Did Ross Nix Dolphins Trade For Orton?

The Miami Dolphins had an off-field love affair with Denver Broncos QB Kyle Orton.  Fans chanted his name at a Dolphins practice when Chad Henne walked onto the field at Sun-Life Stadium.  Jeff Ireland who was reportedly so close to getting the deal done suddenly pulled the offer off the table and signed Matt Moore a day later.  Now, apparently, one south Florida beat writer is claiming that it was Stephen Ross who interjected and told Ireland enough.

According to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, you can read the article here, Ross did not see Orton as a franchise QB and refused to pay him as such.  Salguero states the following in his article regarding this.

"Ross is apparently so committed to doing this that the source confirmed it was the owner himself who told Jeff Ireland to shut down the attempt to add Kyle Orton in the summer when the general manager was still trying to trade for the Denver quarterback.“Orton is a nice quarterback,” the source said. “But he’s not a franchise quarterback, and we weren’t going to pay him like one when he isn’t one.”"

I have a few issues with his article to be honest but the fact that someone, anyone in the organization is pointing their finger at Ross makes me laugh.  The reality is that only a handful of people in the Dolphins organization have a working knowledge of what Ross thinks, says, and does.  I know this first hand.  I can also tell you that any one of those handful of people will not be talking to the media about what Ross is saying, doing, or thinking.  I’m not saying or insinuating that Salguero was not actually told this, I’m sure he was.  I do however believe that a bit of conjecture by that source may be the root of it.

Still, if it was Ross that pulled the plug on Orton, and I tend to hope it was, then it was a brilliant move from an owner who has kept off the football side of the business.  Especially considering that Orton is now benched in Denver giving Tim Tebow an extra week to prepare for Miami next Sunday.  But there is more to this article that I simply can’t fathom.

This is not a knock on Armando Salguero by any means, I’m far too professional to take unwarranted jabs at anyone, including media figures or reporters.  The reality is that Salguero has far more inside sources than I do so to some extent you can bet someone told him something.  But remember what I said, only a handful of people are on Ross’ trust list and they are not going to be running off with their mouths to the media…on or off the record.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when I read that according to this “source” that Ross is fine with losing…at least that is how it reads in it’s presentation.

"It doesn’t stop there. Ross is so focused on getting his team a franchise quarterback that he has told friends, much as losses pain him in the short-term, he’s aware they offer long-term gain because they put Miami in better position to pick Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck in the next draft."

So, this is not a quote by Salguero’s source yet it is presented as such.  I can’t fathom any owner in the NFL to be fine with losing regardless of the end payoff.  “Aware of the long-term gain”?  Let’s be realistic here for a moment.  I am sure that Ross is aware that Andrew Luck is likely the number 1 player to be taken in the 2012 draft and I’m sure that he and just about every other owner out there would love to have him leading their offense.  But to assume or insinuate that an owner is aware to the point that he may be o.k. with it is crass.

Armando does not cite a source in that statement, he does not say…”according to a friend who I spoke with…” or anything else.  The blurb simply leads you to believe that Ross is o.k. if the team loses…or in other words they…”suck for luck”.  Now, before you go getting all tied up over my ignorance in reading too much into this, understand that it was brought to my attention this morning by several Emails from readers who wanted to know what I thought or have heard about it.  So it’s not just me, and I have heard nothing regarding Ross and losing outside that he deplores it.

Just above the title of Armando’s article, in small letters, are the words, “In my opinion“.  I am sure that this article is mixed with both opinion and source provided statements, I may not be a fan of Salguero’s blog but I don’t for a second a believe that he would simply make sources up to fuel his own opinion.  So following that, someone said something to him.  The question is what level that someone is and how much do they really know because again, the people at the top don’t talk.

Salguero also states that according to his “highly placed source” that while the team has been prepping for New York, the “highest level” of the team has been pondering what to do after the season.  So we are led to believe that Ross and several other “high level” players are working on a plan for a new football team.  The problem here is not that they are, they have likely been looking at contingency plans since the Browns game, the problem is in the presentation.  It’s presented as if they are conducting some hush hush informants meeting and could care less about what the operations side is doing.

Armando also speculates that limited parts of Ross’ future plans were given to the Herald.  He surmises that they will go into effect in January.  Which is when the season ends and full time head coaches for the following seasons are usually courted.  So there isn’t a lot of surprise there.  The surprise would have been if that source stated that Ross and company were prepared to make a bold move during the season.  Which everyone doesn’t expect to happen.

Salguero’s article is interesting.  It gives you something to think about and I’m sure we are all thinking that if this train wreck continues that Ross will inevitably make a change at the coaching position and/or the GM spot with Jeff Ireland.  This is Ross’ year and as Salguero points out, what Ross does next will be his signature move.  I have been saying in Finsradio for the last few weeks that this was not Ross’ hand picked team, it was handed down to him.  The next one won’t be.

Sorry if this comes off as a bash fest for Armando fans, it’s not intended to be that but realize also that I didn’t write his article so while I love getting mail from our readers and answer every one of them, you may want to Email him on this one.  Just saying.