Zach Gelb can't believe Stephen Ross hasn't fired Mike McDaniel or Chris Grier yet

WQAM-AM / AM 560 Sports WQAM

National Radio Host - Zach Gelb - is shocked that the Dolphins owner hasn't made the obvious changes necessary following an embarrassing start to the season.

Transcript

00:00Zach Gelb hosts Afternoons nationally on the Infinity Sports Network,

00:04and he joins us from the WFAN studios in New York City.

00:08Is it getting cold in New York City?

00:10Because I see you're wearing a little puffer jacket.

00:12No, it's just a little fashion, you know.

00:14I'm wearing a little bomber today.

00:15You know, I'm feeling good.

00:16I'm looking good.

00:17I'm trying to be like the Walmart version of Solana, honestly.

00:21It's a look.

00:22It's a look.

00:22He's rocking a look.

00:23And where are you, Crowder?

00:24You're in Houston?

00:25Houston, yes, sir.

00:26How's the weather in Houston?

00:28Beautiful, actually.

00:28It's really nice.

00:30Channing would probably call this the preppy white guy look.

00:32Even though I'm not a preppy guy, I'm a white guy,

00:35but that's what I think Channing would call this.

00:36You're not a preppy white guy.

00:40I've seen that look at University of Florida before, yes.

00:43That's Finance Pro 101 right now.

00:45Yeah, 100%.

00:46I look like Mike McDaniel right now.

00:49Maybe I got capris on, and you guys don't even know.

00:52Show a little ankle.

00:53Get a little ankle out there.

00:54Let me start there.

00:55Are you shocked that as we sit here today,

01:00on October 22nd, that Mike McDaniel is still the head coach

01:04of the Miami Dolphins?

01:06And let me take it one step further.

01:07Are you shocked that Tua Tonga-Vailoa is the starting quarterback

01:11on Sunday in Atlanta?

01:13I think the coach knows if he benches Tua,

01:18he's then definitely going to get fired because of the investment

01:21that they made in Tua.

01:23But, yeah, I'm stunned that Mike – I thought for sure Monday morning

01:28we were getting the notification.

01:29McDaniel out.

01:30Maybe even Chris Greer out too because he needs to go as well.

01:33But, you know, what does it mean firing the GM in the middle of the season?

01:37I just – I guess I'm not shocked.

01:39I'm just disappointed, and my question would be why.

01:43Like, Stephen Ross, are you asleep?

01:46Stephen Ross, do you not care?

01:49Stephen Ross, are you cheap?

01:50Stephen Ross, have you just accepted that you'll just wait

01:53to the end of the season?

01:54I would love to just ask Stephen Ross one question today,

01:57and it would just be why.

02:00What does it benefit to fire him, though?

02:03Like, I'm asking you – you know, I'm saying, like, if you fire him,

02:07there's nobody in that organization that's turning that team around.

02:10I think he's just waiting to the end of the season,

02:12kind of let McDaniel, you know, sink with his boat,

02:16and then now it's terrible and now I can move on.

02:19Could you get an interim coach boost, which long-term doesn't help the franchise

02:23because you'd rather have the most losses at this rate?

02:26Sure.

02:26But there's a difference in being bad and embarrassing.

02:30This is now embarrassing.

02:32The Dolphins, even if they make a change, they're still going to be bad,

02:35but it's just to stop the clown show, stop the bleeding,

02:39stop the national disgrace that the Miami Dolphins are right now

02:44because this coach at the podium is a fool,

02:47and the quarterback at the podium – you know, I thought Cam –

02:52I didn't love when Cam said it, but he's right.

02:54Like, Cam, when he talked about Tua being aggressive at the podium

02:57and Tua really being boisterous at the podium,

03:00it has been a disaster for Tua Tungavailoa at the podium.

03:05You're lucky the Jets are in the division too because Aaron Glenn,

03:07that's another guy, he gets in front of the podium.

03:10Holy smokes, like, shut up, dude.

03:13We're two weeks away, a little less than two weeks away

03:16from the NFL trade deadline.

03:17And now the conversation down here is, what do you do with all these assets?

03:20Or quote-unquote assets.

03:21My question, Gelb, is do the Dolphins actually have attractive pieces

03:26from a national perspective?

03:28Because Devon HN is probably – it's HN or Bust down here right now

03:32with the offense, but I just don't see them trading him right now.

03:36I think Jalen Waddell is also somebody who people think highly of.

03:40I don't see them trading him either.

03:42It's really the front seven guys, Bradley Chubb, Jalen Phillips,

03:45who we all thought, at the very least, those are the guys that you could trust

03:49to have a good season, and they have not produced.

