The other Fitzpatrick problem

Gase got fired as head coach of the Dolphins at the end of the year. Fitzpatrick, the Dolphins’ first-round draft pick last year, got traded to the Steelers this year. Fitzpatrick has played a big role in the Steelers’ turnaround after an ugly 0-3 start, and Gase says what the Steelers have Fitzpatrick doing now is exactly what the Dolphins envisioned when they drafted him.

“He’s playing a different spot. He’s playing the spot he was drafted for,” Gase said.

Gase said that the Dolphins forced Fitzpatrick to play positions outside his comfort zone, and although Fitzpatrick did his best, it’s clear that the Steelers are putting him in a better position.

“We had a lot of injuries, so he had to play nickel and corner, never got to post safety until the end of the year,” Gase said. “They have him in the post, allow him to be aggressive, and he’s done that. The ball finds him.”

The fact is the Dolphins didn’t have to trade Fitzpatrick. The team could have decided to stick him at free safety — much the same way the Steelers did — and the result could have been having a Pro Bowl talent on the team.

But Flores and his coaching staff wanted Fitzpatrick to play several positions. Something the player didn’t wish to do. So that led to Fitzpatrick requesting, and getting, a trade.

merc wrote:Flores decided McCain was a better safety than Fitzpatrick.

DolFan 316 wrote:

IMO modern coaches must be as flexible as they demand from their players. We see it time and time again, coaches insisting that everybody adhere to a "system" and refusing to change, and then being fired after 1-3 years, only to be replaced by other coaches doing the same thing.

Then we have Bobby McCain, who was playing out of position. This troubles because it speaks to a coaching problem.

The Dolphins coaching staff, you see, looked at the roster and realized they needed a good communicator in the back end to keep receivers from blowing the top off the defense as they had done so often in 2018 and ‘17.

There were simply too many busts on the back end and so finding no safety with the communication skills and leadership and intelligence they could identify for the job, the coaching staff picked a nickel cornerback to do the work.

Now understand, McCain in June 2018 was signed by an administration that included general manager Chris Grier to a four-year, $27 million deal that rewarded McCain for good work at his nickel position and made him one of the highest paid nickel corners in the league.

And within a year, an administration headed by general manager Chris Grier (same person) moved McCain to free safety.

And why do I tell you McCain is out of position? Because while his communication is indeed excellent, McCain is not a great open field tackler, which is a requirement for free safeties.

And McCain is generally undersized as a free safety. And do you know what happens to undersized free safeties? They get injured. And it’s often a neck or shoulder injuries.

McCain’s shoulder was messed up by the second week of the season. And he plugged along and toughed it out. But by November no amount of toughness could save the season for McCain and he went on injured reserve and required shoulder surgery.

Word to the wise: Bobby McCain is not a free safety, y’all.

He’s a nickel cornerback.

And this only adds to those doubts: Minkah Fitzpatrick playing at strong safety.

I’m shaking my head because the Dolphins defensive staff -- and head coach Brian Flores, I presume -- looked at nickel corner McCain and saw a free safety and nickel corner Fitzpatrick and saw a strong safety.

And both views were wrong.

So Fitzpatrick freaks out about playing strong safety while weighing a-buck-98 and decides to gain weight. Then the staff tells him he’s not always going to at strong safety and he’s not always going to be in the lineup and he’s not always going to play a ton. And the guy freaks out.

And wants out.

And, amazingly, gets his wish.

One year after being the No. 11 overall pick of the 2018 draft.

Umix10 wrote:Minkah was a biproduct of the mommy complex. He was coddled at Bama and coddled at home. Obviously this regime is not coaching like that. This team kinda reminds me of a collegiate type of staff, meaning they are about discipline from top to bottom. This works this year, because we are at a serious void of egos and/or talent.

Flores has done a "MASTERFUL" job of literally coaching "scabs". But, will he bend or adjust when he gets serious talent and a lot more attitude? I've said this is a previous thread but I'm not sold on Flores just yet. The hardest part was dumping contracts and getting the cap under control, and the front office deserves its due. Nothing to do with coaching. As a matter of fact, the F/O made it easier for him to lose and lower expectations.

To his credit, he's a lot more aggressive in game than coaches past but again, he's got nothing to lose "THIS YEAR"

finfanatic wrote:I said it early on and I think it is being proven true; If M. Fitzpatrick is not a perennial pro-bowler it is because the coaching staff is using him wrong.

And you can call Fitzpatrick a crybaby whiner whatever, but just how smart is a Coaching staff that decides to use a player who is potentially a Pro Bowl Free Safety, at other positions because "SYSTEM" or whatever?

Gotta hand it to Flores though, he stuck to his guns and really sold the message "We only want the players who WANT to be here." And that is good coaching, but... I cannot help but think a Flores with several years HCing experience would have found a way to make Fitzpatrick "buy in". Or at least I am hoping he would/will.

And...The Phins were in the "jettison" mode, so...

I am not gonna hold these first year "faux pas" against Flores. If he keeps booting talented players because they don't buy in though....