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 
I think we could find another good CB in the second round if need be. This is a good CB draft also.
BBMike, from the last page discussing that OL prospect who can play all the positions.
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!
Yeah, real crazy.
bailbondmike says:
February 24, 2024 at 7:28 pm
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.
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Barton is absolutely on my shortlist of players to select in Round 1 thus far.
That is why I was tinkering with trading down for extra picks then trying to trade back up and land both him and JPJ.
Thing is, everyone is talking about JPJ now. No way he lasts past center needy teams like Rams, Steelers and possibly Eagles if we were to trade down.
I imagine Grier will have us close to being able to go BPA when we pick at #21 after free agency. Some how…
It’s going to be interesting. As I’ve mentioned several times before, I can almost see us trading down to the late 1st to recoup our lost 3rd rounder (thanks, Steve Ross).
Wilkins and Hunt as FAs and Phillips and Chubb coming off of serious late season injuries is a really tough situation for us. I find it difficult to think about who we target in FA and the draft because of it.
Same. Not to mention, there will be more cuts before Draft Day from all 32 teams. It’s a different kind of offseason for us than normal.
Absolutely! The way we’re built is to compete now but we need some upgrades.
One player we really need to make an impact is Ezukanma. If he can be our Deebo type player because he does similar things we get a cheap in-house playmaker.
We need some young guys to step up for sure.
The only thing I think I DO know? We certainly need help on the O-Line… and T-Stead may retire after this season after only playing half of this season as usual.
Tim yeah, it kind of sucks. Like I just said I think Grier will have us close to being able to go BPA.
I think they bring Wynn back on another cheap 1 year deal. I can’t see a team paying him a bunch of money coming off a season ending injury. If he had played a full season the way he was playing I think he would have landed a good deal from someone. Not now.
^
We almost HAVE to re-sign Hunt, right? I mean, RG is one of the cheaper $$$ positions, and for Southpaw Tua, he’s the ‘LG’.
Definitely! I was thinking the priority should be Wilkins, Hunt then AVG.
Hunt is a really good player but he never made a pro bowl or was all pro so I have no idea about his market value?
According to Spotrac, Robert Hunt is valued at $11.8M/year.
And just for shits and giggles, Connor Williams is valued at $13.5M/year.
I can’t see paying Williams that kind of $$$ after the injury he sustained last season, coupled with all of the nasty snapping to Tua.
Find me a Center in the Draft, and JPJ or Barton would fit nicely.
M, did you see this? It’s a song from his Nov 2022 album but he just released this single off it with a video.
Sorry, back to football. lol
LOVE IT!!!
HELL YEAH!!!
That seems like a lot for Williams but the market has gone up.
YUP! See above…
It must suck being a GM. lol
Dream job for very thick-skinned people… horrible job for ‘snowflakes’.
I didn’t realize it until now. Texans starting center is an UFA, Michael Deiter. 🙂
Hard to make all pro or a pro bowl when the rest of your line absolutely blows chunks! I think it would be a mess to lose our most consistent OL during his time here. He was the one constant, until his injury this season
100% agree, my man!
And I think Tua would 100% agree as well! 😉
^^
When it was Armstead, Wynn, Williams, Hunt and Jackson our OL was pretty damn good. How many games did they all start together, 3 or 4 maybe?
OG Robert Jones is an RFA. We haven’t put a tender on him yet. I believe we have to before the start of free agency in order to get anything for him if he gets an offer elsewhere and we don’t match it.
What value tender do you think, mid round?
I don’t know for sure but I think he’s a priority, and we told him that
Probably a mid rounder. Maybe more likely they just resign him. Not sure what his camp would be asking. He did play 418 snaps (about 38%). Who knows.
Think about it, if Tua is important and we’re planning to give him a huge extension, you absolutely must re-sign Hunt
Mike, do you think McDaniel is questioning Tua as our QB? The reason I ask is because he pretty much tied himself at the hip with Tua and two straight playoff appearances is going to keep him around for at least two more seasons. With that said, as a GM how do you go about it moving forward?
Signing Tua to an extension is an easy way for more cap relief. If we’re all in on McDaniel and Tua moving forward you pretty much have to do that.
Another I would like to see resigned for continuity is Kendall Lamm. He wasn’t great but did fine as a backup.
Wait who was the backup? Lamm 613 snaps, Armstead 524 snaps. lol
When it was Armstead, Wynn, Williams, Hunt and Jackson our OL was pretty damn good.
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They never got a chance to find out how good they could be. Sucks!
Yeah the injuries never stopped coming at a lot of positions. It really took the wind out of our sails until the very end.
It makes me feel like no matter what we do acquiring talent doesn’t matter if they keep going down. It really puts a damper on the whole fan experience. 🫣
Mike E. says:
February 24, 2024 at 9:05 pm
Think about it, if Tua is important and we’re planning to give him a huge extension, you absolutely must re-sign Hunt
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Spot-on, agree 100%!
I love it when you and I agree 100%, which is generally 95% of the time, man! 😀
Oh boy… hot tubs, chiffon robes and apple martinis are back again. 😂
Not that there’s anything wrong with that!
😆
Not at all. 😂
I think MM did whatever he could to make Tua the best he could be. Same with Grier. I think what we all found out is you can surround a QB with all the talent in the world, but there are 2 problems with that. Guys get hurt, teams adjust, and there are times where you need your QB to elevate his play when things aren’t 100%, and we found out he was incapable of doing that. That doesn’t mean they won’t try again to give him everything they can to help him succeed, maybe even give him a big contract. At some point though, he’s going to have to play like a champion, even when things aren’t perfect or we’ll regret that contract
Do you guys disagree?
I don’t put it all on Tua. Our defense also got throttled against some good teams. We were one of the better teams, not a great team.
My robe is getting a little snug, and the moths have been eating more than me. 🤪
LOL
Tim – I find it amazing that some people just absolutely refuse to acknowledge Tua’s less than average play against better teams. I don’t think anywhere in my paragraph did I say it’s all on Tua. All I’m saying is when things aren’t perfect, the one guy who can put a team on his back and win is the QB. Tua hasn’t been that guy for us, and what I’m saying is he’s going to have to because as we all saw, things usually aren’t perfect. What is everyone afraid of? You’ve seen a bunch of QB’s play really well in difficult circumstances. Mahomes does it on a regular basis, Purdy did it against the best defense in the NFL, on the biggest stage. The Browns had a great defense and you saw a young QB, CJ Stroud step up in a playoff game and win on the road. Some day, regular season, post season, maybe both, Tua will have to do that a few times or we won’t win our division, win a playoff game, any of these things.
You don’t focus enough on how many injuries we had. It was every week until we eventually lost 1/3rd of our best players but somehow we’re supposed to be the same team. What is Tua supposed to do?
Found out something Friday that I kind of already suspected but not to this extent. Monday is my quit smoking day. My doc got me all set up for the battle. Been smoking for 21 years since I was 38. She had me do a chest CT to check out my lungs and she called with the results yesterday. I’m thankful nothing came up to be alarmed about as far as my lungs, but she said I have moderate coronary artery disease and seemed concerned.
Just about everyone my age has some form of it. I was kind of shocked when she said moderate. I really don’t know how bad “moderate” is. Last check up in October my cholesterol and triglycerides were only slightly elevated. She put me on a low dose statin and baby aspirin. I also started daily fish oil.
