2019 Season

Like I said many times I'm done getting excited and anticipating a new season only to suck and lose with another frustrating average to bad season.

HOWEVER
This season I am actually looking at the Miami Dolphins as a rebirth.
New coach and new QB that have potential for the future.
Some young players I hope to see develop into a core.
Many draft picks and cap money next year to use after a year of evaluating to fill holes.

MY BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER JEGNJ IS BACK AND ON TRACK, BABY!!!

But yeah, I won't even be mad when they lose this season (as long as they don't lose them all, that is). It's all about drafting that franchise QB next year and this time hopefully they won't screw it up like they did in '11.

Or Rosen could actually prove he was worth the 10th overall pick, that would be fine too.

This season is all about managing expectations. There is no one on this board that should have any other expectation except knowing that we are going to lose.

We have been here for many many many many many years expecting the Dolphins to blow shit up!! When they finally do, we expect more. Im here to tell you guys that it aint gonna happen overnight! We should approach this season for what it is.......rebuilding for a sustainable future. I like what they are doing. I don't like tihe fact that we could get rid of Jones and they haven't. He's and expensive piece that could be gone to clear the way for others. Which is why I think now is the time to get rid of him. For far too long, the Dolphins have been holding on to players who eat cap space. Granted Jones has been productive but the one lacking stat is that it doesn't translate to wins or playoff berths. I don't care if he's a defensive player of the year. We are too strapped in other positions to eat that kind of cap space.

If we are going to rebuild than.....REBUILD. The expectations are low for this team so why hold on to an aging high caliber player when we can acquire younger cheaper players or draft picks

That's been my philosophy for ages. If you're not winning with your best player, how much worse off can you be without him?

Unfortunately dead money is still a thing, and right now the Fins have a ridiculous amount of it.

Dead money aside, the obvious plan is to build for the future. The most important thing to do is to get the cap space under control manage the contractual finances better! If the goal is to build towards something sustainable then no one absolutely no one should have a cap hit in excess of 9mil! Accept the immediate future failures to build a consistent competitive team.

As we have all been fans of failed expectations, this team needs to rebuild the fan base. If we have been longing for a competitive non gimmick team for 20 years, what’s another 2 or 3 if we build it the right way!! Just saying!!!!!

Umix10 wrote:Dead money aside, the obvious plan is to build for the future.  The most important thing to do is to get the cap space under control manage the contractual finances better!  If the goal is to build towards something sustainable then no one absolutely no one should have a cap hit in excess of 9mil!  Accept the immediate future failures to build a consistent competitive team.  

As we have all been fans of failed expectations, this team needs to rebuild the fan base.  If we have been longing for a competitive non gimmick team for 20 years, what’s another 2 or 3 if we build it the right way!!   Just saying!!!!!

Um, dude, right now the Fins actually have less players with a cap number over 9 mil than the Pats. Seriously. Also, franchise QBs tend to want a bit more than that.

I love your enthusiasm though

This is the season where we build the foundation of what's to come. It might be ugly in the loss column, and many of the players on the current roster will be gone in 2020, but it all starts here.

It appears that we finally have a staff in place - both front office and coaches - that know how to build a team. I am VERY excited to see how this all plays out in the long-term. Next offseason may be the most important in franchise history, with all the cap space and draft picks we'll have. I just want to see the plan laid out this season, and then next season we'll start to see the benefits.

First off, wishing a speedy recovery to Jim Caldwell and to Kendrick Norton.

Yeah, this year is all about the long term. Really it's mostly about Rosen's audition to be The Guy. Would be awesome if he takes a big step forward here and gives us a lot of options for the 2020 draft.

If Rosen is not 100 percent THE MAN, then we draft a QB.  Been through the waiting game too many times now.  IF he's it, we'll know immediately.

That's the thing about developing QBs. You don't develop a legend, they come in that way. You develop good to very good. Special though, you can see that almost immediately, with very few exceptions.

DolFan 316 wrote:That's been my philosophy for ages. If you're not winning with your best player, how much worse off can you be without him?

Unfortunately dead money is still a thing, and right now the Fins have a ridiculous amount of it.

Agreed. You need pieces, but when you have a great player and NOTHING ELSE, the whole team is trash.

That was the problem I had with paying Suh all that money. What did it do for the Phins? Nothing.

