So far, two “unofficial” moves have affected the Miami Dolphins. The first “unofficial” move was the retirement of QB Tom Brady, which “unofficially” puts the Brady to Miami rumors to bed. It was also reported, perhaps prematurely by NFL reporter Tom Pelissero that the Dolphins had agreed to a contract with Vic Fangio, despite the fact the contract wasn’t actually signed by Fangio. Later in the week, there were reports Fangio was talking to both Denver, where new HC Sean Payton resides and also San Francisco, where the DC job opened up when former SF DC DeMeco Ryans left to become the Head Coach of the Houston Texans, who Ryans played MLB for 6 seasons. Both jobs are without question strong opportunities, but ultimately, it appears for the moment that Vic Fangio has chosen the Miami Dolphins and will officially sign after Super Bowl 57, or for you Romans, LVII.

Well, the Brady news is clearly just a matter of timing for Tom Brady, who was a great NFL QB, he might as well be a great promoter for his upcoming movie, in which Tom Brady is the producer, and the release date will be February 3rd. What fantastic timing!!! He’s good!!! Of course, Brady can “un-retire” at the drop of a hat, he’s done it before, and until I don’t see #12 on an NFL roster this season, I don’t give any more credence to this retirement. In any case, at least temporarily, Miami Dolphins can look forward to a healthy Tua Tagovailoa, who incidentally was cleared from concussion protocol February 1st, to be their starting QB. In case you were wondering, Tua is neither a producer or actor in the film.

Running with the assumption that Fangio will be our defensive coordinator, it will be interesting to see how we shape the defensive roster both in free agency, where we will be hamstrung money wise, and the draft, where we unfortunately lost our 1st RD pick due to “The Meddler”. The other 1st RD pick was traded for WR Tyreek Hill. The Dolphins hold 5 draft picks, one second round pick (#51), two 3rd RD picks (#78) and (#84), a sixth round pick (#164) and finally a 7th RD pick (#216). There will probably be a few contracts restructured in order to free up some cap space this season which will help in free agency, but I don’t foresee us being top spenders, we can’t afford it. Obvious needs are CB, RB, TE and after that, I guess it depends on what Fangio thinks of the current roster. He has to be happy to be inheriting Christian Wilkins, Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Zach Sieler and Jevon Holland. I’m sure he hopes that Brandon Jones, Emmanuel Ogbah and Xavien Howard can all return to their former level of talent and come in healthy in ’23. Elandon Roberts had a very strong season in ’22, and actually fits the Fangio prototype at MLB, a stout run stuffer with a little sand in his pants. Despite being a little lighter, #55 who always does a yeoman’s job each and every season, we’ll see if he fits what Fangio likes, as well as last year’s first pick in RD 3, Channing Tindall. Hopefully he can work with both of them. The last item is if there’s any avenue in which CB Byron Jones can return to the team. It seems doubtful, but a healthy Byron Jones is better than most of the guys on our roster. Stay tuned!

GO DOLPHINS!!!