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!!!
Finsmob Unleashed 
Hunt has the potential to be an all pro guard and possibly the best guard in the league. His contract won’t look like nothing in a couple years. Good teams find ways to keep really good players….you know…because that’s how you win. 😡🤬😡👌👈
Ken, Tim – Let’s say we offered Wilkins $18M per season, and he wanted $21M per. At that point, we had to make a decision to either pay him, or with them knowing the cap situation far better than any of us, to potentially lose him. So they chose not to pay him and lose him. If you’re comfortable with that, fine. I think that’s poor management. Whatever you think of Wilkins and his demands, he was a great player for us, unselfish, great leader who played tons of snaps and every damn game.
I love Wilkins and I am sad to see him go. But last year Wilkins decided not to push contract talks unless we blew him away with an offer. We made a big offer but Wilkins wasn’t interested. He wanted FA.
the point is that contract should have been offered BEFORE his walk year.
That’s how I feel.
Their agents knew the cap was going up and they weren’t taking the offers you keep mentioning. You keep focusing on Grier and not the agents.
one of the problems Grier has is not identifying long term talent on the team before they cost a ton.
Let’s keep paying high price FAs and trading away all our picks for the big splash players. Seems to be working well so far. Grier has no clue how to build a team. He treats this like the NBA.
But Tua will right the ship! We don’t need starting caliber players when he’s around. He elevates everyone around him. We’ve seen it in all the big games!
You’re contradicting yourself.
Wilkins is currently the 6th highest paid player in the NFL not counting QBs. Anyone here think he’s all that?
I do not.
better than Suh
I have NO problem paying Tua elite QB $$$. My problem with Grier (Grief) is that we didn’t get the deal done before today, in order to open up more cap $pace for this BIG MONDAY.
FA hasn’t officially started.
Tua isn’t a FA.
You know what I mean, Tim!
The one that stings more than anything else to me was our inability to retain AVG. That HURTS, more than anything else. We’re in serious trouble regarding the EDGE position entering the ’24 season.
Wilkins is not worth $27M.
nope
^
Neither Wilkins or Hunt were ever all pro or voted to a pro bowl in 5 and 4 years respectively but now they’re the highest paid players at their positions but we definitely should have paid them as such?
Hey no worries. We resigned Elijah Campbell.
FA deals always look horrible when they’re signed. I don’t really give a damn. My wonder is how the hell are we gonna take a step up in the playoff world with this sort of management? You don’t win MORE by letting your best players leave and get nothing for them. What exactly was the plan 2 years ago? It’s beginning to look like there really wasn’t one.
Yeah, it looks like Disney’s plan regarding the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Sloppy, not planned ahead, and just plain fruitless.
100% – At least no GOOD plan, that’s for sure.
You can’t pay everyone. That’s what happens when you have too many good players. But that gets forgotten. 😉
Again – You pay them before they hit FA.
Tua won’t be worth the $50M per season when he signs that contract either. It is what it is. When you go into FA, players are gonna get what someone else thinks they’re worth, and the raiders and the Vikings got good players. OUR players. This is how Grier chose to do this, and it bit him in the ass.
There IS a price to pay when going ‘ALL-IN’. And now, we’re paying the price.
Hunt’s too fat. The injuries have already started.
Don’t know if y’all truly know what it means to go ‘ALL-IN’. Grier (Grief) pushed all of his chips into the center of the table (Steve Ross likely told him to do so). When we traded for Jalen Ramsey and his contract $$$, that was it.
We went ‘balls to the wall’ for a Super Bowl run.
I’ve only been talking about this for well over a year now. There WILL be repercussions for failing to win when going ‘ALL-IN’. Today, we’re feeling the repercussions.
Agents are not in tune with a lot of your opinions. You guys are acting like we can force them to sign extensions simply because we want to. We’ve all been through FA for decades. Nothing has changed.
I just laugh at the fact that 90% of you here said we’ll give Tua a contract and then we’ll restructure a couple of guys and we’ll re-sign all our guys. How’d that work out?
Then I said when these guys get mega contracts elsewhere you’re gonna say they asked for too much money. It’s amusing to me. Now it’s that we had too many good players. We don’t even have enough to field a team, good bad, otherwise. It’s a joke. We didn’t fall back a step or two or three, we fell down a few fucking flights of stairs!
