Does anyone think we got worse at any position this year?

[AJ Duhe]

Maybe we didn't get worse at linebacker, but we also didn't get any better. Despite the need for offensive line, I thought Hickey needed to come out of the draft with either C.J. Mosely or Ryan Shazier. With one of those guys holding down the middle, Ellerbe could slide to Wheeler's spot and Misi could stay on the strong side.

Safety scares the hell out of me too. Everyone talks about how Clemons never made any plays, but he didn't often get beat over the top either. Plus, no one ever considered that Clemons likely played it safe because Reshad Jones seemed to freelance a little too much. I like Delmas as a leader and a player, but you can't trust a player that has missed as much time as he has with bad knees.

 

[Sofla328]

I know I was a lot more confident in our kicker situation this time last year...

 

[miami365]

AS a team I think we have improved and have definitely added leaders in Albert and Delmas. Major concern with the lack of instincts in our linebackers that may make our run D look bad, hopefully Misi will work out and Ellerbe moving to his old position will be an improvement.

Main concern is despite the improvements have we closed the gap talent-wise on our division rivals who know doubt have improved as well?

 

[Hayden Fox]

LB…should have left Misi at SLB, Wheeler at the WLB and Ellerbe inside. At least they had a year under their belt playing certain positions.

 

[spiketex]

Certainly cornerback. Patterson hardly played at all but still totaled as many INT's as some recent Dolphins DB's totaled in two years. That's a factor. Nolan Carroll was also very solid, and it's a shame people couldn't give him credit for developing into a good player because he was at one time a rookie who didn't look like he belonged on an NFL field. While I'm allowing the possibility that I'll be surprised, I'm not that high on Finnegan at this point in his career. Jimmy Wilson, while he was the weak link as the nickel back last year, was still a pretty good guy for the worst in your secondary. I think on many more plays this year we are gonna have a guy who doesn't get his job done in the secondary.

We should be fine in this area with what we have, but certainly Soliai gave us a stronger D-line last year.

I agree re Nolan Carroll but totally disagree re Jimmy Wilson. Jimmy is way better than most on here realize. He will be tested in the Safety role while Reshad is suspended, but he will man up. Jimmy is a DB leader on the field. He reads the Offense better than anyone else. He has one of the highest football IQs on the team and his preparation and leadership are reportedly excellent. He can get burned on some plays but Coyle knows how good he is.
In regards to the other CB roles, methinks you underestimate the improvement of Will Davis and Jamar Taylor. Davis is probably the most improved player on the team and has the potential to be good. Will was one of the best players at Training Camp every single day. He is set to show some of that good form in actual games.

 

[njFinsForever]

I think we overall have gotten better. I truly believe tannehill will have a much cleaner pocket to operate in this season, just a matter of him improving on what was a good 2013(which I believe he will). I have high expectations this season, 9 wins at least.

 

[vagrantprodigy]

I'd definitely say Safety. Delmas is overrated on this board, and with Jones gone for 4 games, we aren't in very good shape. I think corner is possible, but if Taylor and/or Davis step up, we should be better than last year.

 

[Corkie]

Biggest improvement is Lazor over Sherman!!!

 

[Fin Thirteen]

LB we're no better and safety we're worse (with the Jones suspension factored in). It's kind of a worry that those are two very inter-dependent units. You'd have been hoping that one would strengthen and help mask deficiencies in the other, but that didn't happen.

I think we're infinitely better at corner, so I don't see why people are concerned. Any hint the d-line is worse off hasn't emerged so far and I believe we'll be stronger with Wake, Vernon, Shelby, Fede, Johnson, Mitchell, Starks, Odrick and eventually Jordan. Half of the NFL would bite your arm off for that rotation (and the other half would bite their privates off).

O-line we're better, receiver we're better, TE/HB maybe slightly in terms of depth options, RB we're better and QB is QB (I'd have drafted somebody relatively high but there ya go).

It's the middle of the field on D that concerns me, but against that our redzone defense is impeccable, so hopefully we can cope in terms of keeping the opponent score down, if not time of opponent possession.

 

[FSU Truth]

Some suspensions have made Units (hard to look at individual positions in this instance)...weaker, but once they get those players back...all should be good...

Backfield (QB, RB) is stronger...The addition of Moreno and the emergence of Williams gives this unit stability and some solid depth. Tannehill has another year of experience and is working in an offense that better suits his skill set.

Receiving core (WR, TE) great depth at WR and with the addition of Landry and the return of a healthy Gibson this unit should be the best in the AFC East. Clay appears to have picked up where he left off and Sims seems much improved....addition by subtraction with the release of Egnew.

Offensive line - as a group....much, much better. Pouncey's injury does hurt, but the improvement of the tackles...the G being about the same (but better fits scheme wise) and Satale holding down the fort until the return of Pouncey...the depth is much improved as well.

DL - This unit remained about the same with the only question mark being the swap of Big Paul for Mitchell...Mitchell is much more active and has one of the highest motors on the defense, but Big Paul had a very good impact on the run game...only time will tell.

LB - **** this unit....the same, but that means it is still bad. I like the depth and potential of some of the rookies.

