The football minds of the Miami Dolphins are now focused on the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft which begins April 25th. The financial wizards are hard at work trying to figure the best way to keep the roster stacked while at the same time digging themselves out of cap debt. There’s ways of paying down that cap debt by paying money up front, turning salary into bonuses that are payable immediately, and that’s where Stephen Ross’s indomitable desire to win comes in handy. He will cooperate fully and would be willing to buy a championship if that were possible. That’s the good part. The other half of the equation is whether we have the right guy(s) making the personnel choices. GM Chris Grier is 67-64 over his 8 year career as GM with the Dolphins. That’s not awful by any stretch, but it’s pretty close to average. Compare him to Baltimore Ravens GM Eric DeCosta who is 56-27 over his 5 year career and it pales significantly. Compare him to Pittsburgh Steelers former GM Kevin Colbert (226-124), or even GM John Lynch (64-51), who is more of a contemporary to Grier, and he’s got some catching up to do. One important thing to point out with the Ravens and Steelers in particular is that both of those teams have had the same Head Coach for long periods of time. HC John Harbaugh has been with the Ravens for 16 years since 2008, and Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin for 17 years since 2007. Stability, something we’ve been looking to have here for a long time. Since Mike Tomlin has been pacing the sidelines in Pittsburgh, the Miami Dolphins have had 7 different Head Coaches. We all hope that HC Mike McDaniel will be here, and be successful for quite a long time.
Some of you wonder why I’m so dark lately. I’m sure all of you watched the Super Bowl, and if somehow you were too distracted or maybe too inebriated or both, the Kansas City Chiefs were fielding one of the youngest teams in the NFL with a roster age of 25 or 26, this after allowing one of their best offensive weapons go to the Miami Dolphins, in exchange for a fair amount of valuable picks. 5 in total, 2022 1st, 2nd and 4th RD and picks, and then in 2023 our 4th and 6th RD picks. So you look at the KC offense and you see WR Rashee Rice (meh), WR Justin Watson (meh), WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling (meh), WR Mecole Hardman (meh) and you think to yourself how did this offense win the Super Bowl? OK, RB Isiah Pacheco is solid, and of course the TE Travis Kelce is the best receiving TE in the sport. The most important thing is they have their QB. QB Patrick Mahomes is 74-22 (.770 winning %). He’s been winning since he started, winning since his best WR left, and hasn’t stopped. He doesn’t need people to make excuses for him, he just wins. Now some of you think our QB belongs in the conversation with Mahomes, that he’s on his way, and he “bites”. You talk about passing yards, breaking offensive records, but somehow are willing to look the other way when he disappears against better teams and cite a decimated defense as an excuse for the QB’s poor play against better teams. Patrick Mahomes doesn’t care who his receivers are, his defense, none of it. He just finds a way to win.
So now one of the biggest decisions both roster wise and monetarily come to a head. Do the Miami Dolphins buy into QB Tua Tagovailoa and pay him somewhere in the vicinity of $55M annually for 5-6 years? The Cincinnati Bengals gave QB Joe Burrow a 5 YR/$275M contract which is precisely $55M per. Well, some people compare Tua to Joe Burrow, but all I can do is laugh. Joe Burrow has been an All Pro QB, and is 5-2 in the playoffs, and took his team to the Super Bowl. On the other side of the ledger, The New York Giants gave QB Daniel Jones a 4 YR/$160M contract which is $40M annually. You know the Giants wish they hadn’t done that contract. Some say the Bengals wish the same with Burrow because he’s missed 12 games, 6 his rookie season in 2020, and then again 6 game this past season. He’s definitely an injury risk, but I’ll tell you one thing, that boy leaves it on the field every single game. There’s not one of you on this cherished blog that can say the same for QB Tua Tagovailoa. So we gleefully celebrate the fact that Tua played 17 regular season games and even 1 playoff game. I say, did he really? I know some of you think I hate Tua, but the truth is I don’t. I think Tua’s a great kid, I just don’t think in his current state, post concussion that he can lead us to a Super Bowl. I hate the situation we’re in, not the person himself. I do kind of hate the excuse makers, because I don’t really see what that accomplishes. I would like to be optimistic, but my perception of what happened this season was Mike McDaniel and Tua mutually agreed to be careful and keep him out of harms way. Some of us see passing records shattered, I see losses to every winning team with the exception of the Dallas Cowboys.
I’m not going to get deep into the draft yet, but it seems like everyone (and their mother) has us taking Oregon OC/OG Jackson Powers-Johnson at #21. I’d be quite happy with that, we could use an OC as a fixture for the next 5 years. LT?, LG?, C?, RG?, LT Austin Jackson. I’d love to be able to pencil in at least one more guy, so I’ll be giddy if we land JPJ. I also hope that somehow we manage to keep our own RG Robert Hunt, but it’s gonna take close to $12M per to keep our 27 YO powerhouse. I suppose if they do give Tua the big contract, then it’s much more likely we pay Hunt, and then we’ll have to see what they can do with DL Christian Wilkins. This is another thing that has me bitter. I know it hasn’t happened yet and we may still find a way to retain Wilkins, but I don’t like the body language so to speak. Wilkins leaves it all on the field every game, plays more snaps than most DL in the game. He’s EARNED A CONTRACT EXTENSION, not free agency! With our 2nd pick (#55), do we go with defense, either a pass rusher or CB? PFN’s (Pro Football Network) Tony Pauline was on the Joe Rose this morning and he reiterated some of the things that former DC Vic Fangio said about CB Cam Smith. Apparently, Smith has had, and continues to have attitude issues. Seems like drafting a CB isn’t a crazy idea. BTW, Tony Pauline really likes JPJ, he said he not only has an NFL body, he also has an NFL mind. I dig it!
