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Dolphins Offseason Thread (Mandatory Mini-Camp 6/10 - 6/12)

Finsup1981 said:
This makes me excited for Grant, from a former Jets scout.

Defensive Tackle Kenneth Grant Can Take Over Games​

March 1, 2025 | Daniel Kelly | Articles

Reading Time: 3 minutes
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Michigan defensive tackle Kenneth Grant played in three modes during the 2024 season; beast, snooze, and double team. All three modes are just as they sound. Grant was unblockable at times. The rest of the reps he was out there playing paddy-cake with solo blockers or those double teams neutralized him.
It’s the beast mode that captures my imagination.
If I had to put percentages to it, after studying every snap Grant played last season, this would be my breakdown:
Beast mode 25%
Snooze mode 25%
Double-teamed 50%
I chicken-scratched 82 times he was double-teamed on passing plays in my notes. He took on more double teams than probably anyone I’ve evaluated. However, seeing Grant in snooze mode was new for me. That didn’t show up in his 2023 film. The Wolverines rotated him in the lineup in 2024. He also wasn’t on as good of a team this past season either. The Wolverines finished 8-5 in 2024 after winning the National Championship the season prior.
He didn’t look as motivated.

A cross between Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis​

I put a pre-draft Hall of Fame Grade on Carter and a fifth-round grade on Davis (both defensive tackles on the Eagles). Carter has the rare power of a defensive tackle and the quickness of an edge rusher blowing up the middle. Davis is as easy to move around the room as the kitchen stove. Together, they’re special and they form the soul of this year’s Super Bowl championship defense. It’s just too much for opposing interior offensive lines to deal with.
Grant is a mix of both.

Raw​

This is the scariest part about projecting Grant. He looks unpolished on tape. I mean when he “flashes,” his signature lightning-quick swim move, he gets into the pocket like he was sent Federal Express.
The only problem ⎯he doesn’t use it much.
Why?
I don’t know, because if he did, he would go top-5.
While Grant shows he can put centers and guards on skates once in a blue moon; he’s devastating when he can get into the gaps and throw his weight around.

Production​

On defensive series when he wasn’t in for all three downs, Michigan tended to insert him into the lineup on third downs. Per Pro Football Focus, Grant played in 329 pass plays and 217 run plays.
Pass rushing stats:
  • 3 sacks
  • 1 hit
  • 23 hurries
  • 5 batted passes
Run defense:
  • 32 total tackles
  • 18 solo tackles
  • 7 tackles for loss

NFL Projection​

I pay close attention to NFL.com, because they have their ears up to war rooms across the league. Based on their most recently published team needs pre-free-agency, defensive tackle is listed as a high priority on the following nine teams:
  • Jets (No. 7)
  • Panthers (No. 8)
  • 49ers (No. 11)
  • Dolphins (No. 13)
  • Cardinals (No. 16)
  • Chargers (No. 22)
  • Vikings (No. 24)
  • Bills (No. 30)
  • Chiefs (No. 31)
The teams in bold are in my value range for Grant.

#78 Kenneth Grant 6-foot-3, 339 pounds
Daniel Kelly’s 2025 Final NFL Draft Grade: First-Round (I would select him)
Projected by 73.6% of the NFL Draft Community to be a first-round pick as of March 1, 2025 (nflmockdraftdatabase.com)
Kenneth Grant: Force of Nature (2023: 13 games evaluated)
2024 game film evaluated: Fresno State, Texas, Arkansas State, USC, Minnesota, Washington, Illinois, Michigan State, Oregon, Indiana, Northwestern, and Ohio State (click to view games watched to form this evaluation)
NFL comp: Dan Wilkinson
Note: Former NFL Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale was his Defensive Coordinator at Michigan in 2024
Note: Got handled vs. Texas

2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report​

An inconsistent effort defensive playmaker with elite athleticism for his size. Massive. Thick thighs. Long arms. Quick hands. Natural dominant equally distributed natural strength. Movement achieved at the snap varies from 1-10. Best with leverage. Above average playing speed. Pass rush tools flashed: swim, spin, and rip moves. Change of direction slightly labored. A limited area-run defender who flashed some chase. Inconsistent shed. Has it in him to fight for tackles and assists. Hard sure tackler. Production didn’t match traits in 2024.

