Miami Dolphins to part ways with Jake Long?

Submitted by MGoVoldemort on
Apparently this.......is a thing. While in Miami for work, I was listening to sports talk radio, and they were all mentioning the likelihood Miami will be taking a Left Tackle in the draft. Being talk radio, I of course took it with a grain of salt. I don't follow Fins' news at all, so this was the first I'd heard rumblings of this. Curious, I looked for news on it, and sure enough, it's a likelihood Long won't be back with Miami next year. http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2012-12-19/miami-dolphins-nfl-wee… What logic is there in cutting your ALL PRO left tackle? You just drafted a QB in the first round, Jake Long shouldn't be in the conversation of cost cutting moves. This would be Millen level stupidity and then some. How often are franchise Left Tackles on the market?

robmorren2

January 2nd, 2013 at 11:01 AM ^

I'm praying that the Bears get him or Ryan Clady (also assumed to be going the FA route). I guess Carimi was never close to recovering from his knee injury, so he may still be an option at RT. I like Lance Louis at Guard. So if they could pick up Long or Clady, and draft the best available linemen in 2 of the 3 first lines ... who knows. The Bears have almost all the pieces elsewhere to win immediately. It's sad that Knox was hurt, he would be a nice #3 WR. I think we'll be able to find a serviceable TE in Free Agency as well.

MikeCohodes

January 2nd, 2013 at 11:29 AM ^

If the Bears can't pick up Long (which I'd give anything to see), my #2 option would be to see them trade up in the draft so they can pick up Lewan (assuming he goes Pro).  Either way, it'd be great to see them pick up either of these two stellar UM products.

If the Bears draft anything other than OL in this draft a torch and pitchfork mob should head to Halas Hall. 

eamus_caeruli (not verified)

January 2nd, 2013 at 11:45 AM ^

Exactly, that was the first thing I thought of when I read this post. Jake will be heavily sought after, but this is where the Bears need to take a gamble like they did with Peppers. Understand that the back-end of the deal may need to less money since his production may decrease, but give hime some guaranteed bucks on the front-end to ensure he will come.

TexanGOBLUE

January 2nd, 2013 at 12:34 PM ^

If anyone needs Oline help its the Cowboys. Broken ribs, and straight shots at the QB (No I will not say his name). Doug Free is by far the worst OL. Long would be able to protect the QB way better and Jerry needs to open the check book and get this damn underachieving team back be being significant. Besides, there isnt a Wolverine on the Cowboys squad now, hence the constant losing.

MGoRob

January 2nd, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^

He has a torn tricep.  Last year, he was done for the year with a torn bicep.  And his production this year was hampered by the recovery (assuming) so his numbers weren't as stellar as he was used to producing.  Thus it appears to the Dolphins he's in a "decline" at 27.  Considering he's gone one year remaining, it may be best to trade him.  While I don't know if it's the right move, they may want to try to trade him to get a 1st round pick for him.

MGJS SuperKick Party

January 2nd, 2013 at 9:59 AM ^

The only reason I can think of is the fact that he has a contract under the old structure and they want to get a cheaper player.

Their loss for sure, Jake Long is going to become a prize free agent now, bring him back home Mayhew! (A man can dream right...)

CRex

January 2nd, 2013 at 10:00 AM ^

With the new NFL rookie salary cap in place you can get say Taylor Lewan for a mere fraction of what you have to pay Jake Long.  Lewan is also younger and has a longer career where Long has done time on the IR in the past two years.

Secondly, the new Miami coach is more of a zone blocking guy and Long doesn't fit that as well.  They actually already appear to have Long's replacement on the roster in terms of a zone blocking tackle.  Not bringing Long back frees up cap space for other moves.  

MGoVoldemort

January 2nd, 2013 at 10:10 AM ^

Jake Long would play at an all pro level in whatever scheme you run. The Texas A&M kid and Lewan aren't great zone blocking tackles either. Martin from Stanford who they drafted last year is suited for that scheme, because Stanford ran a lot of that. In their defense, you could probably sign 3-4 quality players for the money they'd save from Long.

denardogasm

January 2nd, 2013 at 10:01 AM ^

I would love if the lions picked him up. Cost would be too much unfortunately. And they're gonna need to boost the defense via trades after they waste their picks on WRs to replace young and Broyles.