GO DOLPHINS!!!
Finsmob Unleashed 
TEs can get out in space with a chip block in less than 2.5 seconds…lol, imo
Lol…wtf?
https://www.thephinsider.com/2024/2/20/24078144/nfl-football-where-should-the-miami-dolphins-improve-part-one-tight-end-smythe-mcdaniel-bowers
Hmmm….I do think he’s a keeper unlike Mike E….lol
https://phinphanatic.com/posts/miami-dolphins-should-sign-jevon-holland-this-off-season-and-save-money-01hpy3qrh700
?? Never heard MikeE say he didn’t like Holland.
If they go OL….he needs to be a long-term solution, imo…
https://www.si.com/nfl/dolphins/news/scouting-combine-o-linemen-the-miami-dolphins-should-monitor
2 adults charged in KC parade….sooooo histrionic…lol
I suspect most if not all gun-toting bloggers read the Armour post….lol…no histrionics just National sentiment…
Too bad Reid or Mahomes wasn’t popped…they consoled…wtf? Lmfao!
NICE!!!
———–
HUH? That’s all I’m hearing from national networks/outlets… that we should use/ will be using the franchise tag on Christian Wilkins.
Alright, so from I’ve gathered, we may hear the new salary cap number as early as next week. The new league year begins on March 13th, so it has to be coming very soon.
*so from what I’ve gathered
If it reaches $250M (as rumored by some), it will be the single-highest increase from one season to the next in NFL history.
Hippos are the most dangerous animal on the planet. They have no natural enemies when full grown. They can kill any threat except humans when armed.
You don’t even know what you’re talking about, Tim. Clearly, you’ve never had an encounter with a PA dobson fly… 😆
The PA dobson fly has been known to fly over to Africa, pick up several fully grown hippos, and drop them as bombs on countries we’re warring with.
YES, I concur that hippos are dangerous AF animals
Strictly land: tiger (Bengal or Siberian) (omitting snakes)
Land/water: hippos and polar bears (omitting snakes)
Strictly water: Orcas (killer whales) (omitting snakes)
A creature that weighs 5,000 pounds on average and can toss a 500 pound animal around like a tennis ball, with a mouth to crush an adult crocodile is a force to be reckoned with. 😂
Are you referring to Joy Behar??? 🙂
If the cap is 250m, we’d only be 32m over, Ogbah, Baker and Crossen would clear 26m, add White to get to 30m, and a Long restructure would get the rest
Cut X post June 1st or cut his pay and move him to safety, resign Tua, Hunt and Wilkins with low 2024 cap hits and we should be good
Still need a C or use Eichenberg, Tanner Conner is my Longshot seam TE
Wilson cut gets us another 3m
Draft a C or TE in 1st
And EZ, Tindall and Cam need to step up
Weaver seems like a less technical BS DC, that can get Tindall to ball
I don’t know if you guys listen to WQAM in the morning, specifically the Joe Rose show. I try to listen every day I can because they discuss the Dolphins pretty often. I know a lot of you guys don’t like Dave Hyde or Alain Poupart, because you think they’re old and grumpy. This morning they had Jeff Darlington on who is none of the above, and he was on the show discussing a number of Dolphins issues, firstly Christian Wilkins, who he believes we will Franchise Tag. Then discussing Tua and his contract, he said EXACTLY what I’ve been saying since we started discussing this. He said he would have Tua play on his 5th Year contract, and that even if he balls out, the amount of money you will have to pay him if he does is not much more than you would have to pay him right now, which is somewhere around $50-55M per year. He also said what I feel that if Tua does have this great season in ’24, he’s less likely to want to leave this situation and would be more likely to want to stay in this system with his HC. Just food for thought . . .
I think the only living animal that could potentially give a hippo some trouble would be a rhino. Especially the larger white rhino
I think we are forgetting about someone. My girl beats a hippo everytime
Some of us predicted this…
If he retired,
He might be subject to the Barry Sanders rule and lose a big chunk of money
Not sure how the designation of partially vs full gunarateed affects that
But Even if Armstead plays less than 6 games next season, it’s a smart move for him
I don’t expect him to risk injuries in 2024
I think we need a new LT whether or not he retired
Tim Knight says:
February 20, 2024 at 11:46 pm
A creature that weighs 5,000 pounds on average and can toss a 500 pound animal around like a tennis ball, with a mouth to crush an adult crocodile is a force to be reckoned with. 😂
Reply
bailbondmike says:
February 21, 2024 at 7:37 am
Are you referring to Joy Behar??? 🙂
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😆
The Flying Pig says:
February 21, 2024 at 11:57 am
…I think we need a new LT whether or not he retired
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Absolutely agreed. Get the new LT this coming draft class so he can learn from one of the best in the biz in T-Stead.
