Miami Dolphins - 2018 Offseason Objectives

As the NFL offseason is in full swing, it’s a perfect opportunity to evaluate where each team was in 2017, and where they plan to go in the New Year. Let’s begin the review of the Miami Dolphins.

2017 Season Recap:

Looking to improve and start anew, the Dolphins chose to make former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase the new bench boss for the Fins. While coach Gase is known around the league as a brilliant offensive mind, crisis struck quickly as the Miami Dolphins lost their starting quarterback (Ryan Tannehill) to a knee injury that forced him to be out before the season began. Finding themselves scrambling to find a viable solution, they Fins brass convinced erratic thrower Jay Cutler to leave his new role as TV broadcaster and take a contract to play football in South Beach. This was obviously not the scenario the Dolphins expected in Gase’s first year as boss, but understanding the goal was to win, this move was the best to stay somewhat competitive.

With a devastating hurricane derailing the season opener for week one the Fins began the season against the LA Chargers in week two. Cutler and company performed fairly well moving the ball with decent execution finding a way to come away with the victory. Perception had varying options on what Miami could actually be with Cutler under center. Dropping the following weeks contest to the on paper helpless Jets proved Cutler was still prone to inept play as New York stifled any chance at a running attack. Dropping their week four contest to the Saints without putting a single point on the board set alarm bells throughout the organization. Coach Adam Gase ripped his team publicly for their horrendous play ultimately getting the unit to respond to the embarrassment. Winners of their next three contests, the Dolphins found a way to win against the Titans, Falcons, and finding redemption against the division rival New York Jets. On a three game winning streak and beating a team like the Falcons formed growing discussion around media circles that Miami might have things figured out and could be turning a corner. As Miami entered week 8 with a record of 4-2, all speculation was about to come to an end of what the 2017 edition of the Dolphins would essentially become. Dropping their next five games starting with the loss in spectacular fashion, the Fins lost to the Ravens by a count of 40-0. Embarrassed once again, Miami understood something had to change.

Before their week nine matchup, determined to shake up the team, the Fins traded disgruntled running back Jay Ajayi and was sent packing in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles. Gase echoed his belief in young runner Kenyan Drake to take over the lead back responsibilities for the remainder of the season. With nothing changing consistently on the scoreboard post the Ajayi trade, Miami entered week 13 with a record of 4-7 and ultimately on life support for any hope at the postseason. While winning their next two contests to reach 6-7, which included an upset victory against the New England Patriots, the wheels completely fell off ending their year with three consecutive losses. Finishing the year 6-10 and possibly hitting the correct record with Cutler running the show. Many things have become a must change as they entered the offseason.    

         

2018 Offseason Workbook:

Offseason Review:

With situations not turning out the way it was planned, Adam Gase and his flock of coaches will have to regroup and adjust their plan of attack moving forward. For what a 6-10 team brings to the table, you’d be correct in assuming the statistics wouldn’t be very pretty.  Finishing the season with bottom feeder numbers in nearly every category, offensive production wasn’t a pretty sight. Ranking 28^th in points for (17.6 PPG), 25^th in total yards (307.7 YPG), 18^th in pass yards (220.9 YPG), and 29^th in rush yards (86.8 YPG), this offense looks to be a complete tear down even with Ryan Tannehill coming back to the fold. An area where this team was supposed to have improvement was in the offensive line which never materialized. Allowing the opposition to sack Miami quarterbacks a total of 45 times, left coaches scratching their heads on what they could do. The potential bright spot to this offense was the again superb play of Fins top receiver Jarvis Landry. He again destroyed the league in receptions hauling in a whopping 112 with a career high in touchdowns with 9, not bad for a contract year. Another player that impressed when given the opportunity was newly instituted starting running back Kenyan Drake. When he got rolling he was impressive to watch, however, having faith that he could handle full time duties with his injury history and potentially carrying the ball 300+ times may not come to pass. Miami has already been on record trying to add talent to the position in hops to bolster the unit which contradicts their belief in the young man. With the likely potential of Jarvis Landry playing on a different team next year, the Dolphins will have a serious need a wide receiver as Parker and Stills are no magical tandem. 

