Here’s the deal Dolphins fans. The NFL Free Agency period begins in FIVE DAYS, Wednesday March 13th. I have no inside information on what our front office is doing, planning, hoping to accomplish, but I will tell you this. For those of you who want to see Tua get a $50M per year extension, if that contract is not signed and completed before March 13, the start of NFL Free Agency, then just scrap it, and let the kid play on his 5th year contract. I’m going to be as transparent as I can. If we don’t have the cap savings and money available to try and sign free agents, most notably, our own players who most absolutely deserve to be re-signed, then there’s no good, intelligent, logical reason to give him a contract at all. We need that money in hand, before teams with tons of cap space swoop in and sign our players, and other equivalent players like them are all gone. Here’s the simple logic, we couldn’t get past good teams with a talented roster, we’re not going to get past good teams with a severely diminished roster.

We signed journeyman TE Jonnu Smith and the Dolphins fans rejoice. Like they say in the south, where Jonnu most recently played in Atlanta, “Bless Your Heart”. If Jonnu was just an add after we signed DT Christian Wilkins (or a player of his caliber) and likewise for OG Robert Hunt, fine. We need every dollar and while it’s not that Jonnu Smith can’t help us, it’s just odd to be spending money we don’t have. It’s actually shocking to me that we had ZERO touchdowns from our TE’s in 2023. Durham Smythe is basically a #2 TE, and Julian Hill is a project that I believe might be overrated. Tanner Conner is probably a never will be, but somehow he’ll shuttle back and forth between the practice squad and the 53 man roster. Truth is, none of this matters until we have a solid O-line, and right now, we are so far away from that being that case. Our starting LT is still on the fence between retiring and coming back. We have no LG, Liam Eichenberg is our OC as it stands today, we have no RG, and we have RT Austin Jackson. So many excuses were rifled at Tua detractors due to the perceived inefficiencies of the offensive line, and we have some big holes to fill just to claw back to where we were last season.

Despite what some of our fans think here, Christian Wilkins is probably going to go Day 1 of Free Agency. It will happen even faster if the first domino falls, DT Chris Jones re-signs with the Chiefs. Some team is going to throw a boatload of cash at Christian Wilkins, and unless it’s us, he’s gone. That would be a damn shame folks. Some potentially good news is that FA OG Robert Hunt posted a picture of Hard Rock Stadium from the Dolphins practice facility which could be taken as a positive sign that he intends to come back to Miami. “Dark Mike” thinks he could be taking one last look. One thing that could work in our favor from what I’ve heard is OC Connor Williams who is rehabbing from a torn ACL is prepared to be patient in Free Agency and not take a lower contract because of the potential of him not being available early in the season.

Back to Tua, and I can hear the groans already, but it needs to be said. There are QB’s out there in the NFL that can take over a game and practically will their team to victory. Patrick Mahomes has done it so many times, we expect it. Josh Allen, who is not nearly as accurate as our QB Tua Tagovailoa is another QB capable of doing what it takes to win. SFO QB Brock Purdy, at a young age has shown that ability, in big games to do what needs to be done. If we’re going to put a lesser product on the field this season, and signs are pointing in that direction right now, it’s probably the most foolish thing we can do to throw a contract somewhere in the realm of $50M per season to Tua Tagovailoa. He’s simply not one of those QB’s stated above. If one player was OUT that was the reason why we lost. If any of you expect him to play better with less, and he would have to because even if Christian Wilkins was not a FA, we have huge question marks as to when both of our pass rushing OLB’s, Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips will be available to play, and play well. We bid good-bye to long tenured CB Xavien Howard, and while we have DB Jalen Ramsey on one side, we have no bonafide player to pencil in opposite Ramsey. We have 1 Safety on the roster, (Jevon Holland), and I might add he’s been grumbling about getting paid. He’s set to make about $4.3M this season and will be a FA in 2025. At inside LB we have David Long, backup Duke Riley, and backup to the backup Channing Tindall.

The 2024 NFL Draft is April 25th. In a year where we have no cap money, we also have no draft picks. Well, that’s an exaggeration, but with so many holes to fill, the Dolphins go to Detroit armed with picks #21 (RD 1), #55 (RD 2), and then hang around until RD 5 as so many good players will be off the board, but we pick again at #157 (RD 5), #186 (RD 6), #200 (RD 6), and finally #236 (RD 7). Offensive line seems to be the favorite choice for pick #21, and it seems like OC Jackson Powers-Johnson from Oregon or Duke OC Graham Barton have been the favorites. Both are considered plug and play guys who will start immediately. If we’re unsuccessful re-signing DT Christian Wilkins, I’d expect DT would be our next priority, you have to win in the trenches. T’Vondre Sweat is a possibility, but he’d be more of a replacement for NT Raekwon Davis , not DT Christian Wilkins. DT Braden Fiske from Florida State would be more of a Christian Wilkins type player, and Kris Jenkins’ son, Kris Jenkins also fits that bill, but both of these defensive tackles are not the pedigree of Christian Wilkins.

I had seen rumors early on and before the Chiefs tagged CB L’Jarius Sneed that the Dolphins were interested in him. Now that they’ve tagged him, it seems less likely, but for some reason the rumor mill loves to throw WR Jaylen Waddle’s name into the mix. I can’t see that, that just opens up another hole and takes away a huge part of our offense to shore up the defense. It’s like putting your fingers in a place that’s leaking in 11 places, when you only have 10 fingers. Oh, we’ve signed two DT’s, Isaiah Mack from the Baltimore Ravens, a part time player, and i stress part time, only 22% of the defensive snaps over his 4 year career. We also signed DT Daviyon Nixon from the Carolina Panthers, another part time player (18%) of the snaps on defense. We have such an uphill climb just to get back to the roster that couldn’t win big games, it’s so darn hard to expect anything good in this upcoming season. Honestly, if Chris Grier came out and said “I swung for the fences last year, and we didn’t make it, so from here on in, I’m going to be more fiscally responsible, we’re going to take a step back this season and be ready to compete in ’25”. I think I could handle it. That would obviously include Tua playing on his 5th year contract and showing whether he’s capable of taking the next step, although with a weakened roster, not sure if it would necessarily fair. I don’t know if Grier has some magic tricks he’s going to spring on us and somehow save the season, but it’s looking bleak mates. Sorry, it just is.

GO DOLPHINS!!!