Draft day decision makers: Miami Dolphins

Now that Bill Parcells has exited stage left the Miami Dolphins will turn to General Manager Jeff Ireland and Head Coach Tony Sparano to make their draft day decisions. Of course both of these men are Parcells disciples, but we do not have an accurate gauge on how they will decide to run their War Room. Both have had plenty of experience with other NFL teams, but we do not know how much say they have had in the past. It seems likely that Parcells ran the draft. To be blunt Parcells did not do a great job drafting for this team, and now they have at least a minor rebuild to go through.

So Ireland has been a scout since the mid 1990’s. He started out as a scout for the NFL Scouting Combine. From there he scouted for the Kansas City Chiefs, and in 2001 he became a national scout for the Dallas Cowboys. In 2005 he was made Vice President of College and Pro Scouting. When he left hat position after the 2007 season 38 of the 53 men on the Cowboys roster had been acquired in the past three years including 12 of 22 starters. He also helped the Cowboys draft four future pro bowlers in his time there. He has been with the Dolphins since 2008.

During last year’s Scouting Combine he infamously asked Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute. That question seemed a little over the line, but has been largely forgotten in the year since. We have to assume that Ireland had some say on personnel since he was hired away from the Cowboys because he did not have final say. If that is true he has done a poor job drafting for the Dolphins. We shall see what he can do in 2011.

Related Links:

• Miami Dolphins War Room
• Joshua Lobdell.com