The past five seasons have not been kind to the Miami Dolphins organization. After going 1-15 in 2007, it looked as if the Dolphins were going to set the ship right from 2008 onward.
They hired a promising young coach in Tony Sparano. They drafted a very powerful left tackle number one overall in Jake Long, as well as a solid corner in Brandon Flowers, plus the QB of the future in Brian Brohm.
Add that to acquisitions of Asante Samuel and Kawika Mitchell on defense, and bringing in Ken Dorsey to be the short term answer at quarterback, the Dolphins looked to be on the way up.
But the Dolphins would only gain one more win, finishing 2-14 in 2008. Management wasn't ready to give up on Sparano, and with the 2nd overall pick, the Dolphins drafted what was thought to be the man that would fix the defense. Defensive Tackle Lorenzo Spragan from Florida State.
Big mistake.
Spragan has had little to no success, and now is 10 million on the cap and has two very bad legs.
The Dolphins did show improvement in 2009, going 6-10. But that wasn't good enough, as management fired Sparano. The new head coach was the recently fired Mike Smith. Smith hadn't done anything in two years in Atlanta, but they felt he could fix the defense.
With the 7th pick in 2010, the Dolphins took Oklahoma WR Jamal Binger. Binger started slow, but by 2012, he justified his selection with 1,236 yards and 9 TD. They also traded up to the 30th pick swapping with the 49ers for DE Jay Bishop, who while not bad, hasn't been anything stellar, and likely never will be.
Despite Binger's pick, the Dorsey led Dolphins made no improvement in 2010, going 6-10 once again. In the next draft they chose CB Kelly Addai with the 10th overall pick, another mistake ultimately. Addai played 1 game in 2011, and showed failure a year later.
The Dolphins would go 5-11, and Mike Smith would get outed. The Dolphins didn't know where to go at head coach. But while Sparano was there, they had improved.
So they brought Tony Sparano back for another shot. With the 6th pick, they picked DT Charles Harrison in an effort to replace the error of Spragan, and so far, Harrison has shown to be solid.
But the 2012 season was perhaps the biggest disaster yet. The team went 1-15. Sparano was canned again, and the team looked very lost.
They still had Dorsey, who hadn't done much, to a large contract. Brian Brohm had hardly gotten to play, and it was obvious he'd been given up one. Jake Long and Brandon Flowers, the two strong players from the 2008 draft, wanted out.
Meanwhile on the other side of the country,
Jordan Slocum had just taken the 49ers to an unbeaten season, and had won his 3rd Super Bowl in 5 years. Citing a desire for a "new challenge," he left the 49ers, who were ready for another run.
And he took over the Miami Dolphins.
There is obviously much work to do to make the 2013 Miami Dolphins even respectable. Not all hope is lost. They still had Jamal Binger and Charles Harrison, two young studs. Samson Satele is a strong center, and Asante Samuel remains a top corner.
But the contracts of Dorsey, Brohm, Spragan, Addai, David Thomas and a few others put the Dolphins in bad shape finacially. That, and both Jake Long and Brandon Flowers wanting out, only one can be retained with the franchise tag.
It's going to be a tough road...