Now I have to make some dietary changes in addition to quit smoking. This spring is going to suck. I am going to miss my fudge rounds. lol
Sounds like a wake up call, and that’s a good thing. You have plenty of time to make changes, and I’m sure you will. Best of luck pal, it’s never easy, but it’s totally doable, especially if you want to live.
Oh, heck yeah! It will actually be easy for me than I make it out to be. Who needs to eat pizza with extra pepperoni, bacon and extra cheese every week anyway. lol
LOL!!! I was eating bacon every Sunday for quite some time. I cut it out a few weeks ago, I miss it, but I can deal without it.
Tim – play better!!! Make big plays!! What you’re telling me is everything has to be perfect for Tua and the Dolphins to win, and I agree with that. You can’t point to one game against a good team that we lost that Tua had a strong game but the defense gave up too many points. It doesn’t exist. If the defense didn’t play well, he didn’t either. If either Waddle or Hill was injured, Tua didn’t play well. Thus is fact, not opinion, not hate for our QB, it’s just the way it is.
An example of playing well but losing because your entire secondary was injured was Lamar Jackson against us in ’22. We won 42-38, but Lamar Jackson threw 3 TD’s, 0 INT’s, ran for 119 yards and another TD. Find me one game where we played a good team and Tua had a game anywhere near that
I actually found 1 game. The Bills game in December of ’22. Tua threw for 2 TD’s, 0 INT’s. Not amazing by any means, but a decent enough performance to keep his team in the game to lose 32-29. He needs to a helluva lot more games like those if we want to compete in the playoffs and maybe a Super Bowl.
There is no perfect but h Tua is not a runner so if it’s not there in the passing game and nobody is breaking big plays, and our defense allows receivers to run wide open how do we win against good teams?
That’s what I saw down the stretch. You say you’re not putting it all on Tua but you kind of are. 😉
No, and I’m not even talking about down the stretch. We played the Philadelphia Eagles Week 5. No excuses here, whole team is there, but 1 TD, 1 INT. Fuck man, the Jets beat the Eagles! Week 7 against the Chiefs, full roster going, 1 TD. I know, it’s the Chiefs. Brock Purdy did pretty damn well against that defense, on the biggest stage. Week 4 against the Bills, 1 TD, 1 INT. Same thing. Full complement of players, can’t get the job done. Stop making excuses and admit that unless everything is pristine, our QB is not going to step up and win a game for us.
The Eagles started off 10-1. What happened to them down the stretch? Lots of stuff.
It’s okay we view it differently.
I like DeJean a lot, but I don’t he will be there at #21. He’s probably top 2 in the CB class. Wishful thinking Ryder.
We started off 9-3, with 3 losses against 3 winning teams, and not one competitive game from our QB in those 3 losses. Obviously, it was worse down the stretch with the losses to the Bills and Ravens. You can see it from whatever angle or perspective you want to see it from, the one thing that is clear is our QB doesn’t enable us to beat better teams by playing to their level.
Mike E. says:
February 24, 2024 at 10:43 pm
LOL!!! I was eating bacon every Sunday for quite some time. I cut it out a few weeks ago, I miss it, but I can deal without it.
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Deal without it!?! I was thinking of just cutting back. lol Yeah, I eat bacon every week also. It was the low sodium kind from Walmart, but I got to do what I got to do.
Going to miss my Monday morning breakfast of buttermilk pancakes and bacon with my homemade pear syrup. I just dice up 2 pears put in a sauce pan with a couple tbsp of butter, brown sugar and some cinnamon and let it cook down a little while. It’s kind of runny but seeps right into the pancake. Damn, I want some now. lol
Mine wasn’t the low sodium type, it was the thick cut smoked bacon either from Boars Head or Wegmans. I was eating 2 or 3 pieces of bacon every Sunday.
I would eat like 4-5 pieces of regular sliced. Then have the rest on a sandwich the next day.
I also make banana, nut, chocolate chip pancakes. Just add mashed up banana’s, chopped pecans, chocolate chips and a little extra sugar to the pancake mix. Don’t need any syrup. I just let them cool a bit then pick them up and eat them with a cup of coffee.
Damn, why am I so fucking hungry right now. lol
BBM
All the best in your quitting smoking endeavor. It will be a daily battle everyday for possibly years. It’s worth it tho! Don’t let the weight gain bum you out. Lol
If everything has to be perfect for the QB to actually show up in a big game, you got the wrong QB.
I don’t think it’s too much to ask to see a glimmer of hope our QB can show up and ball out when the team needs him the most. Watching those shitty games you knew there was no hope in anything happening. Just not even competitive.
I will keep harping on the ho hum attitude about it too! Show some emotion!
I deal with some of the Tua fucknuts on twitter, or X if you will. If you say something negative, even if it’s honest, clear, legitimate criticism, it’s met with “you’re a hater”. They put words in my mouth too, say I just want to get rid of him. I say no, I want him to play on his 5th year contract to see if he can improve his play against winning teams and you get responses like you Tua haters keep moving the goalposts. First, he can’t play a full season and he now he played 18 games. You said he can’t throw deep and he led the league in passing yards. It’s like having a conversation with a 3 year old. Yes, he played 18 games, played like a guy who was terrified of getting hit in all 18. Went down far short of a first down so he wouldn’t take a hit. Threw the ball in less than 2 seconds so not to get hit. Yes, I saw every play of every game, did you see something different? I’m sorry, but that just means everything has to be perfect around him for him to succeed, and I’m surely not giving that type of QB $55M per season because the reality is, things can’t always be perfect, they hardly ever are. If you watch football, you see QB’s like Mahomes,Allen, Purdy, Jackson, Hurts, Love, Stroud and others all put their body on the line for the team to win a game. Our QB can’t do that, and because he can’t do that, we can’t compete against better teams.
Jackson puts his body on the line all game, Mahomes and Allen mostly do it in the 4th qtr
Allen adjusted from doing it all game to stay healthy and it cost the Bills in the first half of the season
Tua needs to adjust to do it at the right time
Mahomes isn’t Mahomes unless he does it
It cost Jackson and the Ravens 2021 and 2022, so yes things need to go right injurywise for everyone else too
What has a better chance of happening, we draft a rookie QB, he’s very competitive against good teams, and we’re a one win playoff team OR Tua improves enough to beat the good teams at a 50% rate?
Brees was dumped by the Chargers at Tua’s current time in his career, sure I’m cherry picking with the best QB that fits Tua’s mold
Tua hit the perfect storm this year for both highs and lows, no one was better, when he had the full team with him, not many were worse, when he lost support
There’s no ceiling in 2024, there would be with a rookie QB
With the way the team has been built, it would be a disservice to everyone, if Tua wasn’t given every opportunity to succeed
With that said, I’d take Mahomes, Allen, Herbert, Jackson, Love, Burrow and maybe a couple of others right now in a trade with Tua, but that’s not happening, so…
I let Tua play his 5th year. Enough participation trophies and excuses. If he can’t beat winning teams this season it’s never gonna happen and it doesn’t matter whether a rookie QB will do better immediately. It’s the question of do you give Tua a $55M or more per year contract that kills your franchise if he’s not the guy. We have one season to find out that answer.
