Growing up in Connecticut, if you liked football but didn't want to get crapped on, you rooted for the Patriots, the Jets, or the Giants. If you had family ties to certain cities or liked a team because they had your favorite player, you could get away with rooting for, say, the Steelers or the Packers or a team like that.
I did not do that or have that luxury. I grew up a Dolphins fan. And yes, I got crapped on for it.
Let me tell you. Being a Dolphins fan is like spending 20 minutes banging your head against a brick wall, taking a short break for the room to stop spinning from the concussion, and then going back to the wall. Year after year, I watch this team go 8-8, 9-7, 7-9, you get the idea. They put some talent together, only to have the team not click the way you expect them to. Do you want to talk about a quarterback carousel that the Cleveland Browns have been on since they came back into the league in 1999? Remember, after the 1999-2000 playoffs, Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino retired, and the Dolphins have not found that franchise guy since.
Well, I have to think that Miami is getting on the right track.
For starters, they replaced Adam Gase with Brian Flores as the head coach. You may be asking "who's that?", but you know if you're either a Patriots or Rams fan. They've shed cap space and will be working with about 100 million dollars in the 2020 offseason (provided that the salary cap gets to 200 million by then, which it should). They have twelve, count 'em, TWELVE picks in the 2020 draft. The best quarterback class since 2004 is coming up (2018 does not have enough data to work with). The free agent class is rife with players that would make immediate impacts on both sides of the ball.
But just when you thought they were intent on letting 2019 get away from them, they go and commit larceny.
The Dolphins went and made a huge trade with New Orleans, swapping second-round picks this past draft. They turned that pick into Arizona Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen, who was on the chopping block after the Cardinals drafted Kyler Murray.
This move was EXACTLY what the Dolphins needed to do. Rosen did not have great numbers in the Desert, but the Arizona offensive line was, to put it mildly, a dumpster fire. How can you expect a rookie quarterback to succeed with the worst protection in the league, with no weapons outside an aging Larry Fitzgerald and David Johnson? You can't.
If the Dolphins line improves (and can stay healthy), there's no reason Rosen can't succeed. As for the Dolphins, they possibly have their QB of the future a la Brett Favre in the early 1990s.
This team is in a great position to finally take down the Patriots in the AFC East. All the tools are right in front of them. The front office just needs to use them properly.
And if that means playing like absolute garbage in 2019 to get a high draft pick, so be it.
Fins up!
