Why did it take so long for miami to draft a QB in the first round?

[raptorsfan29]

I probably should have asked this right after the draft but i wanted to know what everyone thinks was the reason why it toke miami so long draft a QB in the first round since drafting Marino.

[MikeO]

They hired people who were constantly behind the NFL curve. JJ didn't have the balls to send Marino packing like he wanted to when he first got here and do things his way. He was the polar opposite of Philbin. Wanny did run Marino off but believed in running and defense and treated the QB like just another player. Saban didn't want to wait to groom anyone and he went shopping for a QB and picked Cullpepper over Brees. Cam Cameron...nuff said. Sparano (aka Mini Parcelles) lived in the 1980's where the QB was just a guy to hand the ball off.

[Pappy13]

Are you kidding? You saw all the flack they took for picking Tannehill #8. Apparently unless the QB is deemed the best QB to come out in the last 10 years, you are stupid for taking a QB in the 1st round.

In all seriousness though, it's a big gamble to take a QB in the first round. The pressure on the player to perform is enormous and the pressure on the team for him to succeed is nearly as large. It's "safer" to pick almost any other position because either A) They don't have to crack the starting lineup right away (a running back for instance can simply be the backup and be considered a good pick) or B) If they do crack the starting lineup, they don't have to be a "Franchise" player (a DE who starts but doesn't rack up 20 sacks could still be considered a good pick).  A QB picked in the first round pretty much has to start within a year or 2 and then they pretty much have to be a franchise type QB or they'll be labeled a "bust". That is why you'll see a lot of teams pick a QB in the 2nd round. If they don't work out, typically it's forgotten pretty quickly.

[MikeO]

With the new rookie wage scale you will see more QB's going in Rd 1 going forward. Less risk involved financially.

[Pappy13]

^^Good point. The financial ramifications just exacerbated the problem.

[tubba marxxx]

I'm bored, and this thread got me thinking.  So what you're about to read is each draft since Marino retired as if Miami went into saying "we need a first round QB."  Hindsight is always 20/20, but let's review


2000 - Miami traded their first round pick to Carolina.  If you don't know who was in the QB draft class of 2000 by now, you're not a football fan. 

2001 - Took Jamar Fletcher over Drew Brees (well documented botch)

2002 - Miami traded their first round pick to New Orleans for Ricky Williams, missed out on Patrick Ramsey and Josh McCown, both of whom were journeymen who actually at one point or another spent some time on Miami..no harm there

2003 - Miami lost their first round pick when Ricky went over 1,500 yards rushing (condition in the trade).  Missed out on Kyle Boller and Rex Grossman.  No biggie

2004 - Selected Vernon Carey.  Carey ended up being a solid lineman for his career.  Missed out on J.P. Losman.  I'd rather have Carey.

2005 - Selected Ronnie Brown over Aaron Rodgers.  Obvious botch.  But 22 other teams passed on Rodgers as well. Jason Campbell was the other first round QB that year in addition to Alex Smith, who is just now finding his groove.  Rodgers was obviously the cream of that crop, but who's to say sitting 3 years behind Favre did NOTHING for his career?
.
2006 - Miami selected Jason Allen.  First round QB's include Vince Young, Matt Leinart, and Jay Cutler.  All of which were taken before Miami's selection and none of them are exactly franchise QB's. You can argue Cutler, but he throws a lot of dumb int's for my liking.  The only second round QB was Kellen Clemens.  Thank god Miami didn't reach on him.

2007 - We all know the scenario, Ted Ginn over Brady Quinn.  Neither ended up living up to a first round pick, so let's deem that a wash.  Miami could've reached for the likes of Kevin Kolb or Drew Stanton.  Both of which went in the 2nd round.  Glad they didn't.

2008 - Jake Long over Matt Ryan.  This one is one of the great debates of our era.  I don't necessarily think Ryan would've had the same success in Miami.  Roddy White > Ted Ginn.  Michael Turner > Ronnie Brown.  Tony Gonzalez > Anthony Fasano.  Matt Ryan coming out for the Wildcat?  Would there even be a wildcat?  Just too many variables to determine who was truly a better pick.  I know on paper Matt Ryan is a franchise qb, but another thing that looked good on paper was Communism.

2009 - took Vontae Davis.  Stafford, Sanchez, Freeman all off the board already.  The next best QB, was Pat White.  Whom they took  .  Next best after that.  Stephen McGee.  Who's been third string in Dallas since being drafted.

2010 - Traded down from 12 to 28 and took Jared Odrick.  Missed out on....Tim..Tebow.  Dear God no.  Next best?  Jimmy Clausen.  Struggled heavily as a rookie, thus they took Cam Newton and the rest is history.  Clausen will never get another shot in Carolina unless there's some DEVASTATING injury to Newton.  Open ended theory on Clausen, but he wasn't a first round pick.

2011 - Newton, Locker, Ponder (and remember how badly Minnesota reached for Ponder) off the board.  Miami took Pouncey.  Safe, unsexy, but safe pick.  Andy Dalton had an amazing rookie season, but did not have first round prospect talent, thus going in the second round

2012 - Finally Miami takes a QB in the first round.


So basically, what it comes down to is that it's not just as simple as "taking a qb in the first round."  It all has to fit.  Since Marino retired, Miami missed out on a couple home runs in Brees and Rodgers (Matt Ryan is debatable obviously, and I refuse to acknowledge that Miami had a chance at Brady..EVERY team had a chance on Brady SIX times).  The draft is a gamble.  Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose.  Sometimes you lose bad.  All in all, I think our desire for finally having a franchise QB put some blinders on our eyes towards how slim the pickings actually were

[Spider-Dan]

Nice breakdown, tubba.  I would add a pair of notes:

- As drafting Brady in the first round would have been the move of a complete buffoon (even if you LOVED him, you could have easily had him in the third), consider the next best option.  The second best QB from the 2000 draft is either Chad Pennington (taken 5 picks before MIA's first-rounder that they traded to CAR) or Marc Bulger (drafted in the 6th by NO).  So no matter how you slice it, there was no first-round QB for MIA to draft that year.

- There should be huge asterisk on Brees, as he bombed out of his first team; SD ended up using a very early first-rounder to draft a QB 3 years later.  So if we're going to talk about the possibility of Brees being a Dolphin, I think the better idea would be "Brees over Culpepper" instead of "Brees being drafted and Miami letting him walk."

[Brian Fein]

Nice post tubba. I like the breakdown.

It also needs to be noted that the dolphins selected a qb in the 2nd round three times during that stretch.

[Landshark]

I enjoyed the read, Tubba.  Good post.  I especially loved the part where you said Communism looked good on paper.  It gave me a chuckle because it's so true.

A word about Tom Brady.  Shortly after Brady was drafted by the Patiots, I was having beers with my buddy Max who graduated from the University of Michigan and is a diehard Wolverines fan.  He told me then to watch out for Brady because he had all the tools necessary to be a successful NFL quarterback and the only reason he was drafted so low was because he couldn't beat out Brian Griese, then didn't play well when he finally got to start because he was starting for the first time.  At the time, I had no idea how prophetic he could've been.