Barry Jackson: Notes, thoughts on a depressing day for the Dolphins

....It's really not that depressing.

 

Meh, it could still work out in our favor. Gotta get a decent guard, though. I think the real problem is that it's a sellers market. Good year to be a free agent.

Plenty of guys left, would love to see Jake play guard/backup tackle for us.

 

I dont understand the doom and gloom... OV got overpaid, Miller is OK with potential, Grimes was getting outplayed by big receivers all year long and the biggest issue we got... No Cap Space!

They are doing what they can with what they got.... Williams in my opinion is essentially the same as OV, OV should send thank you letters to Suh and Wake for helping him Cash in on that huge check. Williams will benefit the same, Kiko and Maxwell are not a bad pickup for 5 positions in the draft considering we got no money.

Millertime is really the only thing that stings but to be honest i was never to crazy about em.

 

It looks like the Dolphins are in the running for CJ Anderson which would be a pretty good pickup in my opinion. I'm not bummed about Vernon at all considering the money we would have had to spend to keep him and I think the trade with the Eagles could work out well. I'm hoping Hargraves will be there at 13 to go along side Maxwell...

 

Pretty disappointed about Matthews and Miller, haven't seen how much Matthews contract is just yet though.

Mario will be better than Vernon I'm pretty sure at a fraction of the price and Grimes was pretty awful last year, hopefully Maxwell is an improvement.

 

Depressing thought. Only survivor of 2012 draft in Aqua and Coral: Ryan Tannehill. (not a knock on RT, its just that I'd rather have a few more keepers)
Bonus depressing thought. The only non kicking member of the 2013 draft that looks like a keeper is Jelani Jenkins, and if he walks in FA too ...

 

Its not exactly making my pee pee hard either.

 

idk, it seems like theres a specific theme going on with the guys that were getting: they're bigger, stronger, and/or more physical than the guy they are replacing:

Byron Maxwell 6'1, 207 (Brent Grimes 5'10, 181 - I'd say more like 5'8/5'9)
Mario Williams 6'6, 292 (Olivier Vernon 6'2 275)
Isa Abdul-Quddus 6'1, 201 (Michael Thomas 5'11, 201) - and Abdul-Quddus is supposedly a good in the box safety who's tough against the run

now Kiko Alonso, I think is honestly just going to be a nickel LB and special teamer for us. Especially at his price. I could see us drafting a LB still and maybe making a push at another LB left in free agency. But, if you look at the 3 players above I mentioned, those guys are all bigger/stronger or at least more physical than their counterparts. And I watched a decent amount of the Bengals defense last year and that team is phsyical.

The only thing I'm wondering is why Dallas Thomas is still on the roster. We'll save $1,671,000 and Tannehill's life if we cut him.


gonna have to switch up my draft wishlist in my sig though cause it looks pretty obvious that we wont get Jack at 13 and we probably won't take a safety high now.

 

Last year we were the offseason Champions, almost everybody (me included) went crazy about the upcoming season (we will rip Bradys head off, win the divison, Playoffs we are coming - even Superbowl?). The season startet - and was over after a few games.

This years offseason with the loss of a few "homegrown" Players is depressing. But hey, the season can't get worse than last years, right? So I'm pessimistic and try very hard to smile.

 

I agree completely...the defense is significantly better than it was last year. Maxwell will be better than Grimes at this point of his career. He will fit Jospeshs system perfectly. OV was ridiculously overpaid he is not even worth 10 million a year. 17 hahahaha I live in New jersey so I am glad to see the Giants paying that for a slightly above average DE. Mario Williams is better. Kiko is better then all of our linebacks and could be great. Who cares if hes an injury risk we re not even paying him a million. And we got both of those guys moving down only 5 spots. I am not sold on Hargreaves and I think Jack is gone at 8. I wouldn't mind moving down further and picking up a 2nd or 3rd. Havent seen the Matthews contract details bur he was definitely overpaid the Wr class was really weak this year. Miller I like but is not worth that much either. And this safety we signed I think is an absolute steal. If we can get another CB and a couple guards then we are in very good shape. And there is still a lot of free agency and the draft to look forward to. I am very pleased with the mobes so far

 

funny all the overreaction on the board, ridiculous IMO.
- We have huge contracts tied up in Tannehill and Suh, add in a few other big contracts with guys like Mario, Wake, Pouncey and the cap space is way tighter than it has been in previous years. That means we have to take some gambles in FA that we can get people at a lower price. That means we will lose out on some key FAs. Vernon is not a big loss - not at that price. Losing Miller stinks, but I have faith in Ajayi + FA or draft pick. The optimist says we filled our hole at safety, stability at DE with Mario Williams and potentially upgraded at LB with Alonso. Just need some guards and a 3rd DT .

 

It's hard to top last seasons horrible free agency but so far this new guy is trying his best.

 

So we lose Miller and Matthews two of our best offensive players, and Vernon who might have been the best defensive player on the team last year, and some are looking at that like they are good things. Amazing.

 

What was the alternative....pay them the contracts they got?

 

No thanks to making OV the highest paid defensive end in the NFL(and in history)... Higher than JJWatt even. Wtf? The fact that miller took a mere 1 more mil/year for houston means he didnt want to be here more than we just lowballed him. And 6.5mil a year is pretty damn high and risky to give a back who almost never carried more than 20 times a game. Losing Matthews sucks but we are loaded with talent there. I have no clue what some of you are on.

