Report: Miami Dolphins Release David Garrard

The Miami Dolphins have released veteran QB David Garrard, according to Jay Glazer.

Garrard, who was considered at one point to be the front-runner for the starting quarterback job, had to have knee surgery the day after the Dolphins first preseason game. He ended up sitting out the entire preseason.

From what I'm hearing the Dolphins cut Garrard because they didn't want to have to worry about his injuries. He worked out for the team at the end of last week, so apparently he wasn't where Miami wanted him to be in terms of his health.

I was hoping that the Dolphins would trade Matt Moore and keep Garrard, but I'm also hearing that Miami didn't really receive any good offers for Moore because of his poor preseason play. That forced them to cut one guy, and Garrard was more of a problem with injuries, so they showed him the door.

It will be interesting to see who Miami signs now that they have an open roster position.

Thanks for stopping by. Email me at paul@dolphinshout.com. I'm on twitter at @PaulDSmythe.

The Ryan Tannehill Era Begins for the Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins and Panthers square off Friday night in Carolina and though it is only the second preseason game, there is great interest among Miami Dolphin fans. The intrigue is generated by the slightly veiled implication, the Dolphins will start Ryan Tannehill...

The lip service Miami fans heard prior to training camp was that Tannehill would sit and watch for at least half the season and perhaps the whole season, if Moore or Garrard got the team rolling early. That notion quickly changed when Garrard required knee surgery, taking him out of the picture for four weeks and Moore got off to a slow start in training camp. Ryan Tannehill has played more like the veteran, and showing the ability to lead the team at least as well as Moore, further jeopardized the plan.

So, with great anticipation, Miami Dolphin fans will get to watch the team start a first round quarterback and that hasn’t happened in twenty eight years. There is a lot riding on Tannehill and many have said, it is foolish to throw him on the field when he is unprepared because a rough start would hurt his confidence. The other rationale is, if Tannehill has it, then like Payton Manning, even going 3-13 is not going to damage his confidence.

The key then probably does not have as much to do with Tannehill as with Joe Philbin and Mike Sherman. Quarterbacking is equal parts confidence, intelligence and ability. There have been many QBs with rocket arms who were not smart enough to grasp a playbook or read a defense. In contrast, many QBs could memorize an offense and dissect a defense, but without the arm strength to make plays in tight windows or the durability to stay on the field, they didn’t make it. But, there is a reason confidence was listed first of the three ingredients, it is the most critical.

Without Confidence, the other ingredients do not matter, a QB is a leader and that confidence is what makes other players follow him. Confidence starts with a head coach, a coordinator and a position coach that realize they have a special player. They have the confidence to jump on that boat, just as the players in the huddle and the fans in the stands, all want a piece of the magic.

In today’s NFL and probably for most of the league’s history, coaches and QBs have been successful or failed together. Tony Sparano failed in Miami because Chad Henne did not win the confidence of his teammates. It could have been as simple as Henne commanding Brandon Marshall to shut his mouth and catch the ball. The bottom line is, Henne did not instill confidence in his teammates and his coaching staff never fully recognized him as the leader of the team.

Joe Philbin could make the same mistake with Tannehill, but he has done a very nice job of paving Ryan’s way by shipping Marshall to Chicago and unceremoniously dumping Chad Johnson. Where Sparano invited the problems for Henne, Philbin has eliminated them for Tannehill. Mike Sherman’s comment that perhaps Tannehill was overconfident, was very telling in what he thinks of the young man.

The Dolphins may have lost in the Manning sweepstakes, but they clearly allowed other options like Matt Flynn and Alex Smith to walk away because they had their sights set on Ryan Tannehill. They did not compete with Washington for RG3 and Andrew Luck was a done deal, it means they knew, aside from Manning and perhaps even if they signed Manning, they were after Ryan Tannehill.

Matt Moore and David Garrard are not in the running as the future face of the Miami Dolphins. That distinction belongs to Ryan Tannehill and it means all the way from Jeff Ireland, to Joe Philbin, to Mike Sherman, there is a consensus, Ryan is the man. It is an organizational confidence Miami Dolphin fans have not seen since Don Shula and Dan Marino.

Does it mean the future is now? The thought here is, the only thing that is going to accelerate Ryan Tannehll’s acclimation to the NFL is being on the field and learning the speed of the game by being part of it.

Like Payton Manning, Tannehill may have a rough start, but one thing was clear in Indianapolis when Manning was drafted and it is clear again with Andrew Luck, the team was/is theirs, and they have the full confidence of the organization. This year’s win loss record has little to do with whether Luck is the future of the franchise.