This offseason will be the only chance the Fins have to get a team friendly deal with Tua, you have to put some outs in there like the Bills did with Allen too
Tua is worth the risk, you can’t have your cake and eat it too
If he plays on his 5th year option and becomes a very good adlib QB we’ll be screwed for salary cap purposes in the future, you have to take a risk
For salary cap purposes this year and in the future Tua will be given an extension, the 5th year salary will still be in though, and the contract will have to include lots of incentives
They don’t have to give him an extension, they can pay most of his 5th year salary in bonus money and that would lessen his cap hit. Not sure if they can do that or not, but if they can, that’s what you do.
They can only move bonus money to future years, if he has a contract for future years
That makes sense. I try and work around the $23M we have to pay him. It would be a much more devastating mistake to the franchise to pay him that $55-60M per than to not do it and let him play on his contract.
Steve – That’s not true, so many smart people have said the money difference of what you pay Tua now compared to if he has a great season this season is negligible. If it’s $55-60 now, so it’s $65-70M next season. He’s not taking a deal like the one you’re talking about, with incentives. To me, it’s a win/win if he plays great this season. To me though, that’s a huge frigging “IF”. You have to be concerned that if he takes the bubble wrap off, he may not play the entire season.
Maybe negligible in common terms, but we can’t win an SB giving Tua 65m+
You have to roll the dice some and give him a Josh Allen type of contract, so both the player and team are covered, if the player does/doesn’t play well
We can’t have Tua count 23m against this year’s cap and be a good team
I’ve heard his salary now is going to be $55-60M. I understand what your proposing but to think Tua is going to take something like that is a stretch
Did those same smart people say that’s what his salary will be😜
Saying so many smart people have said…IMO is a chicken shit way of circumventing the facts in general
Is it in this instance? IDK, but I don’t agree with it for the same reason early season games matter, the little things can be big things and usually are in a championship season
Well, no Steve. I think guys like Jeff Darlington, Dave Hyde, Alain Poupart, Don Strock understand the money side of football better than we do, so it’s not chickenshit or whatever. Fact is, all of them feel like Tua hasn’t done enough to get paid, and I wholeheartedly agree. Talk about mistakes, that’s a mistake you don’t recover from if you pay the wrong QB top QB money. That’s how the Patriots won for so many years because Brady never got paid top QB money and he played like the best QB out there.
I think a good example is how the Vikings strapped themselves with Kirk Cousins. Gave him a fat contract after being 0-2 in the playoffs with Washington. Vikings had cap issues and couldn’t afford other higher priced vets to surround Cousins to get them there.
Vikings under Cousins went 1-2 in the playoffs since he has been there and is another QB who doesn’t show up in big games.
Common denominator, IMO, is immobile pocket passer.
I guess he gets a pass for his first playoff loss as he came in late for an injured RGIII and wasn’t in there that long. One of the other games he was sacked 6 times.
Actually, looking at the stats, his playoff #’s as a starter isn’t bad. In 4 playoff games, 68.9% completions for 1016, 5 TD, 1 INT and sacked 14 times.
What stands out to me is only 5 passing TD’s in 4 games. Not showing up in big games.
IMO, Tua is better than Cousins. Was just trying to show when you give a fat contract to a good QB who doesn’t have all the goods to take a team on his shoulders, you are going to strap yourself down the road roster wise and end up being a mediocre playoff team.
We are in no position to do anything but roll with Tua due to the cap and lack of draft picks and I am 100% good with that. They MUST put in some “Allen” safeguards in his contract to not strap us beyond 2025 if we find out Tua has reached his ceiling. After one healthy season for Tua and a bunch of injuries on both sides of the ball, we don’t know if he has reached that ceiling yet. None of us really know if he has reached that ceiling yet. I think he is close though.
Tua is better than Cousins. It’s not even close
I would say it was close.
Kirk Cousins at Eagles: 31/44 for 364, 4 TD’s, 0 INT’s
– with no decent RB on their roster
Tua at Eagles: 23/32 for 216, 1 TD, 1 INT
– Tua had all his weapons except Achane.
I mean it is close.
I did say I think Tua is better than Cousins, but to say it’s not even close is a little bit of homerism, IMO.
Cousins also completed 77.8% of his passes for 378 in a win over SF last year.
It’s not close. Tua is way ahead of Cousins in terms of accuracy, release time. You can’t really look game to game. Different circumstances every game. Just overall skills Tua is well ahead of Cousins
Um, ok
On thing that has me wondering, does Tua have the go ahead to change a play at the line? All the greats, even the ones who had limitations of being an immobile QB like Brady, Manning and Brees, they were masters at pre-snap reads and would change the plays called many times. I can’t think of where I see Tua try to do that. I know 2022 we had issues with MM getting the play in but not so much last year. MM greatly improved on that.
Ogbah was a pre 6/1 release. X will be a post 6/1 release. We have 1 more spot for a post 6/1 release designation. Could they possibly move on from Armstead? This would clear another 9.4 mil of cap in 2024 and about 7.9 mil in 2025.
On the fence but would almost do it. His 20.8 mil cap hit will not be worth it if he has another year like last year where he only played less than 48% of offensive snaps.
POST-6/1 RELEASE
2024 Dead Cap: $11,358,750
2025 Dead Cap: $12,717,500
2024 Cap Savings: $9,429,407
They can clear a lot more with an extension of Baker and, of course, Tua.
You can take the money saved on Armstead and resign Lamm to be the starter. It’s not Tua’s blind side.
“The Dolphins have until May 2 to choose whether to exercise the fifth-year rookie option for Phillips, who was selected at No. 18 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.”
Nothing about where he is in rehab though.
https://www.nfl.com/news/dolphins-lb-jaelan-phillips-motivated-to-get-back-on-the-field-after-torn-achilles-injury
Texans have a ton of cap space, 74 mil. They are going to be very good this year IMO.
Dov Kleiman
@NFL_DovKleiman
Xavien Howard reportedly has an interest in joining the #Texans, per
@Djbienaime
“From people I trust Xavien Howard has interest in joining the Texans. He’s from Houston. From the Texans side it’s TBD.”
At least we are not the Browns. LMAO!
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Dov Kleiman
@NFL_DovKleiman
#Browns QB Deshaun Watson’s $63.9M cap hit is 25 PERCENT of the league’s new salary cap🤯
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Not just 2024, that is Watson’s cap hit in 24, 25 and 26. With no out clause. Must be like getting your Johnson caught in a rat trap. lol
They say Joe Milton has the strongest arm in this QB class. Drake Maye might have some argument. 80 yards in the air:
Dov Kleiman
@NFL_DovKleiman
Drake Maye easily throws a football 80 yards 👀
What number will he be drafted?
From
NFL Notifications
Damn video didn’t post
Tua is way ahead of Cousins in terms of accuracy, release time.
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2023 Most Accurate QB
#3 Kirk Cousins
#4 Brock Purdy
#5 Tua Tagovailoa
#9 Patrick Mahomes
#11 Josh Allen
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Before getting injured, Cousins was on pace to have more passing yards, more TD’s and 5 less INT’s than Tua.
Tua does have a quicker release of the ball. I give him that. Cousins drops his arm a little almost every time in his throwing motion.
Baker Mayfield has the fast release in his throwing motion in the NFL, IMO.
