Dolphins GM Ireland: “If our draft board was right, we killed it”

May. 02 News and Notes 13 comments ---Bill

On Tuesday, Miami Dolphins General Manager, Jeff Ireland, appeared on the Dolphins own radio show, The Finsiders.  Ireland spoke about a lot of things on Tuesday, but primarily focused on the Dolphins draft.  Ireland spoke about the value the Dolphins got with their selections.  He went as far as to say “If our draft board was right, we killed it.”  He actually repeated that to emphasize his point.  Like him or not (I still don’t), Ireland believes in this Dolphins draft class.

Ireland started by talking about how strong of a conviction the Dolphins organization has for Ryan Tannehill.  He admitted that the Dolphins had the most intimate knowledge of Tannehill (because of the Sherman connection).   Ireland wouldn’t give a timetable on when Tannehill will start.  He emphasized that Garrard and Moore are both determined to be the starting QB of the Dolphins and the timetable for Tannehill will be determined by Joe Philbin and the coaching staff.  Tannehill may be inexperienced compared to Garrard/Moore, but he does have the advantage of knowing the system that Mike Sherman will be putting in place.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Ireland seems extremely happy about his draft.  As he said, if their board was right, they killed it.  After all, the Dolphins selected a number of players in rounds that were later than their projected draft slots.  Jonathan Martin was projected to be a 1st round pick…the Dolphins got him in the 2nd round.  Lamar Miller was expected to be a late 1st, early 2nd round pick….the Dolphins got him in the 4th round.  Even BJ Cunningham was projected to go in the 4th round…..the Dolphins got him in the 6th.  That is value, but there is a reason the players dropped in the draft.  We may never know what those reasons were…and if these players perform, it won’t matter!

Keep this in mind though, the Dolphins draft included, according to many draftniks: the 3rd best QB in the draft (Tannehill), the 3rd best offensive tackle (Martin), the 3rd/4th best running back (Miller), and the 4th best tight end (Egnew).  On paper, it appears the Dolphins improved their team for 2012 and beyond.  Again, we’ll just have to wait and see how these guys perform once practices and games start.  Ultimately, the success of this draft will depend on the development of Ryan Tannehill.  If he succeeds and becomes an elite QB, Jeff Ireland may be forgiven all previous issues….winning tends to do that for GMs/Coaches.

On Tuesday, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald posted the below video on his blog .  It’s an interesting video of Ryan Tannehill’s draft day experience.  The one thing that stuck out to me is the fact that Stephen Ross didn’t know Tannehill’s number in college….REALLY?  Ross didn’t even watch a YouTube clip of the guy the Dolphins placed their hopes and dreams in last Thursday?  Isn’t this the same Stephen Ross that some media personalities said was demanding the Dolphins draft?  It doesn’t make sense.  Anyway, enjoy the video!


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  • ohiodolpfan

    Miami did have a good draft, not a perfect one but i think they did good. Still wondering about Tannenhill and would of thought trading down to get more picks and selecting him or Weeden later in the first or Tannenhill slipping to the high second. Just praying this will not be another Ted Ginn

    • phin forever

      do not mention Ginn in any forum about the dolphins. He was a bust and needs to be forgotten about. I am still trying to figure out how Ireland kept his job this year?!

  • KillerFin

    I hope the idiots Ireland & Ross are smart enough to let Tannehill START!!! Letting ‘em sit for a year just ruins a rookie, FEED ‘EM TO THE WOLVES, he’s not gonn be perfect but he’ll be ready for sure next year!!! Marino wasn’t so hot out of the gate but look how good we was for all the rest of the years after that!!! GO FINS!!!

    • FZB

      Killerfin,

      You’re not too smart are you ?…Either that or you’re ten years old.

    • RZP

      Actually, Marino was great out of the gate. As I remember it, Marino came on in relief in the 3rd game of the season on a Monday night game against the Raider, leading the Dolphins to 2 TDs to make it a little closer. Lost a shootout to the Bills, putting up 35 points in the process, and was pretty much on fire the rest of the year. The only reason his rookie season didn’t look great was that he then went on to have one of the greatest seasons in the history of the game in his second year. Manning, Brady and Breese have since taken some of the records, but under significantly more favorable pass-interference rules.

      Marino was a Pro Bowler in his first season. For a long time, he was the only real exception to the “rookie QBs struggle” rule.