ER – Your wife fights hippos?
Well, his name is “Elephant Rider” An Elephant may be able to take on a hippo.
He said “his girl” not “his wife”
Lol!
But yes, elephant over hippo. Don’t mess with any pachyderms period! But elephant rules them all.
https://cdn.zmescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/elephant-mouse.jpg Well, maybe not ALL
😂
In an elephant vs hippo fight, the elephant is going to win. Assuming both creatures are fully grown adults, the elephant is just too big for the hippo to handle. Hippos are too smart to pick a fight with an elephant, so they have no idea what it takes to bring one down.Mar 8, 2023 – A to Z Animals
I think there have been some rare occurrences of it happening. Elephant won every time.
Mike Tannenbaum is an idiot. How does he even have a job? Oh, wait, ESPN. That explains it.
https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/dolphins_tyreek_hill_addresses_trade_rumors_surrounding_teammate/s1_13132_39997347
Dov Kleiman
@NFL_DovKleiman
𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: #Rams are releasing veteran center Brian Allen after 5 seasons.
Mike, I like Jeff Darlington, he’s good and he’s not one of those guys that tries to be first reporting stuff. He’s usually accurate so we’ll see what happens.
Just for context, he (Jeff Darlington) said that’s what he would do. He said that’s my opinion. He wasn’t saying that’s what the team is going to do, he was speaking as if he were the GM. He said there’s no risk to let him play on his 5th year because no matter how well he plays next season, it won’t get him much more than the $55M they’d probably pay him now, and they’ll have more cap space next year too.
Gotcha!
I don’t think elephants and hippos tangle with each other. Most animals avoid others that can harm them.
I don’t know who comes out on top between hippos and elephants
But what I do know is it doesn’t matter,
None of them can handle pigs
🐖 💨
This speculative by espn but I hope it’s true
https://x.com/dolphinstalk/status/1760424106023931925?s=46
I hope so too, I don’t want to change my avi. 😂
Daniel Jeremiah had the Dolphins taking Edge Laiatu Latu at pick 21. He got some quickness at 6’5 265.
I highly doubt he last to us @ R1P21, but he’d be a very good selection. He’s a BEAST.
Hard to say. This draft is stacked with some OT’s, WR’s, CB’s, QB and Edge. That’s a good thing. Several very good players will be there at #21. Going to be interesting.
Yep!
I traded down and ended up taking 4 OL…lol
https://x.com/theflyingpig44/status/1760437125168656600?s=46
?? I was interested but couldn’t view it.
https://x.com/theflyingpig44/status/1760437125168656600?s=46
This one work?
Guess I will go cook the only fish I caught today. Had to work hard for it. Can’t wait for mid to end of March when it all starts to pick up.
No way do I trade Waddle. These stories out there make no sense to me.
Tannenbaum’s an idiot….always has been…lol
He says a lot of stupid shit!
I own a 🐧 jersey
So I’m a little nervous…lol
MTP was always looking for the next best trade. Problem was, he never really found it, did he?
His job is to create interest and conversation 🙄
He’s not good at that either. lol
Daniel Jeremiah had us taking Edge Latu in the 1st. He’s good but I would rather have Edge Jared Verse 6’4 260. He seems faster, quicker and more powerful with a non-stop motor. But he is probably the first Edge off the board.
MikeE must have wrote this for him.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/chris-perkins-here-are-two-reasons-dolphins-shouldn-t-extend-tua-tagovailoa-s-contract/ar-BB1iFSK5?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=2a9e92cee5f54e00b55a828ee88ceaef&ei=18
Dov Kleiman
@NFL_DovKleiman
Top 10 Attendance during the 2023 #NFL Season:
1. #Cowboys – 1.37M
2. #Jets – 1.28M
3. #Giants – 1.26M
4. #Packers – 1.24M
5. #Rams – 1.23M
6. #Broncos – 1.22M
7. #Eagles – 1.22M
8. #Chiefs – 1.20M
9. #Seahawks – 1.19M
10. #Chargers – 1.19M
Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter
·
Follow
A trend that has emerged this winter: many college coaches are tired of the transfer portal, the NIL money and the new NCAA world – and prefer to work in the NFL. Many college coaches already have left; many more want to.
Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter
Chargers are finalizing a deal to hire USC RB coach Kiel McDonald as their running back coach. McDonald had chances to become a college offensive coordinator but opted to become Jim Harbaugh’s RB coach. At Utah and USC, McDonald worked with backs such as Zack Moss and Marshawn…
Potential trade down partners for the Dolphins.