Final words​

Can take over games is the key phrase.

firstroundmock.com

Defensive Tackle Kenneth Grant Can Take Over Games

Watch 12 games of Michigan defensive tackle Kenneth Grant during the 2024 season embedded into this article.
firstroundmock.com firstroundmock.com
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Did he really say he had a 5th round grade on Jordan Davis? Whoof.

Anyways more and more I think grants best as a big 3 tech. Let him shoot gaps and use his rush arsenal and “throw his weight around” from there.

Philips is gonna have to do the dirty work.
 
Ray R said:
I have my moments. - LOL

One of my biggest points of focus is the "trajectory" of the "Dolphins" gameday performance along with improvement as the season progresses. I like looking at the last 3 - 4 games for that trajectory. If I include more games than that the result gets watered down due to "averaging". I'm going to be looking for consistently good (not necessarily great) play on the field by my team.

Is the coaching staff coming up with good game plans and in game play changes to address our opponents' weaknesses?

Are we keeping our on-field penalties under control i.e. no real stupid stuff by our players?

Can we come from behind and take a lead?

Once we get a lead can we hold onto it?

Are we getting better each game? Every opponent we play, and when we play them, offers different performance requirements for the Dolphins to win.

I am trying to focus on more than just our W-L record. I want to see if we are improving where we need to and maintaining good play once we have established it - which may the biggest game to game variable I will be observing.

If all those things are happening, then I feel the trajectory of the last 3 - 4 games will be a meaningful indicator of what's to come, no matter who our next opponent is.

This way I can keep a positive attitude in the face of disappointment and relish the positives that the team presents, like our game against the Pats a few years ago where one play we kept lateraling the ball as we scored a TD late in the game and "Gronk" missed a tackle and got a faceguard full of turf.

I got a lot of pleasure out of just that one play.

Anyway, that's my approach and so far, (from 2016 until now), I feel this team has made a relatively steady improvement. I stayed around after Gase left (he was one of my favorites) just to see how the Dolphins would fare with a new HC. Now nine year and two HC's later, I can see how the team has improved (differently under each HC) and I have enjoyed the ride.

Now it's time to hit second gear, make the playoffs and move forward in the playoffs. That is what I'm looking forward to! - LOL
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I’ve never screamed as loud as when I saw Kenyan Drake have a sliver of daylight and the Gronk fall on his ass trying to catch him…wouldn’t have mattered if we were 0-15, you live for the moment and that’s one I doubt we’ll ever see again in our lifetimes.

Still have to be able to enjoy the moments like that play above, the Broncos game, the Ravens comeback, the first time we whipped out the wildcat and smashed NE on the road…too bad they only give us glimpses and no sustained success, those moments are too few and far between…but when they come I feel re energized and start believing again till they hurt me again lmao. Guess it’s part of being a fan.

I want to be hurt though, eventually our girl who does crazy **** cheats on us and physically and emotionally abused us for years finally turns it around and we live happily ever after. This will happen in my life time, I believe this.

Dunno if Grier is the crazy chick who turns it around or the crazy ex who stalks us, either way I still have faith that one day we’ll be laughing at these times while enjoying our recent Super Bowl win.
 
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PFF Most Underrated Player on each team, dunno if I agree with this one he's becoming pretty well-known and respected.

MIAMI DOLPHINS: DI Zach Sieler​

Sieler has been a workhorse on Miami’s defensive line for the past three seasons, and while that hasn’t always led to the most efficient production, he did come through in that regard this past season, delivering a 71.5 PFF pass-rush grade (24th), which led to a position-leading 13 total sacks in 2024.

This was not just a result of high-end snaps, either. Sieler played more than 100 fewer pass-rush snaps than in each of his past two seasons. His 78.9 PFF overall grade was also the second best of his career and ranked tied for 11th at his position in 2024.
 
TXFinFan said:
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I knew there was another injury than the oblique, his mechanics were a mess on the tape last year, I cannot even imagine trying to throw a football with oblique and a grade 3 ankle sprain. That he could get any velocity on the ball if this is true is amazing. Thanks to the info.
 
