Minkah Fitzpatrick wants to leave Miami

It only took one match for the depth and breadth of Miami's "tank for Tua" campaign to be apparent, and it was widely reported, even before all players have finished returning home from the stadium, that they were frantically ringing their agents, begging for the release of what this appalling dolphin season will bring. But the next day, coach Brian Flores denied this information, claiming that neither he nor general manager Chris Grier had been made aware of the existence of players who would have liked to go out. Well, either Flores was lying or things had changed quickly.

Defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick, one of the few good players in the squad, would have asked for and obtained permission to seek an exchange. The news was reported for the first time by ESPN and confirmed by the Miami Herald.

Fitzpatrick's dissatisfaction goes further than this team is blowing and I prefer not to be hereof course, that's part of it. But Fitzpatrick, the 11th overall pick in 2018, is more annoyed by the way the Dolphins use it: basically, everywhere in high school, even though Fitzpatrick strongly prefers – and ranks as the best player in the NFL – a specific role .

Fitzpatrick last season was the best of all NFL slots in completion percentage against (51.3) and pass against (49.7).

But on Sunday, according to Pro Football Focus, the Dolphins used it only 12 times in the cornerback, 4 in the cornerback, 7 on the line of defense (in a marginal role) and 26 in the box where he played within 6 minutes. yards of scrimmage, essentially in a role of linebacker.

It's not necessarily incompetence on the part of the coaches. They consider Fitzpatrick as the DB Swiss Army Knife and its ability to align with high school makes it extremely valuable, giving the defense a ton of flexibility for different looks and packages. And Fitzpatrick will probably be better, even at his weakest positions, than other Dolphins options for these roles.

More difficult to understand, is that Fitzpatrick was on the field only for 49 of 77 defensive positions Sunday, ninth among the top performers of the team. It's one thing to use a player outside of their favorite role, and another quite … not to use it. If you want to be wary of this, you can also point out the curious underutilization by the Dolphins of some other key players from week 1, and ask if this tanker job is not being prosecuted.

But these are broader and more depressing questions. For the moment, Fitzpatrick wants to go somewhere where he can play the slot machine, ideally for a team that will win more than three games this season, and he would like to go soon. But will that happen at all? His agent is already looking for potential business partners, but, hilariously, nothing has changed because of Bill O'Brien.

Another general manager felt that the Dolphins were not realistic about their expectations of Fitzpatrick compensation after "they got an arm and a leg for Tunsil of Texans" before the first week.

Well done, Bill.