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My take on the current situation

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by DolphinGreg, Mar 10, 2015.

  1. DolphinGreg

    DolphinGreg Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I've seen several interesting points so far and I love the analysis going on, but I don't see a lot of hard evidence being tossed out. I see very generalized thoughts and few, if any, conclusions which are mostly based on correlations which are either weak in and of themselves or simply derived from small data sets. Well, I'm not going to change any of that because this is all just how I see things and its not at all backed up by any legitimate science. :)

    If I can step back into the role of being a simpleton fan, I'll just say that if this Suh deal happens, its a game changer from where I sit. A few days ago I posted that I didn't think we'd actually see the team make this move and I was very hesitant to bang the table for the guy. Like many of you, I went into this off-season looking forward to the draft and hoping Miami would avoid trying to chase down the next Brandon Albert, Mike Wallace or Brandon Marshall. But over the last 2 days, I've thought about Suh and what his coming to Miami will mean. I also questioned why a franchise that had a solid draft and seems to be excited about its young QB would make such a splash with the signing of the best free agent DT in over a decade.

    I'm not big on the idea that bringing in Suh will immediately make chicken salad out of you know what. You won't find me saying that bringing in Suh is going to make Olivier Vernon a star or turn Koa Misi into Ray Lewis, nor do I think Wake will put up 20 sacks with Suh on the interior. However, it will turn the team's biggest weakness into a major strength and in doing so it will have completely changed the goals of Miami's off-season plan as far as I thought of them. It will make the rest of the off-season (and likely next years' as well) infinitely easier in terms of taking stress off of a great many future acquisitions.

    Once Ellerbe and Wheeler are gone, the defensive picture is going to look a lot clearer. When I look at the defense, I see Jenkins behind Wake and Misi behind Vernon. I see someone like Tripp (very under-rated) or a new draft pick sitting (if the right guy is available) behind Suh and Mitchell. To me, that does not sound like a bad front. Nor does it doesn't sound like one that's full of holes the way ESPN wants to report it is. Particularly when you throw Chris McCain, Derrick Shelby and Dion Jordan in there as a complete bonus to whatever else happens.

    We've got Grimes at CB1 and Davis (another highly under-rated player) at CB2. We've got minimal depth outside of Aikens and Taylor but that's not a gaping hole. It's one that can successfully be filled with continued draftees and a veteran FA depending on the plan. The one hole is FS and that's only because Delmas is injured so that also looks like a small FA contract to me with competition like Michael Thomas and Don Jones waiting in the wings.

    And by the way, we're not rebuilding every position in 1 year so don't let names like Will Davis scare you. If he and a few of the other guys see action (and I think Will Davis is our Day 1 starter), I'm optimistic we won't be crying that Jimmy Wilson isn't here to get more playing time! ;) If we can take the next 2 off-seasons and improve the personnel and general age of the secondary, we'll be fine and that is why this Suh deal makes sense to me.

    ESPN reporters (like Colin Cowherd) are generally not well-versed in teams like the Dolphins who get zero media attention. They're going to report that Miami has 10 major holes and that we just dumped our entire salary cap on 1 player just to make headlines in free agency. Well, I'm sorry to say to those media outlets that report it that way, but that storyline could not be further from the truth. It reflects a poor knowledge of Miami's roster and a woefully abysmal level of trust in young guys like Davis, Taylor, Tripp, Jordan and others. If none of those guys pan out we'll be able to fix things. If 1 or 2 pan out as long-term starters we should all be ecstatic.



    And let me make another point regarding our QB. Does anyone here really think that Ryan Tannehill has any chance of becoming Andrew Luck, Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady? I don't. I think he's a great kid who is exceptionally tough and I look forward to rooting for him for another 10 years but at the same time I know full-well he isn't destined for the Hall of Fame. When you have a Ben Roethlisberger, a Philip Rivers, a Tony Romo, a Joe Flacco or an Eli Manning, you build around them and you build up the defense because you know you don't have a QB that can constantly win you games on his own accord the way Brady and Rodgers can.

    So maybe this move says something about Ryan Tannehill or about how the organization views its chances and wants a more balanced team. In my humble opinion, that's a good thing. I'd rather see this team make big moves that reflect perspective than live in mediocrity pretending any of our players are something they aren't.


    And yes, for anyone who is counting I'm sticking with my prediction that our Dolphins will make the Play-offs in 2015. :)
     
  2. jcliving

    jcliving Active Member

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    I am confident that Suh will improve the defense significantly. He frequently beats double teams destroying the blocking scheme. He consistently disrupts second level blocking, so it lowers the required talent level at LB. His inside rush will disrupt blocking schemes and take pressure of Wake and Vernon. the signing of Shepard gives me confidence that we will have a functional LB core. If we sign a veteran CB for a reasonable price, then I will be happy with the defense.

    Further, I believe the players are excited about adding Suh. This may help the team retain some players for slight discounts. I believe it will make Wallace more receptive to restructuring. Players want to win, and the defense was a major reason the team missed the playoffs.

    My one requirement for offense is a reasonable veteran guard. If the play is a legitimate starter, then I will be happy with free agency. Further, I believe it really allows Hickey to go pure BPA in the draft. That might pay major benefits now and down the road.
     