03:51So I wonder, even if the Dolphins were saying,

03:54hey, let's kind of start stockpiling some picks,

03:57do people around the league really look at any of these guys in the Dolphins

04:01and say, yeah, they can help us win now?

04:03I think Channing would know this, that there's a lot of arrogant offensive

04:07and defensive coordinators out there and head coaches that go,

04:10oh, I could make Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb good again.

04:14And it's just the Dolphins situation.

04:16So those are the two attractive names on defense.

04:18And then offense, you hit the nail right in the head.

04:20It's Devon HN and Jalen Waddell, who are two good young pieces.

04:23And the question just is, if you're the Dolphins,

04:25do you want to part ways with those pieces?

04:27And is the return going to be significant enough for you to ultimately say,

04:32yeah, you know what, we'll say goodbye to a youngster in Jalen Waddell,

04:35who's next year probably your number one wide receiver if he does stay,

04:38because I don't think, regardless of what Tyreek is trying to sell everybody,

04:42I would be shocked if Tyreek is on the roster to start next season.

04:45Let me ask you this question.

04:47We were having this conversation yesterday, and it kind of just came organically.

04:51But you can play the hindsight game and say they shouldn't have given to a big contract

04:56when they did because they still had him under contract for another season,

04:59and then they could have franchised him for two seasons beyond that.

05:03And you had said that when that originally went down.

05:06But let me just ask you, because they made a business decision

05:10that he was going to be their quarterback for a long time,

05:14that he was good enough after the 2023 season to warrant a giant investment,

05:19and plenty of players get contracts before they need a contract, right?

05:24And you don't want to get into the situation they lost Christian Wilkins

05:28because they waited too long with that.

05:29So do you think if Tua was an unrestricted free agent the year after 2023

05:37that they give him the big contract, if he was an unrestricted free agent,

05:41wouldn't he have gotten that contract somewhere else from some other team?

05:47Wasn't he respected enough around the league to warrant that type of giant contract?

05:53He would have got a contract because there's more teams that don't have quarterbacks

05:56that do have quarterbacks, and then people would overspend.

05:59If you're saying, okay, if when they gave him the contract,

06:02even though, like you said, he had another year left on the deal,

06:04if he was a free agent, then, yeah, someone would have given him a contract.

06:07But that's not the situation.

06:09The situation the Dolphins had is they could have waited.

06:13And for a quarterback that also has an injury history,

06:16it even makes more sense to wait, and the Dolphins didn't elect to do that.

06:20But, you know, at this point, if you're a Dolphins fan,

06:24what reason do you have to tune into this team?

06:27And, like, that's why this owner, how he has not fired the GM or the head coach,

06:36the quarterback, the damage is done.

06:37You already paid him.

06:38You got to figure out how to get out of it and just deal with it.

06:40But how this coach and this GM are still here,

06:44I keep on going back to it,

06:46and I keep on using the same lame line that I've been using for a year.

06:49They got to got pictures.

06:50They got to have pictures of Stephen Ross with, like,

06:53a shriveled-up schmeckle or something like that.

06:54That's all I can get you.

06:57That's all I got at this point.

06:59And, Gal, to that point, you get rid of the head coach and the GM.

07:03Is Tua connected to that?

07:04And if he's not, you know the report.

07:06They owe him $54-plus million next year.

07:09Could the Dolphins do something like the Broncos did with Russ

07:12when they gave him that big money?

07:13I think it was four for $250,

07:15and they end up figuring out a way to split the money with another team.

07:19Would that be the approach if they do clean shop?

07:22I think it's a lame duck spot next season where, like,

07:26remember Sean Payton inherited Russell Wilson for a year

07:30and already knew that he was done with him

07:32and then waited until the year after to just say,

07:35okay, we're going to get rid of Russell Wilson.

07:37So I think a new coach that comes in,

07:39assuming that it is with the new GM,

07:41they're going to say the first year is a wash,

07:43the second year improved,

07:44third year go contend for a playoff spot.

07:46So I'm going to sit back and say that probably Tua's on the team next year

07:50and they wait then a year after that for the dead cap.

07:53I don't have the contract in front of me,

07:54but dead cap in theory to just go down a little bit

07:56and then you figure a way how to crunch the numbers.

07:59Hey, Jimmy, for the podcast,

08:01do you know how to spell shriveled up Schmeckle?

08:05No, I do not.

08:05All right, I'll get back to you on that.

08:06I'll text you.

08:07I'll text you on that.

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