The Miami Herald is reporting that the Dolphins have had extensive talks with safety Chris Clemons with hopes of resigning him. It also said that Clemons and Hartline are the two Dolphins the team wants back. Bad news on both accounts in my opinion
I feel that free agency and the draft offers the Dolphins a major upgrade the secondary. Kenny Vaccaro out of Texas would be a great selection for the Dolphins at 12. I like Hartline but love the scenario of signing both Mike Wallace and Greg Jennings. We sign Hartline and that is unlikely. Signing Jennings would only cost $2 million more than extending Hartline
That's an unlikely scenario though, if we resign those 2 and get a Jennings. All of a sudden our range at 12 grows substantially.
Well, wonder if Starks priced himself out of the market for us? Clemons is what he is, a solid, but blue collar Safety
We have a lot of resources this offseason... but unfortunately they arent limited. We arent going to be able to go big at every position... and I expect a lot of the resources to go toward the offensive side of the ball. So, they are going to have to get some non-splash type deals done. As long as he comes relatively cheap, allowing us to make bigger splashes elsewhere (offensive playmakers in particular)... I like it.
For what they "should" cost, Hartline and Clemmons seem like the easiest decisions to bring back. Clemmons is a very solid safety and IMO is still ascending. Letting him go means adding another need. As long as Hartline isn't trying to break the bank, he is also an easy re-sign. He has great chemistry with Tannehill and is also ascending. Put another good WR or two around him and he could become an even better player when he's not the focal point of the defensive secondary. I would really like to see them re-sign Starks as well. I don't think he's going to cost too much and he's just a good player who is still in his prime.
I believe the resigning of Hartline, at a reasonable price, will be an unsung triumph of this offseason. Say what you will about his touchdown production ( I don't think anybody believes it was enough), but a 1000-yard season is nothing to sneeze at. He obviously is benefiting from this offensive scheme and there is nothing wrong with having him back here. Too many people want to talk about a #1 receiver, #2 receiver, etc. etc. but it is way better to have balance and depth all the way down the position chart and I believe that Hartline offers stability in that respect. EDIT: sports 24/7 just basically said what I wanted to. Damn you guy!
I understand that he may not fit your profile player, but when are we gonna give the kid some credit, he keeps being put down every year yet he still beats his competition...every year..maybe it's time to reconsider the eval.
The bold is conjecture on your part. You're operating on an assumption, not a fact. I'm also not very big on filling a hole created with the #12 overall pick in the draft when we ourselves would be creating that hole by not opening our checkbooks to the tune of a meager 2.5-3 mil per year for 3/4 years.
I'd toss in Reggie B and Starks to a lesser extent But still, it is not that I dislike Clemons, it is more we need Int's and FF's, not "solid steady always in position" as much
He had two redzone int's..100 tackles..and has some speed, were talking about holes here and prioritizing those holes, not necessariliy what we'd prefer out of a safety
Lack of big plays from the back 7 of this defense is truely sickening. In the NFL the difference between wins and losses is so minuscule that we could have seriously been a playoff team with some big plays from that cast. Case in point ours"swing" game this year. @ Indy.
Have to fill holes that keep you from winning first. Clemons can be upgraded, but he's not a hole. Let's get playoff worthy before we worry about improving solid spots. We need play makers on offense 10 fold more than play makers on defense.
The two are related FinD, the number of TO's created inside the opponents 35 yd line was miniscule, that lack robbed the offense of chances at easy points.
We need to be able to score points first. Our defense is playoff caliber. Our offense is not. TOs are nice, but we don't even have the firepower to capitalize on easy scoring situations right now.
You're both correct. This team needs playmakers on both sides of the ball, because our GM has done a terrible job thus far of finding us some. Life is about second chances, so Jeff here it is. It's Christmas for Ireland.
You are right about our offense, but you are seriously underestimating the value of turnovers in the NFL.
Re-sign Starks as well and I would be happy with just bringing back those three. I would like to keep smith also but he looks to be demanding too much.
I think you're misinterpreting what he said, to be honest. He has a point. You should not be trying to upgrade positions where we are merely "adequate" or "average" at the expense of using assets that can be used to replace players that are "below average", i.e., multiple positions on our offense.
I know what he meant and that part I agree with. But turnovers are normally the commonest of denominators in regards to Wins and Losses you will find.
Chris Clemons had 2 Int's and was highly rated by PFF for not letting up big plays (which is JUST as big as making them folks). Our safeties are fine. It's our CB's that need work.