Yeah, the more I see how this season is coming into focus, it is shaping up to be truly terrible. I may be surprised, but I am suspecting Bad, BAD, BAAAD!!

We all have to hope this season reveals the Phins have a solid framework on which to build something.

THAT would be a humongous change of direction for the Phins over the past several years IMO.

I believe Jones will be traded before the deadline.

He will go to a contender that loses a good safety to injury. It won't be for much, prob 6th or 7th round pick, with the possibility Miami somehow "picks up" part of his remaining 2019 salary.

I'm just glad to see you guys again, it really was like we'd all gone our separate ways for over a month there. It seemed so long that I wouldn't even be surprised if some of you moved, got remarried, etc.

I switch my focus to baseball and hockey. Draft time and FA days I am a little more active and I do check the forums regularly for big news or interesting topics but the off-season has been just beating a dead horse on how bad we suck.

I just want to see some Fitzmagic out there and wins some games and he retire in a good way. This coming pre-season we will see who really is better Rosen or Fitz

i'm curious. do you guys believe the Phins' 2019 QB situation is better or worse than it was last year? is the combination of Fitzpatrick and Rosen greater than, equal to, or worse than having Tannehill as the starter?

i'm curious. do you guys believe the Phins' 2019 QB situation is better or worse than it was last year? is the combination of Fitzpatrick and Rosen greater than, equal to, or worse than having Tannehill as the starter?

Great question and I will start.

Bottom line up front: I believe our QB situation is WORLDS better than last year. Let me start listing the reasons.

We have a legitimate franchise QB prospect in Rosen. He's played one year, so no one yet knows if he will pan out or not. However, there's no arguing he has all the tools to succeed. The question with him - like so many - does he have the intangibles (leadership, charisma, etc) to star as the center of an excellent offense, and win games with clutch performances? Way too early to tell. However, draw this in contrast to last year. Who was our "legitimate franchise QB prospect"? No one. We already knew - several years ago - that Tannehill had peaked. Gase did nothing to change him, and he's played long enough to know exactly who he was. We had literally nothing behind him. Matt Moore was another known prospect, in that we knew he wasn't good enough to even serve as a full time starter, let alone a franchise QB.

Veteran depth is much better. Why? Because Fitzpatrick has shown far more than Matt Moore ever did. While wildly inconsistent, the games he played well were nearly record-setting good. You have to take the good with the bad with his style of play. Plus, he's extremely smart and has drawn accolades for his mentoring capability. Again, much more so than Matt Moore ever was.

Time is on our side. Last year, as I've already described, our QB depth chart was static and stagnant. No legitimate prospects. Just the continually aging and disappointing Tannehill and Moore. This year almost doesn't matter when it comes to QB play. Rosen is under contract for 4 years. We have plenty of time to work with him. Yes, I believe if we earn a top-5 pick in next year's draft we will likely draft one of the top QB prospects in 2020. Having Rosen and another QB 2 years behind him, plus Fitzpatrick (assuming he doesn't retire) would be an outstanding QB depth chart, loaded with more potential than we've had at that position in decades.

Hats off to Grier on the moves he's made this offseason. Not only did he make the bold move and depart from the disappointing Tannehill, he set us up for the next several years with a solid veteran and legitimate franchise QB prospect, for the investment of a 2nd round pick and some spare change. Excellent work.

thank you white1. i agree that in terms of potential, the Phins' current QB room allows a glimmer of hope that last year's crew did not. but perhaps i must clarify my question. as far as anticipated on-field QB performance, do you think Fitz/Rosen will perform better (use whatever justification you want - yard stats, wins, eye-test, field awareness, rating, TDs, comp %, etc,) than Tannehill did last year?

I'll take it one step further...last season we had a garbage QB room:
--Tannehill had already hit his head on his way-lower-than-expected ceiling and had zero upside at that stage of his career.
--Osweiler is, was and will always be garbage. Zero upside.
--Fales had a bit of a gunslinger mentality that Tannehill and Os didn't have, but ultimately he too had zero upside.

