A look back at Jeff Ireland’s tenure with the Dolphins
The Bryant McKinnie for a late draft pick move also made him look wise as he turned the page from the Jonathan Martin at left tackle experience just before he quit on the team. Even the Brandon Marshall trades were solid. The Dolphins were able to get a top receiver in his prime for two second round picks and then dump him two years later for two third rounders.
The value between the second and third round picks is not much if you draft properly, but Michael Egnew and Dion Sims have not developed into the players he envisioned. Which brings us to the down side of Ireland.
He is bad at drafting in the first three rounds.
In fact, the early draft picks have been one of the most disappointing parts of the Jeff Ireland era, with the exception of 2012 which delivered three starters in Ryan Tannehill, Jonathan Martin and Olivier Vernon. The 2013 draft did very little to help Ireland’s draft legacy, with Jamar Taylor, Will Davis and Dallas Thomas seemingly on track to follow the footsteps of Phillip Merling, Chad Henne, Shawn Murphy, Pat White, Patrick Turner and Daniel Thomas. While Henne and Thomas are NFL backups, the rest have already played their way out of the league.
He is bad with free agents.
In 2013 he netted three starters on one year deals, in Pro Bowl cornerback Brent Grimes, Pro Bowl right tackle Tyson Clabo and potential Pro Bowl tight end in Dustin Keller, but only Brent Grimes panned out and he could not make up for the subpar performances delivered by the big money free agents: Mike Wallace, Dannell Ellerbe and Phillip Wheeler, who are well on their way to joining Justin Smiley, Jake Grove and Gibril Wilson, Karlos Dansby, Kevin Burnett and Richard Marshall as costly misses.
He is bad with people.
It seems Ireland is more famous for his public relations gaffes than for his work. Who could forget his asking Dez Bryant about his mom’s job description in preparation for the 2010 draft, or him cursing back at a fan in 2012 or this year’s allegation that he encouraged Jonathan Martin to punch Richie Incognito. This one is the worst, because in addition to being a PR nightmare, it is possible that if he had intervened properly, the Dolphins could still be playing right now.
I also vividly remember the Hard Knocks episode where he informed Vontae Davis he had been traded. Davis was emotional and in shock and said that he needed to call his grandmother and Ireland was more concerned with ending the interaction than with having a conversation or allowing the player to make that call, which would have made for good television and might have made him look like a nice, caring person, for a change.
So long Jeff Ireland. I do not think you were as bad at your job as some made you out to be. Hopefully some of your players become the reason for a bright Dolphins future and hopefully you grow from the Dolphins experience, where you were thoroughly disliked and referred to as the red headed step child. I believe there is a place for you out there in a football front office, but probably not in a position that involves the management of people.