Nobody works January through August like the Dolphins. No team creates such odd drama without even playing a game.
The latest issue isn't a controversial trade. It's a controversial non-trade. It's Jadeveon Clowney not wanting to be a Dolphin so badly that Laremy Tunsil remains one. Does that sum up the state of this rebuild?
This new Dolphins regime deserves wide latitude with problems considering, well, it's a new regime. But that wide latitude keeps being tested by invented issues and head-scratching dilemmas.
Consider just the past five weeks: Newly hired offensive line coach Pat Flaherty was fired four practices into training camp; receiver Kenny Stills called out team owner Steve Ross for holding a fund-raiser for Donald Trump; Stills then questioned Jay-Z's social-issue stripes and coach Brian Flores played eight straight Jay-Z songs at practice to create a public-relations mess; and the face of this rebuild is 36-year-old Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback rather than Josh Rosen, the 22-year-old who cost a second-round pick.
Whew.
Now there's this Tunsil tsunami, too. Let's not downplay its significance just because Houston traded Clowney to Seattle on Saturday and not to the Dolphins for Tunsil and a high draft pick or two.
Tunsil was believed to be a building block for these rebuilding Dolphins. The foundation. A sure thing. But, again, the only reason he's still around is because Clowney refused to come here.
Clowney wouldn't sign his franchise tag allowing Houston to trade him if the Dolphins were a destination. It was one thing for Teddy Bridgewater and Tyrod Taylor declining to quarterback the Dolphins for business reasons. That didn't affect anyone else.
Clowney's refusal came with the added embarrassment of Tunsil wondering how much this team really values him. The Dolphins wanted Tunsil to be in Houston so badly they even brought Clowney in to meet Flores and general manager Chris Grier.
Clowney still refused to the trade. So he goes to Seattle and Tunsil goes nowhere. But this question lingers: Is Tunsil really an integral part of the Dolphins' rebuild when he was tried to be traded so loudly?
This can't sit well with Tunsil. The simple way to change that mood is handing him the big contract extension that was once considered a given. This non-trade suggests that money might not be coming, though.
This regime might still see him as a piece to be moved, a commodity to collect more assets. And let's face it: If the draft picks were the important part of the Houston trade, why can't this deal be revived in another form?
That's the right of any new regime, of course. Change always brings more change, as any Dolphins fan knows well. Remember Nick Saban not being a big fan of linebacker Zach Thomas? Bill Parcells shipping out future Hall of Famer Jason Taylor?
For that matter, remember Adam Gase over-investing in quarterback Ryan Tannehill?
Grier and Flores get to invest in whoever they want and at whatever level they think right. That's their job. One of their first moves was to sign cornerback Xavien Howard to a long-term deal.
Tunsil, from the same 2016 draft class, is still waiting (he has an extra year than Howard on his rookie contract). But now you wonder. Were the new Dolphins that overwhelmed by the draft picks of a possible playoff team in Houston?
Or was the message equally about Tunsil? That his value and talent aren't valued that highly? That he's asking for more money than this regime thinks he's worth? Or that left tackle isn't a big-money position like it once was?
Maybe they don't value his talent or future that highly. Maybe he's asking more money than this regime think he's worth. Maybe it's a football decision of valuing the left tackle position so highly.
You can connect the dots down any loony rabbit hole you want, too. Here's a fun one to roll around: Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is left-handed so his blind side involves the right tackle. Not a left tackle like Tunsil. So they're preparing for the next draft.
What is clear from this non-trade is this new regime really doesn't value this season. Imagine an offensive line without Tunsil, a Clowney who won't be invested in this franchise and more draft picks.
Trust The Tank, the message would have been for this season.
That remains the message, too. Keeping Tunsil doesn't turn the switch from a highly troubled team to a highly competitive team. Saturday's cuts leave a roster of tomorrow's hopes more than today's team. They're the Marlins of the NFL, folks.
This non-trade of Tunsil simply adds to the oddest of Dolphins summers. They've invented drama where none should exist. Firing a new line coach? Hearing a veteran call out the owner and, in turn, being called out by the coach? The old quarterback being the first face of rebuilding?
Now there's loud question about Tunsil: If they really valued him, why did they try so hard to deal him?
Can't wait for the real drama come kickoff next Sunday.
