How Miami will spend their money...

[phinzfan21]

I really want to sign Samuel and Linsley. Get a RB and another WR in the draft.

 

[DPhinz_DPhinz]

Clear up a little more salary and make it easier to bring Watson in here...

Who's next highest after Van Noy?

 

[dolfan91]

Van Noy is just the beginning of a league wide purge thats going to take place across the league. It goes to show you, how much cap space is valued. The New Orleans Saints are going to lose valuable players in this purge. A team like Miami, who can create space, may be able to take advantage of players suddenly available, who may not have been otherwise.

I'm assuming some of these players are better than Van Noy?

 

[Digital]

A lot of it will come down to how interested the FO is actually in getting Watson. I think there's a lot of smoke there but it seems to have increased in likeliness somewhat since early January. Assuming we stay on the Tua Train, theres a lot of options though I would not necessarily think we'd be going WR unless it's just to fill some holes. I think we'll probably go after Thuney as it fills a need and maybe Jones though we might be better off just drafting two RBs.

If somehow they know Watson is coming before FA starts, that will alter the plan dramatically as we would then have to go probably after Robinson because the top pick wont be there in exchange for Watson. Again, I want to be clear, I'm thinking the odds are very low to have secured a deal on Watson over the next 14 days. To me that's in the 10-15% likelihood range.

Excellent point as usual @Fin-Loco !

If the front office is serious about pursuing Watson they would need to be ready when the opportunity arises. I get it, he's a top tier QB right now. Watson is a guy who succeeds emphatically despite having no OL and having seen his one elite WR (Nuke Hopkins) traded away. He's a pocket passer who can be mobile if needed. He's a stand-up guy both inside and outside of the locker room. Those types don't come available. So, if you have a chance to get him, it is understandable that a front office would be interested .... almost every front office, including the Dolphins. But not many franchises have a realistic shot at making it happen. So _if_ Watson comes available, it makes sense the Dolphins would want to be prepared just in case.

Look, there were plenty of reports that the Dolphins wanted Joe Burrow, and made offers for him ... but a trade-up to get the top pick wasn't really available at any realistic price. The Dolphins very much wanted Tua as their second choice, and chose him over Herbert, although there are reports that inside the Dolphins headquarters there was at least one decision maker (Grier?) who preferred Herbert, and other reports that Ross mandated the Tua pick. Regardless, the Dolphins were quite happy to have gotten Tua. Every personnel decision made at an NFL team is a list with a pecking order. Sure, had we been given the opportunity to trade our pick plus a conditional 7th rounder to trade up to the #1 pick and take Joe Burrow, we would have made that trade. Then if we had the #1 overall pick and someone told us we could have Watson for the #1 overall pick, we would have happily traded away the #1 overall pick and snapped up Watson. Those guys don't become available, so if you can get one, you do. It is no dis of Tua if the Dolphins want Watson. But if we do want him, we need to be ready in case the opportunity presents itself, that's just doing our due diligence and being ready.

And when Watson to the Dolphins never materializes because he goes elsewhere or even stays in Houston? Well that's just another normal day in an NFL front office. We continue with our master plan of building around Tua. It's smart to build around our asset of a young QB. If we can maximize his talents, we can maximize our production. So yeah, get him a good young WR and add pieces to that OL which, while improved, isn't done being constructed, IMHO. Average isn't really the ceiling we're seeking along the OL.

Yes, we have a lot of draft picks, and if we use them all, we'll have plenty of spots to add defensive players too. Obviously we need another hybrid OLB/DE even if Van Ginkel does step up, and I'm not banking on Van Ginkel working out AND Vince Beigel being enough to hold down that position. We haven't decided whether to re-sign (salary cap hit) or replace Baker, so our entire LB corps is up in the air. Godchaux looks to be replaced, so we'll need 1 more DL. Shaq Lawson didn't really live up to his salary, so if we can add another DE/OLB type for the other side that would be great. Honestly, I'm puzzled why we are letting go of Van Noy and keeping Lawson. Obviously we want to clear some cap space to sign someone.

 

[dolfan91]

Another thing to consider is how New England seemed to know when to release or trade a player. It seemed like those players never lived up to the hype or billing after leaving the Patriots, outside of Chandler Jones, of course.

Van Noy could be seen as a player about to take a big step back in performance in 2021, therefore Flores decided to jettison him. Now the Dolphins able to have some wiggle room, to potentially add a younger player.

 

[1972forever]

Clear up a little more salary and make it easier to bring Watson in here...

Who's next highest after Van Noy?

Watson isn’t coming to the Dolphins but I am sure he will be happy to know you will be rooting for him no matter where he ends up.

 

[The Ghost]

I think the F.O. needs to honestly realize that there's no way the 2021 Dolphins can win the SB so this isnt the year to blow cap space.
If done right, the 2022 Dolphins could win it all.
Why? The third year of our 2020 rookie OLine draftees plus year 2 of our 2021 draftees (moved past the rookie growing pains). WRs, especially, are never their best selves as rookies unless theyre Randy Moss, and there's no Randy Moss here.

The 'cake' will need another year to bake. This is not the time for 'frosting'.
Big $$in FA is frosting, with a salary cap not affected by Covid and back to a good level.

Prudence now will pay off, bigtime, next year. We still need to see if Tua will work out. No point loading up and wasting good years of expensive salary if the QB position is a Fail.
If Tua Is Good, we can always make a trade at the deadline. If we're ahead of schedule, then the 2022 first round pick can be traded in Oct 2021.

Agreed. I'm not all in either.

There will be a lot of young new pieces on this roster with less than 3 years of experience in 2021. I want to evaluate all those new pieces at seasons end to really judge my own rebuild.

I agree about 2022 and 2023. Those two seasons, on Tua's rookie deal, we should get our best shot at the title in decades.

I was really hoping to draft our future center this year but I am definitely ok with filling that need with the kid from GB, even if its an overpay. I don't need Ereck Flowers or Jessie Davis on the roster much longer so I'd allocate that money for an in-his-prime bona fide stud center.

Outside of that, I am not really interested in any big contracts.

 

[DPhinz_DPhinz]

Watson isn’t coming to the Dolphins but I am sure he will be happy to know you will be rooting for him no matter where he ends up.

You don't know what or where Watson will end up...

Your lips are too stuck on Tua's ass for you to look up and notice anything else.

 

[Pompy]

Let's hope they save money for Baker and Gesicki and Ogbah.

 

[ChitownPhins28]

With 4 picks in the first two rounds, and the rest of the gems we can find in later rounds then every offensive position in need would be filled through the draft. We need a receiver right? The draft has plenty of them. We need a RB? The draft has plenty of them. I would be happy if we can sign Corey Lindsey, and work everything else through the draft. Then down the road we are gonna have to deal with the contracts of guys like Byron Jones. At the time when we sign his contract we made him the highest paid corner for no damn reason. He's taking almost 20 million in cap space alone, and he isn't even our best corner.

Center really is a hugely important position. Crappy centers just beg opposing defenses to attack you up the middle which effectively allows them success whether you were running or passing.
We can live with Hunt at RT if a great center improves our run game enough to avoid bad down-distance situations and having deception in our play-calling (because of a great running game) will help Tua even more than a great RT and not the great run game.
Im liking the Center position for our FA bucks.