Finsmob Unleashed

The Dolphins finally signed one of their successful 1st RD draft picks from the last few years to an extension. We allowed two important trench players go earlier this offseason, one on the offensive side, RG Robert Hunt, and one on the defensive side, DT/DE Christian Wilkins. It seems their priority is the skill position, and now another of the WR corps is waiting for his extension, namely #10, WR Tyreek Hill. I’m glad we signed Waddle, we need to keep our own, and in my view, we sent an awful message to our current players letting Wilkins and Hunt go, so this will soften the blow of doling out big contracts to players we traded for and not rewarding the ones we drafted and developed.

I’m not convinced however, that we’re building this team right. Now that Waddle has his big extension, it’s been out there WR Tyreek Hill is also seeking a large extension. Make no mistake, Hill is our best WR, but he’s also 30 years old, and for a smaller WR who makes his money on speed, this is just about that time when he starts his decline. It’s my feeling that it wouldn’t be good for the team to be paying two WR’s a boatload of money. We have obviously made improvements on the offense. Signing TE Jonnu Smith was in my estimation the best FA signing of the offseason. He does all the things we’ve been missing here for too long. When Hill and Waddle are covered, someone on the offense needs to step up and make the defense pay, and I believe Jonnu Smith is the leading candidate for that role. Often Tua would check down to TE Durham Smythe, but Smythe is not gifted with run after catch ability, or instant acceleration after the catch.

Another important move in the offseason was drafting RB Jaylen Wright. McDaniel wanted him so badly he was willing to sacrifice next year’s 3rd RD pick, which is really the equivalent of a 4th RD pick this year, and exactly where Wright was selected, pick #120 RD 4. Wright is more durable package with very little wear on the treads. Wright at 5’11 210 has good size, and was the 2nd fastest RB in the ’24 draft, posting a 4.38 40 at the combine. He will be a nice guy to have in our RB stable along with Raheem Mostert, De’Von Achane and whoever else manages to stick on the roster, either Salvon Ahmed, Jeff Wilson Jr. or Chris Brooks. Mostert bulked up last season and it served him well, because Mostert has a lengthy injury history. We also found out De’Von Achane also has a penchant for missing time, so adding Wright will make the absence of either Mostert or Achane much more tolerable.

When I look at what we’ve done this season, I feel like we have improved this offense, especially at the skill positions, WR, TE and RB, but have we really improved the O-line? For all intents and purpose, we let one of our most consistent lineman go, and brought back many of the same question marks who missed lots of time, and added a new question mark at C, Aaron Brewer. We drafted an OT in RD 2, but the majority of opinions on OT Patrick Paul are that he’s not ready to take over for oft injured LT Terron Armstead, one of the biggest question marks. Not for his talent, but for his availability. It’s not if he’s going to miss time, it’s when, and for how long. At LG we have Isaiah Wynn who missed 10 games last season, but was promising while he was playing. RG Robert Jones played well in relief but was also injured last season. RT Austin Jackson missed only 1 game, and was the iron man of the line.

Then we look at the defense, and while the secondary has improved, mostly due to the FA signing of CB Kendall Fuller, who had a down year last season. Fuller should be a solid upgrade nonetheless, CB Xavien Howard had an awful season while still battling various leg injuries. FS Jevon Holland is another guy who wants to be paid, and we don’t have the luxury of the 5th year option as Holland was a 2nd RD pick, that only goes with first round picks. There are so many facets to the salary cap, and I’ll be the first to admit I don’t understand all the loopholes and ways to minimize cap issues, but looking ahead, there are a lot of mouths to feed very soon. QB Tua Tagovailoa likely will be the next big domino to fall, and again, that’s on the offensive side of the ball. We’ve hodge podged together a defensive line rotation of castoffs from a few different teams, none of them standouts or bona fide starters. We got quantity, Gallimore, Tart, Hand, Jones, Harris, but not a lot of quality. DC Anthony Weaver is a rookie defensive coordinator, and he will be tested. I think we dropped the ball on the defensive side. I know some of you love the Jordan Poyer signing, I would too if it was 5 years ago. I just hope he makes it through the whole season and still has enough left in the tank to help us.

I think the offense, while improved, is really no better off to win in cold climates and dominate the trenches, we’ll still be attacking with speed, which we’ve seen gets neutralized in very cold weather. Our schedule this season is chock full of potentially frigid games, starting with a Thanksgiving matchup in Wisconsin against the Green Bay Packers, at night no less. Late December, (not back in ’63), we travel to Cleveland for a December 29th matchup with the Browns, once again at night, because it might not be cold enough during the day! Finally, the season finale will be in New Jersey against our division rival NY Jets. The time for this game has yet to be determined, but rest assured, it will be flexed to a night game. Actually, either we, or the Jets would have to be legit playoff contenders to be given such an honor, so hopefully it’s us!

GO DOLPHINS!!!