DBs - Jones suspension hurts, but he played like **** last season anyways. I like the addition of Delmas, Grimes is on point and Taylor, Davis, and Finnegans seem to be an upgrade of whatever the team threw over there when Patterson was hurt. Until they get Jones back...this unit is about the same....once Jones comes back....nice upgrade.

Coaching Staff - The Addition of Benton and Lazor to the offense is a huge/massive upgrade.

 

[Digital]

Yes.

IMHO we are noticeably worse at LG, RG, C, TE sort of, DT and S.

Regardless of how you view the person or teammate, Richie Incognito was a better player than any of our OG's on the team this year. And I'm extremely disappointed to say this ... but John Jerry is better that any of our current RG's.

Now, we are dramatically improved at LT, which is huge, and the early returns on James appear to indicate that while he is indeed a pillow fighting failure in the run game, he looks like he may be solid in the more important pass protection. So those more than offset the lower quality OG's we have.

And, Billy Turner looks very raw, but has shown all of the physical and attitude qualities you want from a prospect. If he develops good technique, he has a lot of potential. Similarly, Shelly Smith looks great in the run game and has shown in spurts that he can become a decent pass protector. If he can refine his technique and gain some consistency, he also has good potential.

With Pouncey out for at least 4 games, we are not as strong at C.

When we had Dustin Keller and Charles Clay as our top two TE's, we were better than Clay and Dion Sims. But I said "sort of" because Keller didn't get to play a single regular seaon snap.

Losing Soliai means we are solely gap penetrators now, with nobody to command the double team, nobody to collapse the pocket, and most importantly, nobody to keep our mediocre LB's clean. Now we are 100% betting we can always be quicker and guess correctly along th defensive line.

At safety, we have one guy who is suspended for 4 games (Jones) and another who always gets injured (Delmas). Our best backup is our starting nickel and we lost Nolan Carroll who played very well for us last year. Clemons had recovery speed that nobody else playing safety this year has. Both Finnegan and Davis gamble a lot and need a safety with recovery speed.

So we lack any depth at safety and we lack recovery speed. These are worrisome.

 

[roy_miami]

Some suspensions have made Units (hard to look at individual positions in this instance)...weaker, but once they get those players back...all should be good...

Backfield (QB, RB) is stronger...The addition of Moreno and the emergence of Williams gives this unit stability and some solid depth. Tannehill has another year of experience and is working in an offense that better suits his skill set.

Receiving core (WR, TE) great depth at WR and with the addition of Landry and the return of a healthy Gibson this unit should be the best in the AFC East. Clay appears to have picked up where he left off and Sims seems much improved....addition by subtraction with the release of Egnew.

Offensive line - as a group....much, much better. Pouncey's injury does hurt, but the improvement of the tackles...the G being about the same (but better fits scheme wise) and Satale holding down the fort until the return of Pouncey...the depth is much improved as well.

DL - This unit remained about the same with the only question mark being the swap of Big Paul for Mitchell...Mitchell is much more active and has one of the highest motors on the defense, but Big Paul had a very good impact on the run game...only time will tell.

LB - **** this unit....the same, but that means it is still bad. I like the depth and potential of some of the rookies.

DBs - Jones suspension hurts, but he played like **** last season anyways. I like the addition of Delmas, Grimes is on point and Taylor, Davis, and Finnegans seem to be an upgrade of whatever the team threw over there when Patterson was hurt. Until they get Jones back...this unit is about the same....once Jones comes back....nice upgrade.

Coaching Staff - The Addition of Benton and Lazor to the offense is a huge/massive upgrade.

I agree with most of this and I think Sims will be one of the biggest upgrades for our entire offense. We had absolutely nothing in the role of a blocking TE last year so if we can believe reports that he is a much better blocker going from nothing to even decent will be a huge upgrade. A lot of his contribution will probably go unnoticed and he likely won't have monstrous stats in the passing game but if he buys Tannehill an extra half a second or helps the running game to the tune of half a yard a play it may not seem like much but that may be all it takes to go from a bad offense to a good offense.

Philbin breaking free of the ball and chain Ireland should help with his stress levels if nothing else. And getting rid of his mentor Sherman, which must have been a weird dynamic, should help him grow as well.

And the chemistry between Tannehill and his receiving corps should be much improved. For the first time in his career he's got some continuity of more than a year with his entire receiving corps.

 

[mrhankey81701]

Linebacker. This time last year we had no idea how bad Philip Wheeler was.

 

[Daman379]

besides Finnegan, would you mind to chime in who the OLD and INJURY prone guys are ?

Our safety what's his name we go from the Lions. We let Patterson at CB go and he is ten time better Little Finnegan. He signed with the Jets for squat. Also Clemson signed for squat too. We need taller corners. I just hope davis or Taylor at CB step up or were screwed?!?

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

I think we're infinitely better at corner, so I don't see why people are concerned.

Patterson was excellent when healthy, Finnegan is coming off a terrible year, and Will Davis has yet to show he can do it in a 'live bullets' situation. I think there's definitely reason for concern, though the fact that Finnegan and Davis look good so far and this is Kevin Coyle's specialty, means you're likely right.