Dolphins spend the 4th-most in the NFL on defense | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Dolphins spend the 4th-most in the NFL on defense

Jones has earned his contract and he is impactful. The Suh deal was crazy at the time and still is.
Jury is still out on Branch as he played hurt most of the season, but the team obviously felt he was an ascending player and wanted to lock him up to avoid another Olivier Vernon situation. I can’t fault them for that and hindsight is 20/20. Wake has more than earned his money.
Everything else I agree with. Timmons deal, though seems like a one yr rental, so no great loss after they cut him.
So, all in all, not as bad as you make it out to be.
 
Our back wasnt really against the wall in Alonso's case. He was a RFA and didn't have any leverage, we easily could have paid him alot less and not be stuck with any additionnal years...

I disagree, I think kiko had plenty of leverage. If he doesn't sign with miami than what else realistically could Miami have done at the lb position? Roll with Allen hull or anthony?
 
Jones has earned his contract and he is impactful. The Suh deal was crazy at the time and still is.
Jury is still out on Branch as he played hurt most of the season, but the team obviously felt he was an ascending player and wanted to lock him up to avoid another Olivier Vernon situation. I can’t fault them for that and hindsight is 20/20. Wake has more than earned his money.
Everything else I agree with. Timmons deal, though seems like a one yr rental, so no great loss after they cut him.
So, all in all, not as bad as you make it out to be.
That would not have been the case had he not gone AWOL. He'd still be on the roster for sure due to the cap hit and the Dolphins would probably not be looking to draft a linebacker. Truth is the Dolphins have never built a solid linebacking corp. It's always been one solid-to-great player and a bunch of JAGS next to him. Whether they be free agent signings (usually on the downside of their careers like Seau) or some mid-to-late round draft pick that was good enough to start but not an impact player. Think about it...who played with Zach Thomas? How many of them can you name? Who came in after Zach?
 
Miami could lose Branch, Alonso, Timmons and not miss a beat. They could replace those guys and get equal production at about 1/10th the cost.

Unfortunately we are stuck with Branch and Alonso for 1 more year as their contracts make them un-cutable right now. Timmons is gone now thank god
 
I disagree, I think kiko had plenty of leverage. If he doesn't sign with miami than what else realistically could Miami have done at the lb position? Roll with Allen hull or anthony?

Doubtful Kiko would of held out last season, especially since we gave him a 1st round tender money.
If he would of played hardball, we then could of reduced that 1st round tender $ to 110% of his last year rookie pay in June.

We owned his rights for 17-18. Either sign the tender or sit out and still be a RFA for this offseason.
We jumped the gun signing him to a big extension.
 
Yup.

Miami is run by a GM that has had cap problems in the past, he hasn’t learned yet and now Miami is paying bad players a lot of money.

Only Jones and Suh should be highly paid on our defense atm, and even Jones is questionable.
 
Everyone of those players have seen their better days. But we are paying them for their better days....we just need to blow it up start fresh.
 
Yup.

Miami is run by a GM that has had cap problems in the past, he hasn’t learned yet and now Miami is paying bad players a lot of money.

This is Chris Grier's first time being an NFL GM
 
Yep, this defense spends the 4th most in the NFL on defense (current projection for 2018 is $94,728,563, behind only the Jags, Broncos, and Chiefs)

Where does that $94M+ come from?

Suh, 26.1M—Huge number for a player who is very good at what he does, but not as impactful as guys like Aaron Donald and Fletcher Cox.

Reshad Jones, 11.575M—Large number for a really solid player, but again, not the most impactful safety in the league. Definitely one of Miami's best players, and when used properly, is worth most of that money.

Andre Branch, 10M—This is the most puzzling contract on this team. Branch has 10 sacks in two years, so an average of 5 sacks per year. Essentially, Branch is making 2M per sack if he keeps that average up. Absolutely horrendous contract.

Kiko Alonso, 9.6M—another puzzling contract. Miami could have had Kiko play on the tender for another season and had money to spend elsewhere, but instead, hugely bet that Kiko would DRASTICALLY improve on his play from 2016. As we saw this year, Kiko is a liability in coverage and often takes poor angles or guesses wrong. Not as bad as the Branch contract, but it's approaching F territory.

