defeKt
Rookie
So it's that time of year again, the time of year ever fin fan loves because you can't start the season with a losing record. So how would I improve these Dolphins to finally get back to the promised land? Check my plan below and let me know what you think.
Cut:
Nate Garner, Cortland Finnegan, Brian Hartline, Brandon Gibson, Daniel Ellerbe, Phillip Wheeler, Randy Starks, Caleb Sturgis
Many of these players have already been cut, the rest are pretty obvious, with the possible exception of Starks
Restructure:
Mike Pouncey, Brandon Fields, Charles Clay
All 3 of these players are still relatively young for their positions and playing at a high level. Signing them to long term deals reduces the cap hit this year and solidifies our talent base for the future
All said this should create about 30 million in cap space prior to any signings
Re-sign:
AJ Francis, Michael Thomas, Luis Delmas, Jordan Kovacs, Jason Fox
These guys all come cheap, know our system and could have an impact next year. The combination Thomas and Kovacs at safety until Delmas gets healthy isn’t ideal, but safety is a hard spot to fill in both FA and the draft this year.
Sign:
Ndamukong Suh DT
Sure he’s going to cost a crap load of money. The kind of money I would normally never consider giving someone that doesn’t throw the football, but sometimes you have to go all in. Suh is a game changer, in his prime, with no off field issues. A line featuring Suh, Wake, and Vernon would be unblockable. While 16.5 million a season is a lot of money, what it really means is that Wallace (13.5M) is gone next year and will need to be replaced through the draft.
Davon House CB
He’s an affordable 6 foot CB with no personality issues who has had 20 passes defensed and 2 interceptions as a part time starter with GB in the last 2 years. Did I mention he’s only 25? The guys not a sure bet, but he deserves a chance to start somewhere and having him compete with Jamar Taylor and Will Davis mitigates the risk. Chris Culliver, Kareem Jackson, and Parish Cox are similar players any one of them would work, just don’t overpay.
Mason Foster ILB
Hickey should be pretty familiar with this guy from his days in Tampa. While Foster didn’t play very well under Lovely Smith last year, he’s a 26 year legit 3 down MLB that put up 92 tackles and 3 INTs in 2013 and shouldn’t break the bank.
Ryan Succop K
No one is going to mistake Succop for an elite kicker, but Sturgis shouldn’t be in the NFL. He has career average of 77.5 to Succop’s 81.7 and Succop had his best season last year with an 86.4 nearly 10% higher than Sturgis
Christian Ponder QB
Ponder is not a very good QB, but his skillset fits really well with our offense. His basically a frail interception prone version of T-Hill, but we need to get cheaper at the backup QB position and Ponder still has some upside
Draft:
RD1 Devante Parker WR Louisville 6’3 209
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:12286166
I really hope this guy is there when we pick but the odds are pretty good that he will be. Park is an athlete big bodied tall receiver with long arms and big hands. He can beat you with his feet 4.45 or his strength. This guy has the potential to be a true #1 receiver and his huge catch radius is perfect for Tannehill who’s ball placement is still improving. It’s critical we find receiver as Wallace will be gone next season.
RD2 Carl Davis DT Iowa 6’5 320
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:12349049
Another DT?! This once vaulted Dolphins defense was built from the inside out and now is the time to rebuild. Davis is an absolute mountain of man with the ability to easily sustain two blockers and showed the ability to get into the backfield with 9 tackles for a loss
RD3 Ali Marpet OG Hobart 6’4 307
I really tried not to take any small school players here, and ideally you would like someone with a little more position versatility so Oregon’s Jake Fisher would also be a possibility here. At the end of the Marpet was just too good to pass up. Obviously Hobart doesn’t play against the best competition but Marpet was dominant, when you watch this guy play all you see are bodies on the ground at the end of every play. He the tore it up at the combine and was impressive at the senior bowl.
RD4 Gerod Holliman Louisville S 6’0 218
This is the part of the draft where you start to take risk and Holliman is a boom or bust type prospect. So what if he got injured and couldn’t show perform at the combine (will run at pro day), yes there are rumors of character concerns, and he’s a one year wonder but it was on hell of a year. 14 interceptions! Ah hell just watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OcFGKjtD0M and tell me you don’t want to bring this Miami native home.
