I have seen a ton of offseason projections on this forum lately so I thought I would throw my hat into the ring. WARNING: Nowhere in this post will you find a prediction for the Fins trading for franchised NT's, RFA WR's, LB's or TE's. It is solely based upon what I predict our FO will due and nothing that I can accomplish on Madden.
Free agency begins March 5th so that's where I will begin.
I expect the Fins to make one or two FA'sthis offseason. The two players I would expect the Fins to target are Antonio Bryant and Karlos Dansby.
We all know how poor our ILB's played last season and that they need to be upgraded. Dansby would be the perfect fit. He is able to play both the run and the pass and his a leader. Not only would he be a major upgrade but he would also be able to mentor any new ILB's we brought in via the draft, unlike "popcorn muscles" who is too worried about a younger guy taking his place than he is about the team concept. Signing Dansby I feel would have the greatest impact on our entire offseason.
The big debate on this board seems to be which WR will the Dolphin's try to bring in this year. Most people are clammoring for either Boldin or Marshall, but I just don't see it. Marshall is going to be highly tendered as a RFA and getting him will either require us giving up either both a 1st and 3rd round pick or just a 1st. With how the FO covets their picks and the holes on the defensive side I just don't see us giving that much up for Marshall. Boldin on the other hand could possibly be had for a 3rd round choice. The problem with Boldin is that he is somewhat injury prone. This is due to the fearlessness in which he plays the game. He is exactly the type of player this staff loves, but he is getting older and will require compensation. Compensation that I feel will be very valuble in this years draft.
This brings me to Antonio Bryant. I basically see him as this FO's #1 option to upgrade our WR's. He does have some knocks against him in that he has only 1 really good season and has had some injury problems. First lets look at his production. He has had to play with the likes of Alex Smith, Byron Leftwhich, Charlie Frye, and Quincy Carter as his QB. Just looking at those names should tell you something about why he didn't produce pro-bowl type numbers. However, look what he did with a capable QB in 2008. He put up his greatest #s grabbing 87 balls for 1200 yards and 7 TD's. Now I don't know if this was just an anomally from the norm, but I am guessing that if you give Bryant a more capable QB (such as Warner)than what he has had in the past his numbers would reflect more on this season that one's in the past. Now some of you will say that he has injury problems and yes he has, but not much more than Boldin. Throughout their careers Boldin has played in 85% of his eligible games while Bryant has played in 83%. Also over the past two seasons Boldin has missed 5 games while Bryant has missed 3. So to say the injury history is a wash is an understatement. With looking at this I just don't see how you can justify trading a 3rd round choice for Bolding when we can basically get the same player without having to give up the pick. I'm also not going to broach the subject of Parcell's and Bryant not getting along as there are numerous reports that their relationship has been mended. I may regret saying this but I definitely expect to see Bryant in a Fins uniform next year and would prefer it to trading a draft choice for Boldin.
Another possible FA option would be signing Antrell Rolle to bolster our secondary, but until he is released I'm not going to worry about it.
Now onto the draft.
With the MLB and WR positions somewhat solidified, (based on the expectations of us signing Dansby and Bryant) it will really give us the opportunity to select the best player abailable in this years draft.
Pick #12. DT Dan Williams. Most people want us to draft either McClain or D. Bryant but I just don't expect them to be around. Some team picking infront of us is going to fall inlove with these guys during the combine and I just don't see them being available. I also don't see us drafting Spiller as he is more of a luxury pick, and hopefully our FO has learned through the drafting of While last year that we can't afford to use our picks on luxury. I am going with Williams over B. Graham and S. Kindle because I just don't see Ferguson coming back next year, thus making NT a bigger need.
Pick #43. OLB Jerry Hughes. With the foundation of our 3-4 solidified in round 1 I see us targeting an OLB/Pass Rushing Specialist in round 2. Hughes may be gone by this time and if he is we could possibly go with Navarro Bowman, Ricky Sapp, or Greg Hardy.
Pick #73. FS Chad Jones. I am not going to pretend I know alot about the safeties who have mid round grades, but I do know that Wilson isn't our teams answer. Clemon's may be but who really knows. I look to see us also possibly target Morgan Burnett, Chad Jones or Nate Allen.
Pick # 107. TE Jimmy Graham. We were quite lacking in production from our TE's last year after a good showing in 08. There are quite a few mid level projected tight ends that will be available for us with this pick, and since we don't have a 5th rounder and most of them will be gone by the 6th I am projecting this is where we will draft a TE. Other possible options could be Ed Dickson, Anthony Pitta, or Anthony Graham.
