****cough Johnathan Martin ****cough****

I have always been an advocate of KEEPING the best player of the unit, even if you had to overpay to keep him. But, now, I would say Pouncey is the bets player on the O-line. Did everybody see Pouncey pulling on Bush's TD run? The Center pulling, because the Guards are both big cement-shoed lugs AKA Parcell's Olinemen.

I would HATE to see Miami have to put LT at the top of their offseason wish list, but I just cannot see how anyone, even Ireland, would think paying Long as a Pro Bowl LT would be a good idea. Maybe a heavily back-loaded deal, with roster bonuses after each year. That way, if Long continues to decline, they could cut him without taking a big pay cut?

I suspect Long is gonna want MORE money than Thomas though. It is VERY DIFFICULT for some to see themselves as less than what they THINK they are.

Either way...I definitely would not pay Long like the best LT in the league.

Tell me about it

Only the Fins could pass up a QB to take a LT with the top pick in the draft, only to find themselves needing ANOTHER LT five years later while the QB they passed up has five straight winning seasons under his belt for a franchise that never had two straight in its history until he showed up.

(Sighs.)

Okay, man...it's time for an intervention....everyone join in....JL, you stand over there....JMP, catch DF if he tries to bolt.... FFM, you know what to do, this is not your first intervention...nor the first for DF316 if IIRC.....

DF316....as your friends, we just want to tell you...it is time to drop the whole Matt Ryan/ Jake Long thing....the bitterness and regret has gone on too long....way too long...long too long....it will eat you alive if you keep reliving it....just see it for what it was...the Parcellsian Error it was.....and....

Let it go, man.

Just...let it...GO....

AMEN.....

Intervention over.

We now resume our regularly scheduled debates....

Just wait until the Phins let Jake walk...then that pick will really be questioned. You think it's bad now??? You ain't seen nothin' yet...

With the twelfth pick in the NFL draft the Miami Dolphins select Taylor Lewan from Michigan. This is Ireland's wet dream.

Well, If Long is let go, that may very well be the Phins pick. Especially if Ireland is still the GM.

Yikes.

Sigh.

Well, I will probably be strung up for this but I would actually be OKAY with that selection, given the following conditions:

1. Ireland is not the GM, so this is not his selection. It's someone like Eric DeCosta making the pick.
2. This is the best available player on the board when we pick.
3. There is no one even close in talent available at one of the passing game skill positions (CB or WR or even pass rushing DE).
4. Taylor Lewan becomes the dominant LT we all hoped Long would be, and actually does lock down the position for a full decade - protecting Tannehill's backside. And he can run block as well as he pass blocks.

With the rookie salary scale (which I absolutely freaking LOVE, by the way) we no longer have to worry about a top 10 pick crippling our salary cap.

9

Oh the irony..... :-D

I'll do you one better. What if Ryan wins the SB this season? And then Long walks, Ireland keeps his job and, on top of all that, takes ANOTHER LT from Michigan with his first pick?

If all that comes to pass--or even two thirds of it--Ireland will seriously need to hire a bodyguard detail because at that point his physical safety WILL be in danger. Not from me mind you but *somebody* will try *something*. In today's world you can count on it. A rooftop sniper, a bomb, something.