Laconfora says " it's highly unlikely"we sign Reggie.

People knocking Bush -

I'm assuming Reggie will accept a 2 year/8 million dollar deal. I'd be stunned if he said no. He's talked a big game about loving Miami and this team, and we should love him. He's been the perfect professional. Will another team offer him more? Possibly. But maybe it's Green Bay? Maybe it's only for 2 years 10 million? Maybe Reggie takes the hometown discount.

I don't see Miami offering him a huge contract but if they don't shoot him a REASONABLE deal after all he's done, then I have a bitter taste in my mouth. Yes, it's a business, but we're in the business of keeping our locker room happy.

 

The plethora of picks and free agent money comes with a plethora of liabilities.

QB Matt Moore - Significant Backup
RB Reggie Bush - Starter
WR Brian Hartline - Starter
WR Brandon Marshall - Starter
TE Anthony Fasano - Starter
LT Jake Long - Starter
DT Randy Starks - Starter
DE Jason Taylor - Significant Rotator
CB Sean Smith - Starter
CB Vontae Davis - Starter
FS Chris Clemons - Starter

Those are a LOT of holes to fill, even if you do have approximately $43 million to play around with ($46 million to start with, plus $3.5 million saved by cutting Richard Marshall, minus $6.5 million for rookies). Even if you do have an extra late 2nd and extra late 3rd round pick.

You're essentially replacing about half your football team in one off season. So I disagree with this notion that Jeff Ireland has "executed" for Miami to be in this supposedly enviable position of having to replace half their team in one off season. This is the position you most often find a team in that has just fired all of their coaches and front office and must go in for a full re-build. Great. Grande. Another re-build. Another 5 year plan. Awesome.

 

Youre a GM. You invested high picks in Thomas and a valuable pick in Miller. You traded UP to get both players meaning you burned multiple assets to get those players. They're young, fresh legs, and play a non-premium position. This is actually encouraging that Ireland has a clue about how to build a team. You dont give running backs a 3rd contract unless theyre great. Adrian Peterson...yeah he can get a 3rd contract from. Ditto someone like a LeSean McCoy. Everyone else, you invest and develop players at the position. There's a reason people say "you can find running backs". Not saying guys like Alfred Morris pop up every year but guys like Bryce Brown and Andre Brown do. Its also encouraging because it MAY be a sign Ireland is learning a thing or two about asset allocation and how to dispense money positionally.

No reason to believe Miller or Thomas can't at least do what Bush did at a fraction of the cost.

 

All I see there is a bunch of mediocrity and questions aside from Starks. Starks, Long (at like 6-7M) Fasano (as a backup) and maybe Clemons (on a short deal in the 2Year/5M range) are all id want back.

I liked Vontae and Marshall but I understand why theyre gone and I can support what Philbin is doing cleaning out any "controversial" players. Taylor we lost to retirement, cant help that. Vernon hopefully can replace some or most of that. I already expressed confidence that Miller and Thomas will be just fine. Frankly the only players we'll have to replace are Smith (who we should look to upgrade over with players that play ball the better), Long (with Martin and find a RT), and Hartline (wallace/Bowe preferably but maybe Jennings)

 

Eschewing Reggie Bush in favor of Daniel Thomas...is a sign that Ireland knows how to build a team?

That's a head scratcher. At some point every now and then we have to step back from our own bull crap and realize what we just said.

 

Where is our 3rd rounder? Isn't it roughly the 16th pick of the 3rd round?

This biggest confusion here is that people are genuinely talking like Daniel Thomas will be on this team next year. What the hell have you guys seen from him that garners this type of confidence? How did anything he did last season give you reason to jettison REGGIE BUSH, our best playmaker (from a rather depleted roster, yes) with such extreme prejudice? I don't understand it.

The moment I saw anyone say "Well we've got Daniel Thomas so that has to say Reggie is expend*" my brain shuts off and I immediately dismiss.

