Ireland is in bargain mode, did we do enough in FA already?

Don't let reality get in the way of a good perception. .. lol

 

like i said, it's slim pickings.

how much is a lot of money? the corner market was flooded this year, we couldn't sign one? I don't think any corner signed for more than 5 mil/yr, that's not big money, we gave that to sorry *** Richard Marshall to play nickel-back last year when we had way less cap space available than we did this year. EJ Biggers is 25, born and raised in Miami, he's better than what we have now, he just signed for 1 year, 1.5 mil a couple days ago...we couldn't give him that?

LOL, oh well if he has faith in 2 nickel CBs, then I guess everything is fine! in fact, what am I even worried about? I should never question his player evaluation, he's excelled there, we've been reaping the rewards for years.

 

Corner is a question mark but I wouldnt put it as a major question mark right now.
There is no question the pass rush is going t be better just with the players we have already added (and the pass rush from last year was not bad).
Free safety is not a question at all. Clemons is a good FS (not great) and you know exactly what you are getting with him.
RB depth is needed

Every team has holes.. even super bowl winning teams have holes.

 

You really think Biggers is better then Patterson? really?

 

Yes, Biggers is better. And it's a crime not to offer him 2M.

 

Patterson is better playing in the slot. That's what his role will be this coming season. He's been in the top 10 the past two seasons for coverage in the slot when it comes to coverage snaps per reception.

 

I think it's kind of humorous that right after our initial signings people were complaining that we needed to "build through the draft not sign tons of free agents" and now people think we haven't done enough yet....and I don't mean Padre.

 

You can never satisfy a true Dolphins fan…. Ireland could Sign Marino, Duper and Clayton in their prime for a dollar each and someone would be complaining about something.

 

out of the guys on our roster who would start for you right now?

 

At corner? Hopefully no one.

 

thanks… that was insightful

 

According to Gregg Rosenthal the 3 losers in FA all reside in the AFC East. Every team with the exception of New England, of course.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000152913/article/afc-free-agency-winners-and-losers

Can't say he doesn't have a point imo. The only area I see Miami has improved per free agency is WR. Miami got a few years younger at LB, but better?

I certainly don't see how losing Bush, Long and Smith is an improvement. Miami's success this season will likely depend upon inexperienced players being able to step in and contribute at a high level.

 

Sorry, just can't agree with any of that (Rosenthal).

For one, free agency isn't over yet. But beyond that, they have gotten a LOT better at their most glaring weakness (WR). And better at TE. I mean Jaron Mastrud can block. Meanwhile we hadn't found a pass catching TE in damn near a decade.

Difference of opinion at LB. He basically doesn't advocate paying non 3-4 outside LBs. But Ireland absolutely targeted good pass rushing LBs.

As for Jake Long, he wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire the past couple of years. And Sean Smith....come on.

One man's opinion. But to say we 'lost FA'....I would not agree right now.

- sent from my Android device via Tapatalk -

 

Marshall and Patterson. When we went to nickel, I'd put Carroll on the boundary and move Patterson to the slot.

 

He is a free agent. We didn't tender him as a RFA.

 

Ten To fifteen years ago, rosenthal would be right. Losing bush, long, and smith and only widely improving wr would have been a disaster in 1999, but in 2013, wrs are more important than rbs, cbs, and even tackles. This is a passing league, we got way better at that. Our run game will suffer (maybe) but our pass game will greatly improve.

 

And yet Bush, Long and Smith would clearly be our #1 player at their respective position. Then there is the leadership both Bush and Long provided the team. Incognito hardly seemed excited about losing Long via FA and playing next to Martin. Bush's work ethic was phenomenal. Hard to imagine Miller and Martin are in their class in production or leadership. Although I like Miller.

Not sure how much of an improvement Keller is at TE. He certainly isn't the blocker Fasano is and when looking at their careers:
Keller: 241 catches, 412 targets, 2,876 yards, 11.9 ypc, 6.98 ypt, 17 TD
Fasano: 205 catches, 333 targets, 2,373 yards, 11.6 ypc, 7.13 ypt, 24 TD

It isn't as if we just signed Tony Gonzalez in his prime. Can Miami even afford to let Keller run routes with Martin at LT?

