Steve Ross > Clark Hunt ?

[DaKCMan AP]

Steve Ross: 'I'm looking for a franchise quarterback'
Dolphins have a master plan to upgrade the quarterback position. Plenty of research has been done, and there are many tiers to the plan.

9:23 p.m. EST, January 23, 2012

MOBILE, Ala. – Steve Ross clearly felt his intelligence had been insulted.

Maybe it was the tone of the question, or the fact the Dolphins' owner has been repeatedly asked about upgrading the quarterback position since his 2010 declaration that Chad Henne would become the next Dan Marino did a belly flop.

Ross had heard enough.
"I'm not stupid!" Ross said, interrupting a reporter.

"I'm looking for a franchise quarterback," Ross said with an emphatic tone.

"That's the highest thing on our agenda!"

He's referring to the Dolphins' offseason overhaul, which began last week when Joe Philbin was hired as the new head coach.

Along with the addition of Philbin, who orchestrated Green Bay's high-octane offense for the past five seasons, sources say the Dolphins have a master plan to upgrade the quarterback position. Plenty of research has gone into the plan, and it has "many levels" and contingency plans.

Ross isn't just looking for any quarterback. He's searching for "a franchise quarterback," someone the team is certain will do better than the 87.1 quarterback rating and 6-6 record Matt Moore delivered in his 12 starts.

The Dolphins are hunting for a quarterback who can elevate the franchise to elite status, and it appears Miami will have a couple avenues.

The buzz around the NFL is that Peyton Manning will be released from Indianapolis in the coming weeks, becoming a unrestricted free agent for the first time in his accomplished career.

Manning is owed a $28 million roster bonus March 8, five days before the start of the new league year. The Colts will be forced to either pay the bonus to a player who missed last season with a serious neck injury or cut him. ESPN reported last week that Manning, who will turn 36 in March, does not intend to push back the date of his bonus, which will force the Colts' hand.

The Dolphins are expected to be one of Manning's many suitors.

Moving on from Manning opens the door for Indianapolis to select Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick. Baylor's Robert Griffin III will be the second quarterback chosen in the draft, and it is possible teams will trade up to the No. 2 spot to secure the Heisman Trophy winner's services. The Browns, who have two first-round picks in the 2012 Draft, will likely set the market, and should also be in the hunt unless they sign Matt Flynn.

Flynn, Aaron Rodgers' backup in Green Bay, is expected to the top free-agent quarterback. Philbin has groomed Flynn since 2008 and holds a high opinion of him. But is that opinion franchise-quarterback high, and will the Dolphins give Flynn a significant contract that pays him a salary which averages more than $7 million a season?

"You never really know until you go through a full 16-week season," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said of Flynn, who has passed for nine touchdowns and 731 yards with two interceptions in his two NFL starts. "But there is a lot of evidence that Matt Flynn can do that."

There are also a couple of second-tier passers — Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill, Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden, Arizona's Nick Foles, Arizona State's Brock Osweiler and San Diego State's Ryan Lindley — who could be taken in the first two rounds because of the supply-and-demand concept.

NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said "nobody knows how many first-round quarterbacks" are in the 2012 Draft at this point.

"I'm a big believer in trust the process, and from my standpoint, the process just started. You don't know how good these guys are till you dive into the tape," said Mayock, who admitted he's intrigued by Weeden, Foles and Lindley, three of the quarterbacks on the Senior Bowl's South squad.

"They are big, strong kids who can throw the ball," Mayock said. "Then Brock Osweiler came out. He's 6-foot-8 with a big arm, and then in the middle or later rounds you need to figure out [Wisconsin's] Russell Wilson and Boise's Kellen Moore because they are playmakers."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/m...,6661278.story