Jeff Ireland's slip, and what it means.

Every other media outlet is talking about it, so I want to clear something up here.

It doesn't mean anything.

For one, all of us make simple slips in conversation all of the time. Speaking in front of a large press crowd with the most intimidating boss in the NFL aka Bill Parcells staring at you the entire time is about as stressful as it gets, so you can't really blame the guy.

Sure, you can speculate. Maybe it was a Freudian slip. Maybe he actually meant to say "offense." Maybe he meant to say "team." Maybe it's an elaborate Parcells smokescreen.

Maybe it's being completely overblown by a media that's desperate for NFL content.

The fact is, nobody knows anything more about the Dolphins draft plans then they did before the conference. Anything people say at this point is pure speculation.

Besides, the first pick is not what is going to determine the future of the Miami Dolphins. Nearly everyone agrees that Jake Long, Chris Long, or Vernon Gholston are can't miss talents. I really can't see any of them being major busts. They would all also fill a position of need. So the first pick, quite frankly, doesn't mean nearly as much as what people are making it out to be just because of the prestige that goes along with being the first pick of the draft.

What is really going to make or break the Dolphins is how well our talent evaluation works in the middle rounds of the draft. Even if we nailed a first year Pro Bowler with the first pick, if all of the other picks were busts or development squad players, the Dolphins would still be looking at another 1 to 3 win season. However, if the first pick ends up being only an average starter, but we can get 2 to 4 more solid starters in the 2nd to 5th rounds to fill all of our positions of need, the Dolphins could be back to playoff contention within 2 or 3 years.

Of course you hope you can get lucky and land your Tom Brady in the 6th, but the entire point of the draft is to build depth and youth on your team, and if you don't consistently bring in 5 to 6 young players every year that remain in the league with your team, then you end up in exactly the position the Dolphins are in now.