Finsmob Unleashed

I’m going to try and be objective as possible. Those of you that follow this team know the roster was not as good last season as it was in 2023. This year, there will be even more turnover and attrition on the roster, with possibly close to 30 new players not on the roster last season. Some might see that as a negative, but some may just want cleanse this roster some anyway. I’m going to stay neutral now and not inject my personal feelings into this.

I think it’s fair to say that most Miami Dolphins fans understand the need to improve this team in the trenches, both the offensive and defensive lines. On the offensive line, LT Terron Armstead is still on the payroll, but he hasn’t officially made a decision on whether he’s returning or retiring, and to be fair, we drafted a LT in the 2nd RD last season, and being a 2nd RD pick, that means he has a 4 year contract and no 5th year option. If you sit LT Patrick Paul and just use him as a safety net for Terron Armstead, that’s not a great draft pick and usage of it. You could have taken a player that could have given you a much bigger impact at a different position of need, such as interior O-line or defensive line. When you have very little salary cap to play with and a lot of spots to fill, I think it would be an easy decision to play Patrick Paul and and let Terron go, who hopefully retires.

On the offensive line, C Aaron Brewer and RT Austin Jackson are the only returning starters from 2024. If they decide to run with Patrick Paul at LT, that means only the 2 OG positions are open for starting competition, and there isn’t much competition at the moment with OG Liam Eichenberg the only potential player to compete with. On the defensive line, it’s basically DT Zach Sieler, so you can see how badly we need defensive tackles and defensive ends. In the 3-4, we need a nose tackle and LDE, and I know there’s a chance that Calais Campbell returns, but I doubt he plays at the discounted rate he gave us last season, where his play was excellent and so crucial to the defense. You have to think the D-line is possibly even more important than the offensive line right now, though it’s close. Last season we brought in a bunch of bodies, and we lucked out that DE Calais Campbell was still around. You most certainly can’t count on that this season, and especially not at the same price.

At one CB spot, you have an aging superstar in Jalen Ramsey. Opposite him, a collection of huge question marks including our 2023 first draft pick in RD 2 (#51) CB Cam Smith, along with 2024 undrafted free agents CB Storm Duck, Ethan Bonner, Jason Maitre and Isaiah Johnson. If that’s not daunting, The only S on the roster is 2024 6th RD draft pick (#198), S Patrick McMorris. Jordan Poyer was on a 1 YR contract and we should be thankful for that. Jevon Holland will find paydirt elsewhere, so CB and S are two pretty big needs. Not quite as much as the trenches on either side of the ball, but we need players, and we need starters at 3 spots, which is a lot to fill, LCB, FS and SS.

At LB, we have one spot locked up with LILB Jordyn Brooks returning. The rest will be a lot of competition from incumbent players such as OLB Jaelan Phillips who is returning from a devastating knee injury in Week 4. Last year’s impressive rookie OLB Chop Robinson should be competing for more playing time. Then there’s also the bigger question, does OLB/DE Bradley Chubb make his return or he is a post June 1st cut to open up some cap space. There’s also 5th RD (#158) Mo Kamara who will be competing for a LB/DE spot. Both ILB’s Anthony Walker Jr. and Tyrel Dodson are Free Agents, but a reunion with one or both is possible, as long as it’s a fair price.

On the offensive side of the ball, the other glaring need besides the O-line is backup QB. This should be a high priority, finding a competent backup QB who can win a game, if/when starter QB Tua Tagovailoa goes down. Last year that simply was not the case, and you’d think they learned their lesson. There are an awful lot of names on that free agent list, including Sam Darnold, Zach Wilson, Jacoby Brissett, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jameis Winston, Carson Wentz, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, Marcus Mariota, and then some intriguing ones such as Justin Fields and Daniel Jones. The last two are dynamic players who have struggled, but have upside, at least in Justin Fields case. Daniel Jones might just need the right fit, and I could see him succeeding here in Miami with the talent we have at receiver. Fixing the O-line and D-line are 1 and 2, or 2 and 1 in priority, but backup QB is right up there.

