Plan may seem brilliant, can backfire
PITTSBURGH — Potential is one of the most dangerous words in sports because it teases possibility, and it encourages us to dream.
Kenyan Drake had the “potential” to be a key player for the Dolphins for years to come.
At least that’s what many Miami Dolphins fans thought back in the 2017 season when he produced 444 rushing yards in the season’s final five games, a stretch where he started because Jay Ajayi was traded away, and Damien Williams got hurt.
That was the second-most rushing yards by any NFL tailback during that span.
The South Florida fan base saw Drake’s speed, his size and power, witnessed highlight plays like the Miami Miracle touchdown run, and though he could “potentially” be a star.
What they didn’t see were his tendency to not run plays the way they were designed to be run, and how his quirky personality allegedly made him difficult to manage.
That’s why Drake, who still leads the Dolphins’ in rushing with 174 yards despite missing Monday night’s 27-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, was traded to the Arizona Cardinals for a 2020 sixth-round pick, which has conditions attached that can turn into a fifthround pick.
Even though the compensation wasn’t exactly what Miami wanted, it’s better than what they would have gotten for letting their thirddown back walk away for nothing this offseason as an unrestricted free agent.
Drake’s “potential” had run its course, and it was time for everyone involved to move on, just like they did with Jarvis Landry, Ryan Tannehill, Matt Moore and Cameron Wake.
See, potential has an expiration date on it, and you better seize that window of opportunity when it opens. The problem with the Dolphins, is so few players have done so these past two decades.
And even those who do — like Landry, Wake, cornerback Xavien Howard and safety Reshad Jones — get their contribution taken for granted.
It’s become a vicious cycle with this franchise, one that likely will cost this team an entire generation of fans considering most South Floridians in their teens and 20’s have only witnessed two winning seasons by the Dolphins.
But general manager Chris Grier will find talent with the potential to turn this franchise around, right? That’s what the Dolphins are selling.
And coach Brian Flores and his staff will coach up the players who have the “potential” to be playmakers. That’s what the organization wants you to believe.
But this season is raising more concerns than it’s alleviating.
The amount of players on Miami’s roster who have the “potential” to be impactful has steadily diminished this year, and can be counted on one hand.
Drake was one, and now he’s gone.
His trade continues the franchise’s roster purge, the organization’s scorched-earth restart, which has produced a team full of practice squad players and waiver wire finds.
And the sad thing about all this is we’re just supposed to have faith this franchise’s decision makers, and coaches have the ability to identify playmakers, and develop players who can turn this franchise into a contender.
We are supposed to believe that the culture being installed is healthy, and will create stability.
We’re supposed to see progress in close losses, and the declining penalties.
We’re expected to see “potential” in what this organization is doing and building without much evidence from the season’s first seven games.
The Cleveland Browns executed a similar plan during the Hue Jackson era of their franchise. They tore it all the way down and hoarded draft picks — plenty of them.
They selected the franchise’s quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick, signed and traded for Pro Bowl players like Landry, Odell Beckham and Olivier Vernon. Cleveland won this past offseason, but owns a 2-5 record heading into this Sunday’s game.
Same old Browns despite all the “potential” they had coming into this year.
Who’s to say that after all this, after a season full of losses and embarrassment, we’re not sitting on the same outcome despite all the draft picks they Dolphins have acquired, and cap space Miami pledges to spend this offseason?
“Potential” is a dangerous word when attached to a player. But it’s just as menacing when it’s the only thing a franchise has to offer.