Is Jeff Ireland’s job safe with the Dolphins?
Yesterday, the Miami Dolphins made their first big move of the offseason; Firing their beleaguered, ineffective offensive coordinator. We know that more changes are probably in store for the offensive assistant coaching staff. But no one seems to know what the future holds for the Dolphins General Manager, Jeff Ireland. He hasn’t been given a vote of confidence by Dolphins owner, Stephen Ross. All we know is that Ireland is still the GM of the Dolphins and national NFL Insiders (Mort and Mike Silver) are saying that he appears to be safe, despite ‘tension’ between he and Dolphins Coach, Joe Philbin.
So it’s anyone’s guess if Jeff Ireland’s job with the Dolphins is safe and if he will be the GM for the 2014 season. I have a few thoughts on the matter, which I wanted to share with you. On one hand, if you were going to make wholesale changes, wouldn’t you want to announce them on the same day? If you were going to fire Jeff Ireland, wouldn’t you want to do it as early in the offseason as possible? Doing so would allow the Dolphins to have a larger GM field to choose from. It only makes logical sense to announce all big changes at once, right?
So since he hasn’t been fired, does that mean Jeff Ireland is safe? Not necessarily. Since it hasn’t been announced that Ireland will definitely be back, we are left to speculate. Could it be possible that the Dolphins are waiting to see what is in the NFL’s report of the Martin/Incognito situation? A few people have suggested this could be the case. If the Dolphins are found to have been at fault, Ireland could be the scapegoat of that investigation. Some of suggested the Dolphins are waiting because if Ireland is found to have had a role in the accused ‘bullying’, the Dolphins might be able to void his contract and save a few million bucks.
I personally think that if Stephen Ross thinks Jeff Ireland hasn’t done a good enough job and deserves to be fired, he should fire him and not wait. But it’s not my money! But again, the Dolphins might be holding Ireland in case a scapegoat is needed for the bullying allegations. We’ll see. By the way, I want to say that I do realize that these are men’s lives at stake here, their livelihoods. I’m not suggesting anyone be fired without understanding the ramifications. My logic is that if you don’t do a good enough job, you don’t deserve to keep it, much like your job or my job. AND, what helps the fired coach or GM’s situation more is that they have a signed contract and are paid by the owner, even if they are fired! (continued on page 2, CLICK HERE)