Dolphins’ promo a bit perplexing
Many veteran players missing in video for upcoming season
What message did the Miami Dolphins’ organization intend to send the team’s fan base with a promotional video that was posted moments after the conclusion of Sunday night’s Super Bowl?
That was the question I had to ask myself after watching the one-minute clip for the fourth time to double check that numerous team leaders, Pro Bowl talents and key veterans had been excluded from the team’s promotion, which featured the words “2020 season is here. The work has already begun. #FinsUp”
The video opens with general manager Chris Grier outlining his desire to “create a culture.”
Receivers Allen Hurns, DeVante Parker and Preston Williams are featured prominently. Cornerback Nik Needham, tight ends Mike Gesicki, Davon Godchaux and Christian Wilkins are all over the video.
The Dolphins draft room is shown. The video features national pundits talking about how Miami has an unprecedented number of draft picks (13-14), and $100 million in cap space (it’s really $93 million at the moment).
“We can do anything we want,” Grier reiterates from a news conference he had in September to explain why the Dolphins traded 2018 first-round pick Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for the
No. 18 pick in the 2020 draft.
“We talk about building a team that’s going to win and compete for championships for a long time,” Grier stresses in his attempt at peddling hope, which the Dolphins have been selling, hard.
A highlight of Needham, an undrafted rookie who became a starter in 2019, pulling down his first NFL interception in Miami’s 16-12 win over the Indianapolis Colts is shown.
Then Parker scores a touchdown in Miami’s 37-31 upset win over the Philadelphia Eagles airs, reminding us about his resurrection season.
Gesicki is spotted catching one of his five touchdowns in the back of the end zone in Miami’s upset win over the New England Patriots in the season finale.
Safety Bobby McCain gives a pregame speech in a huddle full of unrecognizable players.
“When you deal with defeat, deal with disappointment, it either breaks you or makes you stronger,” coach Brian Flores says. “I think this team got stronger.”
More Needham, with a sprinkle of linebacker Sam Eguavoen in the background.
“Again, we’re trying to build a team that is going to bring a championship here to South Florida,” Grier reiterates. Exciting stuff, right?
The problem is the quarterback who led Miami to its five wins, the one who propped this young and talent-starved squad up like a kickstand holding up a bicycle, wasn’t featured once in the video.
Considering Ryan Fitzpatrick was flirting with retirement until announcing he would play in 2020 last week, we can excuse that omission. Maybe the production team didn’t have time between Thursday and Sunday night to splice the 37-year-old team MVP in.
And seeing as how Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard has a troublesome legal issue to address stemming from his late December arrest for a domestic dispute with his fiancee, it is understandable that we saw four images of Needham and none of the team’s highest-paid player.
But what about Reshad Jones, the two-time Pro Bowl safety?
Based on this video, are we to assume that his decade spent with the Dolphins is coming to an end?
Maybe Jones’ $11.6 million salary, $4 million of which is guaranteed in 2020, will prevent him from being around.
But what about Eric Rowe, who got a three-year, $14.2 million contract extension last December after excelling when he moved from boundary cornerback to rover safety?
He wasn’t in the video at all. There were also no recognizable clips of Jesse Davis, the offensive line’s most consistent performer, or Micheal Deiter, the 2019 third-round pick the Dolphins invested in all season as a starter.
Center Daniel Kilgore, a team captain, was in the background of a Gesicki celebration. But his image was so blurry, all that was identifiable was his number.
And why was Jerome Baker, the team’s leading tackler, and Raekwon McMillan, a two-year starter, left out of the promotional video?
Aren’t they part of the young nucleus the Dolphins organization is trying to sell?
We can minimize this promotional video all we’d like, but do understand this is the stuff players pay attention to in the offseason.
Last year, Jones made a mental note that his picture wasn’t placed on the wall in the team’s meeting room like most of the other veterans. He chalked it up as the cost of working out on his own instead of participating in the team’s allegedly voluntary organized team activities.
As long as the checks cleared, Jones was fine.
But players do pay attention to who gets put on billboards, season ticket renewal packages and which five jerseys get mass produced by Nike for sale in the team store.
They know stuff like these promotional videos cross the desk of the team’s decision-makers and nothing used, or more importantly omitted, is accidental.