Would You Rather ...............

[DolphinsFreak]

Would you rather have CB Byron Maxwell (8.5 Million) , LB Kiko Alonso (Injured) and the #13 (Out of the Top 10) pick.......................

OR

Danny Trevathan ILB (7 Million.......PFF Top 6 LB against run and pass) , CB Casey Haywood ( 5 million per year.......PFF #21), CB Patrick Robinson (4.4 Milion per year.....PFF #28) AND the #8 pick in the draft


The Dolphins traded for Maxwell, who had an okay season in 2015 but the Dolphins are going off of what he did in Seattle. Kiko Alonso is a high risk player coming off a major injury. He could be a great player or a complete injury prone bust. Then, they miss out on drafting in the top 10.

For roughly the same amount of money, once Aponte moves the money around, the Dolphins could have probably signed TWO starting caliber cornerbacks, one of the best Middle Linebackes in the NFL (Who is NOT injured) and they could have kept their #8 draft pick.


The alternative move would have cost the Dolphins a little more money BUT there wouldn't be injury concerns and the loss of drafting in the top 10 where there should be an ELITE talent sitting there where they will now miss out on that player or players after dropping down a few spots.

I know what I would prefer ...............

What are your thought?

[HndRkyaBong34]

I think we would all take the "Or" but this is the Miami Dolphins... Come on!

[FTLDOLFAN]

Yes I would rather have Danny Trevathan, Casey Haywood and Patrick Robinson and the 8th pick in the draft instead of Maxwell, Alonso and the 13th pick.

Thats a better and healthier ILB, 2 quality corners and a higher draft pick.

I think we are about $17M under the cap. We could have also signed OG Jeff Allen who resigned with the Chiefs for $28M for 4 years and still been well under the cap and have one less pressing draft need.

Oh but we would rather have a mid round compensatory draft pick next year which we will probably blow anyway.

[cuchulainn]

Well, while we're into hypothetical situations... I'd rather have Aaron Rodgers at QB and Ryan Shazier at LB. Let's throw in Marcus Peters at CB, Todd Gurley at RB... an entirely different OL, etc...

You have to remember than these guys as FAs have a say in where they are going as well and also are mercenary - many of them are chasing the money as well as chasing the teams who are already playoff bound. Just because we didn't sign them didn't mean that we weren't interested or didn't contact their agents.

I'd rather do what we're doing now - and (as much as I hate to acknowledge it), following the example of the Pats... sign stop gap guys for a season or two at the end of their careers, while building thru the draft. Hopefully, we'll have a stong draft and take the BPA, not just reach for ''needs'' each round.

Also agree with what D1 posted on this subject earlier today about not chasing the expensive FAs.

YMMV.

[cuchulainn]

Assuming that A - the coaches wanted those particular players this season, and B - that they players actually wanted to come here. They are often mercs chasing money. Everyone would have been upset if we'd overpaid for someone like Sweeny, who isn't that much better than Billy Turner.

We all wanted better FA signings, but again we did what the Pats have done with great success. The plan appears to be to sign stop gap vets while building thru the draft. I like that approach as long as we aren't as bad on the OL or defense as last season.

[DolphinsFreak]

It's irrelevant what the Patriots are doing. The Patriots could do it the way they are now, the way the Dolphins have been doing it OR some other way and they would still win. Why? It is because they have better coaching. They have one of the best coaches the NFL has ever seen and one of the better QB's to have played the game and coupled with all that, they have great coaches who have been with the team a long time. They just got back out of retirement their offensive line guru so the Patriots should be even better this season.

Who exactly are these STOP GAP signings that you claim seem to be in the mold of the Patriots? Daniel Thomas? Isiah Pead? MarQueis Gray? Spencer Paysinger? Whalen? Matt Moore? Bushrod? Maxwell isn't a stop gap player. They will sign him to a long term deal. Alonso isn't a stop gap player. He is a young player that they are hoping gets healthy and takes over their most important position on the defense. That's a RISKY move considering his injury history. Trevathan is great against the run and pass and isn't injured. It would have been the wiser choice. With the history of the Dolphins you have to know if there are injury concerns, it will blow up in the Dolphins face like an ACME device. The Dolphins front office did NOT change a thing. They didn't alter their way of thinking until they were forced to because they kept lowballing everyone, like they ALWAYS do. After they lost out on a few players they gave up on signing better players and switched their game plan to go after injured, high risk players. It WILL bite them in the butt just like when I stated for the past few years that if they don't address this offensive line they will go nowhere. Nobody can complain about how many times Tannehill is sacked when they wanted to draft Parker in the first round. :- )

[cuchulainn]

You left off Mario WIlliams, Kraig Urbik, and Andre Branch. Guys signed to get a team thru 1 or 2 seasons only are indeed stop gap. Some others like Daniel Thomas are depth only.

Jason Fox was forced into play at when we lost James, who previously had no history of injuries, and Jamil Douglas and Billy Turner both were played out of position last year. Both were projected as LG/LT. Both ended up playing RG and, in Douglas' case, also at Center.

Drafting an OLman in the 1st was no guarantee that there still wouldn't have been poor OL play, though it may have limited negative impact from 1 of the guard or the RT position. We've invested the most of any team into the OL the past few years. Also, 1st round picks get injured as well. Even during their rookie seasons. See Dante Fowler and Breshad Perriman. It happens and with the Dolphin's typical luck, we'd have drafted a guy. Oddly, Dallas Thomas is the ONLY OLman who played all games last season - and he's the one we most want gone...