Darlington: Jeff Ireland Was Too Caught Up on Measurables
Two early Jeff Ireland draftees have become failures in terms of NFL production in Jonathan Martin (2012, No. 42 overall) and Dion Jordan (2013, No. 3 overall). Martin just retired and Jordan will miss the entire season due to violating the NFL's drug policy.
While NFL Network's Jeff Darlington thinks Ireland did some "good things in terms of talent evaluation" it was other areas like "leadership and understanding the chemistry of the locker room," among others, where the former Dolphins GM came up short.
"I think that Ireland was too caught up on size and strength and measurements," Darlington says on the Joe Rose Show,"and too often you have to consider more than that. You've got to consider a guy's makeup and what type of commitment to the game he has and I think that these are two examples of guys who we can assume very clearly that they perhaps didn't have that level of commitment."