This team needs playmakers. We can likely lock one up for relatively cheap. He is dangerous all over the field, especially as a punt returner, 3rd down back, and a backup RB. Do we have Jonas Gray? Yes, we do. He's got potential. Lamar Miller? Potential. Reggie Bush? Back to back 1000 yard seasons, after bad injuries that were freak occurrences

 

Losing the forest for the trees. Bad decisions have led to unhappy decisions, which emphasize all the better the bad decisions which got us to this point.

Do you think the Dolphins are in an ENVIABLE situation of having to replace half the team in one off season? Is there so much talent that gets passed back and forth in free agency, and does drafting have such a history of immediate and long term success, that this is an enviable position we're in?

 

I hope we keep Thomas until camp for competition, but I would not rely on him. Bring in Chris Ivory, let Thomas compete with Gray. If he loses out, so be it.

 

I forget, I thought it was a late pick. Aren't Chicago picking late?

 

Richard Marshall, Brandon Marshall, Gibril Wilson, Jake Grove, Ernest Wilford, Ryan Clark, Calvin Pace, etc.

 

Is Chris Ivory going to cost picks?

 

Sunk costs.

Thomas is only fresh because he keeps getting injured.

His trade up for Thomas doesn't instill any confidence in me to believe he knows how to build a team. He's not clueless. I just think he hasn't made the right decisions.

Any other GM, sure. But we're talking about a guy who drafted Jalen Parmele and Lex Hilliard. Traded up for Daniel Thomas who hasn't shown much other than being a 3-4 ypc guy, when healthy. There is nothing to make me believe he can be a fraction of Bush.

Bush plus Miller - I'm very happy. Miller plus Thomas and I'm looking at it skeptically, but hopeful.

 

If its me youre referring to, I said it was Miller mainly in two other posts in this thread. If you think Reggie Bush is special you invest 6-7M a year in him and Ill bet you that Miller or Thomas (whoever we plug in) will out-gain Reggie at a fraction of the cost. I dont even think Reggie gets a starting job unless its as a change of pace back with maybe the Jets or someone like that where he can be "lightning" to Shonn Greene's "thunder"

 

Didn't see that he was a RFA until now. That hurts.

 

Who is giving Reggie Bush $6 or $7 million a year?

 

The assumption is that we are walking from everyone..

QB Matt Moore - Significant Backup - Backup QB can be replaced and should be. Do you think we should pay him starter money as a backup?
RB Reggie Bush - Starter - May or may not be replaced. Playmaker but inconsistent. We can fill the void with players on our roster.
WR Brian Hartline - Starter - Will probably be upgraded through FA, or re-signed. Either way position will be filled.
WR Brandon Marshall - Starter - Has been gone for a year already. Irrelevant to this years discussion. Bad trade, I think everyone agrees. Didn't fit Philbin's character, long term, big picture it was the right decision.
TE Anthony Fasano - Starter - Clay has done well and will continue to grow.Area of concern but we can draft another TE in the early rounds to compete.
LT Jake Long - Starter - Painful to lose, but even more painful to overpay, given injury history and inconsistent two years.
DT Randy Starks - Starter - Will probably re-sign.
DE Jason Taylor - Significant Rotator - Irrelevant. Retired
CB Sean Smith - Starter - Painful to lose as we need depth at CB. But would you pay him elite corner money if you were the GM of the team?
CB Vontae Davis - Starter - Defense did fine without him. Again, would you take a 2nd round pick knowing what you know now about his performance last season and how we performed?
FS Chris Clemons - We can upgrade the position. We already have a keeper in Reshard Jones.

 

I'm good with Lamar Miller getting 15+ carries per game, but I don't feel the same about Daniel Thomas sharing that load with him. If we can't retain Reggie we're going to have to go out and find a vet to tag along with Miller in the backfield because wasting a high pick on a tailback is not ideal. Hopefully Jonas Grey is healthy and shows something.

