Finsmob Unleashed

Chris Grier, Mike McDaniel, the scouting department, and the rest of the analysts and consultants absolutely have to nail both their Free Agency signings, which by the way, begin Monday March 10th, and then also hit on several picks in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, which begins April 24th. You can probably say that every year, but this season may very well be the last for Grier and McDaniel if this team doesn’t make the playoffs, or potentially even if they do make the playoffs and get wiped off the field in embarrassing fashion in their playoff appearance. Aside from that, we haven’t built a roster, we have so many roster spots that need to be filled, much more than usual, and that’s partly due to Grier signing a whole lot of 1 year contracts last season which have expired. I estimate we will be turning over nearly 30 roster spots, that’s an awful lot.

If you look at the photo for this article, it shows the Top 10 players available in 2025 NFL Free Agency. Yes, that’s our very own S Jevon Holland. Jevon Holland was our 2nd RD pick (#36) in 2021. He had a great rookie season, showed all the promise in the world. 2 INT’s, 2.5 sacks, 7 QB hits, really showing his ability as a blitzer. He had another very good season in year two, 2 more INT’s to add to his 2 INT’s in his rookie season, but made 96 tackles (77 solo). He suffered injuries to both knees in 2023, and that really limited his production as he missed 5 games, but played through the injury late in thew season after missing 4 games in a row. His play ineffectual though due to the injuries. Last season started with a bang with his play in Game 1 against Jacksonville with a game saving forced fumble strip near the at the 2 yard line after a 10 yard run which was either likely going to result in a TD for JAX late in the 3rd QTR with the Jaguars already leading in the game 17-7. That was a game changing play, and the Dolphins did manage to win this one as K Jason Sanders finished the comeback win as time expired with a thrilling 20-17 victory in a game the Dolphins did not play well in at all. Later in the season Holland broke his hand and although he played through pain in 15 games, his production just wasn’t there. Still, Holland just turned 25, and the young talented Free Agent Safety is going to net himself a huge contract. Incidentally, it won’t be us, because we just don’t have the money, and we need at least 3 safeties with only S Patrick McMorris on the roster.

OK, so on to Free Agency we go, so let’s look at some players the Dolphins can use, but also fit into their restricted cap space. I say restricted because currently we have only $12.1M available. It’s certainly possible another restructure or two happen before Monday, namely QB Tua Tagovailoa or WR Tyreek Hill or DB Jalen Ramsey, but I pray they don’t for it will tie them to the Dolphins beyond this season when we need to be responsible and have these players earn the right to be here in 2026. That being said, here are the players I think we need to look at and their positions . . .

OG Brandon Scherff – 6’5 315 – 34 YO – Estimated Market Value Annually $6.7M

Scherff is a 2015 1st RD Pick (#5), but an important fact is that he has played all 17 games throughout his entire 3 year contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He might not be an All Pro OG at the moment, but he’s lightyears better than what we’ve had, and is an excellent pass protector.

OT/OG Mekhi Becton 6’7 363 – 26YO – Estimated Market Value Annually $10.2M

Becton resurrected his career last season playing RG for the Philadelphia Eagles. He obviously played for the rival NYJ at OT with mixed results, mostly unimpressive ones though. He did, however, play very well inside on that massive O-line in Philly. He would be a more expensive option because of his age, and there could be concern with a shorter QB (Tua Tagovailoa) seeing over him, but last I looked, Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is the same height, so . . .

OG Patrick Mekari 6’4 305 – 27 YO – Estimated Market Value Annually $10.3M

Mekari played in a lot of games for the Baltimore Ravens, but last season was the guard’s first full season of starting every game, all 17. He also has played both tackle spots giving him l;ots of versatility for the Dolphins. While his market value is on the high side, keep in mind this is a must hit for the Dolphins who simply can’t whiff on whomever they bring in at either OG spot.

S Jeremy Chinn 6’3 220 – 27 YO – Estimated Market Value Annually $6.1M

I have Chinn here because we need 2 starting safeties, and we can’t spend $10M + on both, or maybe even either of them. Chinn would clearly be the SS as he’s almost LB sized for a safety. He’s a very good tackler, not much of a ballhawk. He only has 3 career INT’s and averaged about 5 pass breakups a season. We had former Bills Safety Jordan Poyer in that role and he proved he was clearly on the wrong side of 30 and was abysmal for our defense last season. Having a sure tackling safety in the mix could only help us.

