Heading into the draft last week, many people (myself included) were expecting the Miami Dolphins to select a quarterback at some point during the first two days. But all seven rounds came and went without the Dolphins turning in a card featuring the name of one of the draft's signal callers.
At first glance, that may seem like a vote a confidence in incumbent starting quarterback Chad Henne, who has a career 13-14 record and has thrown more six more interceptions than touchdowns. But that's far from the case. In fact, if various reports are accurate, the Dolphins had their sights on at least two quarterbacks in the draft. Not only that, but Tony Sparano himself said this weekend that the Dolphins still plan on addressing the quarterback position.
When asked about the team's plans for the quarterback position, Sparano was clear that competition will be added for Henne - going so far as to call it a "need" that the team will look to fill.
"Obviously, what we want to try to do is have competition at every position," said Sparano. "I’ve made that perfectly clear. I think that’s important, so we’ll see what happens when we get there and if we can fill that need, we’ll try to do it."
Does that sound like a team that's satisfied with their current quarterback situation?
Jeff Ireland went a little further, explaining that the team will explore the option in free agency.
"I think we'll have to look in free agency if we're going to do that," Ireland said about adding competition for Henne. "Certainly we'll look at all the quarterbacks in depth. The board didn't fall right for us to pick up a quarterback. I didn't feel like we were desperate for one and so we didn't adjust our board to try to go after one."
Front office still has no guts
In case you missed it, two interesting reports surfaced over the weekend. The first, courtesy of the National Football Post, claims that the Dolphins were indeed targeting a quarterback with the 15th overall pick. But their target, Christian Ponder, was selected just a few picks in front of the Dolphins.
The report that really infuriates me, though, comes courtesy of Armando Salguero - who, love him or hate him, usually has reliable team sources. Those sources told Armando that the Dolphins did indeed want to draft quarterback Ryan Mallett. In fact, the Dolphins reportedly tried to trade back into the third round to select Mallett.
"We were willing to take him, we just couldn't get our hands on him," the source told Armando. "We tried, but we couldn't do it. He's going to be a good quarterback."
So what we've essentially learned, if this report is accurate, is that the Dolphins chose to pass up a quarterback that the team believes will be good to select a running back in the second round - a position that is literally a dime a dozen.
Yeah, that sounds like something this regime would do.
How many times will this franchise pass over quarterbacks that they believe will be good to address other, less important, positions? Hasn't this team learned their lesson?
Isn't it time this regime show a little fortitude?
Still hope for Henne
I'm not ready to simply write off Chad Henne just yet. But this is clearly Henne's "crap or get off the pot" season with the Dolphins. The hope is that with a better offensive line in front of him and more weapons surrounding him, Henne - in a more aggressive offense that fits his style - will finally look like a quarterback that this regime can trust and can win with.
But you can bet the front office will bring in a veteran to, at the very least, compete with Henne.