Jamie Dukes: Top 3 “Frenemals” That Are Ruining Their Teams
John Idzik. (Credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
Jamie Dukes
Falcons Central
Buy Falcons TicketsAway vs Baltimore Ravens
Home vs Detroit Lions
Away vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFL Scoreboard
NFL Standings
Team STATS
Team Schedule
Team Roster
Team Injuries
We all have Frenemals of which you can catch my book, Beware of Frenemals on Amazon.com. When we look at the failures in our lives it is 100% guaranteed Frenemals are the culprit. There are 3 types of Frenemals.
- Family – Family can enable dysfunctional behavior by not giving us the tough love only a family member can give.
- Friends – These are so called friends around us who smile in our face and tell our boss we suck behind our backs.
- Friend on Inside – This is the voice that encourages us but it’s also the voice that lies to us about our abilities at times.
To that end, its Frenemals that are ruining some teams. So often we look at the successes and failures of our favorite teams and point the blame to the head coach and players. In many cases, it’s the poor decision-making of the General Manager which can prove fatal. Such is the case of several teams many experts believe would be playoff or even Super Bowl contenders. Mismanagement is rampant in the front office and in some cases like the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick the coach has overcome the incompetence of Bill Belichick the GM.
In other situations, clearly these decisions have been lethal. Here are the list of the GM’s who are most guilty of GM Malpractice on teams many pundits expected to be contenders.
1) Atlanta – Thomas Dimitroff – Hindsight can be 20-20 and such is the case when it comes to the infamous Julio Jones trade. I am one of the “remaining” few who agreed with the decision. Thomas’ primary problem was the fact he built a perimeter oriented team and missed horribly with the front sevens on both sides of the ball. There are a couple Frenemals at play in this case. Frenemal #3 convince Dimitroff he could rewrite the tenants of football which clearly show that EVERY Super Bowl Champion has had great front sevens. Frenemal #1 has led to extended family separation anxiety when it comes to releasing non productive players. This is the point where tough love is required to let guys go who can’t compete at the highest level. As such, you have an incurable case of “Bird Flu”.
2) Carolina – Dave Gettleman – This may be the worst case considering the Panthers were so closes. When Gettleman took over, he inherited cap issues from the previous GM Marty Hurney who was equally guilty of malpractice as he had over 100 million dollars invested in running backs on an offense that ran a one back set. Gettleman is most guilty of providing non support to one of the most electrifying players in the league in Cam Newton. In addition to ignoring the loss of Pro Bowl tackle, Jordan Gross, Gettleman doubled down by his shameful handling of Steve Smith. While Benjamin was a great selection, Gettleman signed 2, 30 something #3 receivers and that leaves you with “Cat Scratch Fever”.
3) New York Jets – John Idzik – It’s not often that a GM has 62 million dollars to spend and the NFL draft and things get worse. Such is the plight of the NFL Ant farm known as the Jets. Idzik has a history of being on the financial side of the house. Frenemal #3 better known as Vanity or arrogance led him to draft players and sign free agents who had names but game was extremely questionable given what the Jets want to do. Add, forcing the issue with starting Geno Smith who is still learning and you have “Wet The Bed Syndrome”.