S Justin Reid 6’1 207 – 28 YO – Estimated Market Value Annually $15.5M

One expensive option is former KC Chiefs S Justin Reid. He fits in nicely as the FS for us. Very productive S with 10 career INT’s and a reliable, durable player who has played a lot of games for KC, and might I add, games in cold weather. While Jevon Holland may have more upside potentially, Reid is much more of a safer bet, and if we’re going to spend money, I’d rather invest in the safe bet than get burned giving the big money to Holland.

CB Kristian Fulton 5’11 197 – 26 YO – Estimated Market Value Annually $3.4M

Fulton would be a less expensive CB option, but one who started more games in ’24 than his more expensive teammate Asante Samuel. Fulton was drafted in the 2nd RD (#61) of the 2020 NFL Draft. He’s a 4 year starter who has missed a handful of games here and there. Nothing screams out we need this guy except that he’s a 4 year starter, he’s young, and we need corners!

CB Darius Slay 6’0 190 – 34 YO – Estimated Market Value Annually $13M

Darius Slay is coming off one of his best seasons at CB, at the ripe age of 33. After signing an older CB last season in Kendall Fuller, I have my reservations about signing one 5 years older than Fuller, especially at such a physically demanding position like CB, where after 30, your speed and acceleration tend to really slow down. He did as I said have a great season last year, so he apparently had enough left last season to play well, but at his potential asking price, we absolutely cannot afford to be wrong on this one!

CB Charvarius Ward 6’1 196 – 29 YO – Estimated Market Value $15.3M

Ward is a very productive starting CB who has a lot of starting game action under his belt. His best NFL season was in 2023 where he has 23 pass breakups (That’s a ton!), 5 INT’s with one TD return, 1 forced fumble and 72 tackles (56 solo). I’m not quite sure we can afford him, and while I’m on the topic of affordability, D.J. Reed, former NYJ CB will priced similarly. If we wanted younger talent, Byron Murphy is only 27, but he will be way out of our price range so out of the question.

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Assuming Grier and Company are responsible and don’t squander any future cap space by restructuring bad contracts like Tua’s or Hill’s, to recoup some much needed cap space, it’s going to be a tough slog watching all these players snapped up who have much more available cap space, but that’s where we’re at. There are other positions of need as well, such as DT, and inside LB. I would hope we will be drafting those positions, but more than likely, regardless of whether we draft at those positions, we’ll be active in RD 2 of Free Agency which follows the draft, when the lesser expensive veteran talent is expelled after new talent is acquired in the draft. That’s how we handled it last season and I have o reason not to expect a repeat. Still unsure of whether DT/DE Calais Campbell will return and of course at what cost. He was a very inexpensive solution last season that we just can’t count on. As I’ve said in the past, we got extremely lucky with Campbell, that he was still around, that he accepted a low salary, and that his production was off the charts for a 38 year old defensive lineman.

While I’m pretty confident we won’t be heavily involved in the Jevon Holland sweepstakes, and I think it might be best for the team that we aren’t, I’m very curious as to what happens with him, and how he performs elsewhere after likely getting a tremendous pay raise in a huge free agency contract. Will he be healthy and play more like the rookie sensation, or will he always be dealing with injuries or just not really live up to the potential he showed early on? If this team is going to have success this season, it’s going to take a monumental job by Grier and staff. I just can’t stress that enough. The “Bully Bills” are still at the top, and the Patriots have a ton of cap room and a full complement of draft picks too. They have 9 picks, #4, #38, two third round picks, #69 and #77, #105 in RD 4, # in RD 5, and then two 7th RD picks, #22 and #240. The Patriots currently have the most cap space in the NFL. If the Jets can lock down a good starting QB, one that’s not 42 years old, they can be a tough get as well next season. I know oddsmakers probably have us ahead of both of those teams, but I’m not so sure about that. Grier is going to have a be a sniper and hit the greater majority of his targets in 2025.

GO DOLPHINS!!!