Dolphins lose 2 candidates to keep Philbin & end up with a Hickey

 

After all, it’s been reported that Hickey will have final say over free agency, the draft, and the final 53 man roster.  So he’s got that going for him….which is nice…..

Hickey has a lot of work to do and it starts immediately.  He first needs to meet with Joe Philbin and Dawn Aponte (a daunting task) and look at the Dolphins current roster and salary cap situation.  He needs to discuss what types of players will fit the schemes the coaches are preparing to employ. He’ll then need to organize and debrief with the Dolphins existing scouting teams (both on the pro and college level).  Remember, free agency starts in about a month and a half….and the Scouting Combine is a month away.  He also needs to figure out which of the Dolphins own free agents, he’ll want to re-sign.

The sad thing that we learned from this GM search is that Stephen Ross is still letting loyalty cloud his judgement for what is best for the team.  Many….MANY in the NFL thought the Dolphins would clean house and start fresh this offseason. Jeff Ireland obviously wasn’t working out and Joe Philbin hasn’t done anything to prove he can lead the Dolphins to the promised land.  Remember the 2 huge losses (with a total of 7 points) with the playoffs on the line?

But instead, Ross chose to keep Philbin and shoe-horn in a GM.  That and the Dolphins power structure scared 6-7 different GM candidates away.  That. Is. A. Big. Problem.  Mr. Ross wants to build a winner and is willing to spend as much money as possible to do so. He also purchases tickets to avoid local blackouts.  He’s a great owner in that respect.  BUT, his loyalty to Jeff Ireland in the past, and Joe Philbin recently, is clouding his judgement.

Like I said, all we can do is hope that the Dolphins improve in 2014 and that Hickey is the man for the job.  Considering how he was hired, it’s tough to have too much confidence.  But at the very least, we have a change in the GM’s chair, so how much worse can that be?