Sports Buzz: depressing day for Dolphins

[cuchulainn]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/2016/03/notes-thoughts-on-a-depressing-day-for-dolphins-and-where-miami-goes-from-here-plus-a-late-night-dol.html

Notes, thoughts on a depressing day for Dolphins and where Miami goes from here; plus a late-night Dolphins signing

Let’s not sugarcoat here: Free agency, still in its early stages, has gone terribly for the Dolphins. Not catastrophically terrible, but terrible enough to feed into the negativity and cynicism that swirls around this franchise.

[cuchulainn]

Ouch.......

A quick recap:

### Miami coveted Adam “Pacman” Jones to shore up major deficiencies at cornerback. Instead, he re-signed with Cincinnati on the day the Dolphins cut Brent Grimes, who’s declining but was still the best Miami had to offer at the position.

In his place: Byron Maxwell, who apparently barely passed a physical, and allowed quarterbacks to post a 100 passer rating in his coverage area last season, albeit in a defense that didn’t suit him.

### The Dolphins had serious conversations with Alex Boone, hoping to land a 28-year-old who would have been a huge upgrade at guard.

They lost out on Boone, who joined the Vikings, and with the soaring price of quality guards more suitable to Bloomingdales than Target, Miami also failed to reel in any of the other top guards in free agency (Keleche Osemele, Jeff Allen, Brandon Brooks and Ramon Foster) or more-than-serviceable JR Sweezy and Michael Harris.

### The Dolphins badly wanted William Hayes to be their run-stuffing end opposite Mario Williams, allowing Cameron Wake to move into a pass rush specialist role. But Hayes opted to stay with the Rams, even though Miami “tried very hard” to snag Hayes and made a “strong offer,” according to a source very close to the player.

### The Dolphins lost perhaps the two best players they’ve ever had from the hometown Canes, with the Giants and Texans snagging in-their-prime Olivier Vernon and Lamar Miller with contracts far beyond what Miami was willing to pay.

Were the Dolphins correct not to match the eye-popping $17 million annual salary for Vernon and $6.5 million for Miller? Perhaps. Vernon's, in particular, would have been tough to stomach, and combined with Ndamukong Suh's, would have severely limited Miami's flexibility.

But it doesn’t lessen the sting of losing two of your 12 best players.

The Dolphins were interested in Matt Forte as a replacement for Miller, but he joined the rivals Jets.

### The Dolphins very much liked safety George Iloka, but couldn’t match the Bengals’ offer and instead settled for Isa Abdul-Quddus, a backup for most of his five year career, a player who hasn’t picked off a pass since Obama’s first term.

### This wasn’t a surprise, but Rishard Matthews agreed to terms with Tennessee, meaning the Dolphins lost three-in-their-prime 2012 draft picks in six hours, which is really hard to do.

Look, as someone who grew up a Dolphins fan, I don’t want to be negative. But the Dolphins keep making it so hard, so very hard, to feel optimistic, and after one day of free agency, they still have more needs than they can capably fill.

In better news, at least the Dolphins upgraded at linebacker with Kiko Alonso – provided he doesn’t keep injuring his knee -- and Quddus played competently as a late-season starter in Detroit.

And yes, Mario Williams will help, presuming he’s closer to the player who starred at defensive end for so many years instead of the one who disappeared (19 tackles all season) as an out-of-position 3-4 outside linebacker for Buffalo in 2015.

And the Dolphins did add a new backup tackle, St. Thomas Aquinas and Notre Dame grad Sam Young, who started nine games combined for Jacksonville over the past two years. Young, who will make $910,000, has played seven years in the league; his other four starts were for Buffalo in 2012.

And curiously, despite adding Young, the Dolphins will host veteran starting left tackle Jermon Bushrod on a visit this week, reports CBS' Jason La Canfora. Bushrod started six consecutive years (four with the Saints, two with Chicago), before starting only four games in Chicago last year. The Bears released him in February. Bushrod, who had shoulder and back problems last year, is also visiting Minnesota, per La Canfora.

A look at remaining options (as of this posting) at several positions:


### Guard: The top six --- and eight of ESPN’s 12 highest-rated free agent guards --- are off the board. At least two of those four others who are still available --- Geoff Schwartz and Louis Vasquez --- are definitely possibilities here. Adam Gase likes Vasquez's skills from their time in Denver, and Schwartz has expressed strong interest in the Dolphins if Miami makes a legitimate offer.

The other top 12 guards (per Bill Polian’s list) that are still available: Manny Ramirez (who’s 33) and Mike McGlynn (who was a backup in new Orleans last season). Zane Beadles, who disappointed in Jacksonville, is also available, as are Jahri Evans and Chris Chester.

The Dolphins would have loved to add one of the high-end guards but simply got priced out of the market. They didn’t want to pay the $26.5 million over four years that Minnesota gave Boone, and certainly didn’t expect Sweezy to command $6.5 million per year (from Tampa Bay).

### Running back: In their search to replace Lamar Miller, Dolphins options include two Broncos that played for Gase (Ronnie Hillman and restricted free agent C.J. Anderson, who has a low tender), Alfred Morris, Bilal Powell, LeGarrette Blount, Lance Dunbar, Pierre Thomas, Stevan Ridley, Arian Foster, and James Starks.

The Dolphins already have shown interest in Anderson, and there has been discussion internally about Morris, an FAU grad who would welcome a return to South Florida.

Jacksonville-bound Chris Ivory (who interested the Dolphins), Doug Martin (staying in Tampa) and Forte are off the board.

### Defensive end: Losing out on Hayes was a major blow, and the Dolphins made no serious attempt to keep Atlanta-bound Derrick Shelby.

The Dolphins need a skilled run-stuffer who can share snaps with Cam Wake (and give Williams a breather), and the options are diminishing.

