On Sunday night, we reported that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross wants the team to select quarterback Ryan Tannehill with the eighth overall pick in the draft. Not long thereafter, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reported, citing a “very, very, very highly placed source” in the organization, that it’s not true.
On Monday, Peter King of SI.com confirmed our report: “Ross wants the quarterback,” King wrote in Monday Morning Quarterback.
Earlier this afternoon, Dolphins G.M. Jeff Ireland disputed these reports on PFT Live, explaining that, while Ross is “very engaged,” he defers to the football employees. Ireland says he feels no pressure from Ross. “I don’t know where that’s coming from,” Ireland said.
More recently, we received the following email from Stephen Ross himself.
“Mike, I read your note,” Ross said. “So there’s no confusion, Jeff Ireland will make the call who we draft, with input from Coach Philbin and the football staff. They’re the ones who have spent months reviewing tape, scouting, and gathering information from every source available to them. They have kept me fully informed about their draft analysis, and they have my full support and backing whoever they decide to pick. I know they will select the players they think can best help this football team win.”
So there you have it, a “very, very, very, very highly placed source” has gone on the record and denied it. Along with a “very, very, very, very, very highly placed source.”
Though we appreciate the Dolphins’ willingness to speak out, some reasonably may wonder whether they are protesting too much.