After a year of bold moves, the Dolphins return to their old trend of “bunting for the fences”.
How did the Dolphins go from bold moves like cutting offensive linemen Dallas Thomas and Billy Turner to the ‘weak’ signing of Jay Cutler?
The bold/’home run’ move was out there. Miami had a chance to choose a player with high upside but who was passed over due to a public relations issue. The Dolphins did it in 2016 with the selection of Laremy Tunsil but barely gave a look to Colin Kaepernick.
I am not going to rehash why Kaepernick would have been the better choice because I did that in my article on Friday. https://phinphanatic.com/2017/08/04/colin-kaepernick-is-whats-best-for-the-dolphins/ Instead let’s focus on why Gase chose Cutler.
Why Cutler?
It’s hard for me to really figure out what Gase’s thinking. Sure Cutler did play in Gase’s system back in 2015 while he was the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears; thus he’s familiar with the system. Other than that, this move makes no sense for the Dolphins.
“Cutler had a career year under Adam Gase!”
This is the refrain from experts and supporters alike. However, let’s look into that ‘career year’ shall we? Cutler went 6-9 as the starter and the 2015 Chicago Bears averaged almost two points per game less than the 2016 Dolphins did (20.9 vs 22.7).
“The Bears defense was terrible!”
The 2015 Bears ranked 14th in yards per game (345.4) and 20th in the league in points allowed. The 2016 Dolphins ranked 29th in yards per game (382.6) and finished 18th in points allowed.
Does Cutler WANT to play football?
From the reports I have been hearing over the last two days, Cutler wanted to stay in the broadcast. It was Adam Gase’s ‘recruiting skills’ that convinced Cutler to come out of retirement. For a player that has been knocked in the past for lacking the heart/desire to play football, is it a good sign that Gase was able to PRY him from the booth?
Look! I hope Jay Cutler comes to Miami and, with possibly the best offensive cast of his career, puts up another ‘career year’ and leads the Dolphins to the Super Bowl. More likely, however, is that the Dolphins finish 7-9 and go into 2018 with $10-13M less in cap space than they had yesterday.
In Gase we trust?