Why did Ray Farmer reject the Dolphins?
It’s no secret at this point that the Dolphins internal dysfunction and power structure is something that is scaring off GM candidates. These candidates don’t want to walk into a situation where the Head Coach is coaching for his job and hasn’t exactly had much success thus far. They also don’t want to walk into a situation where Philbin and Aponte are colluding and conspiring against the GM, as they did with Jeff Ireland.
Keep in mind that the Dolphins have interviewed 7 candidates and for the most part they are all up and comers. It’s not like the Dolphins were turned down by a big time, former GM. We’ve seen the Dolphins swing and miss on big names before, right? Jim Harbaugh, Jeff Fisher, and Peyton Manning….all rebuffed the Dolphins advances. Stephen Ross’ track record in real estate is very good, but in the NFL he’s been unable to land the big name guys.
So where does that leave the Dolphins GM search? According to the buzz around Twitter, the Dolphins GM search is now down to Brian Gaine (Dolphins) and Lake Dawson (Titans). Stephen Ross is flying into Miami tonight and is expected to interview the finalists this weekend. He could even be having dinner with one of the candidates as early as tonight.
Lake Dawson does not impress me, but I honestly don’t know all that much about him. Brian Gaine? He was a part of the Dolphins the last 6 season, so the team should have intimate knowledge of his track record. For example, in his notes, did he have college players rated differently than Jeff Ireland? Did he suggest the Dolphins take a player like T.Y. Hilton, but was overruled and instead the Dolphins took Michael Egnew? We don’t know those details and history, but the Dolphins should.
What is going to drive me crazy, and I’m confident this will happen, is when the Dolphins ultimately decide to hire Gaine they’ll say that he was ‘their guy’ all along. The Dolphins will try to spin the GM hiring and deflect the fact that they were rejected by 5 different candidates. That’s what team’s do. It’s just frustrating.