MGoVoldemort

January 2nd, 2013 at 10:03 AM ^

But cutting an All Pro at one of the most positions in football is bad bad football management. He'll be a Reggie White type of free agent, that's how good he is.

Ball Hawk

January 2nd, 2013 at 10:14 AM ^

Why does everyone want any kind of talent go to the lions only to be mishandled and to deal with the worst moral that there possibly could be. I get that some of you are die hard lions and for that I respect a lot but that dickhead owner is the same person that fucked Sanders out into retirement.

TeddyGB

January 2nd, 2013 at 10:29 AM ^

Teams with the most cap space:

1. Jaguars $25 mil

2. Titans $19 mil

3. Browns $17 mil 

4. Bengals $16 mil

5. Eagles $15 mil

 

23. Lions $3.7 mil

Pulled P

January 2nd, 2013 at 10:29 AM ^

I'm a former Phins fan and a longtime Jake Long fan. It was such a delight when they drafted him 1st overall.

Long used to be the best LT in football two seasons ago. But that's not the case now, because of his injuries. Not only did he miss time, but even when he did tough it out(which is definitely commendable), the performance suffered. That's reason one.

He was either the highest-paid or second-highest-paid OL since he was drafted under the old rookie salary rules. He hit some incentives and that pushed his salary even higher. It will not be easy to take a paycut, and taking a dramatic paycut while playing for the same team is damn near unheard of. Especially when your agent can get a lot more elsewhere. Reason number two.

Just as Michigan is transitioning from RichRod's spread to Hoke's manball, Miami is transitioning  the opposite way. Sparano's run-heavy offense(Wildcat included) needed elite run-blocking linemen like Long. Philbin, the new coach, brought in the zone blocking scheme. Now Long can excel in both schemes, don't get me wrong. But whereas in a iso-blocking scheme nobody could come close to Long because of his individual talent, in the zone blocking scheme you can get away with relatively less talented OL and still somewhat get the job done. In short, you can get away with an LT half the price of Long but the product would suffer only a bit. Reason three.

The Phins already have a replacement. They drafted Jonathan Martin last year, and he's a natural LT who played at that position all his life. He only moved to RT because Long was there. It would be easy to flip him to LT and find a cheaper RT. Reason four.

With Long becoming increasingly injury prone and his contract expiring this season, Jeff Ireland and the front office made a lot of noise about an extension for the past two years but nothing ever materialized. And as I mentioned above, they went out and drafted Martin last year. When a local columnist suggested the possiblity that they might be planning to depart ways with Long, they(Ireland and co.) reacted with venom, angrily denying it and denigrating the columnist in the process. Which is, what they don't really do. Ireland is famous for asking inappropriate questions and being standoffish, not reacting to the media. IMO the front office was planning this all along. Reason five. 

Needs

January 2nd, 2013 at 10:53 AM ^

Philbin's background with the Packers gives a lot of credence to this take. He coordinated a Super Bowl winning team and a consistent playoff qualifier who never had elite offensive linemen, even at the tackle positions, and who viewed the run game as a change of pace rather than a core element of the offense. If Philbin's going off his Packer experience, he may believe that average linemen who can simply slow down the pass rush are good enough to win consistently, and that money can be better spent elsewhere. 

TeddyGB

January 2nd, 2013 at 12:03 PM ^

Lions are a mess when it comes to cap space. They also need a ton of help at LB, CB and DE so I doubt they spend much money on FA o-lineman. I guess this is what happens when you suck for so long... keep picking in the Top 5 and under the old system you have to give huge contracts to guys like Stafford, Calvin and Suh.

Brodie

January 2nd, 2013 at 1:20 PM ^

And I hate that we have to see this comment and it's obligatory 5 likes every time we have a thread like this. 

First off, it's a nonsensical comment... PLEASE ALL PRO LEFT TACKLE THAT COULD INSTANTLY MAKE THE LIONS OFFENSE MORE CONSISTENT AND THUS THE BEST IN THE NFL ON A REGULAR BASIS, DON'T SUFFER THE HORRIBLE FATE OF BEING PAID MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO COME BACK TO YOUR HOME STATE AND PLAY PRO FOOTBALL! 

Secondly, we have to put up with all the people who cheer for other teams going COME TO MY TEAM PLZ and then if we do the same thing, people say nonononononononononono.

Also, frankly, I feel like this kind of comment comes from the "I only cheer for specific players who went to Michigan" crowd, who all suck ass.