The Phinsider weighs in on media covering our Miami Dolphins

Last week I asked you, our faithful readers which of the local or national media that cover or have covered our Miami Dolphins are either your favorite or your least favorite. Below are some of the comments that you posted with your thoughts-

PhinsTifosi kicks us off with a bit of sarcasm, yet I would take the dad over the son all day every day and twice on Sundays, but I get his point all the same...

Well that would have to be Phil Simms, multiple SB winning QB that he is . . .

PG2007 prefers fact-based reporting, the rarest of all things left in our media these days.

Barry Jackson is the top-beat reporter in my opinion. He is dialed in during press conferences and his daily writing is factual and when he gives opinions they are usually accurate. Kyle Crabbs and Travis Wingfield are great at their podcasts and I listen to both as much as possible. Kyle Crabbs from a distance is more dialed into the Dolphins than most of the beat writers that live near Miami. I enjoy listening to Kyle every day. Most of the other beat writers Omar, Perkins, and Amado, call themselves beat writers but the picture they are painting is a negative twisted version of a team that they have created. Their writing isn’t based on facts. Omar and Perk should have stayed away from the Dolphins when they left the first time.

Dolfanjoe liked the late great Jim Mandich! Gone but never forgotten! RIP!!!

Mandich was always my favorite. Enjoyed him calling games on the radio whenever I had to listen to a game at work with the radio blasting!

firezt1313 likes some Crabbs.

Kyle Crabbs on the Locked On Dolphins podcast is amazing. Travis Wingfield was great on the podcast, but Kyle has taken it to the next level. It’s a must-listen. And I think he’s on with Joe Rose sometimes.

MIAMI235 remembers another great. Weaver called every Dolphins game on WIOD from 1971 to 1993 and all five of Miami’s Super Bowl appearances. He was a mainstay of my childhood when we had to listen to away games on the radio, long before Sunday Ticket existed.

Rick Weaver called Dolphins games on the radio back in the Day . He was tops!

Spok507 is a fan of SI’s beat writer.

I guess the only outside sports reporter I read is the guy from SI that covers the Dolphins... Alain Poupart? Is that his name? He seems to be fairly balanced about what he sees, so I like to read his perspective on things and I enjoy his takes on OTA’s, practices, and appearances by McD in front of the media.

72Phins4ever misses Andy!

I really liked Andy Cohen when he wrote for the Dolphins.

sdphinsfan likes the skeptics and based on the people that he doesn’t enjoy probably is also a fan of facts and truth.

The best coverage, print or broadcast, tends to come from media people who approach what they cover with a dose of skepticism. They shouldn’t look to praise, they shouldn’t look to bash, but sometimes a topic takes you in that direction so you have to go there. What I don’t like is when media people create a narrative around a topic and treat that narrative like a fact, when all they are really trying to do is generate clicks or make themselves look good (Armando...Omar). I think Barry Jackson does a solid job. I also think Joe Rose is pretty even-handed calling games.

Call_for_the_Priest’77 is on board with an all-time fan favorite.

Jeff Darlington was pretty good in the early days of the millennium. I think he was with (or had his articles picked up by) the Dolphins’ official site before going national around 2010. I think he has maintained a respectable degree of Miami insight and respect when reporting on the team. There still is a lack of depth coverage for our team outside of Florida. Currently, Mark Siessler of NFL.com doesn’t even rank us in the top 10 for most improved teams this off-season. Of course, he has the Jets listed first (either by rank or notoriety at least) but no sign of the Florida-based team that is returning 80% of its defunct secondary back to health in addition to upgrades all over that side of the ball! I suppose Siessler was only focusing on new acquisitions and was probably inspired by a life-size poster of Aaron Rodgers he has on his wall at home or office. It would be nicer to see a little more depth here. Another example from this offseason was about two months ago when a couple of media guys (including Mel Kiper) independently projected TE picks with our 2nd or 3rd picks. In both cases, nothing was mentioned about the player’s blocking skills. As Miami fans know, blocking was a critical component for our TEs last year, skill that Gesicki lacked leading to his diminished role and his eventual FA departure. Clearly blocking skills should have been mentioned if they were present or else other players who possessed such skills should have been picked instead. It’s a lot to ask for the national guys to be in-depth for all 32 teams but that’s why they are getting the bigger money isn’t it?

Solid, solid list! Thank you as always to everyone who answered the question and added their own insight. None of this works without you, our readers and commenters!

If you would like to join in on the conversations where we highlight some of our favorite comments (and even some that I disagree with) be sure to sign up for a Phinsider account. The questions post will be posted during the week with the follow-up post coming every Saturday evening as well as other random evenings.