RD5 Karlos Williams RB Florida State 6’1 225
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnaRCN6Vd_U
Ever hear of the Speed Index (Weight * 200)/(40 time^4) ? Well most GMs have and through the years it’s been a pretty good predictor of running back success in the NFL if you score 110 or higher you generally end up being pretty good. Dolphins seem to buy into it Damion Williams 110, Lamar Miller 113. Well this year the only RB above 110 is Williams at 114. The guy wasn’t a monster in college but he did put up 22 touchdowns in 2 seasons and averaged around 6 yards per carry. He has the ability to move the chains and gain tough yards and is a good 1 cut runner kind of a poor man’s Arian Foster
RD6 Chris Conley WR Georgia 6-2 213
So first let me admit that this guy was nowhere near my radar before the combine but this is the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] round and he put a 4.35 40 and had a 45 inch vertical. He got progressively better in college and finished his senior year with 657 yards 8 touch downs and averaged 18.25 yards a catch. Maybe we get lucky and this guy develops into a stretch the field replacement for Wallace. Did I mention he’s a Sith lord? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJU5Ebka44
RD7 Who Cares! i.e. 6’3 246 Zack Wagenmann DE Montana
The guy has interesting measurable and put 17’5 sacks in a single season… in the Big Sky conference. Dolphins have done well with Montana players in the past and Wagenmann was pretty impressive for a nobody at the combine placing in the top 5 in 3 drills. Apparent played well in the NFLPA bowl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZES6Uok_h0
2015 Depth Chart:
Offense:
WR1 Mike Wallace, *Chris Conley
TE Charles Clay, Dion Sims
LT Brandon Albert, Jason Fox
LG *Ali Marpet, Shelley Smith
C Mike Pouncy, Sam Brenner
RG Billy Turner, Dallas Thomas
RT Juan James, Jason Fox
WR2 *Devante Parker
WR3 Jarvis Landry, Rishard Matthews
QB Ryan Tannehill, Christian Ponder
RB Lamar Miller, *Karlos Williams, Damien Williams
Defense:
LDE Cameron Wake, Terrence Fede
LDT Ndamukong Suh, AJ Francis
RDT Earl Mitchell, *Carl Davis
RDE Olivier Vernon, Derrick Shelby
WLB Dion Jordan, Chris McCain
MLB Mason Foster, Koa Misi, Jordan Tripp
SLB Jelani Jenkins, Koa Misi
CB1 Brent Grimes, Will Davis
SS Luis Delmas, *Gerod Holliman
FS Reshad Jones, Michael Thomas
CB2 Devon House, Will Davis
CB3 Jamar Taylor, Michael Thomas
Special Teams:
K Ryan Succop
P Brandon Fields
PR Jarvis Landry
KR *Chris Conley
LS John Denney
Cut:
Nate Garner, Cortland Finnegan, Brian Hartline, Brandon Gibson, Daniel Ellerbe, Phillip Wheeler, Randy Starks, Caleb Sturgis
Many of these players have already been cut, the rest are pretty obvious, with the possible exception of Starks
Restructure:
Mike Pouncey, Brandon Fields, Charles Clay
All 3 of these players are still relatively young for their positions and playing at a high level. Signing them to long term deals reduces the cap hit this year and solidifies our talent base for the future
All said this should create about 30 million in cap space prior to any signings
Re-sign:
AJ Francis, Michael Thomas, Luis Delmas, Jordan Kovacs, Jason Fox
These guys all come cheap, know our system and could have an impact next year. The combination Thomas and Kovacs at safety until Delmas gets healthy isn’t ideal, but safety is a hard spot to fill in both FA and the draft this year.
Sign:
Ndamukong Suh DT
Sure he’s going to cost a crap load of money. The kind of money I would normally never consider giving someone that doesn’t throw the football, but sometimes you have to go all in. Suh is a game changer, in his prime, with no off field issues. A line featuring Suh, Wake, and Vernon would be unblockable. While 16.5 million a season is a lot of money, what it really means is that Wallace (13.5M) is gone next year and will need to be replaced through the draft.
Davon House CB
He’s an affordable 6 foot CB with no personality issues who has had 20 passes defensed and 2 interceptions as a part time starter with GB in the last 2 years. Did I mention he’s only 25? The guys not a sure bet, but he deserves a chance to start somewhere and having him compete with Jamar Taylor and Will Davis mitigates the risk. Chris Culliver, Kareem Jackson, and Parish Cox are similar players any one of them would work, just don’t overpay.
Mason Foster ILB
Hickey should be pretty familiar with this guy from his days in Tampa. While Foster didn’t play very well under Lovely Smith last year, he’s a 26 year legit 3 down MLB that put up 92 tackles and 3 INTs in 2013 and shouldn’t break the bank.