Matt Moore - David Garrard, is there a single Miami fan that believes this team belongs to either of these two men? Why then waste time? This game against Cam Newton and the Panthers should go down as a demarcation line in Dolphin history, the day Ryan Tannehill officially took the reins in Miami!

Tannehill may not play well, he may light it up, but if a GM and coaching staff is confident enough to stake their future on this young man, let him play. Let him make the mistakes and take the lumps, all the while standing behind him 100%.

Let the Ryan Tannehill era begin in Miami!

David Garrard Listed as Dolphins Starting Quarterback

The Miami Dolphins have released their first depth chart of the 2012 season, and on it they have David Garrard listed as the starting quarterback. Matt Moore is listed as the backup and Ryan Tannehill is 3rd string.

While this isn't exactly surprising news to anyone who's been following Miami this preseason, it is still significant because it is the first time the Dolphins have listed Garrard as the team's number one quarterback on paper. Garrard has consistently looked like the best quarterback on the team. He's fit in perfectly in this offense and he's thrown the ball with accuracy and timing. He was, at one time, a Pro Bowl quarterback, and he's showing why so far.

I know that there are a good number of you who like Matt Moore and want him to be the starter, but the fact of the matter is this: David Garrard will give the Miami Dolphins a better chance to win more games than Matt Moore would.

What's more important? Your favorite player starting or your favorite team winning? That's what the decision turns into if you are choosing between Moore and Garrard. Moore has a larger fan base, but Garrard will have more wins.

Another notable starter on the depth chart is CB Richard Marshall, who is listed ahead of Vontae Davis. Here at Dolphin Shout we haven't gone into much detail about the positional battle at cornerback because I didn't really think that Davis' spot was in danger. It still isn't necessarily in danger because both he and Marshall will be on the field a lot in today's passing NFL, but I still find it pretty important that Miami has Marshall listed ahead of Davis.

If anything, I think this tells us that Miami's cornerback corps is really good. Sean Smith has looked great this offseason. Marshall and Davis have both looked really good. I have a feeling that we will be really good against the pass this season. Let's just cross our fingers and hope that we can start turning deflections into interceptions, which is something that we haven't been able to do too much of in recent years.


If you guys haven't heard by now. I am working on adding forums to Dolphin Shout. My plan is to have a lot of great discussions on the forums in the future. We will still keep the same commenting system, it just won't have as much activity as the forums. The reason we are using forums is that it allows for discussions to continue for days without being interrupted, whereas discussions with commenting only last as long as the current post lasts. As soon as a new post is up comments on the old posts die down significantly. If you would like to test out the forums please contact me and let me know.

Thanks for stopping by. What do you think about the first depth chart of 2012? Let me know below. Feel free to email me at paul@dolphinshout.com. I'm on twitter @PaulDSmythe.

Tannehill Will Ride the Pine in Miami

From the group of Matt Moore, David Garrard and Ryan Tannehill the starting QB for the Miami Dolphins will emerge, but unfortunately is there not a franchise QB among them… Moore and Garrard have flirted with elite status for moments in their careers, but neither has parlayed those moments into long term success and time is not on their side.

Once the euphoria of the Dolphins actually drafting a first round QB wears off, the reality that Ryan Tannehill was a huge stretch becomes apparent. Tannehill completed only 12.5% of his passes over 20 yards and that number alone should raise some serious red flags when looking for an NFL caliber QB.

Consider the following chart, Moore 2011, Garrard 2010, Tannehill 2011 Texas A&M…

The chart above shows the passing splits of the three QBs in contention for the Miami Dolphin starting job. They are all equally adept at throwing the ball behind the line of scrimmage, but even when stretching to 1- 10 yards the stats begin to waver on Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill does maintain his own on the intermediate passes of 10 -20 yards, in fact he is better the Moore or Garrard, but then we see the problem area.

Ryan Tannehill is no better than Chad Henne when it comes to delivering the "chunk plays." He only completed three passes over twenty yards, nearly as many as he completed to defensive backs. What this means for Dolphin fans is that rushing Tannehill on the field would be a huge mistake.

The numbers indicate Joe Philbin and Mike Sherman believe Tannehill has the potential to become an NFL caliber QB, but it is not likely to happen this season. If the Dolphins do play Tannehill it will be in a dink and dunk fashion that NFL defenses will soon identify and shut down. Once that happens, Miami will be forced to throw the ball down the field and as the chart indicates, bad things are likely to happen.

Taking Tannehill out of the equation would be the best option for the Dolphins and that will bring the competition down to Moore and Garrard. The chart above does seem to favor Garrard, but as Raheem Morris was fond of saying in Tampa Bay, “stats are for losers.” Unfortunately that maxim did not work out well for Raheem.

