vmax Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 Clayton reports: The Dolphins opted not to go with a rookie quarterback by passing on Ryan with the first pick in the draft. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs2008...goal/08wildcard My memory is foggy on the draft, but if this is true, then I'd say the Dolphins really screwed up. Sure Pennington is a part of the reason they are in the playoffs...but if he is so great then why did they have to go to the wildcat to move the chains? Long term, Ryan would be the face of the franchise while Pennington has been injury prone his whole career. He's a short term fix. Quote
thundercleetz Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 Clayton reports: My memory is foggy on the draft, but if this is true, then I'd say the Dolphins really screwed up. Sure Pennington is a part of the reason they are in the playoffs...but if he is so great then why did they have to go to the wildcat to move the chains? Long term, Ryan would be the face of the franchise while Pennington has been injury prone his whole career. He's a short term fix. True, but Jake Long has been a great pick for the Dolphins so far. Also, the Dolphins drafted Chad Henne in the second round, and the Dolphins are pretty high on him. It is really Pennington's leadership that the Dolphins needed, the guy is another coach on the field. I also do not think there is any correlation between the Wildcat and Pennington's effectiveness. It is nothing different than the stuff we do. Remember back to the draft also. While Ryan was highly touted, he was not seen as a true #1 pick. The difference between Ryan, Flacco, Henne, and Brohm did not seem like that much to most experts, so grabbing Long with the first pick and either Henne or Brohm in the second seemed like a better overall value. Signability was also an issue, as Long was pretty easy to sign, and for a lot less. It basically comes down to no one expected Ryan, or Flacco, to be this good so early. If there was a re-draft, maybe the Dolphins would consider Ryan a little harder, but Long has been a very solid pick as well. The Dolphins franchise needed a leader like Pennington as well. Quote
vmax Posted January 1, 2009 Author Posted January 1, 2009 Thanks cleetz. That makes sense. It's a hard pill to swallow drafting a QB #1. That Cap hit is highest for QB's...many don't pan out...some are paid a ton of money to carry a clipboard for a year or two. Long was the safe bet and he is good. Still...when Pennington goes south...they could have had their guy for the next 10+ years. Now they have a high pick...could be a long time before they get a shot at a guy of Ryan's caliber...decades even. Henne doesn't impress me. Quote
thundercleetz Posted January 1, 2009 Posted January 1, 2009 Thanks cleetz. That makes sense. It's a hard pill to swallow drafting a QB #1. That Cap hit is highest for QB's...many don't pan out...some are paid a ton of money to carry a clipboard for a year or two. Long was the safe bet and he is good. Still...when Pennington goes south...they could have had their guy for the next 10+ years. Now they have a high pick...could be a long time before they get a shot at a guy of Ryan's caliber...decades even. Henne doesn't impress me. Very true, but hindsight is 20/20 I guess. They may not have their signal caller for the next 10+ years, but they do have their potential Pro-Bowl LT for the next 10+ years. Speaking about Pennington when he goes south, I hear a lot of NFL people saying that Pennington is going to make an excellent coach. He is very smart and understands defenses, which has allowed him to essentially do the most with the talent he was given. He is going to be a very good teacher. Henne does not impress me either, which reminds me of draft day and how we ended up with Flacco. Remember that article in the Sun about a month ago telling the pre-draft workout Cam Cameron and Hugh Jackson had with Joe Flacco in the bad weather where they gave Flacco diffferent balls and different receivers to throw to? Cam and Hugh were very impressed with Flacco, but had to keep their poker face. Then there was another article in the Sun about a pre-draft workout that Cam had with Henne. Cam was openly praising Henne after every pass. Come draft day, every draft analyst was convinced that we were taking Henne (Peter King had an article "The Ravens and Henne: A Match Made in Heaven"). In fact, when we traded back up in the first round, ESPN guaranteed that we were taking Henne with the 18th pick. ESPN even went as far as filming Henne at his house when our pick was being made. My point with this story is that Cam, Hugh, Ozzie, and company completely played the media, and maybe even some NFL people as well. We definitely played the situation as best as we could. Pretty amazing chemistry by a staff that was just assembled about a month prior. This is why we are one of the best organizations when it comes to the draft. Quote
vmax Posted January 1, 2009 Author Posted January 1, 2009 Wow! Excellent observations. You really do your homework cleetz! That's ESPN front page stuff IMO. Quote
blackandpurple Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 Wow! Excellent observations. You really do your homework cleetz! That's ESPN front page stuff IMO. AGREED! Quote
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