Don’t Look Back

Don’t Look Back

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross coveted drafting Louisville Cardinals quarterback Lamar Jackson in the 2018 NFL draft.

Jackson won the Heisman trophy in 2016.

He attended Pompano Beach High School in South Florida.

He grew up in a distressed neighborhood in Pompano Beach and, encouraged by his mother, began playing Pop Warner football at age 7.

As a child, reports say that Lamar loved the Dallas Cowboys, but growing up in South Florida, he also loved the Miami Dolphins.

The Baltimore Ravens drafted him with the 32nd pick of that draft.

The owner, Stephen Ross, likely the only bright person in the room at the time, wanted the Dolphins to draft Lamar Jackson.

The Miami Dolphins, under the direction of Coach Adam Gase and General Manager Chris Grier, “overruled” or made him believe otherwise, and chose safety Minkah Fitzpatrick with the 11th pick of that same draft.

Minkah Fitzpatrick is a Pro Bowl player, deservedly so, and we can hopefully keep him until the end of his football career, yet he is not a Lamar Jackson.

Not in the 2018 draft, nor in the drafts that followed, have the Dolphins had such an incredible opportunity to draft a franchise quarterback.

Yet, please, the rumors are the trade that sends Tua Tagovailoa, the Dolphins’ first-round picks in 2026 and 2027, and possibly another player or draft choice for Lamar.

And the talk continues to be that Stephen Ross wants his 2018 draft choice to make good this time.

Please, Mr. Ross, do not look back and try to recreate the past.

Move forward.

Do not allow this team and your franchise to continue to compromise the future by a short-sighted decision.

Looking back to try to fix mistakes never works.

Staying with Quinn Ewers, drafting to address the many needs the team has, and building for the next couple of years through young players makes sense to us, loyal fans.

This team will not win in 2026, even with Lamar Jackson.

We are too deficient in too many other positions.

Move on.