We're all familiar now with how this Dolphins regime works. They meet with the media only when they have to. And when they do, they say very little.
Earlier today, general manager Jeff Ireland held his pre-draft press conference. As expected, he really didn't say all that much.
The big topic, of course, was Jason Taylor. And here was Ireland's response to the Taylor questions:
"This is where we are on Jason. This organization knows exactly our stance on it. Jason and his agent know our stance on it. And I’m not gonna air our business to the media. They know exactly what our stance is. They know both sides of it, and that’s where I’ll leave it...
...Look. They know our stance. We know our stance. I’ve told Gary this. Tony has told Jason this. We have to evaluate things after the draft. So that’s where we’re at."
This is obviously not a surprise. We all knew Ireland wouldn't reveal too much about this situation. And we all assumed all along that the Dolphins would wait until after the draft to make any final decision about Taylor and his possible return to Miami.
But can the Dolphins afford to wait that long?
Some of the other "highlights" - if you can call them that - from Ireland's meeting with the media include:
- Ireland seeing Karlos Dansby as an inside linebacker, though he could be used differently on third downs if the coaches so choose.
- When asked about Mike Nolan's impact on the draft, Ireland said, "We’ll listen to him. But what we do in the draft this year will be pretty much up to Bill and I probably."
- Ireland thinks this draft is deep both at skill positions and along the lines.
- Says that "we have options to trade down and trade up." But he made it clear he feels like "there's going to be good players" at #12.
- Says he puts more emphasis on how a player plays more so than how he times and jumps during workouts.
- He called himself somebody who studies "history" and believes that "certain positions in this league over time will tell you small players don't have much success."
- How important is this draft? "This draft is important. We need to make a big jump."
- He admits that the Dolphins bring players in to visit in hopes of faking out other teams. Also admits to tracking the visits that other teams host.
- What about their own draft histories as it pertains to drafting certain positions? "Just because Bill and I haven't done it in the past doesn't mean we won't do it this year."