Things are Starting to Look up for the Dolphins...

Bill Parcells continued the revamping of the Miami Dolphins organization today with the hiring of Dallas Cowboys assistant coach, Tony Sparano (not to be mistaken with Tony Soprano, FOHGET ABOUT IT) as the head coach. If you couple that with the hiring of Jeff Ireland, another former Dallas employee, as the General Manager, there's a lot of upside there. Could we be looking at the Dallas Cowboys 2.0, two or three years down the line?... I certainly hope so. Sparano had been the Offensive Line coach for the Cowboys this season, but last season he was calling plays for the offense. And Jeff Ireland was Vice President of college and pro scouting for the Cowboys, so he was pretty integral in the formation of that team. The Dolphins also hired David Lee as their QB coach. You might know one of Lee's best protege's... one Tony Romo, who went from undrafted free agent to starting QB of America's team.

Obviously, I realize that football games are won on the field and not necessarily in the front office, but the Dolphins do own the number one pick in the draft which would best be utilized on a lineman, either offensive or defensive. The two names that stand out in my mind would be: Offensive Tackle Jake Long out of Michigan and Defensive Tackle Glenn Dorsey out of LSU. Dorsey was completely dominant in the BCS championship game against Ohio State and is a definite game changer while Long is a franchise Offensive Tackle that could protect your QB for years to come. Out of the two, I'd rather the Dolphins take Long because I think he could make an immediate impact (see Joe Thomas rookie offensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns) and make life easier for John Beck or whoever else could be their quarterback of the future. Speaking of QBs, with their second or third round picks, the Dolphins need to draft a possible franchise QB and have a competition for the starting job. I'm not entirely sure that John Beck is the quarterback of the future, especially since he's now 26, so bringing in young guy would probably be a good idea.

Optimism is pretty high right now for Dolphins fans like myself...