See above regarding going ‘ALL-IN’.
Have I not been theorizing for the last 2 years that Steve Ross wants to go out as a winner? It would appear that I was correct.
And I maintain, injuries destroyed us in ’23.
Not with what they were asking for. Now we know. If your a GM you paying Wilkins 27.5 and Hunt 20 per?
Naples,
Yeah, a team that was desperate to upgrade their OL made it a priority to protect and help their young QB just paid huge money to a fat guard who isn’t very good. Lol
So, now a team that can’t win a playoff game just has SOOOO many good players we just can’t keep them all!?!!. Tim, you should seriously figure out how to monetize your blinding positivity! I love it! Lol
It’s not positivity it’s the reality of the business that some of you can’t come to grips with. 😉
I hate to lose AVG.
He was a fun player.
Just like Hunt and Wilkins.
But none of them are all pro.
None of them got us to the Super Bowl.
I don’t mean to get all salty on y’all, I’m just bummed that we’re not going to be a competitive team, and I’m ragging now
You’re good, Bro. I’m rather upset as well.
Again, the sky hasn’t yet fallen. BUT… we’ve got to kill the Draft this year and sign good FAs once June begins.
I think Hunt’s a good player.
But he’s not worth a hundred million dollars.
We didn’t LOSE Hunt. He changed jobs for a huge pay raise.
Haven’t you done the same thing?
Your old company could only afford to pay you just so much.
You felt you were worth more, so you went out and got it.
Your former boss was unable to match the offer within the budget of his company.
We can’t afford an OG at 100,000,000 dollars.
The Panthers roster is so depleted that they can.
Welcome to salary cap pro sports. It’s intended to redistribute the stars.
I said this about a week ago having a discussion with M13. The amount of money many positions are being paid is out of whack with the salary cap. $20M per for a guard?
This is no different than it’s always been. The cap keeps going up, and this is the product of that. What we think is fair no longer exists. Every few years the positional payrolls get redefined.
Agreed but some positions are out of whack. Unless a player is a generational talent they shouldn’t be paid as elite. It’s crazy.
We signed LB Anthony Walker off the Browns.
I’m glad to re-sign Needham. (6 INTs)
Wait, there are ways to manipulate the cap? 😉
Wilkins has averaged 4.1 sacks per year.
That’s not worth 100,000,000.
I want you do the same metrics when we pay Tua $50M per. I’ll tell you before it happens. He’s not worth anywhere near that much.
Except Tua’s production was on elite levels. 😉
And we just signed that Browns LB. Makes me think the reports we were in talks with Ravens Queen were probably true. Probably just didn’t want to pay whatever the ‘hawks were offering.
Still don’t know the terms of the Armstead adjusted contract. Between that and Ramsey, we should be somewhere close to out of the red, even with Jonnu and scrubs we’ve signed.
I think it freed up $8M.
Tim
I don’t know I contradicted myself. I think I have to add /s to them.
Your first sentence. Signing high priced FAs which Wilkins and Hunt were.
Tim – Stop tickling me with your Tua feather!
🤣
A team can only afford so many star contracts. The problem isn’t losing these guys to over-priced contracts.
To me, the problem is we basically decided on these two guys when we traded for Chubb and Ramsey. Understanding that, and that we weren’t going to be able to keep Hunt and Wilkins, we should have traded them or left ourselves in a position to tag and trade at least one of them and get commensurate value for their loss- or at worst, keep them another year.
We’re restocking next year’s draft with comps. We’ll field a team weaker than last year, especially in the trenches, which is a big problem. If our injuries are less severe, we should be able to compete for a WC spot again, probably no way we compete for the division. Even the WC may be a tall order because the AFC is stacked with good teams.
Wait until we see what the roster looks like in May and then on the field. It’s too early to panic. 🙂
It’s not panic. It’s just math and a statement of reality. Sure we don’t know what lower tier guys will be on the team, but we know they’ll be lower tier than Hunt and Wilkins. And in all likelihood a lesser talent at Center too if we’re starting Eich.
Our 1st rd pick may be a mitigation of one of those losses, but it’ll still be a net loss this on both lines this year.
And that is without even mentioning AVG, or the loss of Chubb and Phillips for who knows how long. Like I said, just the truth.