Right now.
Pensacola got a sting op going on right now. Just got a call from a lady. Said her husband sent her a text saying he was arrested though he was not showing up on the 24 hour jail view. Called the SGT in booking I know and he gave me the bond information. He said they weren’t posting any of the 3 already arrested on jail view until the sting was over.
Dude and 2 others, so far, (separate cases/not working together) are in jail for multiple counts of soliciting minors on social media, followed by one count of setting up to meet a 14 yo female at a motel.
Dude has 3 charges at 25K each. Called the guy’s wife back and she said, “F that F’ing MF’er. That F’ing MF’er can rot in jail. We have a 14 yo daughter for God’s sake. If he calls you, tell him to go to hell. Thank you for your time.”
I said, “Yes mam, anytime.” Sick people in this world. SMH
Naples, Hmmmm??? Could he be a cap casualty? Raiders aren’t really hurting as far as cap.
Raiders finally parting ways with WR Hunter Renfrow?
https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/raiders_finally_parting_ways_with_wr_hunter_renfrow/s1_17077_40011534
There is also this situation that needs to be addressed.
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/dolphins-facing-deadline-on-exercising-jaelan-phillips-fifth-year-option-as-he-rehabs-from-achilles-injury/
I see you didn’t want to read through all my garbage. lol Easier to buy me a beer.
I guess I missed it. 😂
Have a beer on me. 🙂
At least we are not the Browns. LMAO!
——————–
Dov Kleiman
@NFL_DovKleiman
#Browns QB Deshaun Watson’s $63.9M cap hit is 25 PERCENT of the league’s new salary cap🤯
************************
We give Tua that $55-60M per contract right now and 31 other NFL teams may be saying at least we’re not the Dolphins. Just sayin’!
The way I look at it Mike, is if we don’t win a playoff game or go far in the playoffs or to the Super Bowl in the next couple of years with McDaniel and our current core, there will likely be a reboot. So do what you have to do to go for it now.
I’m not so sure about that. We hired McDaniel, but Tua was here already. He’s elevated Tua to a place he’s never been before. No HC has shown as much love, patience and confidence in his QB as MM has with Tua. The problem is, we may have already seen Tua’s ceiling, and that you can’t put on MM. We’re going to go as far as Tua takes us, unless we somehow manage to have an elite run game or defense, or both. It’s a sports conundrum Tim, you have a player that played at a high level, but in the back of your mind, you kind of know that could have been his best, because if he goes back to playing with reckless abandon, you know he can’t stay on the field. It’s another reason why I keep Tua on his 5th year contract. MM has changed the culture here, I think he’s here to stay. I think Tua is riding MM’s coattails, not the other way around. It’s not really a terrible situation to have Tua on the 5th, if he fails, you’re set up to draft your next QB in ’25 and start again. That doesn’t mean you have to clean house because you drafted a young QB.
You have to win in this league at some point or you get replaced.
Tim – Look how quickly SFO turned things around with a rookie QB, a 7th RD pick no less. I’m not saying it’s the easiest thing to do, but drafting a QB isn’t a curse or a 5 year plan either. If your offensive scheme is a good one, you find a QB that fits that scheme and hope for the best. It’s basically the same offense we run here in Miami. It’s not gloom and doom if Tua doesn’t cut it, it really isn’t.
They lucked out, that’s not the norm.
Well, they had their version of Tua, saw the light, pulled the plug, and as it turned out, it was the right decision. The Dolphins still have the chance to find out without committing a ridiculous amount of money for Tua. There’s really very little downside to operating like this except maybe maybe for potentially saving $10-12M this season only if you give him that big contract and work it so you pay him less this season. I’d rather pay him the extra money to see what happens next season. It’s not the only way to do it obviously, but I think it’s the right way.
Tim Knight says:
February 25, 2024 at 6:36 pm (Edit)
You have to win in this league at some point or you get replaced.
********************
MM has had 2 winning seasons, one with Tua for 13 games, the other for 18. I think if we go backwards this season, then it could be a problem. Just keep in mind he was given the QB, if things don’t work out this season, he should be given the opportunity to choose his next QB.
I said in the next two seasons. Not saying he’s on the hot seat at the moment. I think MM will even survive a down season this year. I also think he believes in Tua. Not looking to replace him.
He shouldn’t be looking to replace him yet, that’s what this next season is all about. Show that you’re a championship caliber QB, or a stat compiler against weaker teams.
The difference in opinions between you and I is it’s not just Tua losing against good teams, the entire team did. We need to get better overall and I think we can.
Tim – what shocks me is no matter how many different examples I give you of how poorly Tua played against better teams, you come back with the team loss thing. Doesn’t matter if the run game was working, the defense didn’t play poorly, but the QB didn’t play well enough to win. That happens once or twice, no big deal, but when the QB’s play drops off the table 10 out of 12 games, it’s no longer just a team loss, you need your QB to play better.
Tua only beat Dallas this year therefore he can’t beat good teams and is a stat compiler against crappy teams
How soon we forget what happened in 2022, monster game against Ravens, then beat Buffalo, great game against Detroit and another against the Bears both games the D stunk it up
2023 opener against LAC, that was very good at the time, had to keep up with Herbert, then ran for his life against the better teams with a new starting OL, as many as 4 backups some weeks
He’s improved every year, stayed healthy all year at the expense of his play, but none the less…
I agree he needs to be much better on broken plays, and pretty sure he will be, but will it be enough?
At this stage he’s not worth more than 40m, his potential says otherwise and agents use that to get him more money
He needs to find some median between reckless 2022 and safe 2023
I say fix the O-Line, then Tua no longer needs to be a first-read QB to get the ball out so fast each and every time. Shit, give him .5 seconds more per play, and he’s going to hit the open receiver(s). JMO
Here’s what I honestly believe: Tua himself had absolutely nothing to do with ‘playing it safe’. I think that came from Coach McDaniel in order to protect his QB.
I think between Tua bulking up, his jiu-jitsu training (absorbing a sack properly), and now 2 years under the same system (McDaniel’s system) for the first time in his entire athletic career, he’s ready to have the bubble wrap taken off.
Just protect the guy now, instead of getting him injured like Joe Burrow behind a defunct O-Line. He’s ready to flourish at this point.
When I say Coach McDaniel protected his QB by having him play it safe, I’m talking about coming off of the concussion-riddled ’22 season. I don’t think Coach wanted to leave ANYTHING to chance when it came to Tua.
I believe Tua can return to his ways of ’22, when he led the NFL in passer rating… that is, if he hasn’t bulked up too much to scramble.
Steve
There will be lots of decisions that both GM Chris Grier and Head Coach Mike McDaniel have to make to kick off the offseason flurry of moves and machinations. The very first one, and one that will impact all of the others is whether to give current QB Tua Tagovailoa a new contract that would keep him in a Miami Dolphins uniform for the next 6 years or more, or just let him play out the 5th year option we’ve already picked up which would pay Tua $23.17M in 2024. It’s easy to say that if we give him a new contract that it will free up much needed cap room to re-sign players here, and sign other players that are not. On the other hand, this could be a very short sighted move if Tua Tagovailoa cannot bring this team to a championship. I’m a fan of Tua Tagovailoa, he’s as likable as they come. He’s not a “Me” guy, always puts the team first. I want him to succeed, I really do, but my doubts about him really spiked seeing how he struggled against better teams, and I mean every single one of them. It’s not just a slight difference either, it’s Jekyll and Hyde different.
