Mueller Making Good on QB Plan

by Chris Shashaty, Phins.com Columnist

One year ago today, the Miami Dolphins were in a transitional state at quarterback. Gus Frerotte had beaten out A.J. Feeley for the starting job while some argued that Sage Rosenfels had beaten out Frerotte and Feeley. Even rookie Brock Berlin had a small group of advocates outside of his immediate family.

Going into training camp, only Feeley had even the resemblance of being the future of the Miami Dolphins. But that hope was completely washed away when Nick Saban named Frerotte as the starter, with Rosenfels as his back-up.

Even Hector from Hialeah could smell the perfume on the pig, er, Dolphin.

No doubt Nick Saban could as well.

Enter Randy Mueller. Coming to the Dolphins in 2005 via the New Orleans Saints through ESPN, Mueller brought with him a reputation for having a nose for QB talent.

Consider that, at one point, GM Mueller had Jake Delhomme, Jeff Blake, Aaron Brooks, and Marc Bulger on the Saints roster.

That�s impressive.

And so, he and Saban talked �3-4 times per week about finding that right guy�, a player the Dolphins could win a championship with.

It didn�t take Mueller long to turn a team weakness into a strength. And while it is Saban who makes the final decisions, it is Mueller who skillfully, silently, works behind the scenes as the team�s chief personnel architect.

Today, just one offseason later, the Dolphins are enjoying their deepest group of quarterbacks since the 1983 trio of Dan Marino, Don Strock, and David Woodley.

Sure, Mueller has the skilled eye of a football man that knows good QB stock when he sees it. But it also helps to have a little circumstantial luck along the way.

We now know that the football gods were smiling broadly on the Dolphins when they acquired franchise-caliber Daunte Culpepper from the Minnesota Vikings. The price was a mere second rounder in what could be the biggest heist from the Men in Purple since Jimmy Johnson fleeced Mike Lynn in the Herschel Walker trade. �

More good news came shortly thereafter as Culpepper apparently recovered from his major knee injury earlier than expected. He will, in fact, be ready for the season opener against the world champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

Can anyone question that the Dolphins now have a quarterback good enough to lead them to a Super Bowl?

Next comes Joey Harrington, acquired from the Detroit Lions for what is believed to be a sixth rounder (which could become a fifth rounder if he meets playing time thresholds). The third overall pick in the 2002 draft, Harrington struggled in Detroit. While Harrington blames various external factors for his troubles, it remains to be proven if he can revive his career with the Dolphins as Culpepper�s back-up. Thus far the signs from Harrington are most promising, having completed 53.6% of his passes with 2 TDs and no interceptions during preseason play.

Finally, there�s Cleo Lemon. Lemon was acquired from the San Diego Chargers for the failed Feeley and a sixth rounder. At first blush one would conclude that the Dolphins had to actually pay to get Feeley off of their hands in exchange for an obscure third stringer with a bad last name.

We now know better. Recommended to Saban and Mueller by offensive line coach Hudson Houck, a fine talent evaluator in his own right, Lemon has been terrific, impressing coaches throughout training camp. His recent showing in the final preseason game against St. Louis, with 271 yards on 21 of 28 passing and excellent mobility, validates that Lemon is not a lemon.

Should the Dolphins lose Culpepper for a period of time, there is now confidence that Harrington and Lemon can keep the things on track.

This doesn�t mean that the Dolphins are done with the quarterback position. We can be certain that Saban and Mueller are already on the lookout for the next group of candidates.

Saban has already commented on the ongoing development of Marcus Vick as a quarterback for the future, in addition to the multiple skill roles we�ve seen him perform. We shall see if this plays itself out.

Beyond Vick, don�t expect Saban and Mueller to stand pat. Continued acquisition of talent at the QB position is good for two reasons.

First, should someone get hurt, another capable player can step up. More than a few Dolphin seasons have been ruined due to QB injuries.

Second, a surplus of good QB talent gives the Dolphins many trade possibilities for picks or players at positions of need.

In the end, all of this plays into Mueller�s plan of making sure that the Dolphins continue to have close to the best (if not the best) group of signal callers in the NFL. This is one of the big reasons why Saban hired him to serve as Dolphins GM; his ability to spy and select good QB talent is a precious skill many teams do not have.

The Dolphins used to be one of those teams, as evidenced by the many faces that have come through Davie since You Know Who retired.

Now, with Mueller on the job, the frustrations of finding Heir Marino appear to finally be at an end.