The bottom line for Miami fans is, Ryan Tannehill is not a savior and will not be the second coming of Dan Marino, with a starting assignment coming at some point as a rookie. Tannehill needs time to develop the touch and anticipation required to throw deep balls in the NFL. Starting Tannehill early will lead to a very predictable Miami offense and do more harm than good to Tannehill’s confidence.

The fans will never have the patience to allow Tannehill to grow into the position so it is imperative the coaching staff is not swayed by public opinion to rush Tannehill on the field. All QBs are different and all take different amounts of time to learn the NFL game. Tannehill will need time, the question is, will Miami fans wait it out through the growing process?

There is a veteran coaching staff in Miami, even though Joe Philbin is a first time head coach, he has groomed QBs. Miami will settle with either Moore or Garrard and Dolphin fans will need patience if they expect Tannehill to reach his potential. It’s obvious from the chart above Ryan Tannehill was picked on potential and not his statistics.

Can Dolphin fans wait it out? It’s a lot to ask of a fan base that as not hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in nearly 40 years… Tannehill and the coaching staff will need broad shoulders to weather the coming storm when the savior finds himself riding the pine…

Miami Dolphins Fans Need to Stop Being So Foolish

Hey You! Calm the *!@% Down

These past few days have been really hard to be a Miami Dolphins fan, but my reasons for suffering probably aren't the same reasons as yours.

In fact, there is really only one move that Jeff Ireland has made this offseason that I really disagree with, and that is cutting FS Yeremiah Bell. Not only did Ireland cut him a week into free agency (which would make it harder to find a team needing a starting safety), but he also cutting him just a few weeks after saying that he wouldn't and that he was irreplaceable. It was a cold move that resulted in the Dolphins losing a veteran who has been in Miami for his entire NFL career on bad terms. Releasing Bell was a heartless thing to do, and it was one thing that Jeff Ireland did that really made me not proud to be a Dolphins fan.

Aside from that terrible decision, I can't say I'm all that disappointed with this offseason so far.

I know that a lot of you probably just read that sentence with disbelief and even anger. Who does this Paul guy think he is that he can say that our offseason hasn't been a complete travesty? How can he be confident in a team that just signed a 34-year old quarterback after "missing" on a young free agent quarterback who had very strong connections to our current head coach? How can he say that we've had a good offseason (and yes that is what I'm implying) after we traded away our best wide receiver and have no legitimate number one option to throw to?

But you know what? I doubt that long questions like those popped into your head. Something simpler like "this guy's an idiot" is probably more likely, and look, I get it. We didn't get Peyton Manning or Matt Flynn. We traded Brandon Marshall for a good bit less than what we gave up for him. We cut our starting strong safety when we already have enough problems at free safety. The national media is taking shots at OUR Dolphins like it's going out of style.

Well you know what? I'm getting tired of it all. The Miami Dolphins are not the biggest losers of this year's free agency. I don't care how many articles that you read that say that they are. I don't care how many experts say that they made all the wrong moves. None of that matters, and you need to stop listening to that.

Do you remember last offseason when free agency opened and everyone thought that the Eagles were the big winners and it was Super Bowl or bust? What happened to them? They didn't even make the playoffs?

How about the San Francisco 49ers? No one really thought that it was a good idea to keep Alex Smith. How did that turn out for them? They made it to the NFC Championship game and were a botched punt return away from going to the Super Bowl.

Do you get what I'm saying? It isn't all doom and gloom for the Miami Dolphins. Who cares what everyone in the world seems to think? It means nothing when regular season actually starts up. Heck, it doesn't mean anything right now. It's just a bunch of talk. Quit your whining and hear me out.


First, I will get to the talk that matters most to practically everyone in the world: quarterback. David Garrard is not a bad signing. I don't care how old he is (kind of). He is a highly accurate quarterback who has a career passer rating of 85.8, 89 career touchdowns, and 54 career interceptions. And you know what? He might not even be the starter. He will be competing with Matt Moore for that spot. What Miami has now is two solid quarterbacks who will be working their absolute hardest to win the starting job. Complain all you want, but the Dolphins are better off at quarterback than they were last year.

So what if we didn't get Matt Flynn? Riverdog has said this many, many times over the past month or two. We will be able to tell a lot about Flynn by how hard the Dolphins pursue him. If Jeff Ireland wasn't willing to pay Matt Flynn top quarterback-type money, then it's because he and Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin didn't think that he was a top quarterback. Philbin obviously knows Flynn really well because he has coached him for the last four years. If he was really convinced that Matt Flynn could be a franchise quarterback, then Ireland wouldn't have minded paying more for him.