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Dov Kleiman
@NFL_DovKleiman
#NFL Teams With The Most Top-100 Picks In The 2024 Draft:
– #Cardinals – 6
– #Packers – 5
– #Falcons – 4
– #Lions – 4
– #Giants – 4
– #Commanders – 4
One of the DT’s I like in the 5th would be Braden Fiske from FSU. He reminds me a lot of Seiler in that he is not the biggest guy but he’s disruptive. He’s a 5th year senior and accumulated 19.5 sacks over that time, 6 sacks in each of the last 2 seasons. I don’t think we necessarily have to find a NT type in the draft. We have Peli and there will be a big vet NT type out there to sign on the cheap.
This dude is becoming one of my fav day 3 picks and think he will end up being a very good NFL RB. Cut Jeff Wilson and draft RB Isaac Guerendo, 6’1 223. He came in to college as a WR but he kept getting bigger. He was Mr. Football in the state of Indiana at the WR position. Wisconsin switched him to RB but he was stuck behind other good RB’s there so he transferred to Louisville. Dude is a beast with speed. Before putting on more muscle mass and switching to RB, he was clocked with a 4.34 and in 2021 was clocked on the field at 22.15 and 23 MPH. He is still expected to run sub 4.0. I fear he will climb draft boards and he will go earlier as he is one of the better inside/outside zone RB’s in the draft.
Wisconsin before transferring:
At Louisville:
Can’t lie: I almost shut the Louisville highlights off about halfway through. He kept going down on first contact, broke like a whole 2 tackles, didn’t show any wiggle, and I thought he looked like a bum.
THEN, the second part of the video he was ballin’!
Interesting prospect, BB Mike. I like his size/speed metrics and he just might be a sleeper pick on day 3.
Same! Someone mentioned him to me as a sleeper so I checked him out. Just like you, I was “meh” and thinking UDFA but then watching the rest he grew on me.
Don Strock was on WQAM this morning. He was discussing the current state of the Dolphins and thinks it could be a mistake to pay Wilkins $30M per year or top dollar. He also doesn’t think we should give Tua a big contract now, especially not like a $55M per like Burrow. He did say though that Tua’s agent won’t like him playing on the 5th year either.
Yeah, the fifth year is like the franchise tag in that way. It is fully guaranteed, but no one wants to play without assurances for next year. F’ng prima donnas! Most of the rest of us have no guarantee that we have a job next year. F that shit!
I think it would be a mistake to pay Wilkins 30 mil per also.
Of course, Tua’s agent doesn’t want him playing on the option. Tua gets hurt again, especially another concussion it is going to hurt that agent’s pocket.
My “Still Don’t Know What The Cap Will Be Or What We Will Do In FA Mock Draft” 🙂
Using the nfldraftbuzz simulator. I got offered all kinds of trades and took the best of each. I traded down 3 times from 21 to 22 to 27 to 29. Gained picks #66, #105, #137 and #207. Also got a extra 3rd, 4th and 7th in 2025. Plus got 2 inexpensive players:
CB Kelee Ringo from the Eagles
LB Derrick Barnes from Texans
PICK: 29 RND: 1 Jackson POWERS-JOHNSON C Oregon
PICK: 53 RND: 2 Graham BARTON OT/OG Duke
PICK: 66 RND: 3 McKinnley JACKSON DL Texas A&M
PICK: 105 RND: 4 Ainias SMITH WR Texas A&M
PICK: 137 RND: 5 Dallin HOLKER TE Colorado State
PICK: 155 RND: 5 Malik MUSTAPHA S Wake Forest
PICK: 186 RND: 6 Joe MILTON III QB Tennessee
PICK: 199 RND: 6 Michael BARRETT LB Michigan
PICK: 207 RND: 6 Isaac GUERENDO RB Louisville
PICK: 239 RND: 7 Josh WALLACE CB Michigan
This one is another winner in my book, but I still like the one ya did last week better (minus the trade of ‘Reek).
I continue to see JPJ rising on mock drafts, with some taking him in the teens now. 😦
I know. If Eagles’ Kelce retires, I have seen mocks having them trade ahead of us to take JPJ. Also seen Steelers taking JPJ. Now Rams, who pick at #19, just released their starting center of the last 5 years.
Question for y’all…
In the event we were to draft Amarius Mims (RT, Georgia), who has only ever played RT in college (who by the way has never given up a sack in his 3-year Georgia career), would you feel comfortable moving Austin Jackson from RT to LT?
Or do you feel that if ain’t broken (at RT), don’t fix it?
I am, of course, talking about life after T-Stead. In the meantime, I guess Mims would be riding the pines behind Austin Jackson? Not sure that would be ideal.
But then again, we KNOW that T-Stead is probably going to miss half the season with injuries. In those missed games, Mims can start at RT and Jackson at LT.
It’s making me mental! LOL
Pick a position and keep him there IMO. especially if changing from left to right or right to left. Again, just MO
Rockphin says:
February 22, 2024 at 2:38 pm
…..Most of the rest of us have no guarantee that we have a job next year. F that shit!
I quit my job today. 😂
I have another one starting in a few weeks. But damn, they are killing me, all of a sudden they are interested in all this stuff I do that’s not in my job description. How do you do this, how do you do that….?!?! Make a list of everything you do that no one knows how to do…it’s sort of fun.
