The Tuna Returns: What Bill Parcells Can Do for the Dolphins

Sean Crowe

Dec 19, 2007

When it comes to Bill Parcells, don’t count your chickens until you have them under contract.

Ironclad contract.

At about 3:30 this afternoon, one of my coworkers came up to me and said, “Hey, did you hear Parcells is going to sign on to be VP of football operations with the Falcons?”

An hour later another coworker came up to me and asked, “Hey, did you hear about Parcells?”

“Yeah,” I said, “That’s great for the Falcons. Should help them get over the Petrino mess.”

“Falcons? No, he signed with the Dolphins.”

Immediately I had two quick thoughts...

1) The Falcons can’t buy a break right now.

First Michael Vick decides to throw his life away. Then Joey Harrington and Byron Leftwich are allowed to play quarterback. Then Bobby Petrino proved to be one of the most cowardly dirt bags in professional sports.

Now Parcells comes to an agreement to help rebuild their franchise...then a half-hour later decides the weather is better in Miami?

Good grief.

2) I’m not sure how this is going to work out for the Dolphins.

I’ve always questioned Bill Parcells as a personnel guy. He knows how to pick certain pieces to fit his system, but overall he's a mediocre GM.

It’ll be interesting to see if he can pick the right players to fit another coach's system.

That said, the Dolphins had to do something. Cam Cameron is a complete disaster, and their roster is an absolute mess.

The Fins were looking at the first pick in the draft, and relying on the same talent evaluators who built a roster that's pathetically comparable to that of Duke Blue Devils. So they signed Parcells.

Can’t get any worse, right?

Parcells is sure to fire Cameron. Fair or not, he needs to clean house and bring in his own people—maybe Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, or a coach from one of his previous staffs, like Maurice Carthon.

Don’t be surprised if he makes a run at his son-in-law Scott Pioli to run the player-personnel department.

If Parcells believes one of the QBs in this draft to be worthy of the first pick, he’ll take him. Otherwise, expect him to trade down (if there are any takers) and accumulate more picks to help rebuild on the defensive side of the ball.

I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if he traded guys like Jason Taylor, Marty Booker, or Zach Thomas for middle- to late-round draft picks.

Parcells isn’t afraid to make bold moves—and that’s what it’s going to take to get the Dolphins to a place where they can compete with the Patriots in the AFC East.

Parcells or no Parcells, the Dolphins need a quarterback. You just can’t win in the NFL today without a quarterback (ask Brian Billick).

As Ron Jaworski always says, you score points in the passing game. You can’t win in a conference that features Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and Carson Palmer without scoring points.

BC’s Matt Ryan, to me, is the perfect guy for the job.

In a perfect world, the Dolphins trade down closer to the 10th pick and take Ryan. Then they build the offense around him and Ronnie Brown (assuming Brown can bounce back from his injury).

As for the Falcons, it’s anyone’s guess where they should go from here.

If I’m Author Blank, I go after Parcells’ son-in-law before Parcells gets the chance.

Pioli helped build the model franchise in the NFL. He’s had tremendous draft after tremendous draft. He knows how a winning organization is run.

As a Patriots fan, I’d hate to see Pioli leave. But God knows Falcons’ fans deserve a break...

Maybe the Patriots can trade Pioli to the Falcons straight up for Alge Crumpler?