A walkabout that's had our Miami Dolphins going in circles for the last eight years like a dying man lost in the desert in dire need of finding a water source!!
Ricky Williams' Untimely July 2004 decision to walkabout cost the Miami Dolphins their one legitimate shot (since Danny Marino) at an Elite NFL Quarterback in Aaron Rodgers entering the 2005 draft, while also destroying the integrity, charisma, and stability of a once proud franchise!!
Summarized; The regimes of Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, and Bill Parcells should have never crossed our path!! Not to suggest that the majority of fault to today's status is any of those mentioned regimes doing or undoing..
(Well, maybe Saban, Cameron, BP and Ireland)?? But, Tony Sparano is trying his butt off, and would never turn his back on us just because things haven't gone as planned,(ie; R Williams, Jimmy Johnson, Saban, and BP)!!
I summarized above because a map might be required before entering the maze below :)!
Had #34 not walked we'd of had our super-star game breaking tailback with Ricky Williams in his prime and not been in need of selecting Ronnie Brown (nor would we of even considered him) in the 2005 draft with Ricky already on board.. Had he not walked (seeing that we were coming off of an extremely productive 10-6 2003) we'd of likely had a decent 2004 resulting in a 2005 pick somewhere between our actual number two pick and the late teens to mid twenty's with only the missing piece of an Elite Quarterback needed for the 2005 draft, season, and beyond..
In that particular 2005 draft where we picked Ronnie at number two, the second ranked quarterback in that draft behind the number one pick of Alex Smith happened to be the one who's become "super elite" Aaron Rodgers picked by the (who didn't even need a QB) Green Bay Packers with the twenty-forth pick.. Rodgers was projected to be picked around number ten while agonizing in the green room until GB's "fateful" selection of him.. Had Williams not walked, and we picked somewhere around GB at 24 in 2005 (which would have meant we went to the 2004 playoffs if not divisional rounds) after not qualifying at 10-6 for the 2003 playoffs.. Aaron Rodgers would have been the one missing piece to get our consistently winning team at the time over the top in 2005,or o6, or o7 and so on which would have carried over to this current date at least to some strong extent, especially with A Rodgers!! While, if Ricky had stayed and we actually did (as projected) proceed to the 2004 divisional rounds (rather than 4-12) and not had a shot ahead of GB to pick Rodgers in o5, that 2004 winning season would have carried over toward today to some extent also!! Sooo Ricky screwed us every which way including loose in eliminating our more than likely opportunity at the 2004 playoffs, and in an opportunity at A Rodgers,(either of which that would have been prosperous to today's team), while both could have happened together, neither took place because of Ricky Williams!!
In the same Ricky Williams instance the historic stability the franchise had exhibited during it's first thirty-eight years had been instantly lost due to Ricky's departure and disregard to the organizations city, owner, Head coach, staff, leaders, players, and fans, resulting in the downfall of Dave Wannstedt as well as consistent charismatic integrity throughout the organization and winning seasons combined with playoff appearances on a pre-determined basis!!
In the 2004 draft just before RW's adventure we (Wanny) traded-up for Vernon Carey, and picked-up a FA O-lineman or two in the preceding Free agency period to sure-up the OLine for the sake of the face of our franchise Ricky Williams!! JP Losman was the only QB available to us near the pick of Vernon Carey!!
Because of Ricky's farr from scheduled retirement!! Wanny in trying every option to somehow, someway, replace the loss of Williams' production was instantaneously forced to spend 2005's third round pick on the likes of Running back LaMar Gordon in hopes of keeping his pre-season favored team in the conversation as the 2004 AFC Super Bowl representative!! Lamar Gordon was an up and coming star at St.Louis but he didn't last an entire season with us due to a career ending injury..
Had Ricky not walked, that third round pick could have been used as ammo to secure the acquisition of A Rodgers and/or to strengthen the surrounding offensive cast of what could have been Aaron Rodgers at QB, and Ricky Williams in his prime at Tailback as the core, while the Defense was already top notch!!
However, because of Ricky's last second selfishness Wanny was forced to resign at 1-8 mid-way through the 2004 season resulting in runnig back-less NCAA specialist Nick Sabans forced selection of an SEC (who'd a thunk-it) tailback named Ronnie Brown, while not being of the understanding of how much Miami Dolphin fans as well as an NFL team needed the likes of an Aaron Rodgers type to fill the void of our beloved number 13!!(An "understanding" that Wanny couldn't possibly have helped but become aware of)!! Dave Wannstedt(who the fans chased ouuta town due to the cost of Ricky's absenteeism) with Jay Fiedler at QB had a higher winning percentage than Jimmy Johnson with Danny Marino!!
IMHO, had RW not walked Dave Wannstedt would have kept his job, couldn't have possibly passed on Aaron Rodgers in 2005, and would today be our multiple Super Bowl winning head coach along with more than deserving players such as Zach Thomas, JT, etc, etc, owner Wayne Huizenga, and we the adoring fans!!
Because of Ricky Williams (including the demise of Wanny) we've been through "three (soon likely to be four) what never should have been regimes" in the last seven years!! You can't develop a consistent winning mindset when the rules/schemes/personnel get changed every 2 to 3 years on average!!
It's said that when an NFL team misses on a first round QB it'll cost'em at least five years to recover without changing regimes, It's also suggested that with every regime change you're looking at five plus years until each new regime can get their mentality and personnel in place!! Who knows the recovery time included under new ownership, but I'd suggest that wouldn't have taken place either if not for Ricky's stroll!! So with a humorous look at it, Ricky put us some 20yrs in the hole because he IS the reason Wannstedt's regime failed, we've changed ownership, been through 3 additional regimes since, and still haven't landed an elite QB!! Because of Ricky Williams we (Saban) missed on an opportunity at Aaron Rodgers with a stable regime(of which should have remained Wannstedt)around him!! A regime that should likely be on this day the longest tenured regime in the league, while at the same time until present day we would have remained the winning est most stable team in the league and likely multiple Super Bowl Champions to boot!!
Scratch A Rodgers.. Just with the contracted Williams in his prime at tailback for the 2004,05,06,07 seasons would have been enough to propel those seasons to an exciting level due to probable playoff appearences (where anything can happen), while never ever allowing the team to reach a low of becoming the butt of late night television host!!
The day Danny rightfully so retired I said "it's the beginning of the end", then we momentarily recovered in replacing his star power with Ricky Williams, things were lookin good and then that super-nova exploded casting our world into an undesirable dimension that can't be navigated away from without a new star being born to light the way!!
I realize it's all irrelevant at this point but felt it necessary for the true leading culprit of our eight year demise and organizational instability to be unveiled, and I'm as blind as everybody else in still lovin the guy!! OHHHH what could have been??
Thanx for an open-minded reading, GOFINS!!