Congratulations! You should’ve given them all wrong instructions. How much am I worth to you now bitches!?
It’s really difficult to speculate on what we’re going to do until FA because we have to clear cap space, see who we bring back, restructure contracts etc., then the draft will be more clear by then. We’re most likely going to target specific positions in the first two rounds. Not reach, but draft needs as long as the value is there. In this draft based on what I’ve seen early on, there are plenty of positions we could use that should be there.
100% agree
This one is for MikeE. My head was about to explode. Don’t know how I got there. All I can say is I traded Tua to the Falcons for #8 and 2 other picks. Then I tagged and traded Wilkins and our second for another 1st then traded down from that. Got some other trade offers that I took and VOILA!
PICK: 8 RND: 1 Jayden DANIELS QB LSU
PICK: 21 RND: 1 JC LATHAM OT Alabama
PICK: 30 RND: 1 Jackson POWERS-JOHNSON C Oregon
PICK: 63 RND: 2 Jeremiah TROTTER JR. LB Clemson
PICK: 74 RND: 3 McKinnley JACKSON DL Texas A&M
PICK: 110 RND: 4 Leonard TAYLOR III DL Miami (FL)
PICK: 132 RND: 4 Ainias SMITH WR Texas A&M
PICK: 155 RND: 5 Theo JOHNSON TE Penn State
PICK: 163 RND: 5 Kitan OLADAPO S Oregon State
PICK: 176 RND: 6 Jaylen WRIGHT RB Tennessee
PICK: 186 RND: 6 Michael BARRETT LB Michigan
PICK: 199 RND: 6 Josh WALLACE CB Michigan
PICK: 201 RND: 6 Christian JONES OT Texas
PICK: 207 RND: 6 Isaiah WILLIAMS WR Illinois
PICK: 214 RND: 6 Omar BROWN S Nebraska
PICK: 239 RND: 7 Isaac GUERENDO RB Louisville
BBM FOR GM!!
M13, I don’t think you move Jackson. He does well in the run game but I think he gets by in pass pro due to Tua getting rid of it so fast.
He has greatly improved though.
Agreed on both comments.
Another thing Tua does really well to help the offense function but maybe it’s time to move on from him. 🙄
Nah, I was just funking around. Can’t blame him for wanting to take care of himself. He will be well over a whole season with that behind him. Can’t help but feel we will see a little more from him this year.
Like I said, I don’t mind them paying him big $ if they structure the contract like Josh Allen’s.
I wasn’t calling you out. It’s all over the place.
Tua is a really good fit in McDaniel’s offense. As long as he’s here I can’t see him moving on from Tua.
Oh, I didn’t take it THAT way. I am seeing it all over the place also. That’s why I did that last one. Though it will never happen.
Rockphin says:
February 22, 2024 at 6:05 pm
BBM FOR GM!!
—————–
Hey, I learned from Rockphin Trady Pants! lol
Tim Knight says:
February 22, 2024 at 4:54 pm
It’s really difficult to speculate on what we’re going to do until FA because we have to clear cap space, see who we bring back, restructure contracts etc., then the draft will be more clear by then. We’re most likely going to target specific positions in the first two rounds…
————
I used to HAVE to remind everybody here — dating back to Omar’s blog — that FA comes first! Good to see that isn’t lost on most any longer.
That’s not to say that we can’t speculate on Draft prospects, but it’s one of the more particularly difficult years to assess what we’re going to do what with our dire cap situation and a new DC. This year is very difficult to predict.
In the meantime, YES… keep the draft insight coming.
So, I am buzzed, and I’m playing Madden 24 and this is a run-on sentence, but don’t give me shit and I have to say that I give Grier a lot of grief and most of it is deserved but like I said, I have to admit he did put together a fucking awesome roster if everybody was 100% healthy. I can dominate any team changing how I play against their strengths and weaknesses with the pieces he put on this team if they were all healthy I have injuries turned off in Settings and I’m telling you I put up 50, 60,70 burgers every time I play, and I’m playing on all pro. So enclosing Grier put together a hell of a squad if this was fantasy land.
It was pretty run-on
In closing
Grier along with his scouting staff have found some good UDFAs the past few years. We have a core group and some decisions to make. But I’m not going to be worried until we know what our roster looks like in July. 🙂
Phillips and Chubb are my biggest concerns. That’s our biggest question, even more so than Wilkins and Hunt.
It’s the most talented roster we’ve had in a long long time
That said, a lot of the players we brought in had injuries concerns before they were in Miami
So crippling inhutird has to be part of the evaluation of Greir IMO
GMs look for talent. Lots of really good players have a history of injury. But they’re more talented than other available players. That’s the game they all play.
It’s easy to play the hindsight game. It’s not easy when injuries derail your plan.
Chiefs Signing Matt Araiza
Former Bills punter was dropped from alleged rape lawsuit in December
@brgridiron
Seahawks are converting Geno Smith’s $9.6M roster bonus into a signing bonus, per
@FieldYates
Seahawks save $4.8M in 2024 cap space with this move 👏
————————
Again, this is another reason why they need to put at least 1/3 of Tua’s money in the form of roster bonuses.
