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Dolphins Free Agency Grade

What grade would you give the Miami DOLPHIBS Free Agency so far?

  • A Team has improved. Should contend for AFC Championship.

    Votes: 49 18.6%

  • B Team's Talent Level has stayed relatively neutral. Should contend for AFC East title.

    Votes: 153 58.2%

  • C Team's talent level has marginally declined, but we will be competive in the AFC East.

    Votes: 53 20.2%

  • D Team will not be competitive in the AFC East.

    Votes: 5 1.9%

  • F Fire everyone!!!!!!!!!

    Votes: 3 1.1%
  • Total voters
    263
Hard to say. But on paper Fuller, Poyer and Brooks appear to be upgrades over the players they are replacing.

Brewer is a downgrade from a healthy Williams.

The defensive linemen are all sub package players with no consistent results. A mixed bag of varying levels of play. Not sure they will ever be what Wilkins was. The Dlines lack of a Wilkins type is a downgrade. Not sure the run defense will be as strong as it has been over the last several years. It all depends on how well they occupy blockers to allow Brooks and Long to run free.

Miami seemingly has won the comp pick game. They've picked up two additional 3rd and one additional 7th round pick in the 2025 draft; bringing their total to 11. They still may be able to add an additional comp pick dependent on what happens with Wynn, Lamm, Berrios and Cracraft. If any of them sign elsewhere for 2 or more years it'll add to Miami's haul, in 2025.
 
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Grier was in his bag of tricks this year. Getting 10 players in 3 days, along with 3 (maybe 4) compensatory picks in next years draft while we were sitting at -20M cap space a week ago.

I don't know what other people are looking for in a GM, but that is, at the very least, a damn good week of work for Grier.
 
I think that you've got to be realistic and admit we've "marginally declined" from what we had. So I voted C.

That was more/less inevitable though. And the Bills should decline a bit as well so we ought to easily remain in competition for the Division.

I think the secondary is looking great, even to the extent of being improved which is shocking but obviously the DL got worse by an equal measure losing Wilkins and Van Ginkel. Hopefully Shaq Barrett and Benito Jones fill in reasonably for a year. Those are definitely downgrades though. You just have to manage the losses and Grier did.

We still don't have a long-term replacement for Wilkins (yet).
We still need to re-sign Isaiah Wynn (which I assume is coming).
We still need to re-sign Kendall Lamm (which I assume is coming).

And we still haven't heard the terms of the Tua contract which are apparently beyond what we were expecting.

I think we can be cautiously optimistic but we certainly can't say we're 'all good' at this point.
> Interior OL is up in the air.
> We've downgraded from Wilkins.
> The Tua deal isn't done and it's probably coming in high.
> We couldn't find the $$$ to re-sign Van Ginkel.

So far, the only bright spots for me are Kendall Fuller and the fact we didn't over-spend on Wilkins & Hunt. Good Lord that would've hurt.

The rest is business as usual. I'm not overly excited about the TE Smith, the LB Brooks and have reservation on the C Brewer. None are all that great. They're okay pieces, the LB and TE more so. If you think any are coming in and revolutionizing anything, you're nuts.

Other than that's its all back-ups and rotational guys (i.e. Robert Jones, Needham, Neal, etc.). God help us if we're judging Grier by those moves. That's as "depth" as it gets.
 
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I'm optimistic but I'm going incomplete right now.

I love that we got Jonnu Smith. That is going to help the portability of this offense immeasurably. We needed that guy who could make tough catches underneath in 3rd and short situations.

I'm very pleased with the revamped secondary. Poyer and Holland could be great together, and Fuller and Ramsey is just nasty.

I like the Brooks addition. He and Long are a nice duo. When Phillips and Chubb come back our linebackers will be insanely good.

Shaq Barrett is good for what he is - cheap level replacement player. I'm very happy with Seilet, not the rest of the D line is a concern. I trust Weaver but I'd feel better with more established names up front.

I wasn't a big Connor Williams guy so replacing him with the more athletic Brewer seems like a no trainer to me. Losing Hunt sucks but I feel like he barely played last year, so keeping Lamm and Wynn and drafting a guard with one of our first two picks should be enough.

Overall, I've got to rate this an incomplete. We need to see what the team does in the trenches. If we don't replace Wilkins or solidify the interior of the line, the grade is pretty low imo.
 
For now. I'd go with a C.

I like the linebacking group better, especially against the run. The secondary might be slightly better. Elliott versus Poyer is probably a wash. Fuller might be better than Howard at this point. That signing surprised me and I like the value of the contract.

Smith at tight end should upgrade that unit. A really sneaky good addition.

I would have kept Van Ginkel over Barrett for similar money, but maybe it was the length of the contract.

I like the depth moves on the defensive line, but losing Wilkins is a significant downgrade at DT. No getting around that.

Losing Hunt hurts the offensive line, but I think Miami will focus on that unit in the draft.

Overall, Grier has a plan and after the first day if free agency, I think he's made a lot of smart moves.
 
A. We refused to overpay for guys who were above average but not great. We went out and found reasonable value on 1-3 year contracts. And we somehow managed to improve the secondary and linebacking units. The trenches look bleak, but we're in much better shape than I thought we'd be.
 
Padfoot said:
A. We refused to overpay for guys who were above average but not great. We went out and found reasonable value on 1-3 year contracts. And we somehow managed to improve the secondary and linebacking units. The trenches look bleak, but we're in much better shape than I thought we'd be.
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I don't agree with the grade, but I do get your reasoning. I also agree that Miami is stronger at linebacker and in the secondary.

For those of us who have been talking about improving middle linebacker, Brooks could be that guy. It looks like a more physical linebacking group, which was needed.

Grier did a good job considering the salary cap mess, but I still believe smart teams find a way to keep players like Wilkins. Put it this way, I'd rather have Wilkins than Chubb so maybe that trade was questionable.

I do think the grade can change following the draft. Hopefully Grier kills it.
 
B. Like the retool on defense and there's a lot of upside to the personnel brought in.

However the OG holes need to be addressed.
 
I also went with "B". I think we have done well considering our starting point and I am pleased with who they have brought in.

However, OP I think we should do this again in late June....once we see what the draft and the 2nd level of free agency brings us. My "B" score could easily become an "A" if we add a more talent to the offensive and defensive lines
 
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