Finsup1981 said:
I’ve never screamed as loud as when I saw Kenyan Drake have a sliver of daylight and the Gronk fall on his ass trying to catch him…wouldn’t have mattered if we were 0-15, you live for the moment and that’s one I doubt we’ll ever see again in our lifetimes.

Still have to be able to enjoy the moments like that play above, the Broncos game, the Ravens comeback, the first time we whipped out the wildcat and smashed NE on the road…too bad they only give us glimpses and no sustained success, those moments are too few and far between…but when they come I feel re energized and start believing again till they hurt me again lmao. Guess it’s part of being a fan.

I want to be hurt though, eventually our girl who does crazy **** cheats on us and physically and emotionally abused us for years finally turns it around and we live happily ever after. This will happen in my life time, I believe this.

Dunno if Grier is the crazy chick who turns it around or the crazy ex who stalks us, either way I still have faith that one day we’ll be laughing at these times while enjoying our recent Super Bowl win.
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My best friend's wife is a huge Patriots fan. She put a chair into a wall that day.

Despite the Pats's success this millennium, I take an enormous amount of comfort in the fact that Miami has been a continuous pain in their ass throughout.

Also, I think a lot of people are missing that the Dolphins are 9-2 against the Pats since the end of 2019.
 
Joe Theismann story about almost being a Dolphin and Shula holding a grudge, in an interview:



Dunne: So it probably is quite an experience when you get to that NFL draft and fall to the fourth round. You’re not expecting that. You’re told you’re going to be a top 15 pick, and why wouldn't you be? You almost won the Heisman — tweaking the pronunciation of your name, which is a great story. You went from “THEES-man” to “THISE-man.” With grandmother's blessing, of course. But to fall on the draft and then there’s some bad blood with Miami. You could’ve been really spiteful to where “OK, I fall on the draft and now it’s getting strange with Miami and that negotiation, and I land in the CFL and I’m watching Miami win these Super Bowls, and that could be me.” You’ve got to maintain self-belief through all of that.

Theismann: You forget, you’re 21 years old, and what do you have to be spiteful about? I was disappointed. And the reason I was disappointed — it’s funny when it comes to the draft. It’s so much different now than it was when we were drafted back in 1971. That class had Jim Plunkett, Rex Kern, Dennis Dummit, Archie Manning, Dan Pastorini. That was the ‘71 graduating college class of quarterbacks. Pretty good collection of guys. For me, what it really boiled down to was that I was going to try and be there. But what happens is people start to tell you that you’re going to go here or you’re going to go there and you start listening to the people. We just saw it with Shedeur. The talking heads were going nuts as each round went by and he didn’t get taken. They were more disappointed than he was where he wound up going. They couldn’t believe that they were wrong. They were so wrong that they had him in this place and it didn’t work out. But that’s the draft.

But for us, the Giants said, “Hey, if you’re around in the first round, we’ll take you.” The Cowboys said, “If you’re around the first round.” And I listened and I sat in Roger Valdiserri’s office, our PR guy. And I sat through the first round, no phone call. Sat through the second round, no phone call. Third round rolled around. I said, “Roger, if you want me, I’ll be down playing basketball. Come and get me.” I wasn’t going to sit around and wait. Miami had to give up their No. 1 pick to the Baltimore Colts to get Don Shula to coach in Miami. So they only had three picks. So I was actually the third pick, but I was a fourth rounder. And so I get the call and they say, “You’ve been drafted by the Miami Dolphins.” Well, they got a guy by the name of Bob Griese there, too. But the competition never concerned me. So I flew down to Miami, met with Mr. Robbie. Joe Thomas was their GM. He was having heart surgery. So I met with (the team’s owner) Mr. Robbie. He says to me, “What do you want?”

