have struggled to make the proper play when it matters — in part because they don’t seem prepared.

It appears, now that they are basically run by former Patriots, that they are determined to address that.

This applied to the Dolphins’ third round pick too…

Will this translate to success? It’s impossible to say. When Bill Parcells came in, back in 2008, the slogan he, Tony Sparano and Jeff Ireland used their first season was “Smart. Tough. Disciplined.” It was even etched in the wall in the auditorium. It worked the first season. Chad Pennington never made a mistake, the receivers ran tight routes, the defense was opportunistic, and the Dolphins went 11-5, a record they haven’t replicated since. But they stumbled their next three seasons, and that regime was out.

This one is trying the strategy again.

That doesn’t mean every player will be a mensa candidate. But the emphasis is obvious, and welcome.

 

Dolphins acquire Josh Rosen for two picks

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Over the past 15 years, under four different regimes, the Miami Dolphins have spent second-round picks — either in the draft or in trades — on five different quarterbacks.

A.J. Feeley.

Daunte Culpepper.

John Beck.

Chad Henne.

Pat White.

Hopefully, the sake of Chris Grier — who has been here all this time — this will go better.

After trading down out of the No. 48 overall spot (second round) to accumulate more picks (including this year’s No. 62 plus a 2020 second-rounder) from the Saints, Grier send that No. 62 slot to the Arizona Cardinals for Josh Rosen, drafted No. 10 overall out of UCLA just last spring. The Dolphins also threw in a 2020 fifth-rounder, which was contrary to initial reporting.

Rosen — who struggled badly with a terrible team — will now compete with veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick for the starting job in 2019, and perhaps carve out a long-term position on the team, though it may not be as a long-term starter if the Dolphins are bad enough to draft an elite quarterback in 2020.

Chris Grier addressed the media shortly after the trade.

Here are the key quotes:

This might make this tryout palatable to fans:

 

And here’s a factoid:

If the Dolphins keep No. 48, who should they take?

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The Dolphins have the 16th pick in the 2nd round (#48 overall) and the 15th pick in the 3rd round (#78 overall).  After taking Christian Wilkins 13th overall, the Dolphins have gone a long way to solving their issues on the interior Defensive line, but they have Nothing on the Edge, are under staffed in the secondary, and can use Linebacker depth.  The work on Defense has just begun.  Good thing they got some draft luck as the entire NFL conspired to ignore the entire Secondary group till the Giants took Deandre Baker at #30 (This writer’s CB2).  Then we have the Rosen trade drama, and Drew Lock possibly dropping to #48. What happened to Jawaan Taylor?

It’s an intriguing day 2.  So here is the wishlist (in order of preference) for pick #48:

1. Greedy Williams, CB, LSU

2. Chase Winovich, EDGE, Michigan

3. Rock Ya Sin, CB, Temple


4. Jawaan Taylor, RT, Florida


5. Drew Lock QB, Missouri

6. Eric McCoy, C, Texas A&M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skTg8cDxcHA

7. Nasir Adderley, S, Delaware


8. Juan Thornhill, S, Virginia


9. Hakeem Butler, WR, Iowa State

10. Cody Ford, OG, Oklahoma

Chris Grier isn't a perfect general manager, but he does not deserve to be fired.

Is Josh Rosen still in play for Dolphins?

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Chris Grier didn’t give anything away.

And neither have the Arizona Cardinals… yet.

Following the selection of Clemson defensive tackle Christian Wilkins in the first round, the Dolphins GM was asked about interest in now-displaced Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen — interest everyone knows the Dolphins have.

Grier demurred, and the media moved to other topics. But as the draft moves to round 2 on Friday, and the Cardinals now have a new franchise quarterback (No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray), the Rosen-to-Miami stuff isn’t going away.

It sure appears — now that Giants and Redskins have also drafted quarterbacks — like the Dolphins have considerable leverage, as the only team really in play.

So what would it take?

Well, the chatter was about a third-round pick, and maybe the Cardinals hold out for that or more, and deal with the consequences of having an unhappy quarterback in their camp.

Especially after this all-time @OldTakesExposed tweet:

And they seem to be using Adam Schefter to get some leverage back:

Could Rosen be a redemption story? Here?

Tag Archive for: NFL

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