^
Matt Miller
@nfldraftscout
Going through player notes and interesting that the top three center prospects (Jackson Powers-Johnson, Graham Barton, Zach Frazier) could each play multiple positions.
JPJ – center or guard
Barton – everything
Frazier – center or guard
Teams like the Eagles have really valued versatility along the IOL and this year’s class has that at the top
Dolphins twitter makes me laugh and frustrates me every day. I need to stay away from reading the overzealous Tua fans because they make me want to reply to their garbage tweets all the time. They are smarmy mofo’s too, the type I’d probably meet in person and want to drop them with a right hook before they even brought up for the millionth time that he led the NFL in passing yards. lol
https://x.com/tompelissero/status/1761085559420715325?s=46
The salary cap just went up by a record number
30 million
How much are we over the cap now? Are we even over the cap?
https://x.com/danieloyefusi/status/1761088659753668613?s=61&t=NWZ–WfgKu_dYbC-fKuB3A
Yeah, SPOTRAC shows us at $-38,345,377 and OVERTHECAP shows us at $-38,498,203).
That will be much easier to overcome.
Now we have a target. Teams will start cutting players more so now.
Post 6/1 releases on X and Ogbah will clear 34.2 mil alone. You could then convert say 5 mil of Ramsey’s 11 mil roster bonus to 2025 and suddenly you’ve clears 39.2 mil and no longer in the red.
X has a 3 mil roster bonus that will be due on 13 March so something will happen by then with X.
Yeah, a good point was raised to me on Twitter (by our old regular poster DBolt) that players will probably want more money now that the cap gets bigger
So it’s not exactly blue skies and bacon
But we are certainly. It as a hamstrung by a higher cap
I’m thinking restructures are a little harder to achieve than usual
Does anyone know which QB (without looking it up) had the 2nd highest passing yards?
I think Mike E just called me a smarmy mofo
I doubt you waste your time on twitter, am I wrong?
Talk to the hand ✋ LOL. No I deleted my Twitter or X account or whatever it now is almost a year ago
Anyone remember what happened in 2015 after our QB threw for 4208 yards, 24 TD’s and 12 INT’S? Numbers remarkably similar to Tua’s numbers this past season BTW
Just for a frame of reference, our leading WR’s in receptions that season were Jarvis Landry and Rishard Matthews, before you say that Tua had 400 more yards and 5 more TD’s. lol
I must report today that on WQAM this morning, one of Joe Rose’s guests said the Dolphins should pay Tua and give him a big contract. It was Drew Rosenhaus. No, he’s not Tua’s agent, but he’s probably got quite a few QB’s in his stable that would appreciate Tua getting a big fat contract so his guys can get paid too!
Looks like Emmanuel Ogbah will be our first cap casualty. Cutting Ogbah today frees up $13.7M. Gotta start somewhere
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That’s WOW! Most were speculating it to be around $240M, with some speculating it to reach as high as $250M.
$255.4M?!! WOOOOOOOO!!!
Don’t get too excited my friend, that just makes the salary demands higher which easily offsets the extra cap space.
Yessir, see below!
It doesn’t hurt us now, but it will once we start negotiating contracts with Wilkins, Hunt and AVG.
Exactly… and don’t forget Tua. If a team decides to extend one of the top-level QBs right now, Tua then becomes THAT much more expensive to re-sign or extend.
Well, as far as I’m concerned, Tua is not part of this convo right now. Zero good reasons to give him a big contract. We have him under contract, it makes much more sense to see what type of season he can put up in ’25. The gamble would probably cost you an additional $10M per season compared to the $55M they would pay him now. That’s a gamble that makes a ridiculous amount of sense to me.
While this helps us Phins, it also gives other teams THAT much more cap space to work with as well. In other words, we may be able to make payroll while teams like the Browns can spend an INSANE amount of $$$ on whoever they’d like to.
It doesn’t remove the fact that we are among the bottom feeders in the league in terms of cap space.
Mike E. says:
February 23, 2024 at 12:43 pm
Dolphins twitter makes me laugh and frustrates me every day…
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Same. Dolphins Twitter is an absolute joke to me. There are very few out there who are intelligent enough to understand and see the BIG PICTURE. Rabid fanboys run amok on Twitter and it’s a contest to see who is the biggest fan. SMH
Some Dolphins twitter douches use the amount of followers to gauge how knowledgeable they are. That cracks me up! I saw some guy admonishing another Dolphins fan with something to the like of “Bro, how many followers do you even have? I have 10K followers, so . . . .”
😆
YUP! That’s a bloody joke to me, my Bro!
And that is also one of the biggest reasons I like it here on the FMU. We have very knowledgeable folks, decent folks, and we ALL want to see the Phins win.
Dolphins Twitter is like a frat house riddled with crazy, frenzied drunks or drug users, seemingly in their early 20s.