The games I’m referring to are the 2 against the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs, then the Eagles, Cowboys and then the Ravens. I’m going to throw in the Titans game as well.
In 10 games against the Chargers, Jets, Patriots, Broncos, Panthers, Raiders, Giants and Redskins, this is what Tua did . . .
324 pass attempts, 233 completions, 3040 yards, 22 TD’s and 8 INT’s / QBR 113.45
Then in 8 games against the Bills, Chiefs, Ravens, Cowboys and Titans, this is what Tua did . . .
275 pass attempts, 175 completions, 1833 yards, 8 TD’s and 7 INT’s / QBR 81.98
Those numbers are disturbing. The Cowboys game at home was the only game against the better teams that Tua finished with a good QBR, and that was 98.1, but again, we needed 5 Jason Sanders field goals to win that win as Tua managed only 1 TD. If you watched all the games, the numbers alone don’t even tell the full story. Our passing game was just shut down, and a bunch of these games are before the injuries occurred. For example, we out rushed the Bills in our first meeting 142 – 104. So it wasn’t a case that Tua had do it all. The same goes for the Chiefs game during the regular season. We out rushed KC 117-93. It’s not a matter of complimentary football, the run game was working, but the QB just didn’t get the job done. We easily out rushed the Titans, 158 – 83. Again, the QB just didn’t get the job done, and this game, the defense as well. My point is, some of you would probably think that our offense as a whole played poorly in these games, but clearly, that was not the case.
We know he needs to play better against good teams. He’s beaten several in other seasons
We know he needs to be better on broken plays. He was better in 2022
We know he needs to be able to get more scramble 1st downs. Again better in 2022
He knows this too
You’re harping too much about the first one like he hasn’t done it yet, he beat a good Rams team in his first start
Too much emphasis was put on get the ball out quick last year, he needs to work with MM to get a better balance
His QBR absolutely was not 98.1. But then you refuse to acknowledge what the fuck QBR means anyway.
UGH!! His rating as a QB, which is just easier to call it QB rating. Fuck ESPN and their manufactured rating system
————–
Time to take a look at Tyler Guyton. And if he kills the Combine this coming week, he could very well be on our radar.
Only thing I can tell ya about Guyton? He’s a strict RT, just like Amarius Mims of Georgia (doh!). And Guyton is already projected to go late in the 1st round by most mocksters.
So, have we traded Tua yet? 😡
If it was a month from Friday I’d say yes🤪
steveccnv says:
February 26, 2024 at 7:37 am (Edit)
We know he needs to play better against good teams. He’s beaten several in other seasons
We know he needs to be better on broken plays. He was better in 2022
We know he needs to be able to get more scramble 1st downs. Again better in 2022
*****************
He also got 2 concussions during the 2022 season and missed the playoff game. We know he was super careful this past season, and we saw what happened when he wasn’t in 2022. Neither result was good. I guess we’ll find out soon enough how they proceed with Tua. I just hope it’s not a decision we regret.
Time to take a look at Tyler Guyton. And if he kills the Combine this coming week, he could very well be on our radar.
———————-
M13, check out OT Jordan Morgan, Arizona he was their starting LT last couple years. He will be in our window at #21. He is projected late 1st round.
Jordan Morgan, OT, Arizona
Size: Height: 6’6” | Weight: 320 lbs
Accomplishments: First-Team All-Pac-12 (2023, 2022)
“Jordan Morgan is a big, strong offensive tackle prospect with the foot quickness to live on an island at the next level.”
Strengths:
Well-experienced (more than 2,400 snaps at LT)
Combination of power and athleticism
Light and nimble-footed
Lateral agility and quickness
Concerns:
Low and wide hand carriage
Inconsistent waist bending
Inconsistent leveraging
His concerns are all things that can be fixed.
TIM,
2024 NFL Free Agency: 5th-Year Option Costs For 2021 1st-Round Picks
Jaylen Waddle Dolphins, 6th overall, $15,037,000
Jaelan Phillips Dolphins, 18th overall, $12,175,000
https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/2024_nfl_free_agency_5th_year_option_costs_for_2021_1st_round_picks/s1_17304_39928856
We have until 2 May to decide.
I think we should try to extend Waddle now. Push money forward for when Tyreek hangs it up and comes off the books.
Then do the option on Phillips and see how he bounces back from the injury.
So, just out of curiosity I went and looked at the records of the other AFC QB’s and wouldn’t you know it? They ALL did more poorly against better teams…..Who would have ever thought that? Gee it is harder to win against better teams.
Mahomes’ team lost (note how I stated that) 6 games this season PASSER rating in those games? 73.6, 74.9, 79.1, 71.6, 59.1, 77.5 (the 59.1 against Denver LOL) in their wins his passer rating was 109.1, 92.7, 122.8,105.6,129.5,109.9, 94.4, 127.3, 98.1
Jekyll & Hyde right? Bipolar QB you cannot count on right?
Look at the other “Franchise QB’s records and you will see the same. I am not buying what you are selling.
Josh Allen’s team lost 6 games
82.1, 59.3, 85.2, 90, 102, 62.7
He had these in wins
53.3 against NE 68.8 against KC, 86.7 against NYG, 79.9 against Wash
Which is better not playing up to opponents or playing down to them?
While Armstead is leaning toward playing another season. Reports can’t confirm 100% he will. He has missed 11 games the last 2 seasons, 7 games last year and 59 games over his career. After playing in 11 games last year, he was rated the #16 OT in the NFL. I assume that’s not just LT but both LT/RT. The article didn’t state so. He will be 33 this season. Again, though he appeared in 11 games, he only played just under 48% of our offensive snaps. He has never played more than 16 games in his career.
Armstead being on the roster in 2023 guaranteed 5 mil of his base salary this year in 2024. The rest of his 8.25 mil base salary becomes guaranteed on March 15 along with another 1mil roster bonus. IMO, that was stupid of the FO to agree to that clause for an aging oft injured player. Armstead’s camp knew what they were doing.
My question is, is Armstead coming back because he thinks he can make it most of the season and make a run in the playoffs? One more shot at a championship. OR is he coming back to push his body through one more season for a total of a 14.25 mil payday (again, he’s already guaranteed 5 mil of it)?
The way I read it is if he was even contemplating retirement (which he is) then I feel he thinks his body can’t hold up and make it through another season. Only thing keeping him from walking off into the sunset is another 9.25 million dollars. I would have a very hard time walking away from that also. I bet if it were a much smaller amount, he would have already announced his retirement.
Don’t get me wrong. I feel Armstead is the type of person/player who will give it his all if he comes back. I just think he will only make it another half season of snaps and don’t think that is worth the extra 9.25 mil.
We designate him as a post 6/1 release we save 9.4 mil of 2024 cap. Yeah, it leaves a good bit of dead cap, but we will have the dead cap anyway because he more than likely retires after this season anyway. Either way we will have a 12.7 dead cap hit on Armstead in 2025.
If they had not put that stupid 5 mil guarantee in his contract, we could have cleared 14.4 mil of 2024 cap. We still could if they were to find a post 6/1 trade partner to take on the 13.25 mil but I doubt it.
