The most obvious reason why Miami Dolphins tanking is failing: It divides the organization | Opinion
One of the questions I’ve internalized throughout this NFL season is if tanking is such a great idea, why haven’t multiple other teams outwardly done it in the manner the Miami Dolphins have done it? Why haven’t we seen this approach in full many times before?
And Sunday, after the Dolphins sealed a 16-12 victory over the Indianapolis Colts to win their second consecutive game, I think I came up with an answer:
It puts the team in a position where its interests are divided against itself.
And looking in from the outside, that’s where the Dolphins seemingly are right now: One part of the organization is tanking while another part is doing all it knows to do to win.
One part of the team is trading Minkah Fitzpatrick, who has become a star in seven games in Pittsburgh. While the other portion is filling the hole with otherwise unknowns such as Steven Parker or moving Eric Rowe to safety to make it work and beat the Jets and Colts.
One part of the organization holds back during free agency, not replacing departed Cameron Wake and actually paying Robert Quinn to make him more attractive in trade. While the other part is using the discards from other teams in the form of claims off the waiver wire to successfully fill in holes.
One part of the organization is trading a second- and fifth-round pick for Josh Rosen to see if he’s a good quarterback. And the other part is benching Rosen in favor of journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick.
And the trust in Rosen from that second part of the organization is such that when the Dolphins faced a third-and-6 fourth-quarter situation from the Colts’ 31-yard line on Sunday, Rosen was told to hand the ball off rather than throw.
Coaches preferred to hand the football to undrafted rookie Patrick Laird, who before this game had not played a down on offense all season, than let Rosen throw it.
So it just seems like the interests of the organization’s coaching staff and management are at odds at times. Their focus is not on the same thing.
Owner Stephen Ross, general manager Chris Grier, and the personnel department are looking at the draft the next two years as the slingshot to championships. So much so, that both Grier and Ross spent Saturday evening at the LSU-Alabama game watching quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa play.
The coaching staff and players in the locker room, meanwhile, repeatedly talk about how they’re working day-to-day with no time or desire to look to the future. They’re in the now and they become somewhat annoyed by the notion the future is more important.
That part of the organization doesn’t care fans want to lose so as to draft Tagovailoa or Burrow. And, obviously, that part of the organization is working hard against the interests of the other part of the organization that would rather set itself up for a high draft pick in 2020.
“I’ve been in this situation before with the 49ers and people got mad when we won,” center Daniel Kilgore said. “I wouldn’t want people to go and do their job and fail at it. You got 53 guys busting their [butts] every day during the week, competing, trying to get a win, trying to figure out what we can do to get a win.
“And I don’t really care what anybody thinks about this team. I care about my brothers on this team, this coaching staff, this organization, and what I can do to help us get wins. I understand the point, but I’m not down for it. I’m an old man in this league, I’m trying to get as many wins as I can get. My clock is running out. You got many young guys coming in the next couple of years. Worry about it then.”
But that’s just it, the Dolphins are obviously worried about it now — this season.
Otherwise Ross wouldn’t have said early on that he had to fire Adam Gase because the former coach “wants to win.” Otherwise Ross wouldn’t have said if it took going “3-13” then he would accept that.
Otherwise Laremy Tunsil would still be playing left tackle for the Dolphins and not traded to the Houston Texans a week before the regular season.
This was a real question in the press box on Sunday among the writers who cover the Dolphins: The Dolphins won, but is general manager Chris Grier happy?
Because that win obviously weakened his draft hand. That’s fact.
And, one might ask, why are sportswriters wondering about stuff like that? Well, because the Miami Dolphins, or at least management, introduced this thinking as part of the team’s 2019 goal.
Remember that the goal for the 2019 Miami Dolphins was not to get back to .500 and compete. It was not to get to the playoffs and maybe see what happens, as it has been in the past. It certainly wasn’t to get to the Super Bowl.
The Dolphins’ 2019 goal was to be so awful as to secure a very high draft pick in 2020 in order to draft a franchise quarterback.
The problem is the Dolphins hired a head coach in Brian Flores who accepted that goal but didn’t embrace it. He obviously protected himself from the looming tank job by securing a five-year contract rather than the usual four-year deal given new coaches — the extra year an insulation for what was about to happen to his ‘19 roster.
And, then, despite management’s obvious intent to lose, Flores tried to win. And continues to try to win. He has never been in the proverbial tank, far as I can tell.
“His message has been clear to us the whole time,” Fitzpatrick said. “He hasn’t wavered in terms of what he expects out of us.”
Winning.
Which, again, is opposed to what Ross’ vision was when he talked about 2019 and opposed to what Grier did with offseason divestment of talent and trades for picks.
So an organization with seemingly divided interests.
And you know what happens when a football organization has divided interests? Nobody truly gets what they want — something the Dolphins are starting to see.
That portion of the club that wanted the top overall pick or maybe the second pick? They’re not getting it. The Dolphins are currently on course to have the fourth overall pick in the first round and probably be just out of reach for Tagovailoa or Burrow or Ohio State defensive end Chase Young, who is the best prospect in the draft.
And I don’t see a rally (in reverse) to get that top pick. I don’t see the Dolphins’ coaching staff or locker room suddenly giving up. In fact, the Dolphins have a handful of remaining games — Cincinnati and Buffalo at home, the Jets, Giants and perhaps even Cleveland — that might be wins.
Think of it, if the Dolphins win those five games, they will finish 7-9.
On the other hand, Flores, the coaching staff, and the locker room, obviously are not getting what they want, either. Because I doubt they hoped they could work and sweat and bleed for a chance at being merely bad rather than historically awful.
I know the players hated the multiple trades just before the regular season. I know no one on the coaching staff loved losing Tunsil.
I know none of those folks — coaches and players — were happy when the Dolphins bled talent in exchange for draft picks.
The point is a house divided against itself cannot stand or prosper. This is Scripture straight from the mouth of Jesus Christ (Matthew 12:25).
And so the Miami Dolphins are likely not getting the 2020 draft’s top overall pick, but not fielding a good 2019 team either.
This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 11:33 AM.
