Free agency is upon us, as all of you know. So now is the time to bring out our earplugs. This is the time of smoke, mirrors, and lying by NFL executives and their general managers. It is the one time of year that lying is actually condoned by the fans, or at least I think it is. That's not to say that I like it. I don't like people that lie to me, but in this instance its okay.
Right now as I write this Miami Dolphin executives are putting their spin on what they want us to hear. They are in the backrooms or upstairs at the Davie complex thinking of ways to mislead the media at the local and national level. They are doing everything they can to keep the competition off balance. If that includes a little bit of misinformation or lying, well I guess that is alright by me.
A few years ago I think the Dolphins used that misinformation in deceiving the Patriots into moving up in the draft to take Ryan Mallett. Just last year we went after Peyton Manning. Paul thinks we pursued him pretty hard. I didn't feel that way. I think what the Dolphins did to acquire him was mostly spin. The Dolphins were going to take who they thought was the best QB available to us in the draft. That player was going to start the season for us. My thoughts were the only reason Miami went after Manning at all was drive his value up for whoever took him. It worked!
Miami has also fallen prey to the same trap they tried to set for the other teams. It happened when we moved up in the draft to select Daniel Thomas. Miami wanted Thomas. There was no doubt about that. I feel they had some false information that another team was looking at him and they made some trades to facilitate that pick. There is no way I can prove any of that of course, but I would put money on that is what happened with the Thomas pick.
So here we sit. Some players are trying to re-sign with the teams they are on. Others are ready to move on for a bigger pay day. We already know most of the players that are being released across the NFL, but there will be plenty more as the season nears. The Dolphins still have some low-hanging fruit on the team that could be let go if need be.
Will the Dolphins go after Mike Wallace or Greg Jennings? Is that all talk? Are we going to re-sign Jake Long, Sean Smith, Anthony Fasano, Chris Clemons, or any of our other free agents? Does the Dolphins disinterest in those players mean anything?
The smoke is going to get really thick and the misinformation, or crap, if I may say, is going to get very deep. I would suggest that we put on our gas masks and some waist-high waders, as we muddle through the offseason.
