I hate to say it, I really do, but the Miami Dolphins should just cut their losses and send Daunte Culpepper on his merry way. Too much money was invested, so little payed off.
I have said that the Dolphins owe Daunte Culpepper absolutely ZERO. Nothing, nada, nill, nyet. They still don’t. Cpepp cost the Dolphins a few million dollars and a 2nd round draft pick as well as loads of doctors care and rehab money. It paid off with a mediocre four games at the start of last season and 1 victory. Consider the bill paid in full.
To understand what I am saying lets take a quick look over the last few days and what has been said.
"Daunte tells the media that any QB who will come here should be prepared to know that it isn’t going to be “peaches and cream” and that he is the starting QB for the Dolphins.Then, it is rumored that DC wants out of Miami and will demand his release is Green is brought in. DC later denies these comments and says that he not only welcomes the competition with Green, but further states the Dolphins should be doing what they feel is necessary to better the team, including bringing in another QB if need be.DC has now said, after being told that the team wanted to trade him, that he does not want to be traded and that he wants to be released, that he will be there for camp this weekend and that he is under contract with the Dolphins and they can either release him or keep him. He wants no more of the trade business."
The most recent comments have solidified the fact that Miami will no longer get anything for Daunte Culpepper. Nothing. His comments tell any prospective teams, such as Jacksonville, Oakland, and Atlanta that he will be available shortly for nothing.
Miami is best served cutting ties now, rather than later. Unless they plan on allowing him to compete for the starting job, which then risks DC being hurt and thereby guaranteeing the 5.5 million dollars he is due this year.
Daunte is owed nothing by Miami. Not a chance to start, compete, or even take up anymore time on the roster. At the same time, Daunte owes Miami nothing as well. He is a trade gone bad. A trade that should never have happened.
One thing that has always been consistent with Daunte is Daunte. He is who he is and he doesn’t care how it affects anyone else, at least to some degree. That is not a knock. Daunte should take care of himself. But Daunte spends more time complaining to the media or trying to stick up for himself rather than just let it go. Dan Marino never made public statements when he was rumored to be heading to the Vikings prior to his retirement. It’s called acting professional.
Daunte uses the email system to speak his mind, he has that right, although he rarely uses it with any sort of intelligence in that his timing is always a little off. He defends himself on paper and not in his work, he defends himself in work ethic, but not results. Truth be told, Daunte has been injured to some degree since he arrived here, has the media or the fans said anything that was not true? No, did the media or the fans say anything detrimental to Daunte personally? Not really. They questioned his ability to adapt to the type of system that is being implemented and thus questioned his intelligence in that regards, but you know the saying “sticks and stones.” In the case of Daunte Culpepper, paper covers rock….or email covers stones. Yes, it was a poor attempt at humor.
I was never a fan of Daunte Culpepper coming to Miami and believe it or not I find no comfort in being right about my reservations. I likened the trade of Cpepp to a move that Wannstedt and Speilman would make. In retrospect, it was. Perhaps down the line, this eventual departure of DC will be viewed as more of a mistake by the Dolphins, although I personally doubt it, I hope I am right about that one.
Take a look at the picture that accompanies this blog. Notice that there is a bike next to Dauntes’, it has a playbook opened on the holder. Look at DCs’, it has nothing. That in and of itself means little or nothing. There are a million reasons why there is nothing in front of DC. Still, you have to wonder about his mental dedication to learning a new offensive system, the first time in his career that he has had to.
Daunte, should he stay in Miami would likely have to become more of a pocket passer, which I do not believe that he can do. I used to say that DC could not make the progressions and reads for checking off, however, it was put to me a different way by a friend of mine who does not agree one bit with my opinion on DC, and in fact we seem to be very clearly at opposite ends of the Dolphins quarterback situation.
He said that DC is more than capable of making reads, to him, the problem is more that he doesn’t read the defensive changes correctly or quickly enough when he checks off. Meaning that if Daunte reads the primary route he fails to clearly identify the defensive changes that would open up another route, and instead, he tends to check down to the dump off route. I believe that was what he was trying to convey to me. He told me this during a forum conversation and I can not find the exact quote, so if I am wrong about what he actually said, I have only myself to blame.
Daunte has come back, sort of, from an injury that most would never have imagined coming back from. He did so in 8 months compared to the normal 12. He went back to rehab when it became clear he came back to early. Since then he has undergone more surgery and has rode as many miles on the stationary bike as the Tour de France.
What is left of the Daunte Culpepper experiment is still unknown, that final chapter has yet to be written, and the critique of that chapter may take another year or two. What we do know is that Daunte Culpepper has turned his attention to the computer screen again. He sends out emails dictating his intentions and his feelings. Knowing Cpepps’ history with emails, we can expect to hear more. Not just as a Miami Dolphin. We will hear it from wherever he goes whenthings don’t go his way. To be fair, he really did want to play for the Miami Dolphins, and he never really got the chance to prove that he could return to his former self, and if he is to return to that person, he will likely not be doing it here.
We will however hear this after he joins another team, “I will prove them wrong, I will prove to the Miami Dolphins that they made a mistake.”
I think they already know that.
For now, it’s time to just move on and cut not only Daunte Culpepper, but the losses the trade for him brought as well.