Heck, throw in Baker, Howard, and Jones as additional pieces we’ll be lucky to replace with equal talent. But I was mostly focusing on the lines.
I understand it looks dire right now to some of you, but you never know until it’s completed. Remember I’m a patient brigade guy. 😂
I wouldn’t call it dire. I said I think we’ll compete for a WC. I still think we’ll be a better team than most of the past 20 years. And maybe next year with a full draft arsenal we can put together a team closer to competing for a SB in 2025.
Mike E,
with all due respect,
Tua led the league in passing yards, was #2 in yards per attempt, #1 in accuracy, #2 in deep ball completion percentage.
and a QB is supposed to get lots of passing yards.
None of the guys we lost led the league in their primary statistic.
Although Wilkins did make tons of tackles, he only averaged a little less than 4 per game last year.
He only averaged 1 QB hit per 2 games and 1 TFL per 1.5 games. (ish)
I love Wilkins. But only a team with few stars could afford him.
Anybody think Wilkins puts LV in the SB?
or Hunt gets Carolina to the playoffs?
No it’s all about the QB.
I just got home from work. Who else did we lose?
giants traded for Brian Burns- 5 year $150 million
They now have two big time edge rushers.
No way! They said it couldn’t be done. 🤪
couldn’t and shouldn’t are two different things. Grier is fucking incompetent! we are already carrying 11.7 million in dead cap in ’26 and another 4 plus in ’27. Oh, and his extension? No longer extended. His contract is voided after ’25 now, so we are going to be paying ANOTHER 17 million in dead cap in those two voided years.
Why we couldn’t have done this two weeks ago and tagged Wilkins for a tag and trade is what I don’t get. It, along with Grier’s statement of him ‘deserving to hit FA’ makes me think there was a handshake agreement between the team and player that we wouldn’t tag him.
I guarantee we could have tagged him and gotten a 2nd from the Raiders without blinking. Everyone could have won.
We were never going to pay him the deal he got with the Raiders. Tagging him would have hampered our ability to sign other players. It would have been a waste of time hostage situation.
exactly . I was thinking the same exact thing on my way home. Grier fucked that up.
Tim, that is a load of hot garbage, lol.
We just cleared cap even with the players we already signed. We could have done the same thing, tagged Wilkins, traded him to the Raiders and picked up value for an asset. They wouldn’t have blinked at giving up a 2nd, probably a 1st. They were willing to give him the farm, so they wouldn’t have dicked around.
Kong, it’s all good. We’ll be okay. 🙂
Whatever that means, I have my own idea of where we’ll be, and I put it out there pretty clearly.
dolphins sign Jordyn Brooks 3 years $30 million
Along with Anthony Walker this is new DC Weaver looking for LBs that fits how he wants to play. Along with Long they’re all tackling machines. But I wonder if Long remains now? 🤔
Okay I’m trying to keep an even keel and keeping it lighthearted but some of you are not into it. Sorry don’t mean any disrespect to you all. Look at my new avi. 🤣
No worries on my part. I actually appreciate we have the whole spectrum on the board. It’s no fun to only see doom and gloom or just sunshine and rainbows.
But, even though you have a zen relationship with this, most of us are pretty engaged emotionally with our teams, so you just kind of have to understand emotion will be part of the convo, lol.
I get it. 🙂
There was a plan, then there was in patience and an all in push. They pushed all in and went broke. Perfect time to blow it up IMO. Time for a clean sweep. Let Tua go after he plays out his fifth (part of his fifth with bums blocking for him) and let the new GM and coach pick their guy.
IMPATIENCE
Injuries derailed any chance, no?
Injuries or no, it was a ONE YEAR window
You can go ahead and cheer a wild card loss “yay go team” But I saw him mortgaging the teams future with a failed all in in real time.
You don’t even think my new avi is funny. Now I really get it. 😂
It’s funny. What went down today is sad. I can’t deflect as well as you do. When the season starts and I know our team is going to blow chunk, it’s gonna hurt. It’s gonna take a lot of magic and a lot of luck for us to have a competitive roster this season
I think we’ll be as good or better. So there! 😎
I LOL’d when I saw it. I love Ace.
😂
Unless we now move on from Long and I’m not promoting that just not sure what the numbers are, I doubt we draft a LB high in the draft. I’m thinking the LOS both sides of the ball.
