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Miami Dolphins lead league in rejections..The Miami Herald > Sports > Greg Cote

Jetfan13

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Jetfan13

Jetfan13

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Mere days ago Miami hearts beat fast with the possibility the Dolphins’ new quarterback would be Peyton Manning. By Monday, the options had cascaded in a pin-wheeling freefall to a point that the man signed was unemployed David Garrard.

What has happened to this once-proud, now-ridiculed franchise?

Miami was a supposed front-runner for Manning, only to lose him. The team was then a supposed favorite for Matt Flynn, only to lose him, too. Then the Dolphins aimed at consolation prize Alex Smith, only to apparently lose him, as well. And, of course, they went hard after coach Jeff Fisher too, only to fail there. That was after Jim Harbaugh also said no thanks.

The Dolphins lead the league in major rejection despite a proud (if receding) tradition and a tropical locale tourists save up to visit.

Do the Dolphins have bad breath? Can an NFL franchise have halitosis? How else to explain all the failed interviews? How else to explain taking aim at Manning and being left to convince your reeling fan base that Garrard somehow amounts to an upgrade?

The breakdown must be happening in the interview process. I’m not snapping any tree limbs to posit that Stephen Ross and Jeff Ireland are not the most proven or dynamic duo of owner/general manager around. Throw in a rookie head coach and you have a top management that lacks both a heavyweight presence and a track record, a management team that obviously does not inspire confidence but rather invites trepidation.

Oh, to have a hidden camera in these failed interview sessions …

Maybe we’d see the celebrity-obsessed Ross — great at having stars support his team, not so great getting stars to play for his team — trying to wow candidates by having Fergie and Gloria Estefan lead a conga line promenading through the room.

Perhaps we’d hear Ireland stress to prospective quarterbacks that he just traded away the team’s No. 1 receiver, or maybe hear him reprise the “is-your-mother-a-prostitute” line of questioning that worked so fabulously with Dez Bryant a couple of years back.

Who knows? Maybe coach Joe Philbin is in the meeting room constantly disrupting the interviews by loudly breaking wind. BRAA-AP!

Failures abound

I kid to underline the point that this is the troika of Dolphins officials in charge of procurement, and their recent failures have been spectacular.

Steelers safety Ryan Clark, recruited by Miami in free agency in 2010, took an illuminating shot Sunday on Twitter. He said “no one” wants to play for Miami and wrote, “To believe I almost went there but it was easy decision not to. It’s my honest opinion. Not a good guy making decisions.”

Clark very likely was referencing Ireland, who turned off a lot of potential players with his notorious predraft question of Bryant. More recently Ireland and Ross turned off many players and coaches by flying west to recruit Harbaugh while a sitting coach, Tony Sparano, was left publicly embarrassed. It was seen as classless. Respect was lost.

Reputations can form and harden quickly, and recent results suggest it has been tough for Miami’s owner and GM to overcome the perception — fair or not, accurate or not — that they are in over their heads.

Ireland has made some solid moves here that worked. Matt Moore, Reggie Bush and Mike Pouncey come to mind. But if he is not respected around the league, rejections will continue. If the coach doesn’t work out, you replace him. But if the problem is your owner, who replaces him? And if that owner is sold on a dubious GM, what then?

This conundrum could be why a major upgrade at quarterback was the clearly stated priority for this offseason but has not been accomplished. Ross had said “finding a quarterback is obviously essential.” Ireland — alluding to the superstar Heat and the hot Marlins’ new ballpark — more recently said the Dolphins needed to “make a much bolder statement in South Florida.”

Manning would have been bold, indeed. But he’s with Denver now.

A trade to draft Robert Griffin III would have been bold. Washington did that.

Flynn’s potential would have excited many Dolfans. But he chose Seattle — despite his close relationship with Philbin from their Green Bay years.

Smith might have been seen as an improvement, but he seems likelier than ever now to re-up with San Francisco.

There are disclaimers on each guy, sure. Manning had age and health questions. Maybe Griffin isn’t worth what the trade-up cost. Perhaps Seattle overspent for Flynn and his two career starts. And is Smith that much better than the incumbent Moore?

The point is Miami had interest in all of these guys at some point to varying degrees but somehow managed to not get any of them.

This is an upgrade?

The better-than-nothing fallback is the Jaguars discard Garrard — a 34-year-old guy with Crohn’s disease who was out of football last year recovering from back surgery. The presumption is he will challenge Moore for the starter’s job only to end up under a ballcap, gripping a clipboard on the sideline.

If this is the quarterback upgrade, the word upgrade has been downsized.

All of these strikeouts have left the Dolphins very little choice now but to stick with Moore for another year and spend a first-round pick probably on Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who is said to need a couple of years’ development.

That is because all that was left after Smith for available quarterbacks was half-junkyard, half-graveyard, an array of journeymen and fading castoffs the likes of Garrard, Donovan McNabb, Vince Young and Jake Delhomme.

Chad Henne just signed with Jacksonville and now Miami in turn gets the ex-Jag. Not sure I like that swap. Given the age difference, not sure I wouldn’t rather have Henne back as the backup.

The Tebow buzz

Then there is Tim Tebow, of course, who likely will be available by trade now that Manning has taken over Denver. Surely many Dolfans who also are Gators fans would embrace Tebow. Not to derail that lunatic train of thought but Philbin’s West Coast offense demands above all else very accurate passing, and Tebow’s abysmal 46.5 completion percentage last year was dead-last among all quarterbacks.

Trading for Tebow would — unlike adding Garrard — at least create attention and buzz and move a few tickets. But trading for Tebow, like signing Garrard, would hardly allay the national perception that the people running the Dolphins are riding around in circles on tiny Shriner motorcycles.

Wait. Just thought of something. Dan Marino is only 50. Maybe we could drag him out of the TV studio or off the golf course. How’s the arm, Danny?

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