Top defensive ends still available: Robert Ayers, Chris Long, Jeremy Mincey, Wallace Gilberry, Kroy Biermann, Henry Melton, B.J. Raji, Cam Thomas, Mike DeVito, Antonio Smith, Jason Jones, Kendall Reyes and George Selvie.

### Cornerback: The Dolphins badly need to add a quality veteran to start opposite Maxwell and also could use an experienced slot corner to play ahead of (or compete with) Bobby McCain.

Best veterans still available: Casey Heyward, Prince Amukamara (has been linked to Miami), Patrick Robinson (Dolphins have inquired), Sean Smith, Antonio Cromartie, Jerraud Powers, Nolan Carroll, Greg Toler and Morris Claiborne.

[FTLDOLFAN]

I wouldn't mind signing Amukamara or Robinson. We need to add another quality veteran corner. Does anybody know how much money we have left to spend?

[cuchulainn]

Not sure with all the transactions... Per Spotrac - http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/miami-dolphins/cap/

We have $140.7M already allocated.

[VAIDER5120]

Pretty much sums it up. Hope day two is better though now it's thrift shopping.

[kelbail2.2]

Our cap is just over $166 million because of carryover from last year. So we have a few bucks left. Dolphins to sign Evan Mathis to two year deal tomorrow or I'm going to fly in to Ft. Lauderdale, jog to Davie and plant my right foot up Chris Greer's rear end.

[Alpha]

Think it was an absolute gut punch of a day. We lost a lot....

[DolphinsFreak]

Dolphins 2016 Free Agency Summary = The Walking Wounded

[Alpha]

I think AMC has a show that's named even more accurately......

[DolphinsFreak]

AHA! I think I am the only person who doesn't watch that show. Even my parents watch it.

[Alpha]

I really thought we'd keep Shelby. I hate that one. We are really thin at DE now....and two of the ones we have are over 30. SMH.

Shaq Lawson at #13? *sigh*

[Seadog]

Would have been better to keep Shelby and get rid of OV and Wake

[FTLDOLFAN]

In reality, we were so strapped against the salary cap we couldn't afford to give OV $17M a year and Miller $6.5M a year. If Mario Williams gets back to playing like he did a couple years ago then he is better than OV and we got him at half the price. Miller is a nice RB but not worth that much money and even with him we were one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL.

[FTLDOLFAN]

Our cap is just over $166 million because of carryover from last year. So we have a few bucks left. Dolphins to sign Evan Mathis to two year deal tomorrow or I'm going to fly in to Ft. Lauderdale, jog to Davie and plant my right foot up Chris Greer's rear end.

So with $5 or $6M allocated to the draft we should still have almost $20M to spend.

[DolphinsFreak]

If that's true they should have bid a little higher on the players they coveted. This is the Miami Dolphins, we know they lowballed a few of their top prospects.

[AquaXI]

I must be the only one that thinks we did good. Look I love OV, Miller, Mathews as much as the next guy but they are all replaceable in the draft.
Rd1 CB
Rd2 Guard (assuming we have 1 in FA and breaking the mold of rd3 Guards)
Rd3 LB
Rd4 RB ( assuming we sign a Vet )
RD4 CB( we lost Miller and OV I'm guessing a compensatory here)
RD5 LB ( double up )
RD6 WR ( 4spot to compete with Hazel )
Rd7 QB
Rd7 CB ( can never have enough )

[AquaXI]

Doesn't have to be a Corner in the first. Let me cheer you up with some of your 1st round suggestions. In this scenario I suspect that Wentz and Goeff will go in the top 12 plus Tunsil, Ramsey, Hargreaves, Bosa, Jack. Those are given but now with 7 out of 12 gone we are left with these names

1) Alexander
2) Lawson
3) Ragland
4) Stanley
5) Buckner
6) Elliot
7) Apple
8) Ogbah
9) Treadwell ( off course not on our target list but could go in the top 12 )

With 7 down in the first 12 there are at least 8/9 worthy BPA difference makers and only 5 slots occupy before us. That leaves us with 3/4 to choose from!!!

[FTLDOLFAN]

Depending on who is still available at #13 I wouldn't mind trading down even further to acquire more draft picks. I would imagine Ezekiel Elliott could be the trade bait if another team wants to trade up for him. Here is my take on the players you listed and who I prefer we take in order.

Apple - If we don't sign another corner in FA then drafting a corner in the first round should be the top priority and I would he happy with Apple although I think we could trade down and still get him.

Ogbah - I really like him and if we don't sign another DE we could add another DE especially since even if Wake returns this will probably be his last season with the Dolphins. He is another player who I think we could get if we traded down.

Lawson - Its hard to know if he will be available but if he is I feel the same way about him as I do Ogbah.

Stanley - I don't think he will be available. I think the Ravens are going to take him since they lost Osemele.

Elliott - We could use a dynamic RB like him. You know I would be tempted to just take him especially if we sign another DB in free agency. I think he could be a difference maker. We need a more balanced offense and he could provide it if we upgrade our OG's.

Ragland - I like him a lot but Alonso is supposed to be our starting MLB. So I think I would pass on him and maybe draft a MLB later on for depth.

Buckner - I don't think he will be available and he is more of a 3-4 DE.

Alexander - I am not sure about him. Some experts think he is as good as Hargreaves and some have him rated much lower. I would prefer Apple over him.

Treadwell - Well obviously we are not going to draft a WR in the first round although maybe another team will want to trade up for him.

[AquaXI]

Love it and exactly! Trade bait is either Elliot or Treadwell!!!

[Driven_Phinsane!]

"Bushrod, who had shoulder and back problems last year..."


Of course he did!!! And naturally we'll sign him in March & IR him in September! What a depressing day...............