What is the biggest mistake in Dolphins history?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Had Welker stayed in Miami, he surely would have been a very good and valuable player. But in New England, with  Tom Brady throwing to him and Randy Moss to draw defensive attention, Welker achieved statistical excellence far beyond what he would have attained in Miami. The same player, but in a much better setting to showcase his talent. I don't see the Welker trade as something yielding multiple season destruction, not along the lines of the four items I posted above.

The problem with the Welker trade (for the Dolphins) isn't that it just made Miami weaker but it made a divisional rival much better. 

I think Miami greatly underestimated Welker's value and that is why they didn't offer a higher level offer sheet, which would have either discouraged NE from going after him or gotten the Dolphins a 1st round pick instead.  In BB's opinion WW was the Dolphins greatest weapon and the most problematic player to game plan for of all the players on the three AFCE rival teams.   

Semi -unrelated - I think the NFL should change the rules to disallow the poison pills.  NE wasn't the only nor the first to do what they did with Welker, but poison pills basically change the RFA rules into mini-franchise tag rules instead of the rules RFA intended. 

[Sunstroke]

Yeah, I was playing it safe...the life of a Mod, don'tcha know.

As far as the "real" biggest mistake, I think that Wannstedt being named head coach is the worst move the franchise has ever made, for a laundry list of reasons, many of which have been noted above.

[Brian Fein]

^^ I'd take it one step further.  I'd say naming Wannstedt ASSISTANT head coach under Jimmy Johnson was the biggest mistake in franchise history.

[TonyB0D]

wanny

[Dave Gray]

I know Tommy has a thorn in his side over Cam Cameron, but I don't even qualify this as a mistake.  The guy was here for 1 year with an absolutely abysmal team.  He had a questionable draft, in picking Ginn.  ...but even then, the jury is still out on the guy, and at least he's playing and making some plays here and there.

I think that Cam is so insignificant to anything that has happened to this team.  He barely even registers as a scratch on a team that was a complete train-wreck.

[Thundergod]

Wannstedt. Hands down.

[MaineDolFan]

Hiring Jimmy Johnson set this team back so far we haven't had a chance to catch up.  Miami needed a coach that would have been able to build a decent defense AND take advantage of Marino's last years.  Johnson drove this team into the ground.

#2 is the Drew Brees thing.

[Brian Fein]

I can't fault Johnson too much, he made the team a contender by building a top-five defense.  The problem is that he never had a good running game to go with it and wouldn't let Marino do his thing either.  So, he handed off his top-five defense to a buffoon who insisted on Jay Fiedler at QB and later brought in a top RB in Ricky and just when things got rolling, Ricky quits and the team goes to shit.

Who's to blame for all this?

[BigDaddyFin]

Hiring Jimmy Johnson.  He promised a superbowl, failed to draft a running back, then punished Marino by taking away his ability to audiblize at the line.  I can see changing the offense but not taking away any quarterback's ability to audible. 

To make matters worse, he retired for 24 hours and you could see it was almost like the team said oh well screw it at the end of the 1999 season, especially down the stretch and in the playoff game in Jacksonville.  It also allowed Dave Wannstedt in the door.

Wanny then took a pretty legit football team and ran it into the ground.  He walks in the middle of '04.  Then when it comes time to pick a new coach, Jimmy Johnson recommends Nick Saban to Wayne Huizenga when the players choice at the time was interm coach Jim Bates. 

Saban leaves, we get stuck with Cameron for a year which we'll never know how that would have turned out, thus leading to the worst season in Dolphin history and the entire restructuring of the front office. 

Jimmy Johnson's hiring at UM also led to the hiring of John Olivadotti, because he was Schnellenberger's DC prior.  Doesn't excuse the fact that Olivadotti's a moron and couldn't coach a beer fart if you spotted him a 12pack but still all events tie into the existance of one Jimmy Johnson.

[Guru-In-Vegas]

My God.  Wannstedt. I'm sure no one needs an explanation. 

[dolfan13]

as much as i hate saban, the brees thing was just bad luck. the guy had the tendons in his throwing shoulder shredded away from the bone.

it does say this about nfl qb's though, accuracy is the most important skill trait that you need at the position. much more so than just pure arm strength.

biggest mistake in the history of the dolphins has to be the wannstache. the fact is that he was a horrid personnel guy and that ultimately was his downfall. i'll never forget "with the ___ pick in the draft, the miami dolphins select... eddie moore". what a freaking nightmare

[Brian Fein]

You know what, everyone blames PronStache but no one points toward Rick Spielman.

Why?

[YoFuggedaboutit]

You know what, everyone blames PronStache but no one points toward Rick Spielman.

Why?

Maybe because of what Spielman has done with the Vikings.

[Spider-Dan]

Welker?  Really?

I mean, it's not like we passed on him in the draft.  We saw what he was doing for the team; it was good, but nowhere remotely near what he's doing in NE.  Do you really believe that dumping a bunch of money in Welker's lap was the only thing holding him back from playing as he has in NE?

As far as Wanny goes, I can't honestly say that hiring him was the worst decision.  At least he won a division title; Jimmy couldn't even do that.  But I do think that keeping him was a bad move.

If I had to pick a single worst decision, I think it would be the choice to go with Jay Fiedler after Marino retired.  I'm not saying he's our worst QB; far from it.  But he was just good enough to keep us from being great, and he had a very low ceiling.  When he became entrenched as a starter, that was the nail in the coffin.  Even with a top-5 defense and a top-5 running attack, Fiedler's lack of talent hamstrung us and kept us from putting it all together.

[Dolarltexas]

Dave Wannstedt, but I have to admit A.J. Feeley would be another good choice.