I've seen some talk about who Miami should sign from other teams, but who should they resign from their own team? https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/miami-dolphins/
I think Nik Needham is a guy who is probably underappreciated. I don't see him as a guy who would break the bank either. I get that Noah I. is a first rounder and should have that job locked down, and the team might cringe at the the thought of paying Nik. I think they may be worrying about creating a conflict of interests for themselves. On one hand, you wanna play that first rounder, but on the other hand, you wanna pay the guy who you just signed. To me, I will care about where a player was draft up until the draft weekend. After that, it seriously means very little to me.
Karras, Biegel, Haack, Roberts, Needham and Godchaux. I love Fitz but as many think he may be a distraction for the team and I seriously doubt he wants to stay in Miami as a backup.
Yep, after the draft is over your status means nothing aside from how hard it might be to get rid of your contract if needed. My list of musts would be Karras, Roberts, Haack, Needham and Washington. I'm not sold on Needham as more than a 4th or spot 3rd option but also I'm not exactly sold on Noah either.
Needham has enough film that he'll land on a roster somewhere. But I'm pretty confident Miami locks him down for 2-3M a year as a veteran role player in that defense.
Nick Needham is an Exclusive Rights Free Agent. He will play for his contract or not play at all. Miami might lock him up for a better contract out of loyalty and respect.
I think I would be willing to let Karras and Godchaux both walk. I think both are okay players. Do I think that I could draft players that could immediately play at their level? Probably. I think that Corey Linsley would be a slam dunk signing to replace Karras and would well be worth the money.
Needham, Perry, and Munson will be back as they're ERFA. Godchaux is gone w/ the emergence of Raekwon Davis. Biegel suffered an Achilles injury and Roberts an ACL; neither will be back. Karras was a 1-year 'prove-it' guy, and he did well, but he's going to be too expensive. We got good value out of the deal, time to move on and draft the position. Breida & Washington are out as neither showed much when the starting position was often wide-open. Davenport & Pankey likely gone, too. Guys I'd keep an eye on: Fitzpatrick Grugier-Hill Haack Frazier Ford Hollins Rudock Personally, of that group, I'd only be interested in re-signing Fitz and Haack. Grugier-Hill, Frazier, and Hollins are outstanding ST guys, but are they worth retaining for that purpose? They don't offer a lot in the way of offense/defense. Ford has been pretty disappointing--if he can't get it done with a bare-bones WR group, he certainly won't get it done next year w/ greater competition. Rudock is whatever. The team has been grooming Reid Sinnett, presumably for that QB2/3 role that Rudock has been occupying recently. If they feel he's ready, Rudock is done.
If Miami is going to move forward with Tua, then Fitzpatrick has to be off this team. Sign a cheap vet like Griffin. I would keep Roberts. No one else on that list pops out and says "oh yeah we need to re-sign that guy".
Or draft a Creed Humphrey or Landon Dickerson in round 2. Godchaux would be ok to bring back on a good deal, I wouldn't pay above average though, he's not a game-changer.
There is something to be said about cohesiveness on the line. It seems we swap many players out and a new coach every year. If we could get a set core of players and back ups that aren't new all the time, I think it would help in the running game.
Here is the the thing with TexanPhinatic's idea. Essentially, you would have a foundation of strong, young talent that would be consistent going forward. I think there is some wisdom in word "build" in the phrase "build consistency."
I would offer Haack a reasonable offer, but if the price goes up, I'd just let him walk and look at UDFA guys. He's already one of the better paid punters in the league. Let Godchaux go out and see if someone offers him a big deal. If they don't, then offer him a one year small contract to come back and go after free agency a year from now. No big contract or guarantee. The rest of the UDFA guys, I would just let walk, and if their agent wants to come back to the team with a low offer, I'd listen to some of them. I'd rather just replace them with rookies in most cases.
With the cap going down I think were going to be able to find some depth this year on the open market. And with so many in cap hell, their price is going to have to be reasonable.
Agreed. There should be some great opportunity to bring in some above-average players at a very reasonable cap hit...and I believe Grier/Flo can pull it off. There are very few dudes on that list I'd bring back lol...sad. The two I'd be in the biggest hurry to remove would be Fitz (sorry pops...you're not in future plans, it is time), and I'm all in on Creed Humphrey, so Karras would be a hard pass (his market value > his value to me). Would keep Needham/Hollins/Godchaux if cheap...that's about it. Haack if he's willing to take a hit...with the cap dropping as hard as it will be, teams are gonna need to squeeze a lot of blood out of the turnips.
I don't think Davon Godchaux coming back makes sense for either him or the Dolphins. He's not a great scheme fit, he's a 1-gap or spill player. Miami wants their guys to two-gap, and he isn't really big and strong enough to make it work and isn't the same player he was in the Wide-9. He really should probably end up going to one of the million Pete Carroll-based schemes w/ dedicated run down 1-techniques, or a spill-based 4-3 over teams. If you re-signed him you'd be paying a veteran contract to be your 4th guy in what was a very effective 3-man rotation, and I think in terms of roster math it makes way more sense to have a developmental guy there. Vince Biegel was fun, but I think you're probably better off looking for a guy to groom to eventually replace Kyle Van Noy. You've got your two starters w/ him and AVG at OLB, and unless you want the latter to start getting some more ILB/Flex reps there probably isn't a big need for Biegel's particular role.
I truly have never understood the fascination with Vince Biegel. The guy will be 28 years old next season, and has only played in parts of three NFL seasons, appearing in 38 games. He's also coming off of a serious injury. I would much rather move on with a much younger, much cheaper player with a much higher upside.