Mining aqua and orange gems

HalCHorn wrote:Jimmy's weakness was exposed in Miami.  He inherited Irvin (wasn't that impressed with him), had Aikman as a no-brainer # 1 pick his first draft, didn't want to take Emmitt in the first round.

Hal, you are more right than you know. Or maybe you do, hmmm

I can remember a few guys that "flashed" in preseason and went on to be good.

Adele Ogunleye. Wannstedt traded him away because Wannstedt was/is a dumbarse who set a price limit and never let any other factors influence his dumbarse!

Get in the way back machine: Jeff Cross. A 9th rounder who was not expected to be kept. He was not great but real good, but much better than what Shula had at the time and played so well in preseason he wound up starting IIRC. He even made the Pro Bowl once I think.

And of course, Jay Fiedler's savior: Oronde Gadsden. I sure wish Preston Williams had hands like Gadsden!

OG was one of my favorites. Man, he was fun to watch. In our "Dolphins corner" at the local bar where our decent-sized group of Long Island Dolfans would watch the games back then, we'd chant "Go Go Gadzilla!" every time OG made a play - to the tune of "Godzilla" by Blue Oyster Cult! Good times...

Jeff Cross was the definition of "solid" and "dependable". That dude made the most of his talent.

We've had many gems we uncovered. None bigger than Zach or JT. But gotta give it to my boy Davone Bess since he was undrafted. i just wish this dude had his head on straight.

While I have a lot of criticism of JJ's draft picks and decisions on offense he could compete with Shula at finding talent from unlikely sources on that side of the ball.  Gadsden was every bit the UFA success that Bernie Parmalee was just a few years earlier.

And JJ also struck paydirt for the O-line when he brought in Mark Dixon from the CFL (he had, like Gadsden, also gone undrafted).  His record of drafting offensive linemen here was abysmal (also evaluating them; Chris Gray started 10 years in the NFL and started a SB after JJ cut him, for example) but Dixon was a sustained success.  Just giving the devil his due on these two.

Jeff Cross was a quality player, if only Shula had had that kind of success in the earlier rounds.  9th rounder in 88, Pro Bowler in 1990 for that 12-4 team which might well have been the best Dolphins team from 1986-present.  Cross performed well for several years.

I just want to thank you guys for citing examples of gems I'd completely forgotten about and making me feel a little better Even if all those guys were from 10-25 years ago it's still *something*.

HalCHorn wrote:Jeff Cross was a quality player, if only Shula had had that kind of success in the earlier rounds.  9th rounder in 88, Pro Bowler in 1990 for that 12-4 team which might well have been the best Dolphins team from 1986-present.  Cross performed well for several years.

IMO it's a tossup between them and the '00 team. The '00 team allowed fewer points and had a slightly greater point differential (highest since '85 in fact) but the '90 team has a better record and midway through the season looked as good as any team in the league. Ultimately I've decided to call it a draw and be happy this franchise even had two teams that good in the past 30 years

As most of you know I have a soft spot for Parmalee Hard for an undrafted street FA to make a much better first impression than setting a franchise record for rushing yardage in consecutive games After that Parmalee could do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. I felt the same way about him that Jmp does about Tua

HalCHorn wrote:And JJ also struck paydirt for the O-line when he brought in Mark Dixon from the CFL (he had, like Gadsden, also gone undrafted).  His record of drafting offensive linemen here was abysmal (also evaluating them; Chris Gray started 10 years in the NFL and started a SB after JJ cut him, for example) but Dixon was a sustained success.  Just giving the devil his due on these two.

I will GRUDGINGLY do this just for you. But you sure got the "devil" part right as far as JJ was concerned. Between Dixon and Wake maybe this team should just trade away half their picks every year and sign as many CFL players as possible

DF316 wrote:After that Parmalee could do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. I felt the same way about him that Jmp does about Tua

Now that is funny.

Wasn't it JJ who drafted Grey Ruegamer (SP.) ? He was a Guard and I remember reading that he told everyone about castrating sheep (lambs)... which is odd enough, but this guy did it with his TEETH!!!!

I always hoped he would make it so we could yell "Treat them like sheep, Ruegamer!" But then again.... that might have conveyed the wrong message!