Just like last year with Kyle Orton, Flynn wanted franchise quarterback-type money (or close to it) and Ireland wasn't willing to do it because he didn't view him as a franchise quarterback. Ireland was right last offseason with Orton even amid the outrage by fans. Why have we decided to doubt him now? He is a superb talent evaluator, and we need to start trusting him more.

Did you really want more of this?

Now, on to the Brandon Marshall trade. I couldn't agree more with the decision to trade Marshall. Let me ask you something. When you look at a team like the Green Bay Packers or New Orleans Saints do you see any receivers that are unhappy when they don't get the ball? Do you ever see them in the news for anything other than football? No, and no. Brandon Marshall is not the type of receiver that would fit into the Packers offense, and therefore he is not the type of receiver that the Miami Dolphins want. Joe Philbin is going to build Miami's receiving corps the right way: through the draft. It's what he did in Green Bay. Why not let him do it here again? And, the Dolphins got two 3rd round draft picks. Why not use those two picks to draft wide receivers that are all about the team and not themselves?


And last, but absolutely not least, to this #OccupyDavie crap. This is the main reason for me giving this post the title that it has. Does anyone who supported that stupid little get-together realize that they are only reinforcing the thought that the Miami Dolphins have some of the worst fans in the league? I mean, what better way to prove that we are a terrible fan base then to start protesting the team with signs. Thankfully only about 20 people showed up, but it was still an awful idea.

Miami Dolphins fans need to start thinking more objectively about this team. Sure, we don't have a true franchise quarterback just yet, but we have two very good quarterbacks, a great defense, and a lot of potential on offense that will only be helped by our offensive-minded head coach. I will admit, I have been frustrated more than a few times this past week, but I have since calmed down and looked at what we have. Trust me, we aren't that bad off.

So stop this protesting crap. You are only making us all look worse. It helps absolutely nothing.

He's Baaack!

And one extra thing. Did everyone forget that we had a top 6 defense last year even after a terrible start to the season? Those players didn't just disappear as soon as the season ended. We re-signed Paul Soliai and added more depth to our secondary by signing Richard Marshall. Yes, we lost Yeremiah Bell, but even though it was a terrible move from a personal standpoint it wasn't a terrible move from a football standpoint. Bell did add veteran experience, but he was due a lot of money and wasn't good enough to deserve it (Pro Football Focus had him ranked 77th out of 87 qualifying safeties). Once again, I don't like cutting him in the way that they did, but it is an unfortunate part of the business of football.


Just be patient Dolphins fans. You're acting like the sky is falling, but actually we're better off than we were before. We have a better head coach who will get us the receivers that we need, a better group of quarterbacks, and a better offense. Just wait until the season. I guarantee you that every single expert and analyst out there will be eating their words. Who cares what the national media thinks? They have a limited perspective because they have to keep up with all 32 teams. They don't know what the Dolphins really have.

Just trust me. Jeff Ireland is more than capable of building a winning team.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you enjoyed, and if you disagreed just let me know below. I will try my best to respond to you.

Follow me on twitter: @PaulDSmythe.

Miami Dolphins Sign David Garrard

The Miami Dolphins have signed free agent QB David Garrard, according to Jay Glazer.

After missing out on Peyton Manning and Matt Flynn the Dolphins have finally found a quarterback. Unfortunately, Garrard probably isn't as good as Flynn will be and definitely not Manning.

I don't know quite what to think about the Garrard signing. He had a 90.8 passer rating in his last season (2010) with 23 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, and 2,734 passing yards. My initial reaction to the signing wasn't a very happy one, but after I've had a little time to think about it he isn't that bad of a signing. He is a pretty good quarterback with 10 years of experience.

I guess it's going to be him and Matt Moore competing for the starting spot. Thanks for stopping by. Let me know what you think. Follow me on twitter @PaulDSmythe.

Miami Dolphins Searching for QB to Replace Potentially Injured Chad Henne

The Miami Dolphins are waiting to hear a second opinion about Chad Henne's separated shoulder to see when, or if, he will be available this season. This is according to Jeff Darlington of NFL.com.

Because Henne could potentially be out for a while the Dolphins reached out to David Garrard and Jake Delhomme, according to Jason La Canfora of NFL.com. So far Miami hasn't been able to reach a deal with either quarterback, and apparently the chances of a deal actually happening are looking worse and worse as time passes.

These QB negotiations are going down in typical Jeff Ireland fashion. He doesn't ever seem to be willing to spend the money to fix a problem. He did the same thing with Kyle Orton this offseason. I'm not a big fan of Garrard or Delhomme, but I am still tired of Ireland being so tight in these negotiations. Quarterback is the most important position in the NFL, so maybe he should try and make sure that the Dolphins are alright in that regard.

We'll probably hear more soon. I will keep you guys posted when I know any more. Thanks for stopping by.

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