The potential strength of this team at the moment is at WR, and RB. WR Tyreek Hill, despite the dropoff last season is one of the best in the business, but they need to be careful with him in 2 regards. I think they should ask the players how they feel about him being a captain next season, and if they vote NO, he has to accept that. The other part is they have to find a way to get him involved as much as possible, last year was ridiculous. He caught 30 less passes last season, but he had an 800 yard dropoff in yardage which is about half the yardage he had last season, and also a drop in half fro receiving TD’s, 6 last season compared to 13 in 2023. WR Jaylen Waddle’s drop was not as significant, but with the turmoil always swirling around Tyreek Hill, I’d like to see Waddle take on a larger role. The deoth at WR is a bit troubling although I see a lot of upside in SWR Malik Washington. WR Tahj Washington will get more of a chance, but it’s hard to imagine that WR Erik Ezukanma, who once showed loads of potential will manage to finally stay healthy and put it all together. I think a bigger bodied WR should be in the cards, either in the draft or Free Agency, or both.

At RB, you have to love the versatility, and newfound durability of RB De’Von Achane. Achane gave the Dolphins 1500 yards from the LOS last season and played in every game, 907 yards rushing and 592 yards receiving. If he can stay healthy and have a better O-line and be able to run both inside and outside, he could have a 2000+ yards from the LOS season. After him is last years 4th RD pick (#120) who looked so promising, but was never really given opportunities with only 68 carries and 3 receptions. We traded away our 2025 3rd RD pick to go into the 4th RD last year, so you would have hoped for more production, and it better come this season. After those two though the cupboard is bare, so we will be bringing in at least one vet and probably another either in the draft or as an UDFA. TE’s Julian Hill, Tanner Conner and Hayden Rucci will all begin on the roster but hopefully we can upgrade from at least 3 of those guys.

On Special Teams, both K Jason Sanders and P Jake Bailey will return, and K Jason Sanders had a fantastic 2024 season, converting 37-41 FG tries, including an outstanding 12-14 from 50 yards and beyond. P Jake Bailey also had a nice season, close to his career best average per punt at 47.1, and his best net at 40.7. As for the rest of the special teams unit, KR/PR Malik Washington seems very qualified and of course the wonderful ST’s coordinator Danny Crossman was given his walking papers, so you’d have to think our special teams unit can only improve.

So I’ve laid out the groundwork that needs to be done, and as anyone with eyes can see, it’s pretty extensive and of course will need to be done without a generous amount of cap room. Of course the latter can be remedied, but that comes at the cost of restructuring contracts you may truly regret having next year and beyond, and we can only hope that Chris Grier is a fair steward of such things and knowing that he at least should be on the hot seat if the team falters this season, that he resists the temptation to mortgage the future. We know that we brought in Coach Bobby Slowik who will join the staff as Senior Passing Game Coordinator, along with OC Frank Smith and QB’s/Passing Game Coordinator Darrell Bevell. I wouldn’t mind if HC Mike McDaniel would relinquish the playcalling to one of those guys, but with his job also potentially in peril if this team doesn’t perform well, that would be a tough choice for McDaniel to make.

I hope you enjoy this article, I left as much personal negativity towards this team as I possibly could and tried to be fair in my assessments. I don’t expect 100% agreement all around, that’s not what I’m looking for. I do think though any reader can see just how much needs to be done in this offseason, armed with 10 draft picks, #13, #28, #98, #115, #135, #151, #156, #226, #233 and #252. At the moment, Spotrac shows us in the red, at -$7.68M under the cap. That really puts pressure on Grier and Mike McDaniel to not only hit on a few draft picks, and by hit, I mean getting significant plus playing time this season, as well as hitting on free agent signings all over the roster, and expect a lot more 1 year contracts as the cap will force this, even with the increase this season. As I outlined, there are just so many roster spots up for grabs, starting ones as well, so this will be quite the daunting task. Let’s hope both GM Chris Grier, HC Mike McDaniels and our collective stomachs are up for it!

GO DOLPHINS!!!!