Phins tried to trade for Matthew Stafford before 2018 season

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article228426159.html

Armando wrote:Turns out the Miami Dolphins tried to move on from quarterback Ryan Tannehill a year earlier than anyone thought.

The team mounted an effort, led by former coach Adam Gase, to trade for a quarterback to replace Tannehill before the 2018 season, according to multiple league sources.

And the target of Gase’s attempt to upgrade the Dolphins at quarterback was Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, sources also say.

Gase, in fact, reached out personally to Lions coach Matt Patricia to try to pry Stafford from the Lions.

Gase and Patricia are friends and the Lions coach was new to the Lions at the time and considering all options on how to improve his team.

Although it’s not believed the talks reached a point where the Dolphins were asked what they were willing to give for Stafford, it is believed Gase would have offered at minimum Miami’s 2018 first-round pick and probably more.

Patricia, obviously recognizing Stafford’s value to the Lions, told Gase he was not willing to move on from the quarterback at that point, per sources.

...

The move Gase attempted flies in the face of the narrative that he was so committed — some say blinded — to Ryan Tannehill that he didn’t really consider improving the quarterback spot with any urgency.

WTF!!! Just more evidence that Gase needed to go. Completely clueless. Sure, let's wreck the cap even further and trade a 1st rounder for an aging, mediocre QB.

Just when I thought I couldn't be any happier to see Gase gone...man, this guy was a cancer.

(For the record, I probably like Stafford more than most people here do...but this would have been horrible idea for so many reasons. Ugh.)

even more proof that the whole "Gase is a QB guru" was total crap.  he's never developed any QB and was looking to inherit another finished product (like Manning and Cutler).

as a matter of fact, i don't think he had any interest in developing players at any position.  look how happy he was to try and buy a competitive team through free agent acquisition and how most rookies never had a chance on his team.  so of course he was willing to give away a 1st round pick cause he saw no value in it.  clearly he had no desire to draft a QB high and develop him.

i take Ross' recent comments about the rebuild as an indictment of Gase and his disdain for building a team versus buying one via aging veterans.

Ross talks about coming to this process after realizing what he’d been doing, or allowing, the past decade wasn’t working. So he made the change to the long view.

He made sure general manager Chris Grier was agreed. Then he told all his coaching candidates, including Brian Flores who was hired, that this was the way it would be.

And everyone accepted this road.

“Yeah. I think you have to be on the same page,” Ross said. “A lot of coaches didn’t want to be there, and going through that. First of all, like you say, you’re skeptical if I believe in [the process] when things go wrong and we lose a few games, right? Well, the coach is more worried about his job. I’m still going to be there, you know?

“The coach is putting the pressure on you: ‘Hey, I need this and I need it now.’

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article228435659.html

Gase knew he was unable (and was uninterested) to develop and build a winning team and his only hope was to try and buy talent.

merc wrote:Gase knew he was unable (and was uninterested) to develop and build a winning team and his only hope was to try and buy talent.

Yep. And now the Jets are doing the same thing, throwing money around to fill all the holes on their roster. They'll have a 2-3 year window before they end up in cap hell again, and they're counting on Gase to develop Darnold into a Super Bowl champion in that small window. I like Darnold...but with Gase "developing" him?? Yeah, good luck with that.

I've said it a billion times, but Gase is nothing but a fraud.

I like Darnold...but with Gase "developing" him??

Agree.  And that's only half the equation.  The other is building an identity on offense.  Who you are, what you do well and what you can turn to when the game is tough.  Or on the line.  All Gase did was bring a disjointed collection of plays and run them at random.  Something working? He'll call something else to prove he's so smart.


https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article228435659.html

I love that article.  Great insight from Ross, and I totally believe he has learned over his ownership tenure, and finally realizes what it takes to build a franchise for sustainable success.  This is by far one of my favorite quotes.  Someone should put it (the words I bolded) on a huge plaque, and hang it somewhere visible in team headquarters:

“I’d love it to be two years, you know? But you got to be realistic. Hopefully we make the right decisions ... And we are a young team but there’s positions we need to get better at. And, you know, you’re not going to go buy those positions. You have to draft them, and build them, and grow them.”

Seriously, AMEN to that.  All we've done is BUY BUY BUY and it never works.  You want to spend money? Resign guys like X Howard and L Tunsil.  The guys you drafted and developed and have played here.  The ones you have the most insight, above anyone else in the league, because you know how they train, work and think.  What they're like when losing, winning, and during a close contest.  

This article was great work by Mando.  Words directly from Ross, unfiltered.  To me, it shows he's finally learned, and he's setup Grier and Flores for success.  It's up to them to take advantage, make the right moves, and prove they are the men that can build a team.

Yes, great to see Ross is able to adapt. I didn't think I'd ever see it happen, but I'm glad he's not the typical stubborn old man that refuses to change.

I agree completely, Gase had the wrong team building philosophy. He never seemed to show any interest in the long view, and he never seemed to understand how important "talent" at a few key positions is to the entire team.

In his mind, it was always about the system, and if the players would just execute his genius plan and follow the system, everything else was gravy.

I just do not think Gase is cut out to be a HC. An offensive Coord, or a QB coach? Maybe.

Trading for Mathew Stafford would have been another in the long line of Miami Dolphin boondoggles IMHO.

I'm happy with what I'm reading and hearing from Ross. I'm 100 percent behind his current mindset for building a team for the long haul.

Something else important in all this. Flores signed on knowing what the new direction was which means he won't be coaching for his life, which means he can be a coach and develop people and install a long-term scheme, which means being able to draft for said scheme, which means, if done correctly, success. He's set up to succeed right now.

JMP wrote:I've said it a billion times, but Gase is nothing but a fraud.

Not true. It was only 820 million

DolFan 316 wrote:

JMP wrote:I've said it a billion times, but Gase is nothing but a fraud.

Not true. It was only 820 million

I'm getting there, don't worry!