Finsmob Unleashed

It’s very early in the post season machinations, but I can say I do not like what I’ve seen so far from our team. I couldn’t be more disappointed with Dolphins GM Chris Grier’s dialogue about our players, more specifically DL Christian Wilkins. 

– “Like we’ve always talked here in the past, our goal is to keep as many good players here as we can. They’ve both earned the right to be free agents. Christian and I actually had a really good conversation today. I was very happy for him. He bet on himself after a summer of negotiations where we made a couple offers and one we felt very good about, was fair, and he and his representation said as much, but we couldn’t close that gap at the end. So he bet on himself and it paid off for him. I’m very happy for him. So we’ll stay in communication and see where this ends up, but he earned the right to be a free agent. Again, I’m happy for him. We drafted him here, developed him here, and he’s the type of person we’re looking for. So we’ll see what happens.”

Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler, two players who played the most defensive snaps on the team, and in my view, two players who are the heart and soul of our defense. Listen, I don’t know what kind of Jedi mind tricks Chris Grier may be trying to employ here, but I don’t want to hear he’s happy that Christian Wilkins bet on himself and that he’s “earned the right to be a free agent”. Grier may have really put this team in a bind financially, this in a year where we have 2 players, 2 drafted homegrown players hitting free agency. One had a great 2023 season, DL Christian Wilkins, and the other felt the bite of the injury bug for the first time in his NFL career, OG Robert Hunt. Hunt hadn’t missed a game his first 3 seasons. Hunt missed 6 games this season, Weeks 9 and 10, and then Weeks 13-16. He played the entire game against Buffalo Week 17, and then the Playoff game against KC. These are 2 guys I want to keep, and we damn well better do whatever we can to keep them!

Sorry guys and girls, if you don’t want to read this, don’t, but I need to make things clear. Some of you throw out names like John Elway and Eli Manning as guys who didn’t win big games until the end of their career. Let’s get this nonsense dispelled right now. Eli Manning in his 4th season, 2007, took the NYG to a 10-6 as a WC team, beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers, and then of course the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. In 1986, John Elway’s 4th NFL season, he led the Broncos to an 11-5 record, defeated the New England Patriots in the divisional round, defeated the Cleveland Browns in the conference championship, but lost in the Super Bowl to the NY Giants. Our QB, Tua Tagovailoa hasn’t even won a big regular season game in December, unless you count the Dallas Cowboys this season in which K Jason Sanders was the elevator picture for his 5 FG’s. Stop comparing these QB’s, you only embarrass yourself. In fact, don’t compare him with any of the QB who were in the playoffs this year. Rookie QB C.J. Stroud has already accomplished way more than Tua. He actually WON a playoff game, and played like a superstar! QB Jordan Love put up 48 points in a playoff game game against the Dallas Cowboys, the same team we played at home and needed 5 FG’s to beat. Heck, even QB Mason Rudolph managed to throw 2 TD’s against the Bills and at least make it a game. Sure, let’s throw $55M per year at him, that oughta help!

Some people are saying trade WR Jaylen Waddle. I think if we’re trading a WR, trade the guy who has us in cap hell right now, and will probably bring a really nice return, Tyreek Hill. Think about it, how much more can we can possibly get out of Tyreek Hill? He probably won’t even be able to duplicate this great season. I think we relied on Hill far too much and when teams took away Hill, they took away our offense. We’re not 1 player away, I think all of us realize that all too clearly now, so trade Hill and get a bounty, and lose his enormous salary. We already have Waddle, who in no way is the same impact player as Tyreek Hill who is possibly the best in the NFL, but Waddle is a legit WR and maybe if we turned one of those picks we’d get for Hill into a dominant TE, we’d be better off.

The departure of DC Vic Fangio is a disturbing issue. It’s not that I thought Fangio was great here, but it just reeks of poor planning. BTW, Don Shula’s grandson Chris Shula signed on as the DC with the LA Rams. Our defense was making tremendous strides this year, and I just hate to think we’re going to scrap that progress and start an entirely different system and alignment. CONTINUITY, CAN WE EVER FUCKING HAVE THAT HERE? You can like Chris Grier, you can hate him, but the only constant in his tenure is HIM! Now maybe he nailed it with Mike McDaniel as Head Coach and he stays here a long time and is successful, but lord this team changes so many things every season. We were happy we got Fangio but then one year later we “mutually agree to part ways”. My inkling is it may be better to promote LB’s Coach Anthony Campanile to DC with the understanding he keeps the defensive scheme the same. We saw Wilkins, Sieler, Chubb, Phillips and Van Ginkel killing it, I want that back to start the season. None of this 2 year window in which we have to adjust to the new alignment and scheme. Give it to Campanile, and fucking sign Wilkins and Van Ginkel!

Back to Tyreek Hill, undeniably our best offensive player. Is it really crazy to trade him? Forgive my lack of comprehension of Salary Cap ramifications for a traded player, but I believe all the bonus money paid counts against our cap. which I believe is somewhere around $17M for the last 2 years. It’s doable. Of course we lose the best WR in the NFL and Tua security blanket, but in the long run for this team, it would be worth it. I think he took as as far as we could go with him, so if there are buyers, and I’m sure there would be, we should consider it. We can and need to have a more balanced attack, more money to sign our own drafted players like Wilkins, Hunt, and Van Ginkel. Think about it, is it really so crazy to do that? Let me know, I’m sure you will!

GO DOLPHINS!!!