re: Miami making its move for Harbaugh

as much as I hate to give the media credit..they may have it right with "Brady Hoke" of San Diego St

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Money is an object for quite a lot of NFL teams. Particularly small market teams like the Bengals.

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this.

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He tried to use the possibility of signing Brees to leverage Culpepper. Didn't work.

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Not true


Saban actually helped Brees out by giving him info that allowed Brees' agent to bluff the Saints into giving Brees a huge contract

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After Brees visited and the Dolphins made their final decision not to sign him, Saban even did Brees a favor. The coach called agent Tom Condon and told him that the Dolphins weren’t going to sign Brees, but added that they weren’t going to announce that publicly.

Armed with that info, Condon ran one final bluff at the Saints and got the desperate organization, which was still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, to give Brees a six-year, $60 million contract. It included a $10 million guarantee and another $12 million due after the first season. At the time, it was considered a steep price.

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And SFP is correct. Doctors were the deciding factor in Miami not signing Brees. If Miami had offered, Brees was going

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during the NFL scouting combine in February 2006, former Dolphins coach Nick Saban sat in a room with renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews, the man who had performed recent surgeries on Brees and fellow quarterback Daunte Culpepper(notes).

The quarterback-starved Dolphins were weighing whether to pursue Brees, a free agent who was coming off surgery to his throwing shoulder after an injury in the San Diego Chargers’ season finale, or trade for Culpepper, who was coming off a triple-ligament knee repair from the middle of the 2005 season with the Minnesota Vikings.

Saban grilled Andrews for two hours on the chances of Brees and Culpepper returning to play that season. In hindsight, the question seems almost silly because of where the two quarterbacks sit today.

Brees is now a star, the face of a Saints team that has gotten to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. Culpepper is the symbol of someone hanging on, having just finished his second season as a backup for the hapless Detroit Lions – his third team since 2006.

At the time, however, it was a brutal choice

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The Dolphins medical staff did a thorough check on both Brees and Culpepper. Aside from consulting with Andrews, the Dolphins sent the MRI and other medical reports on both players to four other outside physicians, including renowned New York orthopedic surgeon and Giants team physician Dr. Russ Warren. The opinion of all the doctors was that Culpepper was a better risk at the time. Still, it was Andrews’ opinion which mattered most.

At one point during the meeting with Saban, Andrews said he didn’t think Brees would be able to throw by the beginning of the exhibition season and might be limited to only short passes early in the regular season.

Saban was aghast.

“Only short passes,” Saban told members of the Dolphins staff, incredulously. “We can’t spend $10 million on a guy who might not be able to throw in training camp.”

When free agency began, Brees visited the Dolphins, who remained unconvinced. At the time, Brees couldn’t raise his arm above his shoulder. Culpepper, by contrast, was ahead of schedule in his return.

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LINK

whichever story is true it's a misevaluation by Saban. viewing culpepper and brees as more or less equals when culpepper was on the downhill side of his career or even preferring brees but not having the patience to have him heal over the first three games of the regular season was a mistake that he made. this wasn't a doctor saying he'll never heal, he said he wouldn't be ready to be 100% to start the season.

from the article.

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. “If we had taken Brees, Nick would have stayed,” an unnamed former Dolphins executive said. “Not getting the quarterback – and worse, taking the heat for how it went – made Nick think he was never going to make it work. He kept saying, ‘We have to have a quarterback, we have to have a quarterback.’ He wasn’t going to start all over. He didn’t have the patience.”

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the drew brews decision was easily the biggest frickup of sabans career.