Excited because in just over a month, training camp will start, and there will be daily news about one of my favorite hobbies, the Miami Dolphins. Specifically about the team, there is much to be excited about and a few things that are concerning. Obviously, the two things that jump out are Tannehill and Minkah, so I won't spend too much time on either. Just to say, if something happens to either, our Offense and Defense will look much like it did in 2017. But other than that, I am excited about: Overall team speed. When I look at the offense, I see 5 -6 guys that can score from anywhere on the field, any time they touch the ball. And in this particular subset, I am not even counting Ballage, who can also run. Third Down efficiency. I think Gesicki and Amendola are going to really help us on third down...as will Gore who is great at pass protection. WR Talent. Our 4 and 5 WR sets don't have a weak link. Albert Wilson is as versatile as any player we have, and there are big plays to be had from several of these guys. Imagining Jakeem Grant with reliable hands is a tempting thought. I love the way he grinds. But beyond the starters, I see talent. I think we are going to probably have 2-3 of these guys on the practice squad. TE Talent. Do we keep 4 TEs? That's tough. I like Derby, and Gray. In any case, I think we have guys that can play and the TE position will make plays for us, beyond Gesicki. RB room. I think any one of these three guys can line up, create mismatches, and make big plays. I love having Frank Gore in that room, showing these guys how to work day to day, be a pro, show up on Sunday and ball. I think that's a very positive influence. DE Talent. Excited about Quinn and the improvement of Charles Harris. I am predicting big things for both of those guys. And if they both produce, that is only going to make Wake more productive. We have to consider Wake's age, and keep him as fresh as possible. Will Hayes and Andre Branch are both hard workers that can give us quality snaps. What I am uncertain about: OLine-This is one of the most enigmatic units on the team. I am legitimately worried about the Tackles, although they have the talent to be elite players. I am confident about the Guards, although both are new to those roles. Completely unsure of what we have at Center. I like Kilgore, but we'll have to see. I do like the approach of naming starters allowing them to get comfortable as a unit, and plug one guy in at a time just in case injuries occur. I hope they get some time in the regular season to gel, and don't just pull them all after one series. Linebacker-While I am optimistic about the talent--Love the profile of guys that can run--I liked Stephone Anthony very much as a rookie, I am bullish on Chase Allen, but I am concerned about the experience. Raekwon and Baker have never played a down in this league. But their talent is off the charts. I don't think Baker is just a pass defender...being effective in the run game is as much about disruption as it is strength a POA. Speed is one of the most disrupting elements in the run game. If you can get to a position before the blocker, you don't have to make the tackle, you just have change the play. But we'll see. Cornerback--I think this unit has the talent to be elite. We saw two different XH's last year. We need the one from the end of last year. Hopefully that's the player that shows up. Cordrea has the ability, we'll see how he develops. I like Lippett if he's healthy. I hope they keep BMac in the slot...love the way he competes there. Beyond that, we have some young guys that I like. I like Tory McTyer...thought he was good when I saw him last year. Like the film of Cornell Armstrong and I like his attitude. Jalen Davis has been turning some heads apparently, so that's a good thing. Great talent, many question marks. Biggest Concerns: Kicker--What a bummer it will be if we are in position to win a game and need a 35 yard FG and shank the damn thing. Hopefully these two kids will compete well and the one who comes out on top will be money from inside 45 yards. I don't really care about the 55 yarders. The good news is I like the ST coach very much. Backup QB--If we have to go there at all, I am concerned. I think its 100% Fales, unless he gets hurt. I think he could turn out to be efficient, but everything else would have to be in place. If he plays and the Oline can protect him, he has far more weapons this year than last. I like the coaching staff. I think we've got some teachers on the Oline, WR, and DB. Young players need to be developed. At Dline, he's more of a motivator. Love the attitude of Shawn Jefferson and as I've said, I really like Darren Rizzi. I am glad we have Tennessee as the first game and at home (Hopefully no storms!!!) Let's bust those guys in the mouth, take care of business vs the Jets and Oakland, and go up to Foxboro 3-0. We can do this!
