The other day I was reading Alabama about head coach Nick Saban talking about how surprised he was that his player Dylan Moses wasn’t drafted. I guess Moses wasn’t drafted because he had some medical injury red flags that might have scared off teams from drafting him. Saban then came out and said, “don’t forget doctors failed Drew Brees on a physical. And from that time on, he made 14 pro bowls, won a Super Bowl, and passed for; I don’t know how many thousand yards, so I guess doctors can be wrong.” Saban was defending his player and felt he should have been drafted, and that’s good coming to the defense of your own players.

However, Saban needs to get over the doctors who failed Brees on his physical and decided to trade for quarterback Daunte Culpepper instead, who was coming off a serious knee injury. Doctors felt better about his knee compared to Brees’ shoulder. I’ve always defended Saban on that call because it’s a tough call, and you have to rely on the medical team that advised you. It’s like in baseball do you take the pitcher with the throwing shoulder problem or the knee. Most people probably would have taken the quarterback with the knee issue over the throwing shoulder. However, in this case, the doctors were dead wrong, and Brees ended up going to the New Orleans Saints and had a great career with head coach Sean Payton. At the same time, Culpepper was traded to the Dolphins for a 2nd round pick in 2006, and he struggled to get back to his pro bowl form, and because of this, it helped set the Miami Dolphins back. Saban’s tenure with the Dolphins from 2005-2006 will always be marred by the fact he took Culpepper over Brees because of the doctor’s advice, but it’s not the full story.

Saban was lured to the Dolphins in 2005 by then-owner Wayne Huizenga, who personally recruited him to try to resurrect the Dolphins franchise. Huizenga gave Saban total control of the football team, and he had the final say on all football decisions. Saban likes to be in control, and it was a perfect situation for him, but the bottom line is he failed. The Dolphins went 9-7 in 2005, and things were looking up, but the Dolphins followed that up with a disappointing 6-10 record in 2006 that will be remembered mostly for the Dolphins passing on Brees. However, Saban failed to put together the talent on the roster. His 2005 draft was promising at first with players like Ronnie Brown, Matt Roth, and Channing Crowder, but they never turned into cornerstone players. His 2006 draft was a complete bust overall as all players were journeymen at best. His first-round pick Jason Allen was a complete bust and struggled to get on the field. While fellow draft picks, Derek Hagan, Joe Toledo, Fred Evans, Roderick Wright, and Devin Aromashodu all made very minimal contributions, if any. He also used a supplemental draft pick on defensive tackle Manny Wright, who is best remembered for crying on the field after Saban chewed him out on the practice field, and obviously, he didn’t last.

Saban’s free-agent signings were underwhelming for the most part as well. The only one to speak of 2005 was quarterback Gus Frerotte, who helped lead the team to a 9-7 record and was released after the Dolphins acquired Culpepper in 2006. The question is, why not keep Frerrote as a backup or insurance in case Culpepper’s knee wasn’t fully healed? Instead, Saban traded for quarterback Joey Harrington, a former high first-round quarterback bust with the Detroit Lions, and he didn’t do anything. It would have been better off to keep Frerrote, who wasn’t a franchise quarterback but was a journeyman quarterback who had a good career.

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I get it that you need a great quarterback to win in the NFL, but you also have to build the rest of the roster as well. Saban had the final say on all decisions, and he failed to upgrade this roster. Saban is used to winning, as evidenced by his success at LSU and now Alabama, but you have to go through the process to win. Saban never gave it a chance with the Dolphins and bailed at his first chance when the Dolphins season crashed and burned in 2006. Before accepting the Dolphins job, Saban wasn’t sure about taking the job because he was more a college coach than a pro coach. That is probably true by the success that he has had, but nobody forced you to take the job. Huizenga gave Saban everything a coach could want final say on all football decisions, a big contract, money to spend on players, and heck built an indoor practice facility for him when the weather turned back in the summer. Saban bailed on Huizenga after two years and didn’t give it a chance to work with the Dolphins. As a fan, that’s what frustrates me more than anything about the whole Saban tenure. He basically failed, and he’s now blaming everything on the doctors who failed Brees on his physical. Passing on Brees in 2006 is one of the biggest what-ifs in franchise history. There is no guarantee the Dolphins would have had the same success with Brees as he had with the Saints. It’s not like Brees was a great quarterback in 2006 because the team that drafted him, the San Diego Chargers, let him walk as a free agent. Payton is an offensive-minded coach and works with his quarterbacks. Did Saban have an offensive-minded coach with the Dolphins? The answer is no, but we will never know what could have happened if Saban signed Brees. In fact, Saban could have gone against the doctor’s medical advice if he wanted to because he had the final say.

Saban needs to accept that he failed with the Dolphins and move on. Don’t blame the doctors who failed Brees. You failed with this team. Blame yourself because you didn’t do a good enough job with the Dolphins and bailed on them at first chance.