So there it is let me know what you think.
Free agency begins March 5th so that's where I will begin.
I expect the Fins to make one or two FA'sthis offseason. The two players I would expect the Fins to target are Antonio Bryant and Karlos Dansby.
We all know how poor our ILB's played last season and that they need to be upgraded. Dansby would be the perfect fit. He is able to play both the run and the pass and his a leader. Not only would he be a major upgrade but he would also be able to mentor any new ILB's we brought in via the draft, unlike "popcorn muscles" who is too worried about a younger guy taking his place than he is about the team concept. Signing Dansby I feel would have the greatest impact on our entire offseason.
The big debate on this board seems to be which WR will the Dolphin's try to bring in this year. Most people are clammoring for either Boldin or Marshall, but I just don't see it. Marshall is going to be highly tendered as a RFA and getting him will either require us giving up either both a 1st and 3rd round pick or just a 1st. With how the FO covets their picks and the holes on the defensive side I just don't see us giving that much up for Marshall. Boldin on the other hand could possibly be had for a 3rd round choice. The problem with Boldin is that he is somewhat injury prone. This is due to the fearlessness in which he plays the game. He is exactly the type of player this staff loves, but he is getting older and will require compensation. Compensation that I feel will be very valuble in this years draft.
This brings me to Antonio Bryant. I basically see him as this FO's #1 option to upgrade our WR's. He does have some knocks against him in that he has only 1 really good season and has had some injury problems. First lets look at his production. He has had to play with the likes of Alex Smith, Byron Leftwhich, Charlie Frye, and Quincy Carter as his QB. Just looking at those names should tell you something about why he didn't produce pro-bowl type numbers. However, look what he did with a capable QB in 2008. He put up his greatest #s grabbing 87 balls for 1200 yards and 7 TD's. Now I don't know if this was just an anomally from the norm, but I am guessing that if you give Bryant a more capable QB (such as Warner)than what he has had in the past his numbers would reflect more on this season that one's in the past. Now some of you will say that he has injury problems and yes he has, but not much more than Boldin. Throughout their careers Boldin has played in 85% of his eligible games while Bryant has played in 83%. Also over the past two seasons Boldin has missed 5 games while Bryant has missed 3. So to say the injury history is a wash is an understatement. With looking at this I just don't see how you can justify trading a 3rd round choice for Bolding when we can basically get the same player without having to give up the pick. I'm also not going to broach the subject of Parcell's and Bryant not getting along as there are numerous reports that their relationship has been mended. I may regret saying this but I definitely expect to see Bryant in a Fins uniform next year and would prefer it to trading a draft choice for Boldin.
Another possible FA option would be signing Antrell Rolle to bolster our secondary, but until he is released I'm not going to worry about it.
Now onto the draft.
With the MLB and WR positions somewhat solidified, (based on the expectations of us signing Dansby and Bryant) it will really give us the opportunity to select the best player abailable in this years draft.
Pick #12. DT Dan Williams. Most people want us to draft either McClain or D. Bryant but I just don't expect them to be around. Some team picking infront of us is going to fall inlove with these guys during the combine and I just don't see them being available. I also don't see us drafting Spiller as he is more of a luxury pick, and hopefully our FO has learned through the drafting of While last year that we can't afford to use our picks on luxury. I am going with Williams over B. Graham and S. Kindle because I just don't see Ferguson coming back next year, thus making NT a bigger need.
Pick #43. OLB Jerry Hughes. With the foundation of our 3-4 solidified in round 1 I see us targeting an OLB/Pass Rushing Specialist in round 2. Hughes may be gone by this time and if he is we could possibly go with Navarro Bowman, Ricky Sapp, or Greg Hardy.
Pick #73. FS Chad Jones. I am not going to pretend I know alot about the safeties who have mid round grades, but I do know that Wilson isn't our teams answer. Clemon's may be but who really knows. I look to see us also possibly target Morgan Burnett, Chad Jones or Nate Allen.
Pick # 107. TE Jimmy Graham. We were quite lacking in production from our TE's last year after a good showing in 08. There are quite a few mid level projected tight ends that will be available for us with this pick, and since we don't have a 5th rounder and most of them will be gone by the 6th I am projecting this is where we will draft a TE. Other possible options could be Ed Dickson, Anthony Pitta, or Anthony Graham.
So there it is let me know what you think.