Great assessment. We need to be pleasantly surprised by at least 2 of the 3 "uncertain" positions for us to really compete this year. If we get that, I think we surprise everybody and come out strong.
I think the two most mission criticals are tannehill by a land slide and then raekwon McMillan (especially if hes pegged to play 3 downs as the mike) after that I'd probably go off the reservation a little bit and say xavien howard. he's played like a high 2 to date if we can get low or even solid 1 in 18 that would be huge. you guys will see that tempo assuming we can stick with it on o can offset skill talent on offense and the o line. tannehill and tempo are the 2 keys to 2018's ceiling. after that it's lb attrition.
I could see 4 TEs on the roster. Gase wants to spread the ball around and running multiple TE sets would help with that.
I’m nervous about the players on the linebacking unit besides Raekwon.. My hope is Reaqwon being good and responsible is going to take a load off kiko to act on his instincts instead of covering up for other players responsibilities.. Not sure what baker is going to be.. Feel good about the secondary, I think with Reshad, Cordrea and X you need a player that can make the calls and line up players..in comes Minkah who can do it all.. desperately needed that skillset, mind and body for this defense. Really excited about Drake, when you lead the NFL in rushing and some important metrics that show talent level, and you have the worst rated run blocking line In Front of you there’s real reasons to be excited, especially with an upgraded and more experienced cohesive unit. Sitton next to Tunsil is plus plus.. Kilgore is plus... Davis is plus and James, are all plus relative to last year if players stay healthy.. Burke must allow X and CT to play a lot of man to man, it’s what their good at. I like our receivers, I think as a group they can get the job done for an offense. I think Parker’s maturity level has a different curve then most.. he should be maturing a little at this point in life so I expect a better version. I’m excited to see Quinn and Wake coming off the edges..with Kwon Jones And Minkah cleaning everything up, all good tacklers.
I'm excited about the coaching changes, having Tannehill back, and some of the roster moves. I think we've got a lot that's good. I'm nervous about Tannehill's knee, there's just no way of knowing how it will hold up to real game stress and getting hit - that's just how injuries work. I'm also concerned about the complexity of Gase's system. There has been a lot of talk about missed assignments, plays not being run right and the complexity of Gase's playbook. This could all come down to guys not being willing to put the time in and the coaches not quite getting right or doing their jobs (remember that calamity last season?). However, honestly, I have to admit to having some nagging doubts at the back of my mind that Gase's ideas might be great ideas, but if they can't translate to the real-world field, they're not great ideas. I'm looking forward to these fears being put to bed.
Good write up, and I agree with a lot of it. #1, RT17 has to be healthy. It really looks like he is, so I'm not worried that we'll be in a bad place or left in the lurch Week 1 like we were last season. Injuries can happen to any player at any time, but I'm not any more worried about RT than I am anyone else. Like many other NFL teams, we'll be up **** creek if he goes out for the season. It is what it is. I do think that the team is more likely than not to keep four tight ends. Both because of overall depth there, and because two of the four are rookies. Although I'm very high on our rookies, going into the season with only one player there who has any NFL experience is also a little risky. Plus, factor in that Gray is our defacto #3 QB on game day. I think that its very possible that we roll with only three running backs on the 53, and keep a couple of rookies on the practice squad. Unless someone comes out of nowhere, the drop off from Ballard to whoever would be the #4 RB is pretty huge. Not so with the TE group, where after Gesicki, the other three look to be pretty close. Third down can't be any worse. We were dead last in the league last season at 31.7%. League average was about 39%. We were also 4th from the bottom in drives ending with a score, at 25.8%, when league average was around 35%. Turnover percentage was also 4th from the bottom, at 15.3%, when league average was about 11%. Average plays per drive, yards per drive, time per drive and points per drive were all near the bottom. While none of these numbers were great in 2016, almost every one of them suffered a big drop in 2017, instead of the improvement that we had expected with a healthy Tannehill. Given his return, an increase to at least league average in these categories will be huge for the team's scoring totals and time of possession, which of course helps out the rest of the team in every way too. Being forced to desperately come back in the 4th quarter game after game is not healthy, regardless of whether the game ends in a win or not. I'm also concerned at kicker. I don't care how good of a coach Rizzi is, or what success he's had in the past taking a UDFA guy and making him our kicker. I understand that the offer Parkey got from Chicago was big, but I really wish that we had tried harder to extend him before he hit the market. Otherwise, we could have signed someone else with some proven experience. Going into another season just hoping the kid we signed will pan out gives me heartburn. At the end of the day, pending major injuries, I think that we'll be in a fairly large group of teams fighting for the two Wild Card spots in the AFC. At this point, roughly half of our games this coming season are against teams which are about as good as the Fins, and about an even number against teams clearly better than us or who appear to be worse. As usual, how the club does in those "tossup" games will determine where we finish between six and ten wins.
