As bad as it sounds to say it, one of my favorite things about an online sports site is the way we so superbly squirm when faced with the reality that our favorite team has displayed a stunning degree of ineptitude, which is another way of saying that we don’t particularly like to admit that our team effectively blew a golden opportunity to substantially improve itself.
I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about. Nearly a decade ago, just prior to the beginning of the 2012 season, starting corner Vontae Davis was traded to the Colts for a 2013 second-round pick. Seven months later, the Dolphins allowed their other starter at corner, Sean Smith, to leave in free agency. Although Miami did acquire Brent Grimes during the 2013 offseason, they did little to shore up the other corner position and as many observers expected, the Dolphins, even with Grimes and stud safety Reshad Jones, had one of the worst secondaries in football for the next few years.
But when all of those moves were being made, and many of us said that the Dolphins were playing with fire, by letting both their starting corners leave town without having groomed adequate replacements, a lot of folks didn’t want to believe it. ’You’re being too harsh’, they said. Another popular excuse back in 2013-14 was that since one guy was good at man-to-man coverage, while the other was better at zone, they both had to be sent packing. Sounds about right.
Now, not even two weeks into training camp, and with the first preseason game just days away, word comes out that the Dolphins could be in the market for a right tackle, which in Miami’s case, is also the blindside tackle since their quarterback is left-handed. So, let me see if I’ve got this right. In two drafts, with a total of four first-round picks — I’m not going to count the pick that was used to take the QB, obviously — and four second-round picks, the Dolphins couldn’t come up with one guy they could name as the starter at the most important position on the offensive line, the tackle who must protect the quarterback from oncoming pass rushers, who are lining up on the opposite side of the field that he’s facing when he drops back? Jesus Christ… are you freaking kidding me?
But it gets better, or worse if you’re a Dolphin fan. This past April, against all odds, not one, but two guys who look like absolute locks at offensive tackle, and who had been working out at both the left and right tackle spots, fell out of the top five picks and were on the board for the Dolphins to have their choice of. And what did they do? They drafted another wide receiver, of which now they have so many that other teams around the league are undoubtedly licking their chops, waiting to see which ones Miami is going to have to cut because they can’t possibly keep them all. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it some more: folks, this is just out-and-out boneheadedness. If you want to get mad at me, criticize me for pointing it out, that’s one thing. I’m used to that. But please — I don’t want to hear any lame excuses as to why the Dolphins couldn’t come up with a starting right tackle when they have a left-handed quarterback, because there aren’t any excuses, period. Especially when you consider that right tackles are generally easier to find than left tackles because, at any given time, there are hardly any left-handed quarterbacks in the NFL. Unbelievable. That’s the wrap for today, have a great week, everybody.
