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Free Agency Plan ....

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by PHINANALYST, Feb 15, 2013.

  1. PHINANALYST

    PHINANALYST Well-Known Member

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    As always there are two ways to go with Free Agency ... you can find 'stop gap' players -- or solve a problem for as long as possible.

    Priority #1

    Find a compliment to WAKE, right now ... not developmental -- means FA. Cliff Avril, Michael Johnson or Dwight Freeney. Not cheap (Freeney is likey the cheapest and only for 2-3 years max). Avril and Johnson are young and will be good for a long time. Avril would bring the most immediate impact. Freeney might be a 'coach' and role model.

    Priority #2

    Improve WR Corps .... as much as some don't want Hartline around -- I don't believe the FO is going to let him walk (if for no other reason, than Tanny has established a relationship with him). Sign Bowe or Jennings.

    Priority #3

    Fix the OL .... assume Long is walking at the thought of 10+ MIL, so grab Andre Smith from CIN at ~ 8 MIL .... assuming Martin does his due diligence this offseason and gets stronger .... we'll have pretty good young Ts ... and if Yeatman shows anything promising -- let him work a year at G.

    Priority #4

    Improve CB ... assume we let Smith walk .... he percieved worth is much more than his proven value ... i'd rather pay much less for a guy like Keenan Lewis or Chris Houston for 1 of our CBs ...

    Priority #5

    Keep our S tandem together and bring back Chris Clemons ....

    Priority #6

    Get a TE ... sign Dustin Keller for 2-3 years

    I think we can get Clemons, Keller and Houston 'fairly' cheaply ... but chunk would have to come out for Avril, Bowe, Hartline and Smith .... this increases our talent level across the offense and defense, AND gives us great flexibility in the draft .....

    of this bunch, i would sacrifice Hartline and Freeney for Avril to make the #s work .... and it just makes it mandatory that we choose DE ,WR and CB early.
     
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  2. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Here is what I suspect happens:

    Cb: Marshall and Patterson are retained and we draft a Cb in the 4th rd or so
    Wr: We don't sign any names, just cannot see Ireland bringing himself to pay big $$$ for a Wr
    Te: I think we add someone from the Finley/Keller/Davis pool, especially Davis (works cheap)
    OL: Here I expect we sign a mid level RT, Schwarz, maybe Bushrod, Rhinehart or Levitre

    I know folks are hyped up for FA, just some of the noises coming from Davie:

    -Ross:"No team was ever really built on free agency"
    -Ross: "You have to have a long term vision"
    -Davie: "Even with the stadium referendum, we are not going to overpay for FA"

    IE: be prepared to see the same old, guys visit, don't sign, and that is the second wave. The premium players go in the first 2 days, we rarely ever sign anyone that quickly b/c Ireland simply won't pay them.
     
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  3. PHINANALYST

    PHINANALYST Well-Known Member

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    I'll use Flacco as the example here ... it has taken him how long to develop into what he is now ... Flacco was able to live off a elite defense up to this year.

    I'll 'guess' that it will take Tanny at least this year and next to get to a level that we all 'expect' him to show this year. We need to provide a defense that can take the pressure off of him and surround him with an OL and some weapons, but focusing on offensive weapons and expecting playoffs would not be a smart course of action.
     
  4. PHINANALYST

    PHINANALYST Well-Known Member

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    Pads .... i don't disagree ... but if FA is done right - it can be built long term. This is a key year that could set this franchise up for the next 3-5 years and beyond - if done correctly.

    I just look at it as .... with a few key position improvements, we could easily be looking at the playoffs this year and beyond -- with a chance to have some serious talent to develop to ensure long term success. The draft is a crap shoot to a point -- so if you can get some proven elite, young talent ... you'd be crazy not to (as long as the $$ makes sense).

    of course we haven't seen this done since the internet ....
     
  5. Bpk

    Bpk Premium Member Luxury Box

    Great post, Phin. Here are my thoughts on your options...

    Priority #1

    Find a compliment to WAKE, right now ... not developmental -- means FA. Cliff Avril, Michael Johnson or Dwight Freeney. Not cheap (Freeney is likey the cheapest and only for 2-3 years max). Avril and Johnson are young and will be good for a long time. Avril would bring the most immediate impact. Freeney might be a 'coach' and role model.
    - Disagree that a guy has to take several years to come in and be better than Odrick or Olivier Vernon specifically as a pass rusher... yes on run downs maybe there is more developmental stuff (1stt downs, recognizing screens, traps, counters.. hand technique, leverage etc).. but you can get a guy like COrey Lemonier in round three as a rush specialist and just unleash him on 3rd downs from that end spot. I don't spend on an aging guy. If we WERE going to go this route I would have preferred John Abraham a year ago.

    Priority #2

    Improve WR Corps .... as much as some don't want Hartline around -- I don't believe the FO is going to let him walk (if for no other reason, than Tanny has established a relationship with him). Sign Bowe or Jennings.
    - If we keep Hartline, then we have to get a veteran FA WR. Why? Because drafting a rookie is useless. This staff is not about to start a rookie over Bess or Hartline, so we would start the year with Bess and Hartline as our base WR's... AGAIN. Only a Jennings can come in and bump Bess to permanent slot guy. That's why I'd be fine with keeping Hartline, bringing in Jennings and Stedman Bailey to work his way into the lineup when Hartline or Jennings gets inevitably dinged up over the season.


    Priority #3

    Fix the OL .... assume Long is walking at the thought of 10+ MIL, so grab Andre Smith from CIN at ~ 8 MIL .... assuming Martin does his due diligence this offseason and gets stronger .... we'll have pretty good young Ts ... and if Yeatman shows anything promising -- let him work a year at G.
    - I don;t assume Jake is gone. From a talent perspective that's a bad loss to have to fill. It may happen, but I hope not or we have to spend another pick just to stay level at that position... though not really because a bad Jake Long is still better than a good Jon Martin, so if Jake leaves the left tackle spot is weaker and I think Tannehill ends up with a concussion from a blindside hit.

