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Jimmy Johnson knows what it takes to win Super Bowls, having done it twice in Dallas. He knows what it takes
to rebuild an organization that has sunk into mediocrity or worse, having done it not just in Dallas but with
the Miami Dolphins as well. So when the coaching legend turned FOX football analyst suggests the most important
person the Dolphins install this offseason whether they retain General Manager Jeff Ireland or not probably
won’t be their next head coach but their top talent evaluator, it should register. ”I think you want to have an
owner that’s supportive that’s going to give you the tools that you need; the Dolphins have that in Steve Ross,”
Johnson said Tuesday morning on The Joe Rose Show on WQAM (560-AM). “The Dolphins had that with Wayne Huizenga.
The Cowboys obviously had it with Jerry Jones. He’s going to do whatever it takes to try to win games. But most
all of the owners are that way.
“Now you don’t want an owner in there trying to make decisions when he doesn’t know anything about football. So
you’ve got to avoid that. But ownership in my opinion is one of the least important things.” So, what’s the most
important then? “I think the No. 1, most important person in your entire organization is your talent evaluator,
whoever that guy is,” Johnson said. “And when I say talent, not necessarily just the players. Talent evaluator as
far as your coaches, your assistant coaches, the people in your organization. “Your talent evaluator is the most
important person there. Now it might be your general manager, it might be your director of player personnel, it
might be your head coach. That was my responsibility when I was back in coaching. I think he is more important
actually than your head coach.”
Johnson had total control over football personnel in both Dallas and Miami, but he suggested the modern NFL has
become so complex, so all-consuming, that model no longer is feasible. And he’s not the first to come to that
determination. “Some people have a dual role,” Johnson said. “More times than not it’s your general manager. In
New England, right now it’s [Bill] Belichick. He does both. But there’s very few in the NFL right now that’s doing
both. … Really it’s an overwhelming job with the salary cap and free agency. You really need to separate. “Bill does
it now and he’s got some assistants with some people there in the front office, but I mean he’s got no life. That’s
all he does. And it’s an overwhelming job. And I think because it is such an overwhelming job, he’s probably missed
on some of them and he’s starting to miss more than what he did in previous years when he had Scott Pioli.”
To hear Johnson tell it, the Dolphins would be foolish to hand total control to one of those superstar head coaches
like Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden or Jeff Fisher. Better to find the person who can see through the muck and find the right
people who should play, coach and scout for the franchise. “It’s really too much of a job,” Johnson said. “Even if you
hire one of these guys that say, ‘Hey, I want control,’ they’re really not going to do it. They’re going to be the head
coach and maybe they’re got the final say, but the nuts and bolts of it, 80 percent of the work will be done by somebody
else. “So he’s going to have to have him somebody really good as a talent evaluator to do the job. Even if you give that
guy the title, he better have somebody with him that’s doing it really good. Pete Carroll is trying to do some of this
in Seattle. It’s swallowing him up. He can’t do it.”
I tend to agree with Jimmy here, although I can still see several scenarios in which Ireland would be retained to work
with whomever Ross hires as the Dolphins’ next coach (assuming Tony Sparano goes as expected). Even if Ireland stays on
board as GM, who would you like to see in the “football czar” role above him? What if Ireland goes? Who are some of the
top gettable personnel people who should be on the Dolphins’ radar, especially in light of JJ’s comments? Go Dolphins...
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