Report: Dolphins plan to part ways with Ryan Tannehill, tank 2019 season for Tua Tagovailoa

[otg]

17 minutes ago, The LBC said:

Possible.  Will depend on if there's a decline in season ticket or advertising revenue in the south Florida market; those parts of revenue are shared and it actually could be the NFLPA that goes after the Dolphins and the league for this because it's not operating with a mind towards maximizing the shared revenue (which is what the players' piece of the pie comes out of). 

@jrry32, I'm not as up on my contract and collective bargaining law as I should be - would there be a case for the league not operating in good faith if the Dolphins were allowed to intentionally tank?

That said, a team can say they're going to tank all they want, players don't operate with that mindset.  Guys going into contract years this or next year on the Phins aren't going to dog it.

Kind of a tangent here but...

If something did happen to damage the bottom line enough that profit was lower than the year before would that lower the salary cap or would it remain flat?

[Tetsujin]

Maybe not tank for Tua specifically, just whomever the top QB prospect is. And I think that prospect could likely go #1.

[MWil23]

If the Dolphins go full tank mode...

And the Bills and Jets don't progress with their 2nd year QBs...

The 2019 Patriots fans will still brag about how awesome the AFC East is.

[N4L]

15 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

If the Dolphins go full tank mode...

And the Bills and Jets don't progress with their 2nd year QBs...

The 2019 Patriots fans will still brag about how awesome the AFC East is.

I wish I could like this post 1000 times

[Jeezla]

Does this mean Xavien Howard is available via trade?

[DawgX]

Should have hired Hue for this year if their goal is to tank.

[Ajayii]

3 hours ago, Lilseb93 said:

Tanking in the sense that we're getting rid of overpaid vets and relying on young guys. That doesn't mean we're trying to lose. It means we'll probably lose because we'll be so young and have a thin roster. This needed to happen. We'd been relying on big FA splashes and band-aids for so long. Our rebuilds are always half assed. It seems like they are committed to the long term finally. 

I'm happy as hell. This will be the first time where we have a couple of good young players and the new HC gets to build the rest of the team to his liking. Godcheaux, Taylor, Rae, Bake, Minkah, Xavien?, Tunsil, James?, Drake/Ballage, Gesicki.

The downside is Reshad and Wake may be casualties.

 

[jrry32]

6 hours ago, The LBC said:

Possible.  Will depend on if there's a decline in season ticket or advertising revenue in the south Florida market; those parts of revenue are shared and it actually could be the NFLPA that goes after the Dolphins and the league for this because it's not operating with a mind towards maximizing the shared revenue (which is what the players' piece of the pie comes out of). 

@jrry32, I'm not as up on my contract and collective bargaining law as I should be - would there be a case for the league not operating in good faith if the Dolphins were allowed to intentionally tank?

That said, a team can say they're going to tank all they want, players don't operate with that mindset.  Guys going into contract years this or next year on the Phins aren't going to dog it.

They could find a way to punish the Dolphins, but it's not going to happen. The Dolphins won't just come out and say, "Hey, we're losing on purpose. Look at us!"

6 hours ago, otg said:

Kind of a tangent here but...

If something did happen to damage the bottom line enough that profit was lower than the year before would that lower the salary cap or would it remain flat?

Because of the TV deals, that's basically an impossibility until they're renegotiated. But the cap would go down unless the owners decided not to let it. It's based on a percentage of revenues.

[Tetsujin]

5 hours ago, Jeezla said:

Does this mean Xavien Howard is available via trade?

I'm sure they'd listen to offers. Miami probably isn't gonna pony up the 13M+ that other teams will.

[Tugboat]

On 03/02/2019 at 9:12 PM, Ajayii said:

According to reports, he's down for it. I think a lot of folks are taking their definition of tanking as trying to lose. They're just not about to spend big $ on free agents, bargain-bin shopping in FA, cut ties with aging vets with a big salary, and draft BPA; it's written right there in the article.

We'll still win 6 games knowing this team.

It kinda reminds me of where the Jaguars were at a handful of years ago when Dave Caldwell first came in as GM and brought Gus Bradley in as HC.  It wasn't that they were *trying to lose* "tanking".  Rather, they were trying to clear the decks, reset everything, and sort through who was worth keeping while accelerating young players' progression curve by getting them game time early.  The tank was just sort of naturally linked to that.

I think that kind of implicitly came with a very long leash for the HC.  Not like, "lure Jon Gruden out of the broadcast booth" leash in contract terms...but an understanding that the winning might not really be there until they get the team built and draft "Their Guy" at QB.  Seriously doubt Flores gets quite that much leash (honestly who does?), but the same idea at least.