    Priority #4

    Improve CB ... assume we let Smith walk .... he percieved worth is much more than his proven value ... i'd rather pay much less for a guy like Keenan Lewis or Chris Houston for 1 of our CBs ...
    - Man, we are in a bad position having so many starters who could leave. I like Chris Houston. If we could get him, I'd feel okay... IF we improve the pass rush too.


    Priority #5

    Keep our S tandem together and bring back Chris Clemons ....
    - Not ideal, but too many other holes to address, so yeah, I do this and maybe use my 5th round pick on a Safety prospect to develop behind him (or just plan to play Marshall there).

    Priority #6

    Get a TE ... sign Dustin Keller for 2-3 years
    - If we let Fasano go, then sure. Sign Keller AND draft a TE in the 3rd or 4th round.


    With the number of holes we may have to fill in FA and the draft, we will be lucky to tread water, talent-wise from last season to this season.

    The only way I see us improving is internal roster development. Do guys take a step up:

    Tannehill
    Lamar Miller
    Jon Martin
    Rishard Matthews
    Olivier Vernon
     
  6. Bpk

    Bpk Premium Member Luxury Box

    I agree on the CB likelihood, Pads.

    At WR, if Jeff doesn't get a FA we may be fackerooed, since he has never (even going back to Dallas, which is not technically him, but he was involved) gone higher than the 4th round for a WR except ONCE on Pat Turner.. and that hardly encouraged him to do it again. [By the way, if Jeff passes on all the great DEs and second round WRs in the draft this year to take players I hate, I'm going to see if there's a team whose management I actually believe in and see if I can't make them my 'second' team to follow]

    At TE, we need a FA AND to draft someone in the 3rd/4th (where the talent lies... maybe even late second).

    OL - I have NO clue what happens here. Are you assuming Long leaves and Martin is our LT? If so, Devlin will be seeing snaps this year.
     
  7. Bpk

    Bpk Premium Member Luxury Box

    That's funny, because a growing segment of Dolphins fans feel the same way about Dolphins tickets.
     
  8. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Look at it this way, retain Hartline, add someone say like Hixon, and draft some pieces.

    Agree with the fact Ireland cannot seem to find guys who make plays, however, he cannot operate like that he pretty much has to trust his process, that is how systems tend to work.

    Do think we pay for a Te, do think we pay for a RT, BUT, "experts" constantly say RT and RG are "the easiest to play"

    So even then, he may not.

    It's like dolfans are being held hostage to Ireland.
     
  9. mroz

    mroz Fix the OL Club Member

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    paid Marshall over 10 Mil per… what is to prevent him form paying 6 or 7 for Jennings?
     
  10. seabass0795

    seabass0795 New Member

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    How about signing the Bennett brothers? Michael and Martellus have decided to go to a team as a package deal. It fills our needs at DE and TE
     
  11. PHINANALYST

    PHINANALYST Well-Known Member

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    BPK, i do think that outside of the small handfull of DEs (that will likely be gone before #12) are capable of stepping right in and being an impact player. IMO, that is what we need opposite WAKE, an impact player. Folks can argue about the $$$ and maybe paying more than WAKE, but I can only imagine how much that one improvement makes our Defense (who wasn't too shabby without it last year). I don't view Vernon as being that guy THIS year ... maybe in 2 years with a lot of work. Even if he works out with WAKE, he can't duplicate himself in less than 6 months. Shelby isn't gonna be that guy ... and we know that Odrick is not a 4-3 end.

    I left the draft out of this thread, but most believe that Ansah, Mingo and Jordan all have great potential, but are unlikely to bring what a guy like Avril will immediately. And by the way, even if we got Avril or say Freeney, I'd still be all for picking up any of those 3 in RD1.

    I think Vernon in the short term might be better suited for LB .... would love to team him up with WAKE or Avril from either end .... or even blitz up the middle. Lot's of ways to use him.

    I agree the likelihood is that Hartline and Jennings are the WRs we walk away with from FA .... lot's of reasons and connections with Jennings - I no druthers TBH, but if I had to choose I would take Bowe.

    Now why would i sign Smith in lieu of Long .... easy ... Smith is only 26 ... has overcome his 'foot challenges' and is still getting better. My only drawback on him is his weight ... he seems a little heavy for what we are looking for in an OL. I do believe Martin is going to be a lot better than what he showed at LT -- which was much better than he showed at RT. So, I don't want him at RT ... I'd rather put him at G than RT. If Yeatman turns out to be a stud, this is all moot -- but none of knows where he is at right now today, and I'd rather not have to draft a T in the first couple rounds of this draft.

    I'd like to sign Keller and Draft a TE in RD2 along with a WR and CB depending on how it all shakes out. We could trade back into RD2 with our 2 3d Round picks -- or by trading down in the 1st ..... lots of ways to potentially get a 3d RD2 pick .....

    The only reason why I didn't go G with a FA signing, is that it doesn't solve our T situation .... and it 'should' be easier to fill G than T ... so if I'm going to sink >8 MIL a year on an OL - I'd prefer that it be on a T at this point.

    I also do think that Tanny, Miller, Vernon, Matthews and Martin are all going to improve this year .... I also think Gray is going to show some great talent as well ... that's why I'm not very worried about RB as some other are. I am not sold that Vernon or Matthews will earn starting berths .... but a nice solid year of growth and contributions would be great. We can also pray that Egnew shows something during OTAs ...
     

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