Front Office Instability/Turnover Equal Losing Seasons

The good teams in the modern day NFL maintain stability starting with the front office and that drives the process all way down to the players on the roster. So its with this line of thinking that offers my theory on why the Dolphins have failed to make the playoffs since 2000. A clear lack of stability in the front office and players is the obvious reason for the Dolphins demise over the last 7 years. These are the major issues that have caused the once storied franchise to become the worst team in the league.

This also is a common sense point that even people who know nothing about the NFL could easily point to instability as being the primary reasons behind this pathetic excuse for a NFL team.

Good news however, as I am thinking the team has hit its bottom, and there is only one way to go and that is up, and thankfully Wayne Huizenga has made his smartest hire since bringing in Jimmy Johnson to replace the retiring Hall of fame coach Don Shula in 1996.
Start at the very top and rebuild this franchise, and that is exactly what Parcells is doing right now by hiring former Cowboys General Manager Jeff Ireland, Head Coach Tony Sparano, and quarterbacks coach David Lee. Hopefully Sparano will be a long term solution and stick around after Parcells moves on (to whatever he moves on to) in a few year. Build a solid foundation from the top down that will last for years to come.

Since 2004, the Dolphins have just hired their 5th Head coach over four seasons. You can not win consistently with this type of environment. I’m of the opinion that this franchise has not had a real head coach since Jimmy Johnson.

Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga said that one of the main reasons he chose Jimmy Johnson to succeed coach Don Shula in 1996 was because of his renowned drafting prowess. While Johnson astutely took advantage of the blockbuster trade of Herschel Walker to the Vikings to construct three Super Bowl champions in Dallas during the '90s, he was unable to copy that success as the Dolphins' coach and GM from 1996-99. Johnson, a former college nose guard, was able to steal future Pro Bowl defensive stars Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor in the fifth and third rounds of the '96 and '97 drafts respectively. But his repeated failures to build the offense were highlighted by an army of running backs busts such as Avery, J.J. Johnson and Cecil Collins in the '98 and '99 drafts.

But Johnson never had a losing season in his four years and the defensive talent he brought to this squad in 1996 -99 is the main reason why the Dolphins posted winning seasons in 2000(11-5), 2001(11-5), 2002(9-7), 2003(10-6) and 2007(8-8). The two most talented players on the roster today are Jimmy Johnson picks, Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor. This team had winning seasons due to solid defensive play led by these two future hall of famers.

Jimmy Johnson did not solve the QB issue or the offensive woes, so thus he has always received criticism for this lack of success in this area."The organization has struggled from a personnel standpoint over the years," said fullback Rob Konrad, who was drafted by Johnson in 1999. "For instance, they drafted me in the second round. . . . You don't recover from those types of mistakes over the course of one or two years. It takes a lot of years of being disciplined in the draft and through free agency to build a championship team."

Of the 58 players drafted or acquired using their draft picks between 1998-2003, not one is on the Dolphins' 53-man roster today. Only injury-prone safety Yeremiah Bell, a sixth-round pick in '03 now on injured reserve, and controversial running back Ricky Williams, coming off his 18-month suspension, are still with the team. ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. asked rhetorically.

"When most of their hopes lie on players taken in last year's draft and their best players are winding down, you know you're in trouble. The Dolphins roster is completely bereft of talent. It's woeful. A scary opposite of the the Dolphins roster is a simple look at the Defending NFL champs the Indianapolis Colt. Twenty of the 22 starters on the defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts team were homegrown, of which 10 were picked between 1998 to 2003.

The Dolphins also have had only 6 first round picks in the last 10 drafts primarily because giving away draft picks in search of that elusive next franchise QB. John Beck may workout. He looked good in his early starts but then digressed rapidly his final two starts. One thing I know is Beck is the 12th starting QB since Marino retired less than 10 years ago which says a lot about this team. Maybe since Marino wore lucky #13, and it is fate that the 13th QB we bring in will finally be THE man. Perhaps we are only one QB away from finding him?

Retired Dolphins director of college scouting Tom Braatz, who was closely involved in the teams' drafts from 1992 to 2003 said he pushed hard for Purdue quarterback Drew Brees in 2001, but coach Wannstedt elected to take Wisconsin cornerback Jamar Fletcher (26th pick overall), now
a nickel defensive back with the Texans.

"We needed a quarterback, but Dave passed him over for a defensive back," Braatz said. "To me a franchise quarterback is the number one commodity, then a running back and a defensive end.”"You pass [Brees] up, you live with it."The floundering franchise is still living with that ill-fated decision as it struggles to find a consistent starting quarterback."If Brees is with the Dolphins it's a different story," Kiper said. "The Saints GM should send a Christmas card every year to the Dolphins..."

Rob Rang, founder of NFL.draftscout.com, said that Wannstedt and Spielman, then the head of player personnel, missed more often than not because they continuously chose the best athletes over filling needs.Another example was choosing injury-prone linebacker Eddie Moore in 2003 with their top pick, when future Pro Bowl receiver Anquan Boldin was sitting on the board. Years later, the pick was pinned more on Wannstedt and less on Spielman.

Its impossible to think that any NFL team can not lose good players each year to free agency, but am I the only that that over the last ten years we have given away some all stars for almost nothing in return? How much better would this team be today if the likes of Andewale Ogunleye Sam Madison, Patrick Surtain, Larry Izzo, Junior Seau, Sammy Morris, Heath Evans, Randy McMichael, Wes Welker, Chris Chambers were still contributors to the 07 team? Yes we can not keep them all, and some are past their prime, but our secondary with Surtain and Madison would have been better this year than the hodgepodge of misfits we had running around giving up big play after big play.