As I've said for awhile now, this entire season hinges on Tannehill just like it did last year. If he delivers then I'm not worried about rookie growing pains or any other factor...he just needs to put his big boy pants on and go to work. If I had to name other concerns though, kicker would definitely be at the top of the list and Suh's replacement would be a close 2nd. Teams will definitely try to run it up the gut on us to see if we can stop it, and I honestly don't know if we can with so many young faces. To me that's the match-up to watch in preseason. But if Tannehill shows up like I think he will, then the rest doesn't matter. We are so packed with weapons that it could be a very high scoring season, and I love that reports from camp say that Tannehill's biggest improvement is how he slides in the pocket and handles pressure (AKA, watching Jay Cutler do it beautifully for 16 games- that little slide was the one thing we could always count on from him). The line is a concern like others mentioned but I don't think we need an elite unit for RT to do his thing- they just need to be on par with last season. If they overachieve (which I think they will), that's a massive bonus.
Jay Cutler was better at making Jay Cutler face. That is my list of things Cutler did better than Tannehill last season. That includes moving in the pocket
Really? I loved that little slide step action he had to buy an extra half-second to throw. From what I hear, RT has been doing it in the practices and it really seems to benefit him (deciding to run, throw, whatever). I think he's going to be a BEAST this season!
I think you're likely to see Jerome Baker "redshirt" this year behind Stephone Anthony. I think Alonso, McMillan, and Anthony will start. Allen and Baker will spell. Battle for the #2 sam (or will) will bear itself out in camp. Just a rough prediction.
Yep Gray, derby, gesicki, and smythe Derby most expendable cause the ask is the most similar to gesicki.
My number one uncertainty is DT. I like the guys we have, but we lost a big piece in Suh. That's one area where we clearly have less talent than last year. Number 2 is DE. Wake is a god, but eventually father time will catch up. Will it be this year? Quinn is a talent, but hasn't been as good the last couple of years. Harris contributed well for a rookie, but needs to take that next step. I have TE on my "uncertain" list. I like Gesicki's potential, but he is still a rookie and we haven't even seen him in pads against pros yet. Same with Smythe. I could make an argument that with how little we've gotten out of TE the last few years, we can't be worse. Agreed on kicker. We simply don't know what we have there. But unless we have a complete train wreck we should be at least competent. But I have OL on my "excited about" list. I see this as the most improved unit (other than QB). I also have LB on this side of the list. My argument is similar to TE in that it can't be worse, but the difference is that I have more confidence in the talent level. Raekwon has that adjustment year out of the way. He didn't play in the regular season, but IMO a lot, if not most, of the adjustment difficulties for rookies are related to studying, practice, learning a new system and the players and coaches at a new job. That parts out of the way. I'm also confident that Anthony and to a lesser extent Baker can be at least good 4th and 5th LBs. Additionally, I'm excited about the secondary. Although I see Minkah as a homerun, my focus here is on the probable increased use of dime. I saw our inability to do this last year as a weakness that teams could exploit at will. It made our LBs and our defense overall look much worse than it was talent-wise. They were just asking players to do things at a disadvantage far too often.
