Volin: Aponte is bad cop to Ireland's good cop

The Miami Dolphins currently employ one of the most powerful women in the NFL, Dawn Aponte. Serving as the Dolphins' Executive Vice President of Football Operations, Aponte was hired by owner Stephen Ross in 2010. Palm Beach Post writer Ben Volin posted an exceptional look at Aponte yesterday. I won't try to re-tell his work. Instead, I will pull a quote out of the article that I found interesting, then ask you to go read the full article for a little more behind the scenes knowledge of the Dolphins.

Volin discussed Aponte with a league source, who apparently knows how things really work in the Dolphins' front office.

Aponte and Ireland act as "good cop, bad cop," with Aponte often serving as the bad cop. Ireland is more prone to small talk and relationship-building during contract negotiations, while Aponte, an accountant and attorney, is all business.

"Dawn will say ‘no' when Jeff won't," the source said. "She doesn't really have extemporaneous conversations. And she's very ‘by the book' with whatever stance the team has. But she's done a fantastic job with making sure they're one of the cap-healthiest teams in the NFL."

It's interesting that Aponte plays the bad cop, after all the times we have heard that Ireland rubs people the wrong way in interviews, and we have players like Ryan Clark and Channign Crowder who have said that Ireland is the reason they don't play for the Dolphins, and why no one wants to play for Miami.

Volin goes on to point out how well Aponte has worked the salary cap leading up to this year, and throughout the Dolphins' spending spree, keeping the team with money this year, and with a way to get out of most of the long term contracts after just two years.

Really, go read Volin's story about the woman some feel could become the first female general manager in the league.