 

Vernon best defensive player of the team? In what alternate reality is this team you speak off? Suh and specially Reshad Jones would like a word with you.

Btw I don't care if Vernon is the second coming of Wake (he surely is not!), at that price he can well **** off! Miller is valid argument but Matthews was always going to go. We have good quality at WR keeping Mathews was always going to be a unnecessary luxury.

I don't know why people would be particularly pissed at letting go of these players. Not keeping your own drafted sucks, but under these circumstances only Miller is a loss, and RB production can be replaced fairly easily.

 

I feel we can replace Miller production with Ajayi and another back paired with him like CJ Anderson or Ronnie Hilliman and losing Matthews really doesn't hurt us as the trio of Parker, Landry, and Stills is nothing to sneeze at. Also, I would say Suh or Jones was our best defensive player on the team last year.

 

Im pretty happy with how things went. Never cared much for OV, I'm utterly shocked by the Giants contract. Seeing who gets more sacks, him or mario williams, will be fun. My money's def on mario.

**** grimes too. Maxwell is a much bigger corner which makes sense with marshall and Watkins here.

Kiko is a wildcard. Might get nothing out of him, but we might get the best lb we have too.

Miller is a bummer, but dems the breaks. I wouldn't feel comfortable giving a rb 7 mill +, and I'm glad we didn't.

I've seen Lions fans upset over not keeping Abdul. Saw an article saying he was the best kept secret in Free agency. So that's neat.

This feels good,imo. We've done the big splashes to no avail. It's different this year.

 

As of right now we are unquestionably a weaker team than last year.
But, let's wait to see how it plays out.

 

Stills caught less than 50%(42%) of the passes thrown to him, that's a lot of wasted passes, while Matthews caught 70% of the passes thrown to him, Matthews had 43 catches and 660 yds in 10 games, along with 4 TDs, while Stills had 27 catches and 440 yds with 3 TDs in 16 games, and Stills was targeted more times.

Stills should not be starting.

 

The thing about Grimes is this....Even with his flaws, he was our best CB. Our CB pool is worse now then before and it was terrible before. He would have a great #2.
Kiko and Maxwell NEED to show up and play all year to make this an even sawap. Something they haven't been able to do.

 

Never was comparing Stills to Matthews. Just stating our WR group is still good even with losing Matthews.

 

I think that remains to be seen, and I was pointing out that Stills is not a good starter.

 

Firstly, Stills is on his rookie contract and therefore cheap at this point. Secondly, while I would have liked them to keep Miller none of the other FA we lost were worth their contract (or certainly not what we could afford to pay to keep them). This ridiculous overreaction to the first day of free agency is laughable considering we went out last year and got the most expensive free agent on the market and all anyone did is complain that the contract was too high and how we're doomed and we overpaid.

 

We're doomed no matter what we do. You got to figure that out.

 

I think with Parker starting to becoming that number 1 WR we would all love to have in the NFL, Stills being our deep threat that blows the top off of defenses, and Landry being old reliable I think that's at least a decent group of WRs. I never insinuated that Stills is a good starter... I think he can fit a role on that can still make our WR group good imo.

 

OMG are you serious? Still has done nothing at all. Landry is Bess and Hartline 2.0. Parker might be a stud down the road, but right now he is not; not to mention he has been injured the past 3 years he has played football.

 

What. In. The. Holy. ****. Are. You. Talking. About??!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Which are more important typically? DE, DT, or S's? DE is typically more important. Obviously Vernon was high in demand for some reason. And I also said might have been....so reading comprehension is important. Don't get me wrong I never would have paid him what he was paid, however I would have offered both he and Miller something last year to keep them

 

you forgot to point out that the people that complained were so far correct.

 

Absolutely right. There are still plenty of FAs available but it does feel like some of our positions of need are already thinning out (eg. CB, OG)

 

We are weaker at RB and 4th WR, as of right now.

We are the same at CB, as of right now.

We are better at LB, S, and DE, as of right now.

We also no longer have the Miko distraction and we have more cap space.

 

http://www.nbcsports.com/video/dolphins-move-backwards-free-agent-signings they seem to think the defense went backwards

 

this thread is starting to turn into a good advertisement for club level. Time to re-up.

 

DE is debatable. Would rather have Williams at $8m than OV at $17m (!!), but I'd really have liked Shelby to be kept and developed.

Matthews was our 2nd leading receiver last year, not 4th.

 

That's fair on DE.

Matthews was slated to be our 4th WR this year though.

 

Ah ok. He's definitely replaceable - just a shame to see another homegrown player leave.

 

I feel that way about Miller.

 

Yep. They could have cut Misi and Cameron Jordan, who both were rather useless last season and had the money to easily pay both Matthews and Miller.

Right now it looks like the Dolphins are attempting to ensure they have the first pick in the 2017 draft. I know you feel differently, but so far this off season couldn't have gone worse for the Dolphins.

The only good thing which might come out of this off season is it might not take Ross several years before he realizes Tannebaum is a disaster as the head of football operations. Hopefully after the 2016 season is complete and the Dolphins once again finish below 500, Ross will finally hire someone at the top who knows what he is doing.