This year is like someone turned a light on in a room that had been dark for years.
--Say what you will about Rosen, but looking at his performance at UCLA it is clear as day that he has FAR more upside than any QB the Phins have had since Dan Marino. And it's not even close. Sure, he could be a dog...but he could very well become a star.
--Fitz can be a solid starter if needed, but if he doesn't win the job IMO he'd be the best #2 in the NFL. He has worlds of experience and has seen everything. He was the best starter in the entire league for about 6 weeks last season, and he's willing to teach and mentor Rosen. He also has something the Phins have lacked at QB since Dan: leadership and personality.
--Jake Rudock as the #3 is intriguing...a word I wouldn't use to describe any of Miami's QBs last season. He seems tough and smart and has some tools to work with.

Best of all, if this year's QBs don't work out, we have the ammo to get just about any QB we want in the 2020 draft.

Bottom line for me: last season's QBs = dead end, this year's QBs = hope. That's how I see it.

As for stats, Tannehill only played 11 games last season so yes, Rosen/Fitz will top his numbers. I don't think it necessarily matters this year anyway because we're not expected to be a playoff team, but I absolutely expect to get better QB play from top to bottom with the combo of coaching and player talent.

I agree with JMP; young potentially franchise level QB beats mediocre to poor any day.

I think the Phins are gonna take some lumps this season for sure, but you CANNOT build a team by sticking with a known mediocre prospect at QB.

Far better to be risking it to get better than sticking with something we all knew was just another wasted season IMO.

It is going to be interesting to see if Rosen can win the starters job, assuming Fitz displays his usual Fitz-magic to start the season.

I think White1 for some reason is so scarred from the Matt Moore Experience he forgot that Moore actually wasn't on the team last season

But yeah, I agree with those who think it's better, if only because Tannehill is gone. I personally think neither Fitz nor Rosen are anything special but by simply not being Tannehill at least it's different, which means there's a chance of it being better, possibly by a significant degree. At least Rosen is an actual QB, as opposed to a converted WR logjammed into the QB position without having any of the instincts for it. Which isn't Tanny's fault BTW, I actually think he did the best anybody could under those circumstances.

I just want to get training camp going and keep My expectations down this year but I’m scared they will beat the ravens and pats in the Heat and people will lose there minds.Lol

DolFan 316 wrote:I think White1 for some reason is so scarred from the Matt Moore Experience he forgot that Moore actually wasn't on the team last season

But yeah, I agree with those who think it's better, if only because Tannehill is gone. I personally think neither Fitz nor Rosen are anything special but by simply not being Tannehill at least it's different, which means there's a chance of it being better, possibly by a significant degree. At least Rosen is an actual QB, as opposed to a converted WR logjammed into the QB position without having any of the instincts for it. Which isn't Tanny's fault BTW, I actually think he did the best anybody could under those circumstances.

Valid point. In many ways, Fitz and Rosen are the anti-Tannehills simply because of their personalities and how they handle themselves. Fitz and Rosen are guys that think for themselves and know how to improvise when things break down. Tannehill was Henne 2.0...a robot that could only do what he was told and was incapable of going off-script when the situation called for it. A big part of that is, as you pointed out, Tannehill wasn't a QB...he just played one on TV!

finskev wrote:I just want to get training camp going and keep My expectations down this year but I’m scared they will beat the ravens and pats in the Heat and people will lose there minds.Lol

LOL This season my plan is to just take it as it comes and enjoy the ride. I feel like this team could be on the cusp of something great, and I'm looking forward to see the puzzle start to piece together. It may be ugly for awhile, but as long as I see a smart, disciplined team that knows how to play football, I'll feel good about the future.

finskev wrote:I just want to get training camp going and keep My expectations down this year but I’m scared they will beat the ravens and pats in the Heat and people will lose there minds.Lol

The Ravens have won the last two meetings by 32 and 40. Don't think you have to worry about them losing

I just want the losses to be close. Another season full of blowout defeats like the Gase Era would indicate no progress at all IMO. Only the Bills and Jets have more losses by 20 or more than the Fins since 2016.

http://pfref.com/tiny/G2p8E

Fitz is far better than Osweiler who was, and still is, hot garbage.  Remember Broctober?  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

QB room is also better because Rosen is more of a leader than Tannehill ever was, and he brings hope that if change is needed the front office isn't scared to make a deal to get it done.  We don't know if he's going to be worth a crap or not yet.  We shall see.  Still, last year's QB room was horrible, a leaderless, vapid, odorous group which topped out at mediocre.