Mike E. says:
February 23, 2024 at 2:43 pm
Well, as far as I’m concerned, Tua is not part of this convo right now. Zero good reasons to give him a big contract. We have him under contract, it makes much more sense to see what type of season he can put up in ’25. The gamble would probably cost you an additional $10M per season compared to the $55M they would pay him now. That’s a gamble that makes a ridiculous amount of sense to me.
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I must agree with ya at this point with the salary cap news today. It’s probably better to pay Tua his 5th-year option @ $25M than to jump the gun.
Today’s news is the first domino to drop and it’s significant.
Now conversely, had we extended Tua before today’s news, we’d have saved a shit ton of $$$.
Buy low, sell high.
Screwed up also by not giving Wilkins an extension before the 2023 season.
Or AVG a longer contract for that matter.
TOO right, BB Mike! 100%
And that is also one of the biggest reasons I like it here on the FMU. We have very knowledgeable folks, decent folks, and we ALL want to see the Phins win.
Dolphins Twitter is like a frat house riddled with crazy, frenzied drunks or drug users, seemingly in their early 20s.
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LMAO! So true. I have to say, as Piggy mentioned him earlier, I really miss DBolt here. He’s one of the guys I love to talk to on twitter.
YUP! DBolt rocks! I talk to him on Twitter and he’s one of my faves.
Mike – I think they underestimated Wilkins. I don’t think they saw this type of season coming. He put his balls on the table and went all in on himself. I would love to see Tua do the same. I’m not counting on that though
It’s on my mind… can anybody tell me or the rest of the blog how Randy Campbell (Old Dolfan) is doing? His absence is noteworthy to me and I hope he and Mrs. Campbell are alright.
I haven’t heard from Randy, M
BBL…
X has also been informed he will be released.
I think we kind of expected that. If we weren’t in cap hell, it would have been a different story, but we are, so . . .
We can win without Ogbah and X.
Sad
but both have lost a step.
LB Emmanuel Ogbah is expected to be released on Friday, NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo reported.
Was just wondering what the designation will be, pre or post 6/1
I think it is a difference of about 2 mil.
Not much difference in Ogbah’s case but a huge difference in X’s release.
I think they both will be post 6/1 designations.
We can’t do that for both
Ezukanma has been medically cleared to play.
ESPN saying we should sign Clowney to a 1-year make-it deal. Our new DC was his position coach in both Baltimore and Houston, which are the only places he really had success.
We need him due to Chubb and Phillips maybe not being ready Day 1.
Mike, I think we were moving on from X anyway. He’s on the other side of his career now.
Ogbah didn’t play up to his contract this season and we all thought he’d be released as well.
No doubt, but with the uncertainty we have with everyone not Ramsey, we would have kept him around and hoped he might actually be healthy and play a few good games.
Cam Smith will be thrown into the fire.
Overthecap has us at 24.8m over, which means that’s the money we have to clear before the league year starts, so we can’t push Ogbah back to June 1st
Yes. It’s not pushing his cap to 6/1 just his released. You can do this with 2 players only. You get credited the cap back now but they aren’t officially released until 6/1.
Looks like it is a pre 6/1 release which took approx 13.8 off the books. Post 6/1 would have taken 15.8 off the books and put us at 22.8.
The restructuring of contracts and new contracts are next.
Not much to restructure, that makes sense
I guess, if they like Baker, he could be restructured and Long
Mike White should be cut to save 3.5m
Ramsey came out saying how honored he was to have played with the “best CB in Dolphins history” (X).
Continued with how he’ll never “forgive “Dude” for not playing up to our skillset.”
CALLING OUT Fangio.
Wow!
Thanks for the 8 years, X! One of best corners in franchise history for sure.
I agree, but also agree with Belichecking him right before he falls off a cliff
We can’t afford X this season, he held out his way a couple of years ago and didn’t live to his end after getting the new money
Let another team overpay for him
X has enough pride that going to a new place and having to impress new coaches and teammates and getting out of the AFCE rut might rejuvenate his career.
Mentally. For a year, maybe 2.
Weaver might’ve done that here, too, but I think
physically
X is past his prime.
Ogbah is an impressive physical specimen,
but he never produced on the field up to the promise on paper;
even in his best years, which were with us, he was never the total package.
I think he did those 2, 9 sack years for us, he’s an all around DE, good against the run and pass, also batted down a lot of balls
Think the injury bug hit him recently
I’d be happy to bring him back on a reduced salary post May, if he hasn’t signed somewhere
Yeah, always liked Ogbah. Thought the contract was good when we gave it to him. Could be some injuries affected him. He will probably go somewhere on a 1 year and ball out for someone else.
As Naples stated, same with X.
X has fallen off and maybe not worth what he was getting but he is still a really good corner and probably still better than 60% of the league starters when 100% healthy. He would still be worth it if it were not for that groin plaguing him the last 3 years. BIG IF, he was to stay healthy with no groin issues, he would be the best #2 corner in the league.
I’ve always loved X…he wasn’t up to his par last year, imo. I thought there were significant plays he left on the field.
True, I have to also wonder if it weren’t also Fangio to some extent. I mean, having to stick to his assignment and not being able to use his instincts more. I don’t know, just a thought in the back of my mind.