If Bush, Long, Smith played on different teams last year and Miami signed them via FA I wonder how many fans would already be crowning Miami Super Bowl champions? Definitely not addition by subtraction for those players imo.

 

Losing Bush is not a big deal. Miller is going to make everyone forget that Bush ever wore a Fins uniform (except Padre)
Long has been living off his name for the last two years. If you see any kind of improvement from Martin you will get at least what you got from Long. Long really was a lower middle of the pack LT last year. He certainly was not worth 20 mil guaranteed money.
Smith was another of the Miami over rated players that needed to go.

I realize that we have holes at the OL and CB position with Long (Martin moving to the left side will cause a hole on the right side) and Smith leaving but IMO both of those guys are replaceable. Lastly, what Ireland did with the LB corps was replace a couple of aging vets with guys that are coming into their prime. You cant see the forest through the tree if you dont think those were good move by the Dolphins not only for this season BUT for the next 3 or 4. Those were not only a short BUT long terms moves.

 

If those 3 guys were FAs from other teams, why would Miami need to sign Bush for $16.0M if we have high hopes for Lamar Miller who has higher upside as an actual running back, and why would we sign Sean Smith if he doesn't fit the desired system, and why would we enter an expensive bidding war on an injury prone tackle when we drafted one in the 2nd round last year and might be able to sign Winston for nearly half the cost?

What does Keller & Fasano's stat comparison look like if you add in 2 more years worth of projected stats for Keller considering he was drafted 2 years after Fasano?
Keller: 349 catches, 4156 yards, 25 TD
Fasano: 205 catches, 2,373 yards, 24 TD (added: Fasano had a 7 TD season in '08 with a quality QB throwing passes where as Keller's only had garbage at QB)

 

Funny thing is he was talking about Wheeler signing a big contract when it was DE that got the better money… strikes me as someone that was writing something to write something. And I am sorry, if you think you are going to replace Wes with Danny...

 

What did Bush and Long leadership get us? let me answer for you… nothing.

The guys that are replacing Bush and Long are already on the roster. And as I said before any improvement from Martin and you will get more then you got from Long who was horrible last couple year. Incognito's best four games last year? you guessed it… When Martin was playing next to him. Dont confuse Richies friendship with Long with how they played next to each other. The question shouldnt be can the Fins run Keller into routes with Martin at LT, it should be why did the Dolphins front office think so little of Long that they let him walk?

If Long, Bush and Smith were our free agent signings I would be pissed off right about now.

 

lol well if this isn't the definition of wishful thinking I don't know what is. Martin would need to improve immensely just to get to the level of Jake Long's down years.

 

Wishful thinking or not Long was horrible last year. Is it wishful thinking that a rookie can improve from one year to another? Martins issues dont revolve around the fact he doesnt have talent. His problems revolved around the fact he needed to get stronger. If he is working out this off season I would expect him to take care of most of that issue. I really dont know what you guys were looking at when you watched Long over the past two season… I really dont… Long at the level he played at last year is going to be EASY to replace.

 

yes I do, but even if they were equal players, Biggers is cheaper and younger. honestly this is starting to remind me of how we handled the WR situation last year, we traded away our best one, didn't sign anybody worth a damn in FA to replace him because Ireland had faith in his guys (Gates, Roberto Wallace, Moore, Julius Pruitt etc), and clearly that unit was nowhere near good enough.

this CB situation smells the same, we trade away our best CB, we can't effectively replace him because we dealt him so close to the start of the season, so we have to wait for next year's FA period, which has now come along and what happens? we cheapen up and don't sign anybody, and now the markets dried up. but hey if Ireland has trust in Patterson, Marshall, and Carroll, then I guess we don't need to sign an established corner, no matter how dirt cheap they might be available for.

hopefully Ireland doesn't wait until the 6th round to take a CB while "sticking to his board" again lol...

 

Garner does not have the ability to stay on the field so relying on him will be damning especially since you're already relying/hoping Martin and Jerry can step up.

 

Scott Wright understands

http://www.draftcountdown.com/sub/Mock-Draft-A.php

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Brent Grimes is still unsigned, yes? If he is, then I wouldn't say that the market on corners has dried up yet.

 

That is a potential signing that worries me. If Grimes would have been a 4.3 guy to start with I wouldn't worry tto much, but he was never fast to begin with and he is small.

Now with the achilles injury if he has lost a step it might be too much to overcome, ya know, being small and slow.

