Have To Trust Sully To Get It Right

Have To Trust Sully To Get It Right

Trust is a hard word for us fans of the Miami Dolphins because we have been traumatized by the team’s mediocrity and have been unable to win a playoff game in 26 years. We have seen so many different regimes come in and out of here, and guys like Chris Grier have all told us their plans and how they will turn things around, only for it to end in disappointment and frustration as a fan. 

However, that is what we have to do with new GM Jon Eric Sullivan, and it is hard to do as fans because we have given up hope on previous regimes. It begs the question, what is different about Sully?  

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, when he moved on from Grier in the middle of last season, said he wanted to hire a GM with a strong background in scouting. Well, Sully is known for his scouting as he worked his way up the ranks with the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers are also among the best organizations over the last 30 years at scouting, drafting, and developing players. It also helps that they have an eye for finding franchise quarterbacks, such as Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and now Jordan Love, which helps a great deal because it’s the most important position in sports, and the Dolphins have failed to find one since Dan Marino retired. It’s been reported that Sully was the one voice who advocated for the Packers to trade up and get Love 

The problem is that Sully’s first chance to be the main guy making the final decisions on the roster, and the reality is we won’t know how good he is for at least a couple of seasons. We also might have a good idea this year, potentially.

However, he comes from the Packers, learned from some of the best in the franchise, and worked his way up the ladder over 20 years. Now, we must see if he is ready to be the man.  

The easy part for Sully is tearing down the roster as he parted ways with Tyreek Hill, Bradley Chubb, Tua Tagovailoa, and others, as he has had to clean up the salary cap. He also made a smart trade this week in dealing star receiver Jaylen Waddle to the Denver Broncos for a 1st and 3rd round pick this year.

That’s a good haul for a player that isn’t a true number 1 receiver and he found a team desperate to make a deal in the Broncos, who despite being the number 1 seed in the AFC and one play away from going to the Super Bowl, didn’t have a player on their offense with the play making ability of Waddle and they pick at the end of the first round and you don’t know what you will get in the draft so they felt their window is open now so make the deal. 

It’s smart that he is willing to listen to see if a team would give him an offer; he can’t refuse. 

However, Grier did the same thing in his rebuild in trading tackle Laremy Tunsil for two 1st round picks and a 2nd round pick to the Houston Texans  

However, now comes the time to ask, what will Sully do with those picks? Sully, like Grier, has to stock up the talent of this roster because it is bare as it can be. The Dolphins have no cornerstones on defense, especially in the secondary and edge rushers. They also don’t have any legitimate playmakers on offense outside of running back De Von Achane. 

The last rebuild, Grier picked a nice foundation with Christian Wilkins, Andrew Van Ginkel, Tagovailoa, Jevon Holland, Jaelan Phillips, and others. The problem was that some of those players got hurt, didn’t get a second contract, or, in the case of Tagovailoa, got a second contract only to regress.

Grier started to build this team through the draft and then went sideways, trading premium picks for established players in their prime in Hill, Chubb, and Jaylen Ramsey, as well as giving them big contracts, and in the case of Hill & Ramsey, an unnecessary second deal.

That limited the Dolphins’ ability to re-sign their core players, gave the team the fewest draft picks from 2022 to 2024, and put the team in the salary cap mess it is in now. The Dolphins had nothing to show for it. 

That brings us to this current rebuilding process. Sully has said that he wants to build this team through the draft, develop, and retain the players they bring. He also said they will be diligent in their free agent signings. That sounds great in theory, but I heard Grier say the same things, and we all know how that went.

I want to see if he puts this into action, especially after a few years, because he is going to have to rebuild this roster in the draft, but the salary cap is going to get better next year, and beyond, so my question will be how he will handle the roster when he has a healthy salary cap.

Will he give out big contracts like Grier did for Byron Jones, Kyle Van Noy, and others, as well as the other players I mentioned above, or will he use his resources to invest in the players he drafts and develops? 

The process starts with April’s draft, and I am hoping that Sully can draft talented players who can give this franchise hope of turning this team around into a potential contender.

All we can do as fans is watch and trust what Sully is doing, but as a fan, I’m so traumatized by the last 26 years that I’m questioning whether this once-proud franchise will ever return to its glory days of years past.

I wasn’t born yet when the team won in the 1970’s, but I grew up with Marino, and he gave the team a chance. I’m just hoping this team can finally get its act together and become a respectable contender year in and year out instead of one of the laughing stocks of the NFL. 

We must do something uncomfortable, and that’s trust what Sully, the new guy, is going to do after being in a cycle of mediocrity and embarrassment at times for the past 26 years.