I hope we invest in the both lines early. I feel pretty good with our skill positions. Hopefully Jonnu and/ or EZ can be that 3rd receiver (not counting backs). Maybe a mid or late RB addition.
Have Cam step up to replace Howard. Move Needham to safety. We added a mid-tier LB.
The real question to me is still going to be our edges for the first half of the season.
Maybe re-sing Williams or draft center with our first pick. I’ll feel a lot better about our oline if Eich isn’t the starter there.
🎼🎵🎵Williams🎵🎵
like they say… pressure is not the same thing as terminating the play. We need some guys who can tackle the QB.
Well, we just let the DT with the most tackles of any DT in the history of the NFL in their first 5 seasons go, so . . .
“He’s not that great” “What has he really done”
BTW beware the blue dragons out there. They can hurt you.
Tim
Back to the reply. They should never have been high priced FAs, that’s the problem. They should have been made a priority long before this point. Grier sucks.
But, I love your new avi! 😄
That’s not how agents work. But glad you got the laugh. 🙂
Tim,
the point is it should never have gotten to their walk year where they are negotiating . They could have offered them a good contract two years ago.
Okay not sure that was ever feasible but everyone keeps saying that.
Only thing that matters is what Tua does
if he can play the broken play game, we have a chance, Jonnu will be very important for that to happen
I posted Wilkins’ stats last night against good teams and he was very avg in those games
Hunt was good, but I’m not paying an OG 20m
AVG to me is the biggest loss
We certainly don’t have a better roster, than we did 2023, player development could and better happen though
Agreed
Aaron Brewer to Miami, we have a new C
Assume Eichenberg will be one of our OGs and maybe Wynn at the other OG
Needham, Cam and Kohou should be our CB depth, expect to see someone else brought in
We still need healthy DEs and a safety
it sucks, not bleak yet
Brewer, 25, 6-1, 295lbs is a C entering his 5th season
Nice, I knew they couldn’t be thinking Eich starting at C.
MikeE was right. They did offer Wilkins a contract. His camp did come back with their offer of around 21-22 million. Grier balked at it. Would have a bargain compared to NOW.
You guys keep saying no way we could have paid him 27 mil. You are right but ignore the fact we could have had him on a 4-5 year deal at 21 mil.
Same with AVG. They could have locked him up for 3 years but only signed him for 1 year.
they essentially gave Wilkins $21 million per year- his contract is guaranteed for $84 million
Wilkins and Hunt are not elite players. They’re good. We like them. But come on, man!
^^^
Don’t keep paying high priced FAs but pay high priced FAs because we drafted them? They’re no different than any other players that hit the market. Just because we drafted them means nothing obviously.
This idea we could have locked them up a couple of years ago is a fallacy. That’s not how agents work.
Grier said we’ll have the money to do what we want, to me that means we’ll be making some signings after May, then more in June
new center is only 25 yo
Williams may come back, and Brewer may move to OG
brewer is called a freak athlete and has played as much OG as center. He’s known as a very good run blocker and very good second level blocker. Could be Hunt’s replacement.
Brewer flew under my radar. He’s a zone center. Our offense is all about movement and speed. Will read about him shortly.
I thought we couldn’t sign anyone and build a roster? 🤔
I love AVG, but he’s only about 242 at 6’4,
so he’s really too light to be a prototype EDGE.
Phillips and Chubb are at least 20 pounds heavier.
AVG got washed out trying to set the edge sometimes on run plays.
He’s not even as big as TEs.
Brewer allowed 2nd most sacks and most pressures of Cs last year. Pressure right up the gut should be great for Tua.
Sorry, 3rd in pressures
yeah I saw that. ewww
I think he needs to be a guard.
Also, the Titans beat the Dolphins last year,
so Brewer was not an automatic loss.
We don’t play static on offense. Everybody moves. It’s all quick, that’s how we play. We have a QB who plays that way. Maybe you don’t like it but that’s how we’re built. We’re not a power run game, we’re a quick twitch offense.
What McDaniel is trying to do is create mismatches and you can’t cover everyone, and he believes Tua will got them the ball for chunk yardage.
