Finsmob Unleashed

These 2 guys. The one on the right has done an excellent job this offseason. He took care of things very responsibly with the amount of draft capital he had available, managing to fill two huge needs, DT and QB. Drafting Christian Wilkins in RD 1 (Pick#13) was a good marriage. Christian Wilkins may not be the most talented DT in the draft, but he’s just a shade off in that department, behind Quinnen Williams and possibly Ed Oliver. Where Christian Wilkins shines is his leadership abilities and quality personality traits. We need a great defensive tackle, but we also need a guy who does things the right way. We had a great DT for a while here in Miami, Ndamukong Suh. Did he ever make the team better? Did anyone on the team get better because of him? Never. Suh with all his talent isn’t a team player, he’s a ME player. He’s a sellsword, if Game Of Thrones references help explain things. Grier traded our 2nd RD pick (after trading back to #62 and acquiring a 2020 2nd RD pick) to the Arizona Cardinals for QB Josh Rosen. I can’t tell you at this point that Josh Rosen will be our franchise QB for the next decade or more, but I do think he will be our starting QB game 1, and we’ll be a better team for it.

Brian Flores is not Bill Belichick. Sure, he learned how to conduct business from watching Bill, but he’s not a clone. He’s a no nonsense guy, tough, and like Bill Belichick, he’s not giving out too much info, so if he’s learned anything, that’s a good trait to pick up. I think everyone on the team instantly respects Flores. He has a commanding presence, but he’s not abrasive like Adam Gase. He’s not arrogant like Adam Gase. Take Minkah Fitzpatrick, who before the season wanted to know where specifically he will be playing, either CB or S, so he could train his body accordingly, either gain weight and muscle to play S, or lose it and become quicker to play CB. The answer is Minkah will be playing more positions than he did even last season, and “LB” may be added to the list. Not LB in the sense that in a normal 3-4 or 4-3 base formation he will be playing LB, but in a multiple DB formations like nickel, dime and quarter he may be the LB. Minkah is one of our best players and Flores knows this, and wants to keep him on the field as much as possible.

I think we have a lot of players now that other teams didn’t look at as treasures but we’re looking at them as possible answers. OL Chris Reed is one of those guys. Right now he’s going to compete at LG, but he can play each of the interior OL positions. We drafted Michael Deiter, and he’s in the competition to play LG as well, but he’s going to have to beat out Chris Reed. Even if Deiter wins the job, Reed gives us better depth than we had last year. Nate Orchard is another one of those guys. The Seahawks recently signed DE Ziggy Ansah, which made the 5 year veteran Orchard disposable. The Dolphins picked him up because they think he can help their pass rush. Orchard racked up 18.5 sacks his Senior year at Utah so he can rush the passer. He just hasn’t found the right fit. Both Flores and Orchard feel they may have finally found it. Putting people in situations to succeed. That’s what Flores will do. Orchard isn’t much against the run, so Flores will try to improve that, but also try and put Orchard in more pass rushing situations to make better use of his talents.

On a bad note, Reshad Jones still M.I.A. not in MIA. The minicamp that begins June 4th is NOT voluntary, that’s mandatory, so we’ll see if Reshad Jones wants to be a part of this team or not. Regardless, it’s not a great look that Reshad isn’t here now, I hope he doesn’t make this a huge conflict. While he’s not really a part of the future of this team, if he’s here I want him to play well, and if we want to trade him, I want to get top value for him. Staying away from the team accomplishes neither.

Back to Josh Rosen. So far he’s doing everything right, not taking anything for granted, not doing anything except what’s expected of him. He hasn’t made any bold proclamations, and he shouldn’t. He should just let his actions do the talking, work hard every day, learn this offense as well as he can, and work hard with his teammates and hopefully those things allow him to earn the starting QB spot. It won’t be handed to him, Flores has made that clear. Still, I believe Josh Rosen will earn it, and will be our starting QB, and I believe he will redeem himself this season.

GO DOLPHINS!

#staythecourse