Finsmob Unleashed

Everyone has their logic and strategy as to what the Miami Dolphins need to do in the 2025 NFL Draft and Free Agency to be successful this season. I can’t stress enough that both GM Chris Grier and Head Coach Mike McDaniel are tied together and are both sitting on the proverbial “Hot Seat”, doing whatever they can to keep their jobs. The roster may have less gaping holes now than there was before free agency, but as I’ve pointed out, we got a lot of quantity, not quality. We signed a couple of free agent safeties (Ifeatu Melifonwu and Ashtyn Davis) that aren’t starting material. We signed a CB (Artie Burns) that isn’t starting material. We signed a couple of offensive linemen (OG James Daniels and OT Larry Borom), one of which (James Daniels) will be a potential starter. I say potential because James Daniels is coming off of an achilles tear injury last season at the end of September. He may either not be ready by the season’s start, or he may not be the same player he was before the injury. Most recently, we signed NT Benito Jones and that at least was a signing that should impact the team immediately, and potentially take some pressure off Grier and Weaver to nab a DT with the first pick.

There’s always many different approaches to solving things, and I speak for myself on my approach. You don’t have to agree, and I don’t expect you to. I think there are 3 people on the “Hot Seat”. The third member, previously undisclosed, is QB Tua Tagovailoa. His contract gets to the point where it can truly cripple this team if he’s not playing like an upper echelon QB, or just as bad, not available, as has often been the case. That’s why I think the first pick in the draft, regardless of what number that pick is, whether we stay put at #13, trade up (doubt it!), or trade back, we have to get that O-line fixed. Why? There is probably not a more polarizing figure on this team than QB Tua Tagovailoa, there are those that simply can’t stand him, and others that will defend him on any and every front. Regardless of which side you’re on, I think it’s fair to say that we need to know what his ceiling is. The only fair way to attempt to do this is to give Tua the best offensive line this team can muster. As of this writing, we don’t know whether LT Terron Armstead is going to play in 2025. If Armstead comes back, there’s still a very good chance he comes back more as a mentor and “break glass in case of emergency” type of situation. I know you draft guys, and you know who you are, love OG’s in the 2nd RD and later, and have traded back thousands of times to add more players, but we have quantity, and now it’s time for quality.

As of now, we have Patrick Paul at LT. Paul has 3 starts under his belt. We do not have a LG at the moment. Our OC is Aaron Brewer. Our hopeful starting RG is the aforementioned James Daniels, he of the achilles injury comeback. The RT is Austin Jackson, who last played November 3, 2024. He suffered a knee injury and missed the remainder of the season. Look at this through my lens for a moment. Many of you here were quite vociferous about the quality of our O-line, of course, in defense of QB Tua Tagovailoa, or perhaps just because it wasn’t very good. Either way, you obviously can see how this unit as currently constituted has question marks everywhere, with the exception of OC, where Aaron Brewer was solid. Can Patrick Paul who has started only 3 games be the guy to keep edge rushers at bay, and open up holes on the left side? Will RG James Daniels be ready and healthy to be effective in 2025? Same question for RT Austin Jackson. If there is a top quality OL available at #13, namely OT/OG Armand Membou (Missouri), OT/OG Will Campbell (LSU) and OT/OG Kelvin Banks (Texas), we need to get the one that’s still there at our pick. There are so many more guys that you might like, but you’d also probably have to admit that the three guys I listed are the cream of the crop.

This offensive line was poor last year at protecting the QB. QB Tua Tagovailoa wasn’t injured last season because of the O-line, no, it was his own stupidity engaging a defender like a running back, even if that defender was S Damar Hamlin who may be 10-15 lbs lighter than Tua. Our group of QB’s last season were sacked 43 times, Tua in particular, 21 times. For a guy who throws the ball before 2 seconds on most plays, that seems like a lot, but the other guys including QB Tyler Huntley, Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle were sacked 22 times in total between them. To be fair, none of those QB’s were ready for game action, it’s all about Tua, and will be as long as he’s here. This offense needs to hum, we need to be able to convert short yardage plays, and QB Tua Tagovailoa needs to be elite if we’re going to compete and win a win a playoff game. There can be no excuses. If Grier takes a CB or S in RD1, and they take OG Grey Zabel or Jonah Savaiinaea and they don’t pan out, Tua is in trouble and Grier and MM are looking for jobs. Actually, all 3 (Grier,McDaniel and Tua) are all probably gone, and rightfully so.

One of the very respected bloggers here, M13 feels we need to go CB, and he’s not wrong, it’s a hole that needs to be fixed without a doubt. My feeling is this team has been built on offense, and the production we got from our offense last season, even with Tua at the helm, was underwhelming. With WR’s Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, both very well paid, catching balls from QB Tua Tagovailoa, also extremely well paid, this team is offense centric. That doesn’t mean we can ignore the defense, but this offense has to be scoring in the 28-30 PPG range to be what we want to be. Last season with Tua at QB we scored 24.6 PPG. Neither WR, Hill or Waddle managed 1000 yards receiving. Our best RB, De’Von Achane didn’t crack 1000 yards. Mike McDaniel is an offensive coach. The defense is built on straws. As flawed as the O-line is at the moment, we’re relying on 2 OLB’s who are constantly injured. We still need a DT/DE to play on the other side of Benito Jones to be Sieler’s bookend. As M would point out, we have no starting CB opposite CB Jalen Ramsey. I’d point out despite signing Melifonwu and Davis, we don’t yet have a starting S. We do, however, have a nice group of inside linebackers with Brooks, Dodson, Gay and Britt. The outside linebackers are all question marks with the exception of 2nd year player Chop Robinson. Can we ever count on Jaelan Phillips to give us a full season healthy, and the same for Bradley Chubb?

If I were Chris Grier, I would make sure this offensive line was at the very least top 15, and if I could do anything to make it better, I would. That means don’t be surprised if we not only take an OL at #13, but another one before RD 5. DE/DT, CB, and S are all priorities, but with my job on the line, and for Mike McDaniel too, I need Tua to have the chance to get through the season healthy, have the run game be great, a big part of what made him special as run game coordinator for the SF 49ers. We need the hogs up front to open up holes for Achane and Wright and Mattison, especially on those short yardage plays we were miserable at last season. On that note, it would absolutely shock me if we went CB, DT or S before nabbing a top offensive lineman with our first pick. Now a signing of say OG Brandon Scherrf could change that, because he played at a high level last season and played all 17 as he had the previous 2 seasons as well, so three in a row. This is possible, too, with the restructure of RT Austin Jackson. Honestly, I’m disappointed they didn’t give him another year or two as well, this whole team is pretty much gone after a year or two, very strange, but as I’ve said many times, Grier hasn’t built a team, merely filled roster spots year in and year out.

GO DOLPHINS!!!