The Jordyn Brooks signing to means current leadership wanted to move on from AVG. They are essentially paying Brooks the same amount as AVG to play the same position
or he didn’t want to stay in Miami
No we gave Brooks an extra year that AVG. I am guessing he would have stayed but was not offered the same deal
an extra year than AVG got ^
Hunt went to the worst team in the league for money. I don’t blame him but that’s what it’s about. This idea everyone is jumping ship in Miami is bullshit. Follow the money. It’s so obvious.
Miami was ranked the #1 organization to play for by the NFPA.
I bet Brewer can actually snap the ball
I’d feel a lot better if Grier thought he could win with the talent he drafts. Because, in the end, he continues to pay for other people’s draft picks instead of our own. That’s just not a recipe for winning teams. Look at how many of his draft picks are still with the team. I think maybe 12 and a good portion of those don’t start. That’s an indictment.
Grier can’t draft great OL talent…and when he does, he lets them leave. Grier lets the best DL he’s ever drafted leave. There’s not much left of his classes but the team is full of other team’s picks. Picks that Grier obviously thought are better than his own. You can’t win that way.
So the homegrown losses to FA weren’t drafted? 🤔
How many Grier picks do we have on a second contract? Just name them.
Brewer is already used to blocking for Derrick Henry too…
This should be n interesting season.
Tim,
Don’t a lot of high end FAs go to bad teams with big money trying to get better? Players follow the money almost every single time. What’s new?
Exactly!
let’s go!
🐬
Super Bowl 2024!
The entire defense is changing. I think 7 defense and 1 offense gone now.
basically we have: Phillips, Chubb, Seiler, Ramsey, Holland and Long from past year
so there’s room
starting to look like we target DT in the draft
https://x.com/danieloyefusi/status/1767257782984565058?s=61&t=NWZ–WfgKu_dYbC-fKuB3A
Let’s dispel some bullshit around here right quick –
The Chiefs re-signed Chris Jones for a huge contract, and the Ravens re-signed Justin Madubuike for a huge contract too.
It’s not only players going to losing teams and getting ridiculously overpayed. We’re just in a bad place financially right now, there’s no spinning that shit any other way. Are we never going to sign a top player ever again because these contracts are out of control? Of course not!
Now we’re going to be hopeful that every guy we bring in is the next best thing, like the C from the Titans who can’t pass block. Maybe they can’t come to an agreement with Tua and this is their way of getting rid of him. JKJBBLOL
Whatever the plan is, I’m so skeptical that we’re not going backwards. We are, but just how far backwards has yet to be determined.
our D wasn’t very good against the good teams, at the most critical times
to fix this we’re changing our philosophy to be more physical, starting with the DC
I know this doesn’t fit your agenda😁, but Tua wasn’t the only one that didn’t play well against the top teams
So the Dolphins defense was bad against good teams because of Wilkins?
the reason the chiefs have money to spend on Jones is bc they traded Hill
good teams sacrifice good players
Brewer was blocking for Tannehill so his sack numbers don’t count. He can block just fine
lol
Piggy – You’re right! We sacrificed the wrong good players!
Mike
if we get 3-4 comp picks next year
and we are under the cap
we made the right moves by letting these guys go
one way or another you have to deal with the nfl cap cycles
if we can remain a playoff team this season – maybe even win a game 😯
then we will be in shape to add a couple of pieces in the offseason to 2025 to make the push
I like the idea of building a winning culture in Miami, sticking with our GM and coach instead of going through revolving coach’s and gms. The reality is we drafted a lot of guy we want to keep – and that’s new to the Dolphins…lol
we can’t keep them all
but we can set ourselves up to keep some of them
I think that’s what the chiefs did when they traded Hill to us
they knew they couldn’t keep Mahomes, Kelce and Hill and had to mar a tough choice
Yeah, we set ourselves up to keep the backup UDFA’s we picked up. That will get us there.
I’m talking about keeping Waddle, Phillips and Holland next offseason
I love AVG, but he’s only about 242 at 6’4,
so he’s really too light to be a prototype EDGE.
———————-
This doesn’t make sense. Hassan Reddick is only 6’1 240 and is top 5 in sacks almost every year. Micah Parsons is only 6’3 245. AVG is only around 5 pounds lighter than TJ Watt, Von Miller, Brian Burns, Shaquil Barrett. Burns is 6’5 but only 250 and Maxx Crosby is 6’5 and only 255.