Just going by the fact Ramsey seems to not be a fan of Fangio. That, coupled with the drop off in the play from Kohou.
Also, the tweet by Holland kicking the rocks after Fangio and the Dolphins parted ways. Holland said it was just a coincidence but was it really???
Perhaps, but it was noticeable, imo.
Jeff Darlington says if we clear the cap space we should sign Derrick Henry. I don’t think so. We have more important holes to fill.
Another center on the FA market:
The Steelers’ starting center for the past two years, Mason Cole is back in free agency. The team announced the release of the veteran interior offensive lineman Friday.
He’s 28. PFF ranked him as the 12th best in 2022 but he fell to #29 in the NFl in 2023 per PFF.
So, add Steelers to the list of teams needing a center along with Rams, Dolphins and possibly Eagles.
Hopefully, with the extra cap, some of these teams fill that void via FA leaving us the front runner for JPJ.
There are quite a few good centers in FA.
With the cap being set at 255 million, it caused the price of franchise tags also went up a little.
A tag on Wilkins would now be 22.1 million.
Think Wilkins gets tag to give some time to work out a new contract, if they can’t agree they may rescind the tag and let him walk, not sure how we can fit 22m into the cap
^
Total Cap Liabilities: $284,465,236Top 51: $267,655,998Team Cap Space: ($27,919,894)
Offense: $126,368,056Defense: $135,518,942Special: $5,769,000
IDK what kind of math they’re doing at overthecap, but if our top 51 is 267m and the cap is 255m, we’re only 12m over after Ogbah release
Not sure when the carry over money comes into play, so could be less
I think we only have like 1.7 mil in carry over money due to the late season signings to fill in for Phillips, Chubb and AVG. I could be off on that though.
Could that difference be 2024 dead cap?? Not sure.
Still being haunted by Byron Jones.
For every 20m+ contract you need 2 cheap contracts of good contributing players
We gotta get something more out of our cheap rookie/first contract players such as EZ, Tindall, Cam, Conner, Pili and the 2024 draft (pathetic there’s so few)
MM needs to loosen his panties a little and give the rookie class a chance
I agree on the 1st three drafted players, but Conner and Pili were UDFA projects to start with.
NFL combine starts Monday with check-ins and team interviews. Underwear Olympics start Thursday and end Sunday as usual.
Just wonder how much gets done, if anything, this next week regarding contracts, restructuring and/or more cap releases.
Going to miss X but the last 2 years he has clearly been on the decline. He is not currently worth his contract. He is still a decent player but not elite and he was being paid as elite
^
In reality, no vets are rarely worth their contacts a few years removed Ed
from signing them
I don’t think Howard’s release (when it happens) has anything to with his skills set declining. It’s just a big contract. Howard would certainly be an asset for us in 2024. But he’s going to get a chance to test the market and see what kind of offers he gets
And good for him
I would love to have him with us next year
I wouldn’t care if he was paid absurd money
But I do care about the cap hit – so the move is a smart business move as far as I can see
But I also think we are a lesser football team without him
I hope we can fill his spot or really I hope he tests the market and resigns with us without hurting our cap situation (don’t know if that’s is reality or even possible).
But I would love to see Howard in Miami in 2024
If we had a decent amount of cap, I don’t think X goes anywhere.
Probably not
Speaking of nfl contracts and Howard’s contract
I kind of wish it was the norm or the nfl moving the direction of shorter contracts, like 3 contracts
Particularly rookie contracts
Players waiting until after years 4 or 5 lends to that first contract after being drafted being really high – and then those contracts are another 5 years, and then you see moves like the Howard releas at the end of those contacts
The contract cycle leads to a lot of cuts and cap finessing , etc
And of course can also lead to teams being stuck in cap hell bc of the length of the contract
What I proposed will never happen of course, bc we are far removed from shorter contracts – but I really think it would be good for the nfl
One day if there is ever a Commissioner Piggy….
🐖 💨
I think the amount of money top players are making isn’t in line with the salary cap. QBs alone are like 1/5th of it on a 53 man roster. That’s out of whack.
I’m going to miss X patrolling our secondary: one of my favorite players since he rose to stardom. Honestly, I’m surprised we didn’t try to trade him over the last couple of years while he was still an elite name (knowing he had degenerative knee issues). Now, we get nothing in return. Hey, it is what it is and he shall be missed.
So the question becomes: do we try to draft X’s replacement in the 1st or 2nd round this year, or do we trust Cam Smith, or do we go the FA route? If we’re going BPA @ R1P21 and JPJ is already off the board, would we consider Alabama CB Kool-Aid McKinstry if he’s still available?
I think I’d prefer to trust Cam Smith and get the best O-Lineman @ 21, but there’s still plenty of time between now and Draft Day.
They have to give Cam Smith every opportunity to earn the job.
If JPJ is gone, I think I am taking Graham Barton who started at center as a freshman, played some OG then moved out to LT. He can play all 5 positions from what they say.
Nothing wrong with having versatile OL because as we know you need a lot of them throughout the season. How many different guys started for us at some point last season, 9 or 10? Crazy!