Rant over. Should we release him post 6/1 like X?
The Ravens lost 3 games. I wonder how Jackson’s numbers looked? hmmmmm Can guys guess? 67.8, 65.2, 60.6
He also got bailed out by his defense against LAR and JAX where he had ratings in the 70’s
Is it worse to have a bad rating against good teams or to struggle against teams that a “lesser QB” dominated?
ALL NFL teams have NFL caliber players.
It is a new fallacy being pushed as the new narrative. He couldn’t do a long list of things, until he did.
Give the man his money. QB is not the problem with this team.
CJ Stroud bucked the trend 54.8, 116, 81.9, 88.9, 103.5, 78
HE played well in two of there losses.
Their
Rock – To answer your question, it’s better to play down and be able to beat better teams. Those are the teams you need to get by in the playoffs. If you can’t beat them, you won’t be in the playoffs long, if at all.
Really, because a loss is a loss and you only play 17 games.
Really! When it’s clear you play poorly against better teams, then it’s not a random thing, you just can’t play up to the level of your competition
BBM,
I’d let Armstead walk unless they feel his health is better. This team isn’t going to a SB any time soon so they’d be better off finding a young LT to groom for 3-5 years from now. I’d let him go and use the money on young guys on the OL who are the future like Hunt.
That is where I am. Save the money now and move on. They could probably resign Lamm for around 3 mil of that 9.4 saved. He would be a serviceable starting LT and then draft a rookie. Rookie wins the job and we have a solid backup in Lamm who can play both sides at a decent price.
I am leaning toward LT Jordan Morgan from Arizona. The rest of the best LT will be gone top 10. Morgan will probably be the best true LT available at #21 the rest like Barton and Fantanu project to move inside.
I remember years ago Dallas had one of the worst lines, let their ‘best guy’ go and drafted one guy in the first, picked up one of OUR cast offs and took a guy in the 4th and had the top line the next season.
Yep
I forget the guys name now, but he was a guard and we let him go from our practice squad and 6 years later he was coming out on free agency and we were all like ‘if only’ when he had already.
Rock, I’ve been thinking about this issue for as long as everyone has been going back and forth with it. I am starting to think it might be more MM not adjusting scheme/game plan much from game to game, especially vs the good teams in the league. Seems like we go out there with nothing special, no new twists, but with a “stop me if you can” arrogance and the better teams do just that, stop us. Then, we have nothing else. We used that shovel pass twice for TD’s vs Denver. Can’t remember if I ever saw it again the rest of the season. Last half of the season we seemed kind of vanilla same ole, same ole every game.
Couple that with unloading the ball in 2 seconds with a first read or bust mentality. Especially when one WR is your first read 70% of the time (seemed like). It allowed teams to have our number.
I don’t know maybe that’s just me.
I agree. I think the line was still struggling and the coach called plays to mask the weakness as much as possible. Tua didn’t play scared. He went head first a few times and came back to a coach cussing him out.
Like I told y’all about Tannehill, this team will never sniff a SB with Tua. I know it hurts. You have a whole year to pull off the bandage. It’ll be okay. 😜🤙
Tua played 18 games, he lead or paced the league in every meaningful stat most of the season, he did it by playing to his strengths and improving on his weaknesses. He has done so every year, growing and getting better. It’s just my opinion, but he has checked every box. Every thing his naytsayers said he couldn’t do, he has done. Not in a niggling way either. Can’t throw deep? Hold my beer as I throw deeper and more than anyone else. Doesn’t lift the players around him? How about the boy spent the season throwing to where the WR’s were going to before they knew they were going to be there? How about him only taking 29 sacks when the dolphins Oline trailed the league in pass block win rate as in #32 the worst. Nah, he doesn’t elevate the play of those around him. Not a leader… Can’t win…
Dammit, now I want to do another mock on draftbuzz to see what I can get for Armstead in a trade even though it is pointless.
Not doing mock drafts is like quitting smoking for me. lol
BTW, today is day 1. Going well so far.
Bro, keep at it. It was my last and hardest habit to quit. I found the hardest part was losing my ability to trip endorphins on command. Sad and want a hit of happy? take a drag. hungry and can’t eat, take a drag, have to do something distasteful, difficult or emotionally challenging? Yup like a button in your brain. Press it. It feels good now.
It takes a long time to rewire your brain to not have feel good chemicals on demand.
KEEP AT IT! You only don’t have to smoke “This one” don’t let “This one” beat you. It’s on “This time” and damn it! I can make it “one time”
After a while it doesn’t ache anymore
Thanks Rock! Much appreciated. I will also have to cut back on things that trigger the cravings (for me) as in coffee and alcohol. At least for a little while.
I have always been a less than a pack a day smoker (unless drinking/partying) and last 6 months smoking Ultra Lights (though not much less than regs). I am trying low dose 7mg patches and 2 mg gum.
Rock – check Tua’s QBR against winning teams, it sucks as bad as his passer rating
so do all QB’s it’s not a trait unique to Tua. I posted Mahome’s as evidence. AND HE (59.1) had a terrible game against a team Tua decimated with a 155.8 rating.
same defense, different QB’s….
You’re comparing one game, Rock – Mahomey won the SB, he can beat any team any day. You suck at this argument. You’re bringing nothing concrete to the table. I’m talking about a 2 year period with this HC and you give me one bad game Mahomes. C’mon Rockhead!
Good luck BBM. I failed with both gum and patches because I was still addicted to the nicotine and was never able to ween myself. I made sure I was around a few people that I could offend with my irrational behavior and lashing out in anger and just went cold turkey for 4 days. THEN the key was to avoid my triggers as much as possible, but that was impossible because I was a two pack smoker. EVERYTHING was an excuse. Get in the car? Seat belt, radio, window, cigarette. About to arrive? Better have another in case I can’t when I get there. Finish ordering your food at the restaurant? Better go out and get one before the food comes, food over, yup, let’s go tap the feel good button, pre-desert, post desert, pre sex post sex, pre poop after poop to air out. Need to make a call, might as well go outside and light up to make the call.
AHHHH Madness!! I have gotten used to the most evil of the four letter words. “WANT” that hollow need for SOMETHING. It has kept my weight in check too. I just embrace my want and ignore it. (it never goes away BTW, I had a dream the other night and smoked in it and I woke up pissed off, like I had thrown away my 10 year chip. )
lol
M13
Guyton is likely to be there when we pick, which is nice
Maybe the move is to draft RT like Guyton or Mims, let them play RT and let Jackson focus on replacing Armstead
🤷♂️
I don’t like that move. We FINALLY are getting decent play from Jackson. Jackson still struggled at times with pass pro last year but was much better. Why disrupt that?
Resign Lamm and draft a true LT like Morgan.
Yeah
I can see that
Moving a guy who’s coming around is not ideal
Ha! Just posted him the other day. Was thinking he could be a 7th or UDFA steal but now thinking 6th. Turns out Ryder likes him and his fit with our offense also. Again, he’s around 6′ 223 and runs about a 4.4 forty. We should see this week or at his pro day the numbers he puts up.
bailbondmike says:
February 26, 2024 at 9:19 am
Time to take a look at Tyler Guyton. And if he kills the Combine this coming week, he could very well be on our radar.
