Dolphins should just dump Culpepper

By Adam Best  |   Monday, July 02, 2007  |  Comments( 29 )

Miami Dolphins
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When relationships turn sour, the two sides involved rarely ever just break up and make a clean split. For one reason or another, both parties always feel gypped -- as if huge sacrifices were made in vain. That typically leads to both sides scratching and clawing for everything they can walk away with in a War of the Roses-style knock-down-drag-out fight. When a relationship, if you can still call it that, reaches that point nobody wins.

The Miami Dolphins have reached that point with disgruntled quarterback Daunte Culpepper.

Culpepper will take his case against the Dolphins to trial this Tuesday in Los Angeles, unless the trial is delayed once again, as it was last week. His claim is that as a member of the Dolphins -- allegedly a healthy, willing and contractually bound member -- he should be able to participate in all team activities and compete for playing time. To some degree, he has a point.

The Dolphins traded for Culpepper fully knowing his medical situation, and they really only gave him four games during which he wasn't healthy to prove himself (not to mention an awful offensive line that couldn't and didn't protect him). Culpepper was viewed as the QB of the future in Miami, and while both the franchise and its fans feel that he fell way short, you'd better believe that he feels he wasn't given enough of an opportunity to succeed. Furthermore, now he isn't even being given an opportunity at all. This is a former Pro Bowl QB we're talking about, not some journeyman, and he's not even being allowed to compete for a backup spot.

It's easy to see why he wants to be released. In the past the guy was a great ball player -- he just wants to play ball.

From the Dolphins' point of view, Culpepper had his chance and blew it. Regardless of whether it was his fault, he wasn't able to recover from his devastating knee injury and put together a quality season in '06. That is what the Dolphins expected from him and paid for -- with a boatload, no pun intended, of cash and a coveted second-round draft pick -- and he failed to deliver.

Now that there is a new coach (Cam Cameron) in town with a completely different system, Culpepper is expendable. The Dolphins ' brass doesn't want him on the team any longer, and they definitely don't want him to get injured or to take precious offseason/preseason snaps away from relevant quarterbacks like Trent Green and John Beck. The only reason why the Dolphins continue to hold onto Culpepper is because the team hopes to acquire a late-round draft pick by trading him.

The Dolphins would be smart at this point to just cut their losses and move on.

Teams just aren't that interested in Culpepper any longer. He's a perceived prima donna whose game largely depended on his mobility, an attribute he no longer seems to possess. Additionally, Culpepper played with arguably the best receiver in the NFL during his most successful years -- Randy Moss. Still, the biggest issue is his health and if he's really actually ready to play QB again in the NFL.

That being said, it's easy to guess that if Dolphins General Manager Randy Mueller is waiting for another team to call and make a good offer for Culpepper, he'd better cancel all of his plans indefinitely. Honestly, it would be tough to see the Dolphins netting much better than a sixth- or seventh-round pick at this point for him, and they'd be lucky to receive even that.

Complicating matters even further is the trial. Last year, QB Steve McNair was banned from the Tennessee Titans facility. He took his case to trial and arbitrator John Feerick, and 16 days later Feerick ruled that the Titans had breached McNair's contract. I keep reading that this is different because Culpepper is allowed on the Dolphins' premises. In reality, the situation isn't different at all -- Culpepper, like McNair last year, isn't being allowed to compete for the job he is contractually obliged to do.

It's hard not to think Culpepper and the NFLPA will win their grievance. Then the Dolphins will be forced to trade him immediately or cut him. No one can be sure whether the Dolphins could get anything in return for Culpepper before the season starts, let alone by a few weeks from now with a gun to their head. The entire league thinks he's washed up, and every other team already has its QB situation figured out anyway.

The Dolphins should just dump Culpepper, along with his broken leg and heart, and move on. Regardless of what anyone says to the contrary, this is a gigantic distraction.

For the Dolphins to be successful, they need to eliminate all distractions and place a renewed emphasis on winning football games. The Dolphins did that by releasing Fred Evans. The Dolphins will do it again when they formally get rid of Ricky Williams once and for all upon his reinstatement.

Now it's time to get rid of Daunte Culpepper, before the Dolphins end up a month down the road with the same compensation currently being offered for him -- nothing.

Addendum: Culpepper's hearing has been pushed back to July 18.
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CommentsComments: 29  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Ron		03:21 AM
07/02/2007
Oh, and now you can also tell the future, you have no idea what or if we can GET anything. You have no vested interest, (8 Mil in...
No.2
Lancer		05:40 AM
07/02/2007
Someone speaks with reason and sense regarding this whole C-pepper ordeal! Let him go Cam! What are you thinking? You aren't...
No.3
bc85		07:52 AM
07/02/2007
Keep him and trade him - this is business. Sick of other teams getting picks and us getting nothing. I don't care if it's a 6th...
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