Defensively, this unit had its share of great moments followed by one they’d like to forget. Still running behind the aging pass rush of Ndamukong Suh and Cameron Wake they could only muster a mere 30 sacks on the season. While Wake still showed signs of ability providing the team with 10.5 sacks, Suh had one of his worst years since entering the NFL with the Lions. The bright spot for this Miami defense coming out of the 2017 season was the improved play of their secondary. Xavien Howard lifted his game to another level becoming an ADF favorite in the process. His ability to shut down receivers while catching up with recovery speed if he made a miss-step was phenomenal to witness. Reshad Jones is another player that bolsters great skill in assisting his defensive backs when required. While singing the praises of a select few on this Dolphins defense, the same cannot be said about the clumsy play of their line backer unit. So much hype for Kiko Alonso from his fantastic rookie season has somewhat fallen by the waste side. While Kiko could be a viable and productive complementary piece on the core, being the lead dog isn't something he’s equipped to handle. Trying desperately to fill gaping holes with their line backers, they have failed to produce talent with band aid pieces and cut bait rejects from other rosters. This unit is far from acceptable and should see a much needed talent infusion as the offseason and draft process plays itself out.          

Rostered Free Agents:

Currently, the Fins find themselves in a heap of trouble as they begin to make waves in the offseason. Literally having no cap space to speak of Miami presently sits with nearly 16 million dollars over the cap. Horrible contracts of over spending have alluded to Miami to be in this terrible situation. Recent news that the Fins placed the franchise tag on Jarvis Landry in hopes the team can work out a trade for his services. The potential outcome is all but a certainty at this point, as ADF fully expects Landry to be on another squad in the new year. With that transaction ready to occur, it would remove the 16 million fully guaranteed dollars from the books giving Miami a mere 260-thousand to play with. With 15 players in need of a new contract, Miami will have to begin releasing high priced overpaid contracts to fit any players on this roster. When reviewing the current listing of free agents, no real notable name sticks out as a must resign other than depth talent and aging players.

With mentioning the Landry money (franchise tag) likely off the books, Miami’s general manager will have to get marvelously creative in how they trim money off the books. With rumor that grossly over paid defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh could be released post June.1 designation, he would save the Fins a nice 8.5 million on the books but cost Miami 17.6 million in dead cap, quite the trade off. With news that Miami might be interested in drafting a rookie quarterback, could that potentially mean they would cut ties with Ryan Tannehill? If so, the move would be feasible in terms of cost savings as walking away from Tannehill would create a whopping 15.2 million in space with only 4.6 million in dead cap. This move is highly unlikely but still has merit. Lawrence Timmons and Julius Thomas both are potential cap casualties as Timmons could save 5.5 million and Thomas would save an additional 4.6 million dollars to the cap. Having a desire to revamp this roster, there is plenty of room to find more money to help this organization begin from the start with a few top-flight pieces.

NFL Draft:

With a multitude of holes to fill and a cap situation that will require extensive cuts to make things work, the Dolphins do have eight selections in this upcoming draft. Holding an extra 7^th round pick won’t set the team up for great success, but holding the 11^th overall selection, trading down to solidify more picks could the avenue Miami wants to go. Generating more picks for a roster in desperate need to bolster the team with lower priced contracts is something they definitely should strive toward. With needs all over the squad, Miami could literally move in any direction they choose. If general manager Chris Grier doesn’t succeed in this draft, his short tenure could be lost before he can place his stamp on the team.

Overall for 2018:

For far too long Miami has placed patch-make pieces followed by over priced talent to round out a team that is clearly confused with what direction they need to go. Having positives and moving in the right direction seems to fall off quickly as scheme and system change which doesn’t match the personal on the current roster. Coach Gase is an intelligent instructor of the game and could realistically build a winner in South Beach provided the foundation is set with stone and not straw. The many inadequacies of this team has been masked with a mirage of overvalued, now overrated players that seemingly have no interest in playing the game at a high level. Retooling/rebuilding this entire team with the exception of few, should be the route management takes. If not, the question in our minds is who do they really think their fooling? The fans, or themselves? Could be another rough year for Dolphins fans, hang in there.