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Dolphins tired of 'rejected' storyline; Zach Strief did not spurn Miami

Over the past few years, it has appeared the Miami Dolphins are often spurned by big name free agents and coaches, and, even if there are understandable reasons why someone didn't join the franchise, fans have gotten too used to it. When tackle Zach Strief appeared to join the ranks of players to reject the Dolphins, Miami did not stand pat against the story.

By Kevin Nogle
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Jim Harbaugh. Peyton Manning. Jeff Fisher. Jake Long. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 850 different General Manager candidates. Over the past few years, the Miami Dolphins have been rejected, used for pay raises elsewhere, and simply ignored by some of the big names available for the front office, free agents, or coaching candidates.  While fans live and die with each possibility followed by an announcement of a signing elsewhere, the Dolphins as a franchise appear to be tired of the same story as well.

Nevermind Brent Grimes joining the team, then re-signing.  Nevermind Branden Albert saying Miami was his only choice this offseason.  Forget Mike Wallace turning down more money from other teams to come to Miami.  Every time the Dolphins seem to miss on someone they want, the storyline of Miami being a poor destination, a franchise in disarray, a club mired in disfunction, rears its head again.

The potential for that story to again come out happened this week when right tackle Zach Strief, who had been in contact with Miami, declined an invitation to visit the Dolphins.  It was not a surprise, as Strief has appeared to want to return to the New Orleans Saints throughout the free agency period, and it appears the Saints want to find a way to get him back, despite being up against the salary cap.

Miami, however, wanted to nip-in-the-bud any rejection story.  According to the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero this morning, Miami contact Strief's agent Ralph Cindrich to express their disappointment that the declination of an invite had been leaked to the media.  Both the Miami Herald and Pro Football Talk had picked up the story - though they both seemed to point out that Strief simply wants to remain in New Orleans, not that he doesn't want to go to Miami.

Cindrich sent out a series of tweets this morning, clarifying the situation from his point of view:

While it probably was a little unnecessary for both the Dolphins to contact Cindrich, if Salguero's report is accurate (not that there's any reason to doubt it), and Cindrich did not need to take to Twitter to clarify, it is good that the story was set straight.

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