Ryan Succop K
No one is going to mistake Succop for an elite kicker, but Sturgis shouldn’t be in the NFL. He has career average of 77.5 to Succop’s 81.7 and Succop had his best season last year with an 86.4 nearly 10% higher than Sturgis
Christian Ponder QB
Ponder is not a very good QB, but his skillset fits really well with our offense. His basically a frail interception prone version of T-Hill, but we need to get cheaper at the backup QB position and Ponder still has some upside
Draft:
RD1 Devante Parker WR Louisville 6’3 209
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:12286166
I really hope this guy is there when we pick but the odds are pretty good that he will be. Park is an athlete big bodied tall receiver with long arms and big hands. He can beat you with his feet 4.45 or his strength. This guy has the potential to be a true #1 receiver and his huge catch radius is perfect for Tannehill who’s ball placement is still improving. It’s critical we find receiver as Wallace will be gone next season.
RD2 Carl Davis DT Iowa 6’5 320
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:12349049
Another DT?! This once vaulted Dolphins defense was built from the inside out and now is the time to rebuild. Davis is an absolute mountain of man with the ability to easily sustain two blockers and showed the ability to get into the backfield with 9 tackles for a loss
RD3 Ali Marpet OG Hobart 6’4 307
I really tried not to take any small school players here, and ideally you would like someone with a little more position versatility so Oregon’s Jake Fisher would also be a possibility here. At the end of the Marpet was just too good to pass up. Obviously Hobart doesn’t play against the best competition but Marpet was dominant, when you watch this guy play all you see are bodies on the ground at the end of every play. He the tore it up at the combine and was impressive at the senior bowl.
RD4 Gerod Holliman Louisville S 6’0 218
This is the part of the draft where you start to take risk and Holliman is a boom or bust type prospect. So what if he got injured and couldn’t show perform at the combine (will run at pro day), yes there are rumors of character concerns, and he’s a one year wonder but it was on hell of a year. 14 interceptions! Ah hell just watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OcFGKjtD0M and tell me you don’t want to bring this Miami native home.
RD5 Karlos Williams RB Florida State 6’1 225
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnaRCN6Vd_U
Ever hear of the Speed Index (Weight * 200)/(40 time^4) ? Well most GMs have and through the years it’s been a pretty good predictor of running back success in the NFL if you score 110 or higher you generally end up being pretty good. Dolphins seem to buy into it Damion Williams 110, Lamar Miller 113. Well this year the only RB above 110 is Williams at 114. The guy wasn’t a monster in college but he did put up 22 touchdowns in 2 seasons and averaged around 6 yards per carry. He has the ability to move the chains and gain tough yards and is a good 1 cut runner kind of a poor man’s Arian Foster
RD6 Chris Conley WR Georgia 6-2 213
So first let me admit that this guy was nowhere near my radar before the combine but this is the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] round and he put a 4.35 40 and had a 45 inch vertical. He got progressively better in college and finished his senior year with 657 yards 8 touch downs and averaged 18.25 yards a catch. Maybe we get lucky and this guy develops into a stretch the field replacement for Wallace. Did I mention he’s a Sith lord? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJU5Ebka44
RD7 Who Cares! i.e. 6’3 246 Zack Wagenmann DE Montana
The guy has interesting measurable and put 17’5 sacks in a single season… in the Big Sky conference. Dolphins have done well with Montana players in the past and Wagenmann was pretty impressive for a nobody at the combine placing in the top 5 in 3 drills. Apparent played well in the NFLPA bowl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZES6Uok_h0
2015 Depth Chart:
Offense:
WR1 Mike Wallace, *Chris Conley
TE Charles Clay, Dion Sims
LT Brandon Albert, Jason Fox
LG *Ali Marpet, Shelley Smith
C Mike Pouncy, Sam Brenner
RG Billy Turner, Dallas Thomas
RT Juan James, Jason Fox
WR2 *Devante Parker
WR3 Jarvis Landry, Rishard Matthews
QB Ryan Tannehill, Christian Ponder
RB Lamar Miller, *Karlos Williams, Damien Williams
Defense:
LDE Cameron Wake, Terrence Fede
LDT Ndamukong Suh, AJ Francis
RDT Earl Mitchell, *Carl Davis
RDE Olivier Vernon, Derrick Shelby
WLB Dion Jordan, Chris McCain
MLB Mason Foster, Koa Misi, Jordan Tripp
SLB Jelani Jenkins, Koa Misi
CB1 Brent Grimes, Will Davis
SS Luis Delmas, *Gerod Holliman
FS Reshad Jones, Michael Thomas
CB2 Devon House, Will Davis
CB3 Jamar Taylor, Michael Thomas
Special Teams:
K Ryan Succop
P Brandon Fields
PR Jarvis Landry
KR *Chris Conley
LS John Denney
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