———————-
M13, check out OT Jordan Morgan, Arizona he was their starting LT last couple years. He will be in our window at #21. He is projected late 1st round.
Jordan Morgan, OT, Arizona
Size: Height: 6’6” | Weight: 320 lbs
Accomplishments: First-Team All-Pac-12 (2023, 2022)
“Jordan Morgan is a big, strong offensive tackle prospect with the foot quickness to live on an island at the next level.”
Strengths:
Well-experienced (more than 2,400 snaps at LT)
Combination of power and athleticism
Light and nimble-footed
Lateral agility and quickness
Concerns:
Low and wide hand carriage
Inconsistent waist bending
Inconsistent leveraging
His concerns are all things that can be fixed.
————–
Will do. Thanks, BB Mike.
The Flying Pig says:
February 26, 2024 at 1:10 pm
M13
Guyton is likely to be there when we pick, which is nice
Maybe the move is to draft RT like Guyton or Mims, let them play RT and let Jackson focus on replacing Armstead
🤷♂️
————-
That’s what I was brainstorming here late last week and it nearly made me mental like Ed Grimley. I’m with BB Mike: if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it (moving Austin Jackson back to LT when he’s excelling at RT).
And we certainly don’t want to give young Austin Jackson JAS* (Jason Allen Syndrome, moving him back and forth from S to CB to S to CB to S to CB).
Okay, I did another one dammit. I traded Armstead to an OT needy team and got a late 5th and late 6th. Then traded down with Dallas.
PICK: 24 RND: 1 Jordan MORGAN OT Arizona
PICK: 55 RND: 2 Zach FRAZIER C West Virginia
PICK: 87 RND: 3 McKinnley JACKSON DL Texas A&M
PICK: 138 RND: 5 Tommy EICHENBERG ILB Ohio State
PICK: 157 RND: 5 Malik MUSTAPHA S Wake Forest
PICK: 181 RND: 6 Jaylin SIMPSON CB Auburn
PICK: 186 RND: 6 Nathan THOMAS OT Louisiana
PICK: 200 RND: 6 Isaiah WILLIAMS WR Illinois
PICK: 239 RND: 7 Isaac GUERENDO RB Louisville
Resign Hunt, Wynn and/or Jones, Lamm and our OL will be pretty good with depth to boot.
I actually like this one adding some studs to the OL and Defense.
I just like McKinnley Jackson, he’s a monster in the middle at 6’2 325 but not fat.
I like DT’s Jackson or Braden Fiske from FSU.
Resign Wilkins and add Jackson or Fiske with Seiler and we have one hell of a DL.
M13, any thought on designating Armstead as a 6/1 release?
I don’t like the dead $$$. Regardless, I think we need to bring in his replacement this season via the Draft.
It doesn’t necessarily need to be R1P21, perhaps in R2… but it would be very wise to find his replacement sooner than later.
BBMIke, that makes sense on how to approach Waddle and Phillips.
The key this year will be some younger players stepping up and hitting on some mid to late round picks and UDFAs. We’ve done pretty well with that in recent years.
My how time flies, as I recall watching tape of T-Stead at Arkansas Pine-Bluff as a LT, converted from TE. YUP, T-Stead is a graduate of M13’s ‘Man-Crush University’.
NOBODY knew he’d grow into such a great leader and mentor back then, but here he is today in Miami.
I DO find it important to find his replacement this year in the Draft, so that said draftee can be mentored by the man himself, T-Stead.
Personally, I feel T-Stead has elevated Austin Jackson’s game.
I really hope T-Stead gets into coaching when he finally hangs up his cleats. It would be nice if he stayed with our Phins in such a role.
Possibly. I think our new coaches did a lot for everyone on the OL, though. Especially Eich and possibly resurrecting Wynn’s career.
Absolutely possible. Still, I think T-Stead has played a major part in elevating the game of our O-Line. “Hard Knocks” kind of revealed as much.
Our coaches on offense have impressed me. Hopefully Weaver and his assistants hit the ground running.
For those who question Tua’s game, the likelihood of him being replaced by a right-hander is pretty much 100%. THAT’S how important it is to find a replacement for T-Stead at LT (a right-hander’s blindside).
I’m NOT saying that Tua needs to be replaced, but SHOULD Tua eventually be replaced, I can’t think of any Southpaws who would be replacing him.
Thus, we need strength at the LT position post-T-Stead.
What’s more, most teams have legit pass-rushers on both sides of their Defense. We’re not trying to go light at the LT position even though Tua’s a Southpaw.
The moving on from Tua narrative is a waste of time.
I agree that Armstead’s professionalism and leadership helped our entire OL especially the young guys.
^
Alright, allow me to put it another way. Should Tua miss time with injury, our right-handed backup QB will need to be protected on his blindside at the LT position.
Honestly it helped the whole team
He’s a great guy in the lockeroom
mf13ss says:
February 26, 2024 at 3:43 pm
I don’t like the dead $$$.
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I don’t either but, if he plays this season, it will definitely be his last. Then he retires and we end up with a 12.7 dead cap hit in 2025 anyway. Do we really want to pay him another 9.4 million to possibly play less than 50% of offensive snaps again or save it to resign other players?
We could resign Lamm, Wynn and Jones with that money. I would rather have those 3 back than wonder week to week if I am going to have my starting LT or not.
You make a very good point.
I feel Lamm is a ‘fair’ backup LT (and worthy of re-signing), but he’s not the best we can do as a starter.
I think we’re looking at the LT position as a very good target @ R1P21 at the moment.
I agree
The blindside isn’t as important these days with all the shotgun. That was more old school under center play-action. Everyone needs to block not just blindside.
Agreed that everybody needs to block… you aren’t wrong! But we need a solid LT post-T-Stead.
Substitute the word ‘but’ with ‘so’.
Of course. I’m just saying QBs don’t turn their back to the blindside as often anymore. Shotgun is pretty much straight up until they throw and the idea is to get the ball out in under 3 seconds. You could have an awesome blindside tackle, but if the interior gets beat it’s over.
LT/RT really doesn’t mean a lot today. If you’re a team that runs a lot of power schemes and runs a lot then maybe you want to align your personnel. As for pass rush, guys just move around way too much in today’s NFL. Every QB still has a blindside of course, so there is still some use in protecting a guy from what he can’t see coming. Especially a guy like Tua. Sorry, but his OL played just fine for lots of games. Him crawling up into the fetal position was NOT on the OL.
***
I think fans forget just how young and raw Jackson was and really still is. He’s improved, but he still has to work on some things. Really, I think most of it was just growing into being a man. Instead of being a young kid playing against grown men. I think Hunt’s toughness and attitude…and ability to cover for him….has made a big impact on Jackson. Jackson needed to toughen up. Those two could really give us a dominant right side. You could see them starting to get it in the running game this year. That excites me more than anything Tua will do. Yeah, I know, I’m weird. Lol
M13,
I can remember discussing Armstead with you when he was being drafted. He was actually seen as being very similar to Austin Jackson when they came out. Raw athletic freaks with questions about their ability to play in the NFL. Jackson came from a bigger school but very similar otherwise.
I don’t get it sometimes. Tua was one of the least sacked QBs (29) in the league per attempt while being 2nd in competition percentage, yards per attempt and 1st in passing yards. But he crawled into the fetal position.