Cameron Wake, 8.6M—Wake has been everything we've hoped he would be when we signed him from the CFL. He's had a great career in Miami and has enjoyed recognition as one of the most feared pass rushers in the league. However, Wake just turned 36 and has essentially only retained his usefulness in passing situations. Of the contracts listed, this is the only one so far that Miami can reasonably get out of. I'm sure Wake would continue playing in 2018, but Miami needs to think about the future and getting younger at one of the most important positions on the field.

Lawrence Timmons, $8.225—We should consider this contract, like Kiko and Branch, robbery. Timmons absolutely had money as his number one priority when signing last season, and though he had some moments, his play throughout the season was inconsistent and toward the end, pretty poor. This is an obvious cut, especially after that weird AWOL incident.

Total amount for these 6 players? A little over $74M.

And for fun, below I'll list what I think each player should be worth.

Suh—$17M
Reshad Jones—$8.5M
Andre Branch—$4M
Kiko Alonso—$4M
Cameron Wake—$6M
Lawrence Timmons—5M
Total—$44.5M

So Miami, in my opinion, should be paying about 60% of what it currently pays, which at 44.5M, would somewhat match the performance on the field.

All I have to say is yikes. Miami tried to get cute and show players in the locker room loyalty by offering multi-year, "more money than they're actually worth", contracts. And it's biting us in the ***. Hard.
Great write up and I agree with everything on it bro. T-dumb and company are driving this team into the ground with bad deal after bad deal and it has to change now!!

Ozzy rules!!
 
I disagree, I think kiko had plenty of leverage. If he doesn't sign with miami than what else realistically could Miami have done at the lb position? Roll with Allen hull or anthony?
Do you think Kiko would have sit the year out? His options would have been to sign or hold out... No leverage at all...
 
Miami is run by a GM that has had cap problems in the past, he hasn’t learned yet and now Miami is paying bad players a lot of money.

I assume you're talking about Tannenbaum. He should have been fired, but Ross promoted him to VP of Football Operations. So many fans think that Ross is a good owner because he opens his wallet. Wrong! His personnel decisions are killing this team; he keeps hiring the wrong people, and then won't fire them until after the damage is done. Ross needs to sell the team.
 
Do you think Kiko would have sit the year out? His options would have been to sign or hold out... No leverage at all...

Has a player ever sat out a year over money?
And if he was prepared to sit out the year then what does Miami do?
 
Last edited:
....and the defense still sucks.

I wonder where we rank in regards to top picks used for the O-line in the last few years. Probably in the top 5 and the O line still sucks....geesh
 
I disagree, I think kiko had plenty of leverage. If he doesn't sign with miami than what else realistically could Miami have done at the lb position? Roll with Allen hull or anthony?
I disagree, I think kiko had plenty of leverage. If he doesn't sign with miami than what else realistically could Miami have done at the lb position? Roll with Allen hull or anthony?

Kiko was in no position to make demands. It was purely a good PR move on Miami's part. Kiko has Cuban roots. It also showed other players in the locker room that if they did what was asked, they could get a long-term deal too. Problem is, like stated above, Kiko is average at just about everything and he's getting paid like a top-10 linebacker. I believe Kiko makes the 10th-most in the league for his position (traditional linebacker).
 
....and the defense still sucks.

I wonder where we rank in regards to top picks used for the O-line in the last few years. Probably in the top 5 and the O line still sucks....geesh

IMO the problem isn't the players selected. Tunsil should come into his own. James has been solid. Pouncey, despite injuries, has generally played well (maybe not THAT great as of late). It's the guys that Miami fills the other positions with.

Jermon Bushrod, awful. Dallas Thomas, awful. Billy Turner, awful. Anthony Steen, backup. Ted Larsen, slightly below average.

If Miami retains James, the offensive line of Tunsil-FA/pick-Pouncey-Davis-James really isn't too bad. The problem lies with the backup for Pouncey or the reserves that may have to play due to injury.
 
Back
Top Bottom