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Sports Buzz What The Tannehill Trade Does For Miami’s Future Cap Flexibility

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https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article227844804.html

And that gives the Dolphins $38.3 million in cap space at this moment — more than what they probably need this offseason.

Miami needs to allocate $6.9 million to sign its draft class and another $5 million or so to sign a practice squad and keep as a safety net to sign players during the season.

Miami has poked around on fullbacks in free agency, including conveying preliminary interest in Michael Burton, who played only 49 snaps for the Bears last season but was graded out as the second-best fullback by Pro Football Focus.

Detroit drafted Burton, 27, in the fifth round out of Rutgers in 2015 and he played for new Dolphins quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell with the Lions. He has appeared in 55 NFL games for the Bears and Lions, starting 11 of them, and has done his best work blocking. He has 8 carries for 11 yards in his career and nine receptions for 53 yards.

New coach Brian Flores’ former team, the Patriots, used a fullback. Last season, Patriots fullback James Devlin played 35.8 percent of New England’s offensive snaps.

According to Sharp Football, New England last season used a formation with two backs, two tight ends and one receiver 36 times of the time, compared to zero percent for the Dolphins. (Eleven percent was the NFL average.)
 
https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article227844804.html

And that gives the Dolphins $38.3 million in cap space at this moment — more than what they probably need this offseason.

Miami needs to allocate $6.9 million to sign its draft class and another $5 million or so to sign a practice squad and keep as a safety net to sign players during the season.

Miami has poked around on fullbacks in free agency, including conveying preliminary interest in Michael Burton, who played only 49 snaps for the Bears last season but was graded out as the second-best fullback by Pro Football Focus.

Detroit drafted Burton, 27, in the fifth round out of Rutgers in 2015 and he played for new Dolphins quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell with the Lions. He has appeared in 55 NFL games for the Bears and Lions, starting 11 of them, and has done his best work blocking. He has 8 carries for 11 yards in his career and nine receptions for 53 yards.

New coach Brian Flores’ former team, the Patriots, used a fullback. Last season, Patriots fullback James Devlin played 35.8 percent of New England’s offensive snaps.

According to Sharp Football, New England last season used a formation with two backs, two tight ends and one receiver 36 times of the time, compared to zero percent for the Dolphins. (Eleven percent was the NFL average.)

I miss I form with a strong lead back. Bring back smash mouth FB.
 
2 TE offense give you the ability to run and throw. It also wears down the smallish defenses.
Go against the trends.
Build a running team that can also throw.

I get it makes sense to be different from everyone else. It creates lots of mismatches and puts the other teams on their back foot.

But how can you create a mismatches with the rules that are designed to favor passing?
 
2 TE offense give you the ability to run and throw. It also wears down the smallish defenses.
Go against the trends.
Build a running team that can also throw.
This is exactly why the Harbaughs have been so successful in the NFL. Almost all the defenses now are designed for speed to rush the passer and shut down the passing game. There are only so many snaps per game that those small fast defenses can hold up against power football. It's not the DT's that get worn down, it's the safety sized LB's. By the 4th quarter, they simply don't have the power or energy to stop smashmouth football.

I personally prefer an aerial circus, sling that ball around the yard. It is in vogue right now too. But going oppo and fielding a smashmouth offense would be very successful these days, and the needed OL would be pretty easy to get. Everybody wants ZBS dancing bears with long arms to stop edge rushers. Those old power-pig slobberknockers are not in demand, and dominating in the run game is very doable.
 
For crying out loud, only the top 51 contracts count against the cap.

They don't need to allow any cap room for practice squad players. Good grief.

Who wrote that article?

7 mil for the rookie pool sounds high. Unless a team has multiple high picks it usually isn't that much. Since they put a cap on how much rookies could get paid, the pool is rarely that high.
 
This is exactly why the Harbaughs have been so successful in the NFL. Almost all the defenses now are designed for speed to rush the passer and shut down the passing game. There are only so many snaps per game that those small fast defenses can hold up against power football. It's not the DT's that get worn down, it's the safety sized LB's. By the 4th quarter, they simply don't have the power or energy to stop smashmouth football.

