Stephen Ross Finally Does A Clean Sweep

Stephen Ross Finally Does A Clean Sweep

Raise your hand if you thought Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was going to do a clean sweep in firing his GM, Head Coach, and Scouting Department? 

I know I didn’t. 

A lot of us fans have been calling for a clean sweep in the organization for years, and not just recently.

The problem is, every time Ross has a chance to do it, he doesn’t, and either keeps the HC or the GM, and the new person must inherit one or the other, and that rarely works out. 

Ross has done many good things on the business side of the Dolphins, such as renovating the stadium with his own money, something owners never do, and upgrading the training facility for the Dolphins. He spends his money at no expense, which is a good thing as an owner.

The problem is that the product on the football field hasn’t changed since he became the team’s owner over 15 years ago. He has tried to make things work by spending on free agents and stuff, but nothing has worked.

He has even been loyal, to a fault, to the football staff he inherited. He kept Chris Grier for years and made him the GM in 2016, when frankly no one was knocking on his door for a GM position outside the Dolphins. He has tried and failed with first-time head coaches in Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores, and now Mike McDaniel, which hasn’t produced the desired results. 

Last year, after the Dolphins made the playoffs in back-to-back years, the team regressed, and everyone was calling for change, but Ross was stubborn and decided to retain Grier and McDaniel when it was obvious that something had to change. Well, one year later, and the same average results, Ross did 180 and broke everything up. It started on Halloween when he fired Grier and started making changes in the scouting department. 

Then, just last week, he decided to fire McDaniel 4 days after the season ended, when most thought he would keep him. 

The change was needed, but my question is, what finally made the light go off for Ross to make the change? He has needed to do this and has been stubborn. My thinking is that someone or some people in his inner circle suggested it was time to make a change. Sometimes it’s who has the person’s ear and is willing to take that opinion, because Ross wasn’t seeing what we all have been seeing, and a lot of people have written about it as well. 

 The bottom line is Ross finally came to his senses, and this team can move forward with a completely new regime. He also put an emphasis on finding a GM with a good scouting background, which I think is smart because player evaluation through the draft and free agency has been off, to say the least.

The Dolphins think they have found that person in John Eric Sullivan, who worked his way up the scouting ranks with the Green Bay Packers, and they have scouted well through the past 3 decades in finding players in the draft and knowing when to find players to replace players entering the back nine of their careers.

This is going to be a refreshing start for the Dolphins, who have fallen on hard times and gone down many dark roads since Dan Marino retired 25 years ago. 

This once proud franchise with great tradition has become a laughingstock and a punch line around the NFL. No one takes this team seriously. 

This change doesn’t guarantee things will turn around, especially right away, but it was long overdue and gives the team a fresh start, and the fans some hope that this team is starting to turn things around.