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The Miami Dolphins have had a busy offseason. The used free agency and the draft to rapidly turn over the roster, getting younger, faster, and cheaper at a lot of key positions, while also filling team needs systematically and deliberately. All-in-all, the offseason has lead to a confidence among the Dolphins players that really has not been there in past seasons.
Friday, before the team's charity golf tournament, Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland spoke to the media about the team's dramatic offseason.
"We're excited where we're at right now," Ireland said, according to the Miami Herald's Adam H. Beasley. "We're just names on paper right now until we start jelling as a football team. [But] we're excited the players we added."
"We got players we wanted," he continued. "What's great to hear is that players wanted us too. I think that's the most important aspect of what we've accomplished this year.
"This is a place where people want to play."
Miami being a place where players want to play is a complete turn around from everything we heard last year. Players the Dolphins did not overpay suddenly were declaring Miami as a franchise no one wanted to join. The media piled on, deciding that, if Miami did not sign a player, it was because the player did not want to join the team, not that the team didn't want the player, or that the player got more money from somewhere else. Things were bleak around the Dolphins.
Not any more. Miami is back on the map as a location for free agents. And, hopefully, the confidence that the players are exhibiting this year, and the excitement Ireland is feeling, will turn into results on the field in September.