I personally prefer an aerial circus, sling that ball around the yard. It is in vogue right now too. But going oppo and fielding a smashmouth offense would be very successful these days, and the needed OL would be pretty easy to get. Everybody wants ZBS dancing bears with long arms to stop edge rushers. Those old power-pig slobberknockers are not in demand, and dominating in the run game is very doable.

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I get it makes sense to be different from everyone else. It creates lots of mismatches and puts the other teams on their back foot.

But how can you create a mismatches with the rules that are designed to favor passing?

Running the ball and controlling the LOS never go out of style.
I think teams that focus on running have better defences since they practice more against it.
The team can still use 3wr packages and mix it up. The run mentality needs to be established imho
 
On neutral downs, smart teams go big to pass - not run. When you think about the spacing, it makes sense. If you spread out a D with 3 or 4 WR's, the D matches up with 5 or 6 DB's, and the passing lanes become congested. The running lanes, however, become less congested. This is why runs on short-yardage situations are more successful out of spread looks.

In a passing league, more teams should look to go big, because D's match up with fewer DB's and as the running lanes become more congested, it opens up the passing lanes. How many times have we seen Brady whip around on a quick play-action to hit Gronk down the seam or Edelman running a slant? Think about the throwing lanes on these plays. Brady typically doesn't even need to out air under the ball, because the LB's, and often the Safeties, aren't in position to affect the pass.

So far, we haven't seen a team pass 80%+ of the time from heavy looks, but I think we will within the next 10 years. At that point, the D is really in a bind, and they'll have to consider playing pass first, which would then obviously open up the running game out of heavy sets. Even the great 2017 Jaguars D struggled to defend the pass vs heavy sets, and NE's D last year defended the pass much better against 3 WR+ than 2 TE looks.

On that note, I think Foster Moreau (LSU) is the most underrated TE in the draft. He's a very good blocker and near-elite athlete. He didn't see a lot of opportunities in the passing game, but he looked solid when they called his number, and it's a developmental position anyway. His ability as a blocker gives him a leg up, and he profiles as kind of a poor-man's George Kittle. Remember that Kittle fell to the 5th Round due to a lack of opportunity as a receiver at Iowa.

 
For crying out loud, only the top 51 contracts count against the cap.

They don't need to allow any cap room for practice squad players. Good grief.

Who wrote that article?

7 mil for the rookie pool sounds high. Unless a team has multiple high picks it usually isn't that much. Since they put a cap on how much rookies could get paid, the pool is rarely that high.
My bad, the pool is what it is, based on the number and placement of picks, but the pool is not = the cap room needed because inevitably the rookie signed replaces a veteran on the roster.

The best rule of thumb for cap needed for draft picks is the number of picks times 495,000.00

Dolphins would need to allocate around 3.5 mil for rookie signings.
 
When they used the strong I power running game with Gore it always worked, but of course... they hardly ever used it.

Agreed! Everyone wants "athletic" LBs and DLs to keep up with the trend towards spread ball. As a resulted they have forged their 52 roster to defend that stuff. Ironically, it's made them more vulnerable to the heavy packages/power stuff. I hate the Patriots with all my heart but they are always ahead of the curve. They've formed their offensive roster to be able to go spread/quick and/or heavy/smash in an instant and most NFL defense don't have the personnel to defend both.

As for Gase he's his own worst enemy. As you pointed out, there were times it was obvious what was working against a team(running/powerball) and the genius/smartest man in the room always got away from it.
 
Agreed! Everyone wants "athletic" LBs and DLs to keep up with the trend towards spread ball. As a resulted they have forged their 52 roster to defend that stuff. Ironically, it's made them more vulnerable to the heavy packages/power stuff. I hate the Patriots with all my heart but they are always ahead of the curve. They've formed their offensive roster to be able to go spread/quick and/or heavy/smash in an instant and most NFL defense don't have the personnel to defend both.

As for Gase he's his own worst enemy. As you pointed out, there were times it was obvious what was working against a team(running/powerball) and the genius/smartest man in the room always got away from it.
Gase did a lot of stupid things... trying to fit square pegs into round holes, tipping his hand with playcalling, not playing certain guys enough etc.
 
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