Jimmy Johnson had his chance to rebuild the Dolphins, and it didn’t go nearly as well as his Dallas reclamation project.
But as the former coach looks at his second pro team now, he’s having a hard time being optimistic about their chances for short-term success.
The Fox analyst talked to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald about many things Dolphins, but specifically about their future at the most important position as they prepare to jettison Ryan Tannehill and move forward with a new face of the franchise — this year or next.
Johnson doesn’t seem sold on Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray as an immediate savior, based largely on Murray’s height.
“Kyler Murray is the kind of player who can take you to the playoffs or can be hurt his second game,” Johnson said. “He is exciting and a great college player, but he is undersized and a big part of his game is mobility and mobile quarterbacks in the NFL don’t last very long. But he is great player and exciting. It would be a tough call for me for the long haul. I would be hesitant.”
Johnson thinks there’s a much better chance of finding the guy in 2020, but clearly has Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa over Oregon’s Justin Herbert on his board.
“Tua looks big time to me,” Johnson said. “Herbert I’m not nearly as excited about as I am with Tua.”
But with the Dolphins in an obvious transition phase, Johnson said he wasn’t sure if waiting a year for a Tagovailoa is the right play — which also assumes much losing to be position to do so.
“It depends on who is available [this year],” Johnson said. “If you think they can win for you, [take one]. Putting it off a year is one thing — I don’t know if that’s the way to go if the right guy is there.”
Johnson never had to worry about that when he coached the Dolphins, as he had some guy named Dan Marino. But until the Dolphins find the answer at quarterback, it will be hard for any coach to have sustainable success there.