  3. Pandarilla

    Pandarilla Purist Emeritus

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    I'd sign Wilfork, as well and bring the fat boys home.
     
  4. DolphinGreg

    DolphinGreg Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I agree with all of that and I certainly hope that the two bolded bits are true as well. I think this off-season could actually turn the whole Mike Wallace situation around. In regards to the draft I totally agree that basically BPA is now the way to go.
     
  5. Piston Honda

    Piston Honda Well-Known Member

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    Not sure I agree DG.

    CB, FS, LB, WR are big question marks, Matt Moore was a dependable backup who's now gone, Miller needs a tag team partner, many think we need help at OG also.

    Past Grimes, who's getting up there in age, we have no CBs who've shown they can play well or even stay healthy consistently. Delmas has always been injury prone and is now coming off major surgery, as are Thomas and Davis. Ditto for Albert at LT. LB is still a mess, Jenkins is the only guy I'm confident in as a starter. I expect some young guys to step up, the draft is yet to come but we're going to have young, unproven players or bargain bin vets at several positions in 2015.
     
  6. DolphinGreg

    DolphinGreg Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Well, I see how some folks can look at it that way but in my mind it's pessimistic. LB a mess? I don't see it. How can it be a mess when we need 3 starters and get to chose between Jenkins, Misi, Tripp, Jordan, Sheppard and possibly Jordan? Add to that the potential of drafting someone in round 1 or 2 and I'm not crying.

    I can't just write-off Misi the way some can. To think we can't slide Misi back to OLB and get good production is just cynical in my mind. He and Jenkins could easily be our OLBs and that would be more than fine by me. Now, if Coyle wants to keep Misi at MLB for another season, that's his call and he may very well want to do that. I'm just not sure why so many think of Misi in such a poor light. In my view he battled injury last year and was playing inside for the first time so his 2014 is a scratch. I didn't go into 2014 expecting Misi to be great. It was an experiment which was dirtied by the fact that our D-line played poorly and Misi wasn't healthy.

    People also speak of our RB situation as though we're in trouble. I don't see it. We went through virtually all of 2014 without Moreno and had Miller shouldering most of the load with small-time RBs helping out and Miller had his best year yet. We want to improve the talent behind Miller, we want someone bigger and stronger, but we're certainly not in trouble. We're going to see Damien Williams get more time and we're most likely going to see the team bring in another UDFA. If we draft someone it's a plus but we're not in trouble at that position any more than we're in trouble at TE.

    People also talk about WR like it's a problem. We released Hartline because Landry took all those catches away. We're going into 2015 with Wallace, Landry and Clay on the roster. We're not without talent. We need to find a starting WR to play opposite Wallace but we're hardly in search of the next big-money WR.


    What I'm wondering about is FS because there is no present answer. I will grant you, that may be the biggest issue given that Delmas is injured. I'm fine with Will Davis and Brent Grimes as our starting CBs next season. Taylor is good depth and I'd say Michael Thomas is good depth at Safety but I don't see an obvious starter. Rolle is still a FA so maybe we go there.


    So basically:

    (1) The secondary is now the center of attention. We need to rebuild it. Maybe Davis is the future, maybe not. Grimes and Jones are not getting younger so there's needs across the board but with our Front-7, we aren't attempting to build a secondary that resembles Seattle or New England.

    (2) Our LB-corp has talent and with Wake, Vernon and Suh up front, maybe we'll finally be in a position not to have to ask guys like Misi to be Ray Lewis?

    (3) If Tannehill goes down the season is over. Back-up, schmack-up. If we lose RT17, we might as well be talking about 2016. That's just the case with every team these days.
     
  7. sandcastle

    sandcastle Active Member

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    DG,
    I agree with your main premise. Outside analysts are missing the potential of Suh on the Dolphins' special defensive packages. These packages reduced the number of LB snaps so it eliminates any need to depend on Tripp or another inexperienced LB for significant playing time.

    • 3 safeties - Dolphins had success with the 7 in the box formation as the safeties are very good at run support. With a division of middle of the field passers, I expect this formation to be heavily utilized to shrink the throwing lanes. Misi and Trip can rotate depending on if an opponent is more run or pass-oriented.
    • 5 DL - Suh allows this formation to play wider and more unpredictable. Space should allow for stunts, linemen dropping back into cover, and blitzing up the middle. This may also enable the team to rest Wake and utilize their young linemen. By lining up wide, Jordan and McCain could use their athleticism in the open space; while Olivier and Fede can line over highly-paid tackles and use their ball skills by dropping into passing lanes. Once again, the 2 LBers can be rotated based upon the opponents strengths and weaknesses.

    When the above is included, I think this makes the 4-3 MLB a part time player that the team may fill with late veteran signing or a mid round pick.

    Retaining Clay or finding a TE may be final component of this free agent period before the front office moves on to the draft. If a CB could be drafted their 1st pick and a WR with the 2nd pick, then roles with realistic playing time should be filled. Later draft picks and unsigned veteran free agents would fill any part time or stop gap hole.
     
    DolphinGreg likes this.

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