{"id":869458,"date":"2026-04-18T22:01:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T22:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869458\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T22:01:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T22:01:01","slug":"dolphins-have-articulated-a-good-plan-now-can-it-come-alive-in-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869458\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphins have articulated a good plan \u2014 now can it come alive in draft?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan<\/a> wasn\u2019t just answering a question this past week in saying, \u201cThat\u2019s the beautiful part about our culture, the competition that\u2019s going to be at the forefront of everything we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was also articulating part of this new regime\u2019s philosophy in that answer. Just like when saying if there\u2019s debate between coaches or scouts and himself on a draft pick, \u201cThe final decision comes down to me, and I\u2019m going to do what\u2019s best for this place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, earlier this offseason, in talking about signing quarterback Malik Willis, \u201cHis character aligns with our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

What use is a plan if you can\u2019t articulate it? That\u2019s been one of the Dolphins varied problems of late. They couldn\u2019t express their a plan, or it sounded wrong in ways that eventually proved it all wrong.<\/p>\n

Just look at this: The last time the Dolphins rebuilt in the ambitious manner they\u2019re doing now, ownership and the front office said they were tanking while hiring a coach, Brian Flores, who refused to do so. And then Chris Grier mixed even more signals by signing a just-good-enough-to-win veteran quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick.<\/p>\n

Grier also took a wasted 2019 season to set up an arsenal of draft picks like this current regime did in this first offseason. So, this rebuild is already a year ahead of that last, failed one. Sullivan isn\u2019t just articulating his plan if you listen closely. He\u2019s acting on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be a draft and develop team,\u201d Sullivan said.<\/p>\n

Does it succeed or fail? Who knows before his first draft, much less his first season? But the Dolphins sound like they\u2019re a pro organization again. And, yes, words matter. Having command of the message is part of a good leader\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Look around town at the teams with the most success. Miami Heat president Pat Riley has two rules for every team employee: No complaining and no gossiping. Those five words offer a glimpse into Riley\u2019s larger ideas on running a championship team.<\/p>\n

Does any coach mobilize the English language better than Florida Panthers\u2019 Paul Maurice? From trotting out the sarcastic Will Ferrell line after a playoff loss \u2014 \u201cPanic!\u201d \u2014 to detonating any tension after laying into players on the bench \u2014 \u201cThey needed some profanity in their lives\u201d \u2014 he offers a daily course in how a strong leader sounds whether winning Stanley Cup titles or losing like this past season.<\/p>\n

The best leaders in any business, you see, choose words carefully. Film director Clint Eastwood refused to bark out, \u201cAction!\u201d and \u201cCut\u201d on his sets, because it startled horses on his Western films \u2014 and actors in some way, too, he felt.<\/p>\n

There are a hundred ways up the mountain for sports teams, but they all start with a strong leader\u2019s direction. Don Shula repeated the goals the first day of every training camp: Win the division, win home-field for the playoffs and win the Super Bowl. Simple, right? But putting it on the table for everyone to hear gave it weight.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Johnson\u2019s strength was boiling the complex process of drafting players into five simple thoughts beyond the obvious one of talent: Intelligence, hard work, a playmaker, a gym rat and good character.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t win championships with bums,\u201d Johnson said concerning that last trait.<\/p>\n

Sun Sentinel\u2019s final NFL mock draft: Who will Dolphins select at No. 11 and 30?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

A strong leader\u2019s developed ideas might come out in mumbling fashion, like Bill Belichick\u2019s, \u201cOn to Cincinnati,\u201d to express moving forward after a loss. It might be Bill Parcells expressing a relevant thought this week about young players, \u201cIf they don\u2019t bite as puppies, they probably don\u2019t bite.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see where this goes with the Dolphins new regime. It\u2019s still early. But across these opening few months you\u2019re haven\u2019t seen or heard anything that raises red flags of concern.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been no coach Mike McDaniel calling his players, \u201cteammates,\u201d in expressing his kumbaya culture, There\u2019s been no quarterback Tua Tagovailoa signing a massive contract and immaturely telling fans, \u201cShow me the money!\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s certainly been nothing like Grier saying he didn\u2019t consider injury history in picking players or saying the media worried more about the offensive line problems than he did. Beyond that, did Grier ever lay out his plan for winning football? Did he ever, for instance, explain the big switch from an organization built around drafts to one that traded draft picks for big-money players?<\/p>\n

Sullivan has been repetitively clear of his philosophy: His way is to draft and develop players. He\u2019s done that first step of articulating his plan. This upcoming draft is the next step, the one where these broad, philosophical brush strokes about competition and character are brought to life with young players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan wasn\u2019t just answering a question this past week in saying, \u201cThat\u2019s the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,95805,216,251,2087,6,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-869458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jon-eric-sullivan","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}