I'm fine bringing back Clemons for the right price, he's a guy who works hard and actually wants to be here, unlike Long and Smith who feel entitled to the largest contract possible (I don't blame them, but let someone else overpay). Its already been covered, but we have a limited amount of ammo this offseason and unless you're willing to bank on getting 4/5 of our top picks to be quality rookie starters, we're gonna need "solid" players like Clemons on the roster.
First time in history both teams in the SB scored 30+. We have to be able to hit hard on offense and Clemons is a guy who is solid enough to keep us out of a devastating situation IMO. It's an offensive game and every extra resource spent on defense has an opportunity cost on the side of the ball that is most important to winning.
... I understand that, but again, his comment is a bit beyond that logic. It's a bit more condense than the simple logic of "turnovers = wins!"
TO correlate to winning when an offense and defense are at least average or better. Our offense is below average right now. Fix that first. Get it to average. All the TO's in the world won't do us any good if we don't have the firepower to capitalize on them.
Given what the Dolphins think of Jared Odrick at defensive tackle, which may be a well founded fear actually, and given they're losing Tony McDaniel...I just don't know why they wouldn't focus on keeping Randy Starks. They're just begging for teams like the New England Patriots to put them in nickel all day again and exploit our defensive line's shortcomings like they did in Week 17. To be honest at this point I'm not sure defensive tackle shouldn't be one of the top priorities on the board if we lose Randy Starks. I've been assuming all this time that Jared Odrick would just slide into Starks place, and that might be something they do, but whether they do it or not I never stopped to think whether it would be the right thing to do and I don't think it would be. This frickin team, man.
I feel the same way. out of all free agent players, i picked 2 out of all our free agents that are must resigns. That being sean smith, randy starks. reasons are, i think sean turned into a solid corner for us, hes not flashy and doesnt get much ints but a 6'4 good developed cover corner isnt easy to find. On starks, i know ppl are crazy about cameron wake but in my opinion starks is our most valuable defender, starks makes big plays, the true motor behind this defense. If we lose these 2 players, this team can kiss that good defense good bye. Odrick - inconsistent, not a playmaker. For a 1st round pick, huge dissappointement, not rdy to label a bust yet but im gettin there. Long - Injury prone, confidence is shot, and way to expensive. We can find his replacement in the draft and use his money to go after wallace. A player we need badly. Hartline- Release immediatly, easily replaceable, too slow, 1 td all year speaks for itself. Reggie- im very surprised we are going to let him go, would have liked to keep reggie on the team but behind miller and with a different role, same one sproles has with new orleans.
Yep, if they had any clue, or balls, they'd stick Odie at DT outright Instead our evil Ginger of course botches this one as well, oh, and the latest FA news included this little gem: "..the club was quick to add the stadium referendum will not mean they will overspend in free agency" My god..just what a bunch of clown noses run this team
Don't hold ya breath. Wannabet they will simply plug Richard Marshall in for SS24 when he leaves? Oh, so you think we will pony up for a Bowe or Wallace? All I'm saying is..get ready..and trust your first instinct. Last yr when Marshall was given away, Ireland plantatively said: "Just wait until you see what the team looks like!" Uhm, and we did, no more leaves on the trust tree
For Odrick to be effective at DT I think the decision has to be made now. You get him on a bulk up program, have him put on fifteen pounds of muscle over the next four months, then condition it throughout June, July. If they wait until after the draft... Then decide Odrick will need to play DT, and ask him to put on size in two months, with no time for conditioning at the new size before camp.. Not only will he be too small to hold up and anchor this season against the run, but he'll put on a measly five pounds and end up sluggish and low stamina because he won't be used to playing with the weight. Tis is one of those overlooked aspects of having a PLAN for a team. Teams who don't plan well, have last minute decisions that put players in a position to fail, not succeed. The reason I think Odrick needs a bit more size and strength is that Starks has more leverage inside at 6-3 than the taller 6-5 Odrick. A 320lb Odrick would, IMO, play with the same leverage as a 305 lb Starks.
All I know is, I can't wait for Ross to sell the team... Preferably to an owner who is friendly with the Maras and Tisches, then have Marc Ross come in as GM with an overall vision, and actual ability to assess talent well enough to accumulate it rather than barely fill holes.
Welp, way I see it is Ireland got 1 yr for drafting Tannehill, we had the same results we have had, with his guys. He screws the pooch this offseason, and gets cute and carries cap forward, I'll take pilot training classes and fly the "Fireland" Plane myself Spotlights on you Jeffy.