The madness of signing so many 30+ year old free agents | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

The madness of signing so many 30+ year old free agents

uk_dolfan

uk_dolfan

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The fins just added 32-year-old Josh Sitton, 30-year-old Daniel Kilgore, 32-year-old Danny Amendola and 30-year-old DeMarco Murray is visiting today. Last year they signed Julius Thomas (plays like he is 40), 30-year old Ted Larsen (who promptly got hurt), 31-year-old Lawrence Timmons, 32 year-old William Hayes (got hurt) and 30-year-old Nate Allen (got hurt)

Armando has just made a strong case against injecting so many older players onto a roster that isn't competitive: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article205808749.html

Didn’t they learn from the Lawrence Timmons lesson last season? Timmons, you’ll recall, joined the team at age 31 and with a ton of snaps on his resume. And he played like he was carrying the weight of the world on dead legs in November and December.
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Look, last year neither Matt Moore (33) nor Jay Cutler (34) were available to play 16 games. Jermon Bushrod (33) was done for the season by mid November. Nate Allen (30) was lost the final game in October. Koa Misi (30) never made it onto the field. William Hayes (32) was done for the season by mid November.
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But the Dolphins this offseason have added one exception after another. And now they’re visiting with and interested in signing another one.
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On the other hand:

I talk to some Dolphins folks and I can tell they think I’m off base in believing age should be a major factor when considering free agent signings.
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But since when do the Dolphins know anything about signing good free agents?


I understand the risks, especially at his position, but personally I loved the signing of Sitton. And I can understand signing (he better be cheap!) someone like Murray to add some experience behind a young RB like Drake. Like Armando said, an exception here or there can be beneficial...

But this roster is years away from being competitive, what exactly is the point of investing so many resources in veteran players who just sit on IR for half the season? Surely investing in younger, less proven players that would actually stay on the active roster would make a lot more sense? This is why I get get behind signing Albert Wilson but am baffled by the Danny Amendola deal.

Though obviously to do that you would need a FO that knows how to scout. Sometimes I worry we just sign players our scouts remember from old Madden games.
 
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NBP81 said:
Except for Sitton and Kilgore, they are all going to be backups... And in most cases, they're going to be backing up young players so I have no problem with this...
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Sure, that only leaves 3 injury concerns among our starting OL then, 4 if you Larsen starts. But I do take your point and hell, aside from Amendola I could make a case for all the deals this year, but it isn't just this year is it? The Dolphins absolutely love doing deals like this, this FO genuinely thinks they are outsmarting everyone else when they bring in players like Timmons
 
Im trying to look at it as pairing veterans with young players- remember it was supposed to be about culture change and leadership.

Sitton Kilgore/Tunsil Davis etc
DM / Drake
Amendola/ Wilson and Grant

Match this players on the field also similar to how they installed some veteran coaches to oversee per say the younger staff.

Of course I could be totally wrong and it could turn out that we could just have a bunch of wasted money again spent on aging veterans.
 
DeMarco Murray isn’t just some walking corpse. We’re also not gonna have him come in here and be out bell cow back. Sure he’s on the tail end of his prime years but assumption is this is likely a 1 or 2 year deal

Theres a false narrative that he’s “injury prone” too. Mike malarkey was too blind to see that demarco should be spelling Derrick Henry, not the other way around. So demarco got all that playing time and was still dependable

Don’t underestimate how important a veteran presence like Murray can be. He’s gonna know his assignments no matter what down/situation you stick him w/. He’s gonna block for you and like I said he’s not just an old turd he’s still got some game in him. This doesn’t take you out of drafting a back still either

You can’t have the best of both worlds. You can’t have a roster full of players 27 and under that are all on the up and up and under contract and still be competitive like we all wanna be. A one or two year deal for demarco Murray to be your #2 is a very fine move
 
True, you need both it's just important you don't overpay for the vets in the back end of their careers.
 
Unfortunately, we have needed the free agency to annually rebuild our roster. Most free agents have something that makes them a free agent. Injury history, age (tail-end of careers), over-priced (Landry & Suh), or other off-field concerns. Once we annually build our team with the draft we will not depend on older, injured or over-priced players.
 
Vets and old guys are good if they can play and be a study room standout. Nate Allen is straight garbage and Lawrence Timmons was AWOL. William Hayes was a good signing. Not sure what the point of this thread was.
 
Albert Romano said:
Im trying to look at it as pairing veterans with young players- remember it was supposed to be about culture change and leadership.

Sitton Kilgore/Tunsil Davis etc
DM / Drake
Amendola/ Wilson and Grant

Match this players on the field also similar to how they installed some veteran coaches to oversee per say the younger staff.

Of course I could be totally wrong and it could turn out that we could just have a bunch of wasted money again spent on aging veterans.
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I feel we do this whole "culture change/leadership" thing at least every two years though, im not sure I buy it
 
I think 30 year old Timmons had to play so much because 20 year old McMillion was hurt on the first play of the first preseason game. Injuries can happen to any player at any time.
That's why the NFL has turned into a league of 2 - 3 year contracts and most of them have outs in the first year or two. Having vets sprinkled in throughout the roster is exactly what this team needs.
 
Stitton and Kilgore, along with Albert, will be starters. Albert being the youngest, and will be a stater, and I still wouldn't be shocked if Parker is a draft day trade pawn.

But it certainly makes draft day more interesting. Read a report that Vita Vea (sp) is now a prime pick at 11. Would it annoy me, maybe, as I think LB is a bigger issue. But he would fill the spot of Suh pretty well I think.
 
You can’t have a running back room of say Kenyan Drake, a rookie rb, and another cheap signing or draft pick and then complain mid season when our running backs don’t know their assignments consistently or can’t block on third down. They are young and take time for growth, to help stop the growing pains you sign someone like demarco Murray who excels those things and you don’t gotta poo down your leg on third down in week 16 in the thick of the playoff hunt

This ain’t a frank gore move, he’s not gonna come in here and hold the rock 200 times
 
As far at the Oline, players in their 30s tend to hold up better than say WRs and RBs, but this is one of the reasons I tend to dislike FAs especially when it involves the Dolphins who seem to have a love to be players in the FA market every year. Picking up someone young with upside is understandable, but paying big money to aging players who have been cast off by their teams need to come to an end. This year, the Phins have been careful in filling some of their needs especially on the Oline with older players using short term contracts out of necessity.........I get it, but lets continue to look at the draft even if we have to trade down and pick up additional picks, that's the way to go IMO.
 
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