First lesson in negotiations, never quote a price. I didn't know that. I think I’m smart, but I’m not. So this was the price: $35,000, $45,000, $55,000 with a $35,000 signing bonus broke down over three years. OK, that’s what we’re going to do. And then he said, “OK.” And I went, “Oh geez. Alright.” So they send me the contract. They had me paying back the bonus if I didn’t show up for any of those three years, and I just said it was wrong. So the negotiations dragged on. Leo Cahill, who was coaching the Toronto Argonauts said, “Fly to Toronto. We want to sign you.” Flew up there. They offered me 50, 50, 50. I’d be the highest-paid player in the Canadian Football League at that time. And I signed the contract. He said, “If you leave the country, it’s off the table.” I signed it, flew back to South Bend. Ara calls me at 6 a.m. in the morning and says, “What in heaven’s name have you done?” I said, “I signed with the Toronto Argonauts.” He says, “I know. Shula’s on the plane right now. He’s coming up. He wants to meet with you.” I said, “Oh boy. I’m going to get myself in trouble now.” And basically, I did. Coach Shula was not very happy with me, and he read me the Riot Act, and it was one of three different instances where I had a chance to see that it didn’t work out well for Coach Shula. That was the first one. Second one was Super Bowl 17, and the third one — I actually broadcast with Don Meredith and Frank Gifford — Super Bowl 19, when they played the San Francisco 49ers in Palo Alto. And they lost that one. So Shula wasn’t real excited to see me whenever I showed up, to be honest with you.

Dunne: Yeah, Shula probably held a grudge for a while. Was that relationship a little icy for several years?

Theismann: You could say that.

Dunne: Did you guys ever sing Kumbaya?

Theismann: We were cordial. I was always cordial and respect him tremendously. People said, “Do you ever have any regrets?” The only regret I really ever have had in football was I didn’t get a chance to play for Coach Shula, but it was my choice. So there’s nothing I could do about it. I just chose to go a different direction.

Dunne: Well, it was meant to be. Who knows what happens? I guess you can look at it and say, “Well, he could have been on that (1972) undefeated team because Griese got hurt that year.”

Theismann: Griese got hurt. Earl Morrall quarterbacked nine of those games. So this is what I say to the Miami Dolphins fans, OK, real simple. If I had been the quarterback, I don’t know if I’d win nine games. I don’t know if we’d go undefeated. I don’t know if we’d win a Super Bowl, but Earl did. So to all those Dolphin fans that get mad at me for not being a Miami Dolphin. All I have to do is say, thank you. That’s all you need to do is thank me for not going. That’s all. I wasn’t there to mess the whole thing up.
 
Finsup1981 said:
Interesting theory but I don’t think it will get approved, but one of the better solutions I’ve seen for adding the 18th game.




How an 18-game NFL schedule could work for everyone: Introducing the 1816 Compromise

Eighteen games seems inevitable, or at least the NFL wants everyone to feel that way.

I remember getting that sense at the Landmark Hotel on Marylebone Road in London in 2010. The San Francisco 49ers were in town to play the Denver Broncos and the beat writers for both teams were invited to a sit-down with commissioner Roger Goodell. He fielded a variety of questions that morning but always seemed to steer the conversation back to an 18-game NFL schedule.

Asked about upcoming collective bargaining talks, he noted that expanding the season by two games would mean more revenue for the players.

Asked about the 49ers giving up a home game to play in London, Goodell agreed that was “painful” but noted that if the league moved to 18 games, teams would get their usual allotment of eight home games even if they played abroad.

Asked if he’d visited Trafalgar Square, Goodell said he hadn’t but that he knew Admiral Horatio Nelson would have been a huge fan of 18 games.

OK, he didn’t say that last bit, but the point is that the league has been aching for 18 — and getting us conditioned to the concept — for a long time now. It’s at the core of all its plans, from more international games to updated venues to new broadcast deals.

The problem is that the two groups that would be most affected — coaches and players — don’t want it. When The Athletic polled players last season, nearly 60 percent of responders said they weren’t in favor of an extra contest, mainly because they already feel maxed out with 17 games.

“No, because players barely make it through 17, so adding 18 — we don’t know what type of implications that’ll have long term,” one player said, “because you’ll see guys have high use one year and the whole next year they battle injuries. Physically, I think it’s too much, and I know from the standpoint of the NFL, they see the money, but they’re gonna lose a lot of star players to injuries.”

The players union seems to be digging in on the issue.

“No one wants to play an 18th game. No one,” NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell said in February. “Some guys don’t want to play 17 just given the toll it has on their body and the lack of time to recover.”