I see you don’t get it. Instead of holding on to the ball sometimes and actually making a positive play, he was throwing the ball to get rid of it not to get hit. Again, I think that his coach telling him to do that. I can show it to you 50 different ways, but if you don’t want to see it, you’re not gonna see it. He put up very gaudy stats in games against the weak teams, and his stats against the better teams are but a shadow of what he did against the weak teams. So overall, everything looks great, but not when you look at each game individually.
How bout I make it easy for ya. Do you think 1 passing TD per game against winning teams is going to cut it? Tua only once threw 2 TD’s in ’23 against a winning team, the Ravens, but he also threw 2 INT’s in that game, which we lost 56-19. Every other game was 1 TD, and the Titans was zero TD’s.
Saying he went into the fetal position is a little much, but he’s not the same player against better teams, I can feel it when I watch the games, everything feels different. We’ll see if he can change that this next season, but if he can’t, how do you stay with a QB that can’t beat winning teams, even during the regular season?
Signing Tua to an extension and restructuring some contracts is the only way to make another run in 2024.
Not the only way but it is the best way and the way that will open up the most cap space
Possibly, but if it’s not a team friendly deal with lots of incentives and an easy out in the next 3-4 years, it could also prevent us from winning a playoff game the next 5-6 years
Which contracts would you like to see us restructure?
I know, it’s hard to restructure those who have already been restructured and most of the big contracts have. The only 2 (big contracts) who have not been restructured yet are Ramsey and Seiler.
Tua, Waddle, Baker and long are all on their last year of their contract and can’t be restructured. They have to be extended.
Baker and Long are the only 2 I see them reworking
So a new contract for Tua is what I see happening, it will have to be 50+ to satisfy Tua’s camp and have Allen type outs to satisfy the team
Tua, after hearing what the team wants, could lower his per year to get more guarantees (pick high per year or guarantees he’s not getting both)
I believe we’re 13m over, based on OTCs top 51 vs 255m cap, my estimation including X seems accurate
Re-sign Tua, Baker and Long, that would give us cap to do a lot of things like Wilkins and Hunt, then with X’s post June 1st it gives us money to sign rookies and fill out the roster to be title competitive in 2024
It’s hard to figure where we are at. SPOTRAC shows 24.6 over top 51 with the post 6/1 release of X lowers it to 6.2.
OVERTHECAP shows 29 mil over but with the 18.5 savings on X we would be at 10.5 mil over.
Out of our top 10 cap hits for this year from #1 Hill (31.3 mil) to #10 Long (6.7mil):
– Howard will be a post 6/1 release saving 18.5 mil which should get us to around -6.1 mil.
– Hill, Chubb and Armstead have all been restructured at least once already.
– Tua, Waddle, Baker and Long are on the last year of their contract and can’t be restructured but could be extended.
– That leaves #2 Ramsey (27.2 mil) and #8 Seiler (10.6 mil) who can be restructured. However, Ramsey only has one more year on his contract, 2025 is his last under contract. You can’t push that much forward without screwing us in 2025 as Ramsey’s cap hit in 2025 is already 21.2 mil.
Most of the maneuvering is going to have to come in extensions and releasing minimal dead money guys like Jeff Wilson, Keion Crossen and Mike White.
This was using SPOTRAC. Can’t find the difference in the two sites. OVERTHECAP shows us at -29 mil but 44 rostered players. SPOTRAC has us at 24.6 mil with 43 rostered players. Both are carrying X and neither are carrying Ogbah. I can’t figure out who this 4.4 mil player is.
Buccaneers releasing two-time Pro Bowl OLB Shaq Barrett
Dov Kleiman
@NFL_DovKleiman
The two #NFL QBs with the lowest turnover-worthy play rates since 2022:
1) #Chargers Justin Herbert – 1.9%
2) #Bengals Joe Burrow – 2.1%
Is that good or bad….lol
Judy Battista
@judybattista
Competition Committee discussed at length the XFL kickoff. A source says there could be a proposal for a March vote on a version of the XFL model as a way to address the kickoff — too few returns this season. NFL wants to keep the return in the game, while making the play safer.
Randy says:
February 26, 2024 at 7:44 pm
M13,
I can remember discussing Armstead with you when he was being drafted. He was actually seen as being very similar to Austin Jackson when they came out. Raw athletic freaks with questions about their ability to play in the NFL. Jackson came from a bigger school but very similar otherwise.
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Exactly… and I wanted to draft both of them.
Ever since Joe Philbin was our HC, we’ve had a ZBS/WCO O-Line… and I personally like that. We want the most fleet-footed, fast, and nimble players to man that kind of O-Line… without giving up much power, of course.
Effective lateral quickness (pulling) is the name of the game for our O-Line.
AND to have the ability to make it to the second level.
Question for y’all…
Should Brock Bowers (TE, Georgia) fall to R1P21, should we take him?
I predict he’s going to fall, but how far I can’t foresee.
Personally, I’d pass. We’ve got bigger fish to catch and fry.
Notes: Jordan Morgan (LT, Arizona) suffered a torn ACL late in the ’22 season.
That doesn’t automatically rule him out, but there’s an injury history there.
My dude Lance Zierlein feels Tyler Guyton can play either LT or RT due to his athleticism, despite Guyton only ever playing RT in college.
https://www.nfl.com/prospects/tyler-guyton/32004755-5973-4424-47c4-5396aaed336f
IMO, if Guyton runs a sub-5.0 40 yard dash, he’s going earlier than anticipated. He’s already on my radar as a potential R1P21 for us.
Conversely, the other RT Amarius Mims is NOT going to be able to run a sub-5.0 in the 40 yard dash at 340 pounds… I think?
Just sayin’, right here, right now (in the words of Jesus Jones)… if Guyton gets clocked under 5.0 at the Combine, he’s my pick @ R1P21.
And to imagine one athletic freak (T-Stead) to mentor another athletic freak (Guyton)… that would be PERFECTION.
Just to trigger Mike E:
https://phinphanatic.com/posts/miami-dolphins-fans-should-be-thrilled-with-tua-tagovailoa-extension-here-is-why-01hqgh538yae?fbclid=IwAR2JhAjAfGJ3YWOHzV7gkTlX6iNnsjHYzO2DahSCV0dAvyJVzj0W_cFJ9Fc_aem_ASCeUQ2D57qRr_Vyew9sTj4TaQLuEN3M4M1NN2KlbxaGvFLknIoJMDhBoD1XCnLrDAE
Isn’t Fant a FA?
Steve, not up to me who gets restructured, but I’m sure the team will look to do that with some players.
mf13ss says:
February 27, 2024 at 4:06 pm
Question for y’all…
Should Brock Bowers (TE, Georgia) fall to R1P21, should we take him?
I predict he’s going to fall, but how far I can’t foresee.
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IMO, that would be a luxury pick. One we can’t afford this year.
Absolutely concurred.
McDaniel isn’t interested in another QB.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39610203/dolphins-tua-tagovailoa-hard-work-new-contract
MM knows what he has and knows Tua has not reached his ceiling…lots too learn to beat the better teams.
M13, Jordan Morgan did have that ACL injury in 2022. They said he came back last year and played the whole season better than ever.
Morgan #77 from last season after ACL injury.
He’s not going to give you a great 40 time though.