There were a few healthy,young, up and coming CB's that may have been on their way to becoming elite; they are off the market now. We could have had any one of them for around 6.5 mil per year, maybe even less.

 

Ya, I've heard this stuff before and sounds cool to say it but most of it isn't factual.

I don't have a problem with the LB moves. I would have waited another year to replace Burnett and Dansby so the dead cap money wouldn't be so severe but, he has done worse stuff.

Just one example of what I mean: Lot's of articles, mostly national media have been saying that younger faster thing. Younger yes, faster no. Both Dansby and Burnett are 4.5 guys, which really helped them in coverage. Dansby was a former WR.

Ellerbe is a 4.63 and Wheeler isn't a speed guy at all.. I'm concerned about both these guys in coverage.

They are the kind of statements that people use to hype something or try to solidify a point they are trying to make and most people don't notice or care.

I'm just saying, change was definitely coming. Those contracts were bad, but Burnett and Dansby were not bad, they were both good LB's, just overpaid, but definitely not slow.

Now, we have to worry about overpaying these two guys as well. There is a chance that both these guys are going to have to come off the field on obvious passing downs, and the money they are getting is way too much for LB's who aren't every down guys.

I really hope the Dolphins acquire a big safety and another LB who is excellent in coverage. I'm pushing for S Cooper Taylor with a 4th round pick, and a LB in FA or the draft who can shutdown RB's,athletic TE's and the Gronk's of the league.

They did have OLB Thomas Howard in for a visit earlier. He used to be good in coverage. He blew out his knee last year. Probably doesn't have that 4.4 speed anymore.

Trusnik,Spitler,Kaddu.........Wow, we just have to get better in our LB depth.

 

If we want to talk the Safety position, the guy that I would really like to see us nab in one of the middle rounds is Shamarko Thomas. Despite his little stumble at the combine, he knocked it out of the park there. He lacks prototypical size, but he plays a lot larger than he is. He's a big hitter, he's strong, and he's got speed. Definitely worth a look in the third round to sure up our DB's

 

He is a great prospect for sure, but the way are things are looking, the Dolphins are going to be drafting for need in the early rounds and we have our starting safeties.

This is why I really hate Ireland's philosophy. Every year he takes us into the draft with gaping holes so that we have draft certain positions.

Why he wants to start rookies, I don't know. The better teams rarely have rookies starting full time; maybe their 1st rounders, but seldom do playoff teams have a lot rookies being their every down players.

If he wasn't so bad at drafting we would have had a more complete roster and been able to draft BPA.

How can this guy not see the advantages in drafting BPA????????????

Now, if a guy like Shamarko slides to our first pick in the 3rd, we probably can't draft him because we have to draft a RG because Ireland kept low balling Brandon Moore and somebody else signed him to a 2 year deal.

So we have to try to listen to our coach talk up Kelcie McCray instead of expecting the addition of a guy like Shamarko.

I hate this crap!

Sorry, please forgive me, this GM is driving me nuts.

 

You can't please everyone. Personally I think you are being too negative. You say every year the team goes into FA with gaping holes. Those holes arnt as numerous as they have been. We have basically 3 positions to fill. T, CB, DE. Other positions could do with tweaking but we are looking better than we have for a long time. Get the Draft out of the way before we all hit the negative, panic, same old same old button.

 

You do realize that John Jerry's PBE last season was as good as Brandon Moore's? I really doubt we're going to have to pass on The Shark because we need a certain RG at that point in the draft.

 

Basically what's left in free agency are question marks. Most of what's left is either old, damaged goods or a combination of both. It's best to just wait for the draft and fill out the roster.

 

who did Moore sign with?

 

no one, its bull****

 

Does anyone disagree that we needed Wallace?
Ireland didn't lowball him.
Wheeler? Ellerbee? Keller?
Maybe the players getting lowballed now SHOULD be lowballed.

 

I'm watching the Superbowl again right now. (Looking at Ellerbe) watching how the 49ers rush their LBers in the A gaps. If Wheeler and Ellerbe can do that better than Dansby,Burnett and Misi then we have instant upgrade. Fact. We get a DE opposite of Wake then we will give OL protection problems. Our weakness isn't front 7. CB at #1 pick looking more likely.

 

I almost laughed at that… really really close...