When your team is 1-5 and circling the drain, the media and fans alike will be looking for someone to shove the blame on. This is especially the case when the team looked to be climbing and progressing to be a playoff contender over the past year.
That’s where the Dolphins find themselves, and the blame is being placed on head coach Brian Flores and general manager Chris Grier. Some will say that the coach isn’t getting the talent to perform to their potential while others will say that there’s not enough talent there.
With all of the speculation of a looming Deshaun Watson trade, there are conversations being had about what that would mean for the future of Flores and Grier who many said would be gone by the end of the season.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio discussed this very scenario on Wednesday.
“This may be the thing that saves them,” Florio said. “They may need this to save themselves because Watson could come in and help turn that team around and cause Stephen Ross to say ‘let’s give these two another year to try to get the team to where I want it to be.'”
Would Watson turn this team around?
The quarterback doesn’t seem to be the issue in Miami, but it’s clear that there’s a large gap in talent between Watson and Tua Tagovialoa. Watson has dealt with poor offensive line play and mediocre receivers in the past, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see him succeed with Miami.
The big question is obviously his availability. Houston has been paying him to sit out, so commissioner Roger Goodell hasn’t had to step in. Would he?
“We don’t know,” Florio said. “We reported back in September that the NFL specifically has not decided what it would do about Deshaun Watson because it doesn’t need to make a decision because the Texans are already putting him on paid leave.”
There’s a real chance that if Watson is put in an opportunity where he is going to start for a team that the league steps in and puts him on the exempt list.
So, in order for this to save Flores or Grier’s jobs, Watson would have to play, and, even if he did, that shouldn’t excuse some of the things that have happened early this season.