  • John Murray

    I loved the draft, anyway you cut it we needed a quarterback and Tannehill was the best available. So happy we didnt draft the 28 yr old lol. The reason Ross didnt know his college number is because he told Ireland he was letting him ( Ireland ) make these picks, Ross , thankfully had nothing to do with it. If i wanted a Jerry Jones team i would root for the Cowboys lol. I think the Phin Nation should welcome this kid win or lose, get behind him. I would love to see this kid be our franchise q.b. Please, fellow fans, don’t boo this kid or raz him. We need this kid to do well, and if we don’t support him then it will only make his job harder. We all make mistakes so if he does too, have patience, he is well groomed for this game, for his posistion. He just needs a little time to perfect his art. And believe me he will PERFECT it !! I just hope we are still holding him when he does. He has all the brains and talent in the world, please my friends and fans, get behind this guy, show him some love, and watch what happens. Who knows, maybe he was the best q.b. drafted this year and noone knows it cause he had only 19 starts last in college. We will soon see! This has been Johnny Phin saying, GO DOLPHINS!!

  • GADOLFAN

    Killed it huh? So we lost Merling, Langford and Taylor on the D- Line and we drafted a project DE in the 3rd and a little known DT in the 7th? teams are loading up on QB’s and WR’s and we draft no DB’s? New England’s TE’s tore us a new one last year and we don’t upgrade our safties!!! There were even some players like DT DaJohn Harris in un-drafted FA’s and the fins did nothing!!?? Did Ireland leave the country right after the draft? I see 4-12 at best this year, which is fine, but we need to do much better in next years off season so this doesn’t continue after 2012′s season

  • ern

    I have no problem with the picks if it goes good next year great if not bye bye ireland. Either way they won’t make the playoffs. I just hope they beat the pats and jets at least once and out play the bills for the basement of the AFC East.

  • cliff

    ARE YOU “F”N KIDDING ME. THOSE GUYS COULDN’T DRAFT FOR MY POP WARNER TEAM. TANNEHILL, EVEN IF HE TURNS OUT TO BE A STUD WAS NOT THE RIGHT PICK. thIS TEAM HAS MORE NEEDS THAN MY SONS 17 YEAR OLD GIRLFRIEND. MATT MOORE WAS 6-3 TO END THE SEASON, AND 2 OF THOSE GAMES WERE LOST BY THE DEFENSE IN THE LAST MINUTE. YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH GOOD PASS RUSHERS, ASK THE WORLD CHAMPION N.Y. GIANTS. THERE WERE SEVERAL OF THOSE GUYS STILL ON THE BOARD AT 8.
    STEPHEN ROSS IS LIKE THE UNDERCOVER BOSS, ONLY NOT UNDERCOVER. HE KNOWS NOTHING AND I MEAN NOTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL. HE BOUGHT THIS TEAM FOR EGO. TO BE INVOLVED WITH THE PRETTY PEOPLE. OTHERWISE HE WOULD HAVE FIRED THIS NUMBNUTZ IRELAND, THE MINUTE HE DRAFTED TED GINN. I AM A LIFE LONG DOLPHIN FAN, BUT THE DAYS OF JOE ROBBIE, DON SHULA AND DAN MARINO ARE GONE. THIS IS A CLUSTER%&CK TEAM.
    WHY NOT KEENUM IN THE 7TH ROUND OR WILSON, OR WEEDEN…..ON AND ON. IF YOU ARE GOING TO WORK ON A PROJECT, USE YOUR 8 PICK FOR THE NASTIEST PLAYER THERE.
    ROSS JUST INFURIATES ME, IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE, WHICH HE WILL FIND OUT THIS YEAR. DOLPHIN FANS ARE FICKLE, TRY SELLING SEATS NOW, YOU MORON

    • chico

      cliff you need to get a life and then go choose another team, you personify why the Dolphins have crappy fans.And if you’re such a fan you’d have known ireland didn’t draft ted ginn.

  • Lone Wolf

    So there is always a reason why players fall to the later rounds, eh? they suck right? so the reason Tom Brady fell to the 6th round was because ??? yea you’re an idiot is what.

  • chris

    well ive been a dolphan for my entire life , always loved them not all games goes our way but love them and back them no matter what true dolphan fan always

  • Al

    I became a Dolphin fan in 1969. I love the Dolphins. I believe the offensive coordinator holds the key to the Dolphins future. The OC had confidence in his boys did not allow them to think they were second to none. That’s not the case over the past five years. We watch it week after week, especially last season, losing by only a few points because they quickly lose their focus. I believe that man for man (last season) they were the best team in football. But I think true Dolphin fans can identify the exact tiem when they droke down. For me it was Thanksgiving day. We failed to seize the moment (then) and several times throughout the season. This season, if the OC expands their horizons, I believe we will win it all, as I’ve believed all these years. Thank you, thank you very much.