That’s good data, but
AVG is built lanky.
Reddick at same weight but much shorter is way stockier, more like Melvin Ingram.
von Miller has long been known to get overwhelmed setting the edge.
Crosby is way thicker than AVG, as is Watt.
I am sad to lose AVG as he has a high motor and is fun to watch.
Ya’ll do know what they are doing with Ramsey and other contracts to get us under the cap is really going to fuck our cap next year also.
Whistling in the grave yard…
“But the cap is going to go way up again next year too!”
I am more pissed off that they voided the final years on Ramsey’s contract and that we are already paying 10’s of millions in dead cap in 26 & 27 BEFORE they restructured his deal AGAIN.
We traded for him, then restructured his contract, then restructured his contract again last season and then are restructuring it again this season.
BBMike – Honestly, none of this makes sense, it’s deflecting and excusing the failures of our GM.
Piggy – You get compensatory picks for your players on their 3rd contracts, not your best going on to their 2nd. Wilkins is worth so much more than what really amounts to a 4th RD pick. C’mon, that’s loser talk! He’s top 5-10 in the league, not just some 1st round draft pick that didn’t pan out, he’s a very good player. We won’t come close replacing him this season, or maybe even next season.
not sure what you mean Mike
you get comp picks if you end up with more or better qualifying free agents lost than gained in a particular year.
it’s the only way it occurs – you have to lose more than you received
there are several winning teams that have thrived on it
its not loser talk, it’s smart talk
not everything has to be a knee jerk reaction
it pays to plan years in advance the nfl
you don’t need your foot on the pedal every offseason
to win
𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭: #Ravens have made an offer to Derrick Henry in the range of $6.5M per year, per
@StainbrookNFL
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Ravens are waiting to hear back from Henry’s camp.
fwiw
Jordyn Brooks was faded significantly higher than Jerome Baker by PFF
I don’t love PFF grading
but data is data
and I’ve seen enough Baker over the years to want to go in a different direction
provided our edge guys are coming back full strength our LB init
looks pretty good
Phillips, Long, Brooks, Chubb
we need to address DT
Yeah, we need 2 good DT’s, a safety and possibly another corner. Unless they plan to have Campbell or Needham be that safety.
Deshaun Elliot is still a free agent
I’m talking about keeping Waddle, Phillips and Holland next offseason
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Not if their plan is the same as it is this year.
which we don’t know until next year
but what we do know is it would have been impossible if we sign Wilkins and Hunt
no way we are keeping anyone next year if we do that
I see what you are saying but I still don’t have to like it. 😉
Anyone want to predict what the dolphins FA grade will be??
I’m sure it will be a D or even F, but it is obvious what their plan was coming in. They already knew they were going lose Wilkins, Hunt, and maybe AVG. So, their plan had to be to focus on released players who were already free agents. Then focus on whoever is left come 2 May to fill out the roster. This way none of the free agents we sign will count against next year’s comp picks.
Free agency grades right FA mean just about as much as draft grades right after the draft
“Grier can’t draft.”
“We’ll sign Grier’s picks for huge money.”
I love AVG, but he’s only about 242 at 6’4,
so he’s really too light to be a prototype EDGE.
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Okay, ALSO:
The NFL leaders in pressure rate for 2023, with a minimum of 50 pressures (per Sports Info Solutions):
Micah Parsons: 20.4%
Bryce Huff: 20.3%
Andrew Van Ginkel: 18.9%
Josh Allen: 18.3%
Aidan Hutchinson: 18.1%
Not meant to be a response to this. lol
I think things got fucked up because of the Flores fiasco.
Grier drafted for Flores’s style but never got to bring that to fruition.
Then Grier had to pivot to McDaniel’s style which is very different.
Now we need to build a smashmouth defense for the new DC’s style.
It’s all Flores’s fault.
Flores didn’t want Tua. Ross ran him out because of it. Flores was right all along and got pissed.
Or, are we sliding back closer to a Flores type defense so we are reversing our tracks?
I believe TIM said that is what our defense under Weaver is going to be like. Can’t say for sure but thought TIM was talking about that.