Last season, the injury-ravaged San Francisco 49ers had just six players who started all 17 games. And that was on the high end for the league. The Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams had just one player in that category. The Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots had two. Sixteen teams had five or fewer start the full season.

What should the NFL do? Today, the day the league’s clunky, 17-game schedules are released, I propose a solution. It’s one that indeed expands the schedule to 18 regular-season games (owners stand up and cheer wildly) … but states that players can participate in no more than 16 games (players stand up and cheer wildly).

I call it The 1816 Compromise.

It’s a rare everyone-wins scenario. The schedule grows by one game, which brings all the extra revenue — from broadcast deals, ticket sales, parking fees, etc. — the owners have been pining for. The fans get an extra week of real football. The players, meanwhile, not only won’t have to suffer the wear and tear of an extra game, they’ll play one fewer game than they’ve played the last four seasons (the entire arena rises and cheers wildly).

Other 1816 benefits:

• More strategy, more intrigue. If a player misses two games with, say, a thumb injury, that counts as the two contests he must sit out. Teams might decide to play their top-line players early under the assumption that many, or even most, will miss games with injuries anyway. Or maybe they sit them early in the season so they know they’ll be available during the critical homestretch when teams are jockeying for playoff position.

• More rest, more recovery. The NFL season already goes into February and an 18th game would make it longer. Having two mandated games off, along with bye weeks, would serve as rest stops for players. Last season, 49ers linebacker Fred Warner played most of the season with an ankle fracture that was slow to heal because he played on it every week. Warner, who seemed like a Defensive Player of the Year candidate before the injury, was not as good after it. A multi-week hiatus might have given him the time he needed to recover.

• More opportunities. The compromise would guarantee that younger or lesser-known players get to start at least two games. Maybe that means expanding practice squads from 16 players. It’s another win for the players union.

• Fewer asterisks. Limiting players to 16 games will get individual records back to where they were from 1978 to 2020. Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record (2,105 yards), Calvin Johnson’s single-season receiving performance (1,964) and LaDainian Tomlinson’s single-season touchdown mark (31) wouldn’t be compromised by someone playing two more games than them.

Is it a perfect plan? Oh, I can envision some grumbling.

For instance, teams might have trouble signing players to new deals in a league in which revenue is greater but the players’ overall workload has decreased. That might be a hurdle initially, but the market ought to solve that over time.

Television networks, meanwhile, might be hesitant to pay top dollar to broadcast a game that doesn’t include a team’s top quarterback. Fans would have the same issue. No one wants to shell out $600 to take their family to a Kansas City Chiefs game only to find that a healthy Patrick Mahomes is in street clothes and Gardner Minshew is starting instead.

So perhaps an exception is made for the faces of the NFL, the quarterbacks. After all, the 1816 proposal is about player safety and there are already all sorts of rules to protect quarterbacks. And maybe we grant an exception for the specialists as well. They don’t suffer the cumulative pounding other players do — four of the five oldest players currently on NFL rosters are specialists — and owners definitely wouldn’t want to keep multiple long snappers and punters on the payroll.

But as noted above, most players don’t play a full season anyway. Some of that is due to strategy — playoff-bound teams often rest starters in their regular-season finales.

More is due to attrition. The 10 highest-paid 49ers players last season — the marquee names fans buy tickets to see, the ones networks pay billions to broadcast — missed a combined 77 starts.

Eighteen games? Seventeen already seems like too many.
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It would be easy for the league to do it. Six games on for everyone, one week off, six more on, one off and six more on - start playoffs. Eighteen games and everyone gets the same time off. I dont think they would structure it that way because of the off weeks would lose fans, and therefore money - but I disagree...
 
Anvil35 said:
It would be easy for the league to do it. Six games on for everyone, one week off, six more on, one off and six more on - start playoffs. Eighteen games and everyone gets the same time off. I dont think they would structure it that way because of the off weeks would lose fans, and therefore money - but I disagree...
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure it will migrate to 18 games in less than three years. Trying to give players a break at break at some point is the big issue. That's a long season.
 
I find it kinda weird that no one has talked to Tua from the media. No one has mentioned if Ramsey is in mini camp… I guess a trade will be within 12 days
 
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