Rest easy, Dolphins fans! For a while, it seemed as though the NFL would be gearing up a witch hunt against the Miami Dolphins, indicating that the league’s competition committee may be prompted to look into Miami’s operations this season. Such a move seems much less likely now — given the recent quote from the NFL’s commissioner, Roger Goodell.
When asked if Goodell felt there were any teams in the league that were doing anything other than trying to win games, his answer was short and to the point.
“We don’t see that,” he offered.
Well then. So much for investigations and penalizing Miami their 1st-round pick this spring — which were some of the calls from the angry hoard when Miami opted to trade Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s almost like the Dolphins got good value for a player that didn’t want to be a part of their team anymore and that’s it. The prospect of “tanking” is a complicated one, a difficult suggestion for many to wrap their heads around. And if a team were to actively buy in to “tanking” and have players dropping passes purposefully and coaches not actively trying, it would be a problem for the NFL. That isn’t where these Dolphins are, though.
The Dolphins, by the design of management, are short-handed in a “rebuilding effort”. And that’s fine. Teams do that all the time. But they don’t tell their players to not try. Miami’s never done that and therefore the Dolphins are fine and not about to prompt any widespread changes to the NFL’s draft order or process.
