An aging Thomas Edison failed in his quest to invent a machine that could talk to dead people. George Washington chopped down his father's cherry tree (although, to his credit, he admitted to the dirty deed). Whitney Houston had that whole crack head phase.
So you don't want to throw Bill Parcells and his lackeys under the bus for wasting a second round draft selection, although drafting Pat White looks like a giant blunder for a front office of supposed geniuses who have a lot to prove before living up to the hype.
White is engrossed in a bizarre saga at a Dolphins training camp that otherwise appears to be lacking drama.
According to the Palm Beach Post, White was mysteriously absent at Dolphins camp on Friday, with little information provided by Coach Tony Sparano. Not a shocker because the Parcells crew guards private information from the media with secretive skills that would make the U.S. Military blush.
Sparano later told the media that White was absent for personal health issues, mental ones no less. Whatever.
White will never succeed in the NFL. It's not going to happen. He would have been a reach in the third or fourth round, let alone in the second.
He possesses the running ability of Tim Tebow and the height of Chris Leak. The height and weight deficiency will ultimately dash his NFL dreams.
Smaller quarterbacks than White have made it in the league, but he's shown nothing to make anyone believe he'll succeed.
Everyone, from scouts to coaches to fans seemed to know that in the weeks leading up to last year's draft. But Parcells and Jeff Ireland thought it was worth taking a second round gamble on a quarterback who they never planned on making the team's No. 1 guy.
He was supposed to be a beast in the Wildcat, but after running for a grand total of 85 yards last year, not completing a pass, and suffering a concussion in the game when he finally could have received extended playing time, White looks more like a future roster cut. And the future is near.
Maybe the Dolphins could get a 6th or 7th rounder out of him, but there's no reason he should stick around Miami. Teams don't like to keep second round failures on their roster, even if there's the possibility White could one day blossom into something worthwhile, which probably wouldn't be a quarterback. They'd rather slash and burn and pretend he never existed.
Miami's bringing in Tommy Grady, an arena football quarterback who threw for 81 touchdowns this year. That's 81 more touchdowns than Pat White will ever throw in the NFL.
The Dolphins could have saved themselves heartache, and drafted a quality player in the second round, if they considered a similar move last year. Even if they were focused on the Wildcat, it would have made more sense with less risk to wait for the Michael Vick situation to sort itself out.
Parcells and Ireland accomplished more good than bad this offseason, luring Brandon Marshall, Karlos Dansby and converting the defense into a younger, quicker unit.
Yet in the year when the Dolphins, for the first time in their history, open the season second-tier to a basketball team, they must succeed.
If they don't it won't be because of a single player. But it certainly doesn't help that the 12th pick of the second round of last year's draft was Pat White.
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