normaniii
Active Roster
Long offseason without football, so I thought I would write up how I would have handled offseason. This is not done with the intention of thinking im right, but something to kill time, look back on and hopefully have others do same.
IMO not including coaching changes there were 3 deficincies which had to be fixed this offseason:-
1-Offensive line
2-Run Offense
3-Run Defense
I would tailor FA along 3 lines:-
1-Re-signing what works
2-Fixing the deficincies
3-Allowing room on roster to attack the strength of the draft.
Re-signing what works
Randy Starks DT - underrated and highest rated FA interior defender on PFF rankings
Brent Grimes CB - best player last year
Chris Clemons FS - Massively underrated IMO. Pass D was not an issue last year and part of that was down to Clemons.
Fixing the deficiencies
IMO LT was the major need this offseason. There were 4 options:-
1-Eugene Monroe
2-Brandon Albert
3-Jared Veldheer
4-Anthony Collins
Monroe was my favourite but he was always signing with Baltimore. My choice would have been Collins. The other two, both have injury issues and Collins much like Albert is a better pass blocker than run blocker, which fits what Philbin wants. He also costs approx. $3m less a year.
The RT spot was more difficult and I can now see why the Dolphins chose to fill through draft of which I agree with. All the above mentioned are best suited to LT and all are overpayed to play RT. In my mind much like Munroe, Strief was never an option and the fallback was resigning McKinnie or Clabo.
My other FA choices would have been:-
Knowshon Moreno RB - Better all round player than Miller and also superb in pass protection
Ben Hartstock TE - An excellent blocking TE of which we need to compliment Clay and challenge both Sims & Egnew.
Anthony Collins OT - LT was need and he is excellent in pass protection
Shelley Smith OG - A run first OG but has played under Benton and would challenge for starting spot.
Brandon Spikes ILB - A lot would disagree with this but IMO, the poor run game was down to the LB core not the D'line. He is one of the best run stopping ILB and immediately improves the run game allowing Ellerbe & Wheeler to challenge for OLB opposite Misi. We all obsess about beating the Patriots but we lost to the run first Bills twice last year. Winning one of these would have had us in playoffs.
Louis Delmas S - He would challenge both Clemons & Jones for starting time. IMO competition creates improved performance and Delmas would provide that.
Allowing room on roster to attack the strength of the draft
I like the idea of identifying before FA, 4 strength positions of the draft and then tailoring FA so that our perceived 'needs' tie in with this. I would then double up on these positions allowing competition between rookies and back end of roster, with the expectation that the 1st round pick would start day 1.
For example, IMO the 4 positions of depth in draft were WR, OL, DT & CB (DE was a strength IMO but with 4 already on roster it would have been a wasted pick). WR & OL was a strangth of 1st round, with OL being more of a need and depth at WR was greater. Thus I would have gone OT in 1st round:-
I will stick to the picks we chose at:-
1st pick, 3 choices - James, Bitonio & Kouandijio. As a player I prefer Kouandijio, but he does not fit the pass orientated zone blocking sheme we run. I like Bitonio, but his arm length scares me as an OT prospect. James IMO does not have the upside of the other 2, but is a day 1 RT starter, who fits a ZBS and is a very good pass blocking OT.
Rest of draft would have gone:-
2 - Louis Nix DT
3 - Donte Moncrief WR
4 - Pierre Desir CB
5a - Antone Exum CB
5b - Laurent Tardiff-Duverney OT
6 - Jeff Janis WR
7 - Anthony Johnson DT
Please tell me what you disagree with and more preferably would love to read other views on how you would have handled offseason. :up:
IMO not including coaching changes there were 3 deficincies which had to be fixed this offseason:-
1-Offensive line
2-Run Offense
3-Run Defense
I would tailor FA along 3 lines:-
1-Re-signing what works
2-Fixing the deficincies
3-Allowing room on roster to attack the strength of the draft.
Re-signing what works
Randy Starks DT - underrated and highest rated FA interior defender on PFF rankings
Brent Grimes CB - best player last year
Chris Clemons FS - Massively underrated IMO. Pass D was not an issue last year and part of that was down to Clemons.
Fixing the deficiencies
IMO LT was the major need this offseason. There were 4 options:-
1-Eugene Monroe
2-Brandon Albert
3-Jared Veldheer
4-Anthony Collins
Monroe was my favourite but he was always signing with Baltimore. My choice would have been Collins. The other two, both have injury issues and Collins much like Albert is a better pass blocker than run blocker, which fits what Philbin wants. He also costs approx. $3m less a year.
The RT spot was more difficult and I can now see why the Dolphins chose to fill through draft of which I agree with. All the above mentioned are best suited to LT and all are overpayed to play RT. In my mind much like Munroe, Strief was never an option and the fallback was resigning McKinnie or Clabo.
My other FA choices would have been:-
Knowshon Moreno RB - Better all round player than Miller and also superb in pass protection
Ben Hartstock TE - An excellent blocking TE of which we need to compliment Clay and challenge both Sims & Egnew.
Anthony Collins OT - LT was need and he is excellent in pass protection
Shelley Smith OG - A run first OG but has played under Benton and would challenge for starting spot.
Brandon Spikes ILB - A lot would disagree with this but IMO, the poor run game was down to the LB core not the D'line. He is one of the best run stopping ILB and immediately improves the run game allowing Ellerbe & Wheeler to challenge for OLB opposite Misi. We all obsess about beating the Patriots but we lost to the run first Bills twice last year. Winning one of these would have had us in playoffs.
Louis Delmas S - He would challenge both Clemons & Jones for starting time. IMO competition creates improved performance and Delmas would provide that.
Allowing room on roster to attack the strength of the draft
I like the idea of identifying before FA, 4 strength positions of the draft and then tailoring FA so that our perceived 'needs' tie in with this. I would then double up on these positions allowing competition between rookies and back end of roster, with the expectation that the 1st round pick would start day 1.
For example, IMO the 4 positions of depth in draft were WR, OL, DT & CB (DE was a strength IMO but with 4 already on roster it would have been a wasted pick). WR & OL was a strangth of 1st round, with OL being more of a need and depth at WR was greater. Thus I would have gone OT in 1st round:-
I will stick to the picks we chose at:-
1st pick, 3 choices - James, Bitonio & Kouandijio. As a player I prefer Kouandijio, but he does not fit the pass orientated zone blocking sheme we run. I like Bitonio, but his arm length scares me as an OT prospect. James IMO does not have the upside of the other 2, but is a day 1 RT starter, who fits a ZBS and is a very good pass blocking OT.
Rest of draft would have gone:-
2 - Louis Nix DT
3 - Donte Moncrief WR
4 - Pierre Desir CB
5a - Antone Exum CB
5b - Laurent Tardiff-Duverney OT
6 - Jeff Janis WR
7 - Anthony Johnson DT
Please tell me what you disagree with and more preferably would love to read other views on how you would have handled offseason. :up:
