That isn’t accurate, but it is the perception, a perception caused and fed by free agents and coaches not wanting Miami’s millions, and that kind of perception is contagious. Ryan Clark and Joey Porter are not right when they say that no one wants to play for the Dolphins, but that allegation somehow morphs into fact — even though the former source was low-balled by the Dolphins and the latter is a famously disgruntled gasbag — because of confirmation bias. Human believes tend to believe what they want to believe, grabbing only the information that supports a pre-existing belief, so Clark and Porter will do as evidence if you already think the Dolphins are incompetent, as so many fans do. That entire perception changes, in a flash, if Peyton Manning merely decides to play near his condo in South Beach, but instead the fact that he wouldn’t even meet the Dolphins near that condo suggests that no one wants to be even close to this decade of stench.

Dire straits

This is a tough spot for Ireland, though his conviction has been impressive. Real leadership always risks unpopularity, and he could have had Kyle Orton last year or Matt Flynn this year if all he wanted was to dilute the howling around his job. He sounds self-assured, even as fans wonder how that could possibly be, given that the atmosphere around this team is somewhere between infected and poisoned, frothing fans feeling so angry that it almost doesn’t matter what the team does.

Consider this: The Patriots can sign Albert Haynesworth and Chad OchoCinco and have those be viewed as genius moves, even though both were wrong. Dolphins make the very same moves last offseason, and it is viewed as desperation upon the signing and confirmation of incompetence after it has failed. This is the difference between a decade of winning and a decade of losing, the difference between trust and distrust, and it is one of the many mountains the Dolphins are trying to climb with a management, quarterback and offense nobody trusts.

The day before the draft — the NFL’s annual spectacle, an exercise in hope trafficking — the drowning Dolphins are selling tickets and letting you pick your stadium seats, this as the Marlins and Heat and Panthers are surrounded by feel-good.

They’ve never been in quite this position.

Never mind believing.

Are you buying?