 

Gus was all about this whole, "just get better every day" mantra.  Losing on purpose didn't even seem like a concept he could wrap his head around.  They just organically lost a metric ton of games because the team had zero talent while building from the ground up, and he was honestly a pretty catastrophically overwhelmed Head Coach.  You can have a team that tries hard, and still ends up losing most of the time.  For a while at least, if you're willing to just continually jettison any players who quit on the team or won't buy in.

[Tugboat]

On 03/02/2019 at 6:44 AM, Danger said:

Dolphins should pull a Browns/NBA this season and take on bad contracts in exchange for picks. (e.g. Brock Osweiler trade)

If they were to do that, it'd make them an interesting player to take on that Case Keenum contract.  It'd give them a starting QB they can trot out while pretending they're not intentionally fielding a losing roster...and presumably net them a decent pick along the way.  Who knows if the Broncos would be willing to do it though.

 

On 03/02/2019 at 11:33 AM, freak_of_nature said:

Tannehill has neither been the cause or solution to Miami's problems the past few years. Better cut ties, save money, and go "all in" for a potential star QB.

It definitely makes sense for the Dolphins to cut ties with Tannehill at this point.  He's not the sort of QB you're going to build a franchise around...especially not where the Dolphins appear to be in the process.  He's not a guy who is going to win you many games.  But he does seem like a guy who could be decent enough for a stronger team to win some games around him.  If he can stay healthy.

[Activated10]

3 hours ago, Tugboat said:

It kinda reminds me of where the Jaguars were at a handful of years ago when Dave Caldwell first came in as GM and brought Gus Bradley in as HC.  It wasn't that they were *trying to lose* "tanking".  Rather, they were trying to clear the decks, reset everything, and sort through who was worth keeping while accelerating young players' progression curve by getting them game time early.  The tank was just sort of naturally linked to that.

I think that kind of implicitly came with a very long leash for the HC.  Not like, "lure Jon Gruden out of the broadcast booth" leash in contract terms...but an understanding that the winning might not really be there until they get the team built and draft "Their Guy" at QB.  Seriously doubt Flores gets quite that much leash (honestly who does?), but the same idea at least.

 

Gus was all about this whole, "just get better every day" mantra.  Losing on purpose didn't even seem like a concept he could wrap his head around.  They just organically lost a metric ton of games because the team had zero talent while building from the ground up, and he was honestly a pretty catastrophically overwhelmed Head Coach.  You can have a team that tries hard, and still ends up losing most of the time.  For a while at least, if you're willing to just continually jettison any players who quit on the team or won't buy in.

Exactly, this is a good strategy from Miami Dolphins

[Activated10]

On 2019-02-04 at 5:40 PM, ET80 said:

I get that, but my point is that there's rarely a single player that will elevate you to contender status - Andrew Luck comes to mind, Trevor Lawrence looks like he could be that guy, but that's about it. 

I like Tua, but I question of he's even the #1 QB available - I personally like Jake Fromm a little bit more, and I don't think either are top 3 guys (taking positional value out of it, mind you). Heck, both Tua and Fromm could be behind Justin Herbert as far as the top QB available - I'm not high enough on any of those names for a tank job.

If there is any truth to this, Miami is picking the wrong year to tank. 2020 is when you aim for the 0-16 season, when Lawrence and Justin Fields are out there for the taking.

I think next year is a strong QB class. Tua, Frohm, Huebert and yes even Hurts are all first round quality QBs. Miami are not purposely going to tank, they're just going to get rid of old players and play young guys and not waste money on overpriced FA's and go through proper rebuild. Similar to Browns and Jaguars with Caldwell.

Miami been stuck in medicrocity for too long and they see their division rivals with young promising QBs in Darnold and Allen. Pats dynasty is going to end eventually, they don't want to be left last in the race to see Bills or Jets take that mantle. 

Great strategy from Miami Dolphins and excited to see their progress 

[Activated10]

12 hours ago, freak_of_nature said:

Maybe not tank for Tua specifically, just whomever the top QB prospect is. And I think that prospect could likely go #1.

Exactly, next year QB class is strong and even though Tua my favorite to go #1, Frohm, Huebert or Hurts can take that mantle as well 

[UtahUtesFan]

On 2/5/2019 at 11:05 AM, The LBC said:

Possible.  Will depend on if there's a decline in season ticket or advertising revenue in the south Florida market; those parts of revenue are shared and it actually could be the NFLPA that goes after the Dolphins and the league for this because it's not operating with a mind towards maximizing the shared revenue (which is what the players' piece of the pie comes out of). 

@jrry32, I'm not as up on my contract and collective bargaining law as I should be - would there be a case for the league not operating in good faith if the Dolphins were allowed to intentionally tank?

That said, a team can say they're going to tank all they want, players don't operate with that mindset.  Guys going into contract years this or next year on the Phins aren't going to dog it.

Nothing can be done to prove they're intentionally tanking if they wanted to start a guy like Brock Osweiler, David Fales, or Luke Falk. That said it probably looks bad for ticket sales with one of those guys this season.