by
Chris Shashaty, Phins.com Columnist
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Laughter
is good for the soul. And boy, did I get a bellyful of it this morning.
Josh
McCown?!
Here
we go again, another inconsistent journeyman quarterback with a poor TD to
interception ratio (i.e., a shaky decision-maker), and a passer rating that
hasn’t topped 75 in a six year career, getting a reported two year $6.25
million contract, a third of it guaranteed,
from the Miami Dolphins.
Unbelievable.
Haven’t
we seen this story before? Don’t we know how it will end? Is this the best that
the great Bill Parcells can do to fix the QB problem that has plagued this team
for eight seasons?
When
will the Dolphins ever learn that the only way this team is going to solve
their everlasting QB problem is through the draft? Yes, it is good to have a
veteran insurance policy on the team. But can’t it be someone who at least has
a chance of being a winner?
Do
you really think the Dolphins would win a lick with McCown at the helm?
Do
you even want McCown teaching anything to John Beck?
Why
not just re-sign Cleo Lemon who, by the way, had BETTER number than McCown and
is improving? How does the McCown signing make the Dolphins better? What real
purpose does it serve?
In
the wake of this head-scratcher, the door has been opened for John Beck to
become the starter…unless McCown has already been promised the starting job,
Trent Green style. (horrors!)
Now,
whether or not Beck is the future is yet to be determined. But one thing is
absolutely crystal clear: if Bill Parcells doesn’t think Beck is the future,
this is the draft to act.
Look,
I am not a QB guru. Neither are you. But it seems logical that if the Dolphins
can draft someone better than what they have, at a premium position that has
been tough to fix, they must first consider taking this route. This is, by far,
a more productive and meaningful move towards improving the team than wasting
$6+ million on another bad QB.
Just
remember, one signing is not exclusive of another, or a freebie. Signing McCown
takes up a roster spot, takes up cap space, and takes snaps away from someone
better or someone ascending.
Here’s
a question: Why didn’t the Dolphins use the money they wasted on McCown and
chipped it into an offer for G Alan Faneca instead of letting this rare talent
get away, to the NY Jets of all teams?
Maybe
we’ll get an answer to this one sometime this season.
Another
confusing aspect of all this is that the Dolphins don’t HAVE to sign guys like
McCown anymore. That’s because they are now in the best possible position to
solve their QB problem the right way.
I’m
talking about the NFL Draft, and a solid crop of passers.
The
collective view is that BC’s Matt Ryan is the #1 prospect, by far, of any QB in
this draft. He is supposedly better than Beck or Brady Quinn. He carries an
elite grade similar to one Eli Manning carried when he came out of Ole Miss.
You
know Eli, the guy who just earned a ring?
(Oh,
and if you still think Quinn is the bomb, why did the Browns pony up all that
dough in a three year contract to keep Derek Anderson?)
Of
course, drafting Ryan is not a slam dunk. Cap-wise, we all know that one of the
riskiest moves in the player acquisition business is drafting a QB first
overall because the failure rate is so high. If the Dolphins (and everyone
else) are wrong about Ryan, the hit to the team would be enormous. It would be
even worse than the hit they took on Ricky Williams because Ricky didn’t carry
the huge cap implications that Ryan surely would.
Yet
the Giants understood the risk they were taking when they signed Eli. They also
understood that, without a top flight QB, they had no shot at a world
championship.
Today,
would anyone question that they wouldn’t have won Super Bowl XLII had they not
made that move?
Again,
I am not saying that Ryan is THE answer. Please understand that. I am saying
that the answer, or even part of the answer, is NOT a free agent journeyman. That’s
NOT what a rebuilding franchise needs.
For
now, the first and correct order of business is to vet out Ryan to see if he could
be better than Beck.
Production-wise,
it’s a murky picture. Beck’s overall numbers at BYU were actually better than
Ryan’s. However, the competition Ryan faced was superior to that faced by Beck.
Then again, in the one game that Beck’s BYU Cougars played against Ryan’s BC
Eagles, at BC in 2006, it was Beck’s team that came out on top with both QBs
ringing up over 350 passing yards each.
Confusing,
isn’t it?
Of
course there’s a lot more to judging a good QB than just numbers, like arm
strength and intelligence, which is where the experts come in. It’s why Ryan
carries a grade worthy of a top 5 pick. If the Dolphins don’t feel that Ryan
has a reasonable chance of turning out better than Beck, of being the guy to
lead this team to a Super Bowl, they should focus on the next tier of guys in
the draft. That’s how to properly fix the problem, not by signing mediocre free
agents.
Yes,
I know; it is too early to be drawing final overall conclusions. I’m not.
Thus
far, the Dolphins have made some good decisions in free agency. Unfortunately,
the McCown signing was not one of them.