Will have to wait for TIM to come back on cause I’m cornfused as usual. lol
I think we’re still thinking in old NFL terms and things have changed. The Rams ran with the go all in philosophy for 3-4 years until they won a SB. Even with them buying tons of FA contracts, they NEVER allowed Donald on the free market. They still haven’t because they want their elite players there. They kept a solid core of OL. Why couldn’t we do that? Because Grier and the money guys fucked up. Let’s just be honest about it. Grier had the super trade of Tunsil that got his tons of draft options that used well, so what happened? He Fucked Up! Let’s be honest.
We can’t change it now but Grier needs to stick with some kind of system. He needs to decide how he’s going to build this team and have some conviction. Because the way he’s doing it today isn’t going to get us there. We aren’t even close really.
^
Folks here are tripping over themselves making excuses for Grier letting 2 of our best young players go. It’s madness!
Piggy – What I’m talking about is the Patriot way. Belichick either turned his vets into really good trades, like Chandler Jones, Jabaal Sheard, Van Noy, or let them walk after their 2nd contracts and THEN got compensatory picks. You don’t let guys, especially your best guys go for a 3rd RD compensatory pick, which is basically a 4th RD pick because they come after the 3rd RD is over
Well, that helps and emphasizes the fact one or both Chubb/Phillips will not be ready until sometime in the season. My guess is Phillips. He had different surgery than A-arod and is to take longer to rehab from what I understand. Phillips might not be available until the end of the season.
I think Phillips will be ready before Chubb. He’s much further along in rehab. He got hurt mid season where Chubb tore his ACL last game.
This is a much needed signing.
Yes, it is. I still think it will be Chubb that comes back first. Ramsey came back fast after his ACL injury. Everyone’s body is different though. We will see.
I think Ramsey had an MCL which is less severe than ACL.
Oh, that’s right. MUCH less severe.
@jalenramsey
Christian & Maxx bout to go CRAZY this year!
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Yep!
Wilkins cap hit for the Raiders in 2024 is only 11.5 million. SMH!
Raiders have a very solid roster with 62 players under contract and still have 22.5 mil in cap space. They will clear another 11.2 mil when they release QB Jimmy G by 3:59pm tomorrow.
Look for the Raiders to make a big trade prior to the draft for someone like WR Tee Higgins to pair with WR Devonte Adams and WR Jakobi Myers. They may release WR Hunter Renfrow and clear another 8.2 mil if they can’t get an extension worked out or if they trade for Higgins.
Looks like raiders are doing it right for once. They have Wilkins locked up, ALL their starting core positions filled, and will potentially have over 40 mil in cap at the start of the new league year tomorrow.
DAMMIT!!! As if the Jets DL wasn’t good enough already.
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@AdamSchefter
Follow
Former 49ers free-agent DT Javon Kinlaw reached agreement on a one-year deal with the New York Jets, per source.
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Yeah, our new 6’1, 297 pound center will be able to stop the 6’5, 319 pound Kinlaw in pass pro. He’s only one of the worst centers in pass pro.
Shaq Barrett is an awesome signing
Another big-time guard in Carolina: Sources say the #Panthers are expected to sign former #Seahawks guard Damien Lewis to a 4-year, $53M deal with $26.2M fully guaranteed.
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Not that this is any big news but was thinking that this is around what I thought Hunt would have gotten. Boy was I wrong. lol
Yeah that was the range I was thinking.
We have kept a real good core of players intact. Tua, Hill, Waddle, Mostert, Achane, Ramsey, Holland. We are still a highly talented team. That core is going to be there for several years. Unfortunately you can’t keep everyone. I am sad to see Wilkins and Hunt and their loss hurts but it is hardly the end of us being a playoff contender
Holland has already been barking about getting paid, so if he hits FA, kiss him goodbye, because we’re not going to pay these ridiculous salaries! They’re outrageous! lol
Tua and the speed on offense is essentially the core and identity of this team
they will all be here in 2024
that’s obviously the model that Grier and McDaniel want to build around
we will be able to use picks over the. Ext couple of years to fill our holes
as long as we are drafting well – there isn’t a problem with that model
seven players are do not a really good core make!!
The four guys we lost yesterday will make a combined $67 million next year … we didn’t have a chance and knew it. Too many teams that could afford to pay those guys far more than we could have.
Tim, I absolutely love your avi!
🤣
We better be able to score 35 points a game.
