There was a time when many believed Matt Flynn signing with the Miami Dolphins was a foregone conclusion.
Flynn was a free agent, Miami needed a quarterback, and the Dolphins' new head coach, Joe Philbin, had previously served as Flynn's offensive coordinator in Green Bay.
It appeared to be a simple game of connect the dots, but it didn't come together. Flynn agreed to terms with the Seattle Seahawks a day after his visit to Miami's facility.
On the heels of their unsuccessful play for Peyton Manning, the failure to acquire Flynn became the cherry on the dirt sundae for Dolphins fans. On Tuesday, Philbin shot down the notion the Dolphins were passive in their pursuit of Flynn.
"I think we made an aggressive push," Philbin told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "We got him in here relatively quickly. Again, we had a great meeting. Matt and I had some conversations, a number of conversations prior to his arrival to Miami. We had some subsequent ones after."
Philbin plans to hold an open competition between Matt Moore and David Garrard at the quarterback position. He made it clear he didn't want to speculate on Flynn's decision-making process.
"Again, you need to ask Matt Flynn why he's in Seattle," he said. "There's a myriad factors that go into why people make decisions about their own future, which is their prerogative. And clubs have their own prerogative as to how they are going to decide to move forward. And so again, it always takes two people to get a marriage and so I wish him well. He's a great young man. But he's better to ask why he's in Seattle."
