No longer with the Miami Dolphins, Bill Parcells has time to think about the decisions he helped make during his three years with the team. A possible regret? Skipping quarterback Matt Ryan in favor of offensive tackle Jake Long with the first overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.
"Maybe, we should have (drafted Ryan instead)," Parcells, the Dolphins' former executive vice president of football operations, told *The Miami Herald* on Tuesday.
But Long has become a three-time Pro Bowl selection and taken a leadership role in Miami. He and Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne have organized team weightlifting and workout sessions during the ongoing NFL lockout, according to the *South Florida Sun Sentinel*.
For that reason and others, Parcells told ESPN.com on Wednesday that Long indeed was the right choice.
Ryan, who went No. 3 to the Atlanta Falcons in the 2008 draft, is 33-13 as a starter -- the most games won by any of the quarterbacks drafted in the last five years -- but he owns a 0-2 record in the playoffs.
Parcells also told the Herald that the decision to take quarterback Pat White in the second round of the 2009 draft "violated our principles."
"He just wasn't a prototypical quarterback pick," Parcells said. "He was a great college player, and we let that color our judgment."
Parcells attributed to decision to draft White to a "fever in the personnel department" and the quarterback's success with the Wildcat package and the spread offense.
White, a dual-threat star at the University of West Virginia, played in 13 games with the Dolphins, but he was 0-of-5 passing and ran for just 81 yards on 21 carries. Miami released White before the 2010 season,and he then pursued a professional baseball career, but he told the Kansas City Royals in March that he was retiring.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