I almost said the exact same thing last night but I was going to say 40 points a game. lol
We’ll be worse on both sides of the ball this season, so don’t bet on it
And when was the last time Shaq had double digit sacks? This is a stopgap signing because of our issues along the DL. I don’t expect much from Barrett…..45-50 tackles and 4-5 sacks. It helps but not all that much. Our only hope is he uses this 1 year contract to ball out and try to get one relatively big contract in his career by putting up big numbers.
He’s definitely a stopgap but we need edge depth because of Phillips and Chubb.
Good signing for them.
@brgridiron
Follow
Bengals are signing RB Zach Moss to a 2-year deal.
Yeah they traded Mixon to the Texans.
BBM,
We only scored about 29 last year. Here I thought 35 was hyperbole to make my point! Lol
MikeE,
If folks thought our OL sucked last year….just wait. Lol
So true
🤣
We have kept a real good core of players intact. Tua, Hill, Waddle, Mostert, Achane, Ramsey, Holland. We are still a highly talented team. That core is going to be there for several years.
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I guess we have different definitions of CORE players. Your list does not make me feel good about anything as it lists skill players and only 2 DB’s on the other side of the ball. I don’t know but I think a defensive front 7 is important and the OL. Both areas we lack.
Unfortunately, our GM and HC are all about flash. These highly talented players don’t mean jack.
It’s still early though. Maybe they bring in someone else for the DL who actually were on a roster last year.
this is exactly who Mike McDaniel is
I think you are selling it short by calling it “flash”
this is the team they want
and as far as I am concerned MM is the best coach we’ve had in decades. He can build his team the way he wants it. He loves backbreaking speed
personally I think we got over a big jump last season with a 2nd consecutive playoff
we have work to do – but that core than Ken mentioned is what got us there IMO
the Raiders are already using Wilkins in ways we never imagined
helmet pooping
https://x.com/nflnotify/status/1767242633510817938?s=46
lol, that is the best image they could come up with?
@RapSheet
Follow
From Free Agency Frenzy: The #Ravens have finally ended their quest for Derrick Henry by… landing Derrick Henry.
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King Henry agrees to 2-yr, $16M deal with potential to be worth $20M (Schefter)
Our OL with a 6’1 297 pound center trying to stop the Jets DL is going to be painful to watch.
The Jets have Quinnen Williams and just added the 6’5 319 Javon Kinlaw and now added the 6’5 334 pound NT Leki Fotu who did not cost much.
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@NFL_DovKleiman
𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭: Leki Fotu signs with the #Jets for $2.5M base with upside to $4M, per
@JFowlerESPN
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So, what is our plan on the DL again??? The jets get a bargain on a good NT for 2.5 mil but we sign 2 DT’s who didn’t even play last year (couldn’t make a roster) at the cost of 2 mil. Hmmmm
that’s a huge loss for the ravens
Yessir, and a huge gain for the Stealers*.
I thought he already signed with the Hawks yesterday. I must have read that wrong or got some goof twitter acct.
probably worth it
given we have the Ravnes old LB coach though….
I know nothing about Brooks so, right now, I would have to say the Steelers got better.
Exactly, all this pushing money to next year is really going to fuck our 2025 cap also.
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@jalenramsey
lol I appreciate all the love Fins fans but a contract restructure doesn’t mean pay cut
… we gettin all that! love y’all too tho 
Damn, why did it make those emoji’s so big. lol
I was reading we are going to be in real good shape for 2025
We are already carrying dead cap money in ’26 AND ’27 for Ramsey!! He is a free agent after ’25. (We voided the rest of his contract!!!!!!!)
Grief is a train wreck! He is going to double down on his all in and fuck the team for years after he is gone!! (hopefully gone)
If ya don’t feel like clicking the link, we’re dead last at 48%!
But we have our core????? OR, the defense wasn’t good last year anyway.
We’re going to struggle this season, but at least we won’t have high expectations 😅
I saw news yesterday that Hill was involved in another incident, but haven’t seen any of the details come out yet. It’s never ending drama with him. Luckily, none of it has hurt the team yet.
if you told me that getting Tyreek Hill meant that we would be in the cap situation we’re in now, I’d have said Fuck Off! Talk about ridiculous salaries, we’re paying a WR $35M