2026 Free Agent Thread

Even after his retirement, Peyton Manning is well connected throughout the NFL. Dude isn't an idiot. I would imagine he would have his fellow family members best interest in heart. Why would I say such?!


Stephen Ross is a dumbass; through and through. Every decision he has made has either squandered a potential window for the Dolphins (the early Mike McDaniel years) or has left the Dolphins in mediocrity. Dude is cooked.


If I am Peyton, I would advise Arch to stay the hell away from the Dolphins.

 

Ross may be a lousy football leader but he is not a dumbass

He’s worth $17B

He has said he intends to turn the team over to his son in law, who based on 23 seconds of research seems to be on the ball

 

I think sometimes people forget that many of these owners were smart enough to make billions of dollars and accumulate enormous wealth because they are very smart in the business and investing world.

Just because a billionaire isn't a football savant doesn't mean they are dumb people. They simply aren't good at running a football operation, and are too stubborn to get good advice from very smart football people that can help them hire the right people and let them run the things that they don't understand.

I think for many, this is just a toy to them. Something they enjoy doing even though they aren't any good at it. They enjoy the limelight and having control of everything so they get the credit if it ever succeeds.

The failures are everybody else's fault.

 

So many low cost, veteran, quality guards available... what the hell is the hold up?!

 

By dumbass, I meant from the Football Perspective. My mistake for not clearing that up. As for his son, I have some doubts.

 

Don't necessarily have to be smart. Many extremely wealthy business owners take huge risks to get where they are. Failing multiple times is not unusual before striking it rich. It's not always a straight line. Trump once said; "owe a bank $100,000, you got a problem. Owe a bank $100 million dollars, they got a problem." Convincing a bank to give you that money is the real genius.

Rooneys OTOH strike me as 'buy and hold' owners. Sure, you can get wealthy but it takes patience and time. Seems many aren't wanting to wait that long. Kinda like building a winning team?

 

Tannehill = O'Donnell = Stewart

Vrabel with Titans making the AFC Championship in 2019 after going 9-7 in the regular season, was impressive. This was more due to coaching than talent.... obviously. Yeah, they had King Henry and AJ Brown, but the rest were average players who were coached up. Hats off to Vrabel for this.

 

They also beat the Pats and the 14-2 Ravens on the road!

 

Originally you indicated that Vrabel was this consistent playoff winner. Outside of the season he made the SB run with Drake May...he has an overall playoff losing record.

Also, that 2019 Titans team had some really dang good players:
Harold Landry
Jeffrey Simmons
Kevin Byard
Malcom Butler
Adoree Jackson
AJ Brown (offensive rookie of the year)
Corey Davis
Henry
Jonnu Smith (when Arthur Smith's love affair began)


Mike Vrabel is an excellent football coach. He deserves significant accolades and respect. He has also always been extremely over-rated by Steelers fans. That core of players only ever won 2 playoff games. If a similarly talented roster by the Steelers went on one playoff run....most of this and other Steelers focused places would have the torches and pitchforks out for Vrabel and the entire staff.

None of it matters at this point. But the unwillingness to apply the same standards of evaluation in all these comparisons is difficult to understand.

 

Well... it does matter. Vrabel was far more successful in the playoffs from '18-'25 than Tomlin. That was my point and this is a fact. Truth, reality, etc.

 

I suspect that if Tomlin had Drake Maye....he would've won some playoff games as well. Give Vrabel old and broken down QBs or young guys that are not capable of playing that well yet - and what happens?

Vrabel had a losing regular season record with any QB not named Tannehill or Maye. And that is fine. There are few, if any, NFL coaches that can win without competent QB play. Vrabel won with his QBs putting up top tier numbers. Helping to create an environment where Tannehill and Maye could produce at that level is a great coaching achievement.

The Steelers have not had competent QB play since about 2018. Oddly enough....the time period you have identified....weird how that correlates almost exactly. Likely not causal though....nope....not at all...

 

If it was easy to be a billionaire, everyone would do it.

 

Yeah let's cherry pick. Let not count it all, let's just count the part that helps you. I can do that too. What is Vrabels record against Tomlin straight up as HCs??? I'm sure You will make an excuse. The moon wasn't right those days, the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, luck, or something. You would think if a HC is that much better than a HC, they would at least win sometime when they coached against each other.
Tomlin is 3-0 against Vrabel. I'm sure You and the Tomlin haters will find a excuse.

 

Would like to see some of the extensions get done soon

 

... and there you have it.


What Miami is doing has been ass backwards since Marino retired and has gotten worse since Ross took over sans a few seasons. The best Owners in the NFL can make money hand over fist while also being successful. Hell, the Walton Family, a family very new family to the NFL, took a directionless Broncos Franchise and transformed them back into a Playoff Monster. The Kraft Family largely has been connected to the term success since 2000. Even before 2017, Jeffrey Lurie did have successful Eagles teams. Hell, as much as I despise him, Stan Kroenke has been successful not only with the Rams but his other Sports Teams as well.



In short?! Owners in the NFL know damn well that money will be easily made. The best ones turn that money into something meaningful. Until the Ross Family realizes that, expect the Dolphins to continue to be among the laughing stock of the AFC.