With some of them they didn’t realize it is not as easy to be as asshole like Belichick without the record behind you to back you up.
I think the Colts dodged a bullet when Josh McDaniels accepted and then backed out.
Frank Reich appears much better.
I don’t know what was wrong with Flores, the Dolphins played hard for him. I think it was political, Tua is his guy but Stephen Ross wants to go after Deshaun Watson (guy who LOVES massages).
Power struggle.
From what I read, Flores wanted to draft Justin Herbert and GM Chris Grier wanted Tua. Your linked article says that. Flores never was all-in on Tua and wanted to pursue DeShaun Watson. I also read that DeShaun Watson wanted to go to Miami to play for Flores.
Another point made is that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is an absentee owner who does not live in Miami and is not at the team site often. In a case like this the coach tends not to have the owner’s ear as much as others such as the GM. Ross heard things from Grier and others a lot more than he heard from Flores, which impacted his decisions.
This was my take.
We will know in about 2-3 years who was the right one to keep, Flores or Tua.
Miami has had really lousy luck with selecting quarterbacks. As I read, back in 2006 when the two top free agent quarterbacks were Drew Brees and Daunte Culpepper, then-Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga wanted to sign Brees but his professional football people wanted to sign Culpepper. Huizinga did what most say that the owner is supposed to do and which is the best thing 99.99% of the time - he allowed his professional football people to make the decision.
Drew Brees wasn’t good enough to play in Miami.
That’s one that’s easy to second guess, but Culpepper was considered very good at the time and I believe it was the medical people who shot Brees down. New Orleans ended up very happy to take the chance.
That was the reason given, but you are correct that hindsight is always correct. Honestly the Saints were a better fit for Brees anyway, and he’ll always be a hero in NOLA.
In reality, it didn’t end up bad for the Chargers.
They were able utilize Rivers after that.
Who ended up having more kids than playoff appearances, but that’s not all on him.
However, Culpepper was coming off a knee injury and had similar medical questions as Brees. And, Culpepper was not a free agent, meaning that the Dolphins had to trade a number two pick for him. That Minnesota was willing to trade him should have said something.
Here is an article I just found on the subject.
This may fall under the Sabin not really knowing pro football as well as college.
But according to Saban, he wanted Brees all along. 