Man.. I was so worried when we signed Tannenbaum because of his past record with the Jets, but he has been one of the most pleasant surprises this offseason. No longer can you claim FA's don't want to play for Miami.

 

Wait til the show " ballers" gets in good circulation...everyone will wanna come here....for the wrong reasons.

 

This is where Tannenbaum is showing the most tangible value over previous general managers, IMO. Ndamukong Suh (for better or worse, hopefully better but you never know with that monstrous contract balancing the scales) is only in Miami because of Tannenbaum. Kenny Stills is in Miami because Tannenbaum impulsively followed up a hot rumor that Jimmy Graham was available in trade, didn't dicker around over the phone and gained a valuable rapport with the other side that translated into other new business. Now it turns out that Greg Jennings is only in Miami because of Tannenbaum, that he wasn't serious about joining the Dolphins if it were just Philbin and Hickey.

There have been some losses to go with the wins. Clearly something fishy happened with Charles Clay and I don't think they really expected to lose him at all, let alone to a division rival. They ended up having to accept distressed asset pricing on Mike Wallace.

But all in all I look at the veteran additions and I like them, good crew:

QB Josh Freeman
WR Kenny Stills
WR Greg Jennings
TE Jordan Cameron
OG Jeff Linkenbach
OG Jacques McClendon
OC J.D. Walton
DT Ndamukong Suh
DT C.J. Mosley
LB Spencer Paysinger
CB Brice McCain

There will be some throwaways in there, but for the most part they're at throwaway pricing.

 

You think there was something fishy? I don't know, but I look at the contract Clay got ($38 mil over 5 years with $24.5 guaranteed), and I personally think that's overvaluing the guy. Dolphins had the opportunity to match any offer, so I don't know if there was anything more to losing Clay than money.

 

The Dolphins missed on their evaluation of what his market would be. They had options that would have prevented what happened, but they just plain missed. It happens. Nobody's perfect.

 

Well, whether by luck or design, if not signing Clay allows us to sign Mathis, I'll be real happy. I think Cameron + Mathis is better for us than Cameron + Clay or Clay + Mathis.

Something else about Tannenbaum though.. He's certainly been able to attract big name FA's here when we're willing to dole out $$, but we haven't yet seen him get big name FA for below market price, which I know usually happens when a guy just wants to win a SB or gives the team a big home-town discount for the end of their career. We'll see if Tannenbaum can manage that with FA's and/or some of the older stars on this team next year.

 

To be fair, Rex Ryan is a crazy person. Clay wasn't getting that contract anywhere else.

 

Miami gave virtually the same salary ($7.5 million per year versus $7.6 million per year) to Jordan Cameron who, in addition to having three concussions, made his name in a completely different system and only caught for 400 yards and 2 TDs last year.

The Charles Clay contract wasn't insane at all. It was going rate. Miami didn't think he'd have the interest and so they pinched a few pennies, got burned for it.

 

Well Cameron is on a 2 yr deal while Clay is on a 5. Bills with a much bigger risk IMO.

 

To be fair Cameron's contract has enough escape clauses to make Houdini proud. The only way he gets paid the money is if he is back to his pro bowl self.