 

If he takes a 2-year deal it's going to be lucrative. If he settles for anything less than $5-6 million per season please believe it's going to be long term. He's got to protect himself as well. That's the business aspect of it all. This is most likely his final shot at a nice contract. Despite not being utilized properly, honestly, whether we want to give it to him or not he's earned it. And he's going to get it.

 

Not only are the Dolphins obligated to spend 99% of the cap, but it's not even Ross' money that's being spent.

 

Oh I don't think he deserves $6-7 million. Hell no. A little more than half of that and I'd be happy.

I just don't think we have depth behind him, that's all. Bush + Miller makes me feel confident, with Thomas being the Break in case of Emergency.

But if he's wanting $6-7M then I let him walk.

 

First off, you're again choosing to get weeded up in the specific players without looking at it from a broad perspective. CAN YOU ideally replace these 11 players in one off season? Yes or no. Is it realistic? Yes or no.

Brandon Marshall, Vontae Davis and Jason Taylor are highly relevant because Miami NEVER replaced them. The holes remain.

As for your hindsight related to Vontae Davis I'd rather have Vontae than the late-2nd round pick, and ACTUALLY knowing how he performed in 2012 (as in, having watched and studied the tape with my own eyes) only makes me more sure of that.

 

They aren't obligated to spend 99%. The league as a whole needs to spend 99%. IIRC, individual teams need to spend 90%?

 

They aren't obligated to spend 99%. The league as a whole needs to spend 99%. IIRC, individual teams need to spend 90%?

 

Oh and none of that takes into account the additional liabilities that the Dolphins may create of their own volition. They're good at that.

 

I actually can't find anything that tells me the 3rd round. You'd know better than I would, man! I know that Chicago picks #20 in the 1st, but I think Miami's pick is somewhere around #17-#18 in the 3rd round. I thought, at least.

 

I think we have #77 and #82 so maybe you're right about it being more of a middle pick.

 

The 99% rule doesn't apply anymore. It applied I believe to the first year of the new CBA or perhaps the first two years. The 99% gets gradually declined to 90% and I think 2013 may be the first year that 90% is the rule. But the percentages themselves are longer term averages so it's more tricky than that.

 

I don't get it. IF the league as a whole needs to spend 99%, how is any team going to get away with 90%? That would mean if 16 teams spent 100%, then the other 16 can spend 98%, if I am understanding you correctly.

 

Yeah that's what he's doing

 

So its better to further those bad decisions by making more mistakes with many of the same players? Yes I think Miami is in the enviable position to have a ton of picks and cap space to retool their team and upgrade positions that need upgrading. We know its a make or break year for JI but I see groundwork laid and I see this as an offseason to do most of the serious legwork for the team.

Respectfully disagree but lets hope Im right if thats what happens and we go Miller-Thomas-Gray

What do you think hes getting on the open market? Hes getting at least 5M per imo probably closer to 6M but due to the weak draft for backs early on I could see it getting to 7M.

 

So maybe it's time to admit what everyone failed to admit, or denied.

We started rebuilding last year. You know it and anyone with half a brain knows it. When we traded VD, Marshall and opted to start Tannehill, the rebuild was on.

Why would this churning of the roster upset you, knowing that a rebuild is typically a 2-3 year process?

When was the last time this team was rebuilt and truly gutted, with a sh*t ton of draft picks?

I mean we can always go back to the WannSpiel regime by trading away draft picks weekly and trying to plug holes on the roster when a hurricane was blowing through.

 

If Reggie were running behind an offensive line that doesn't blow, meaning he had holes and creases to explode through, he'd be a back to reckon with. He had nowhere to go this season.

 

Because teams can carry over. So theoretically a team can spend 110% of this year's salary cap.

The salary floor certainly is going to force some teams to spend. But there is still about 10% wiggle room, which is still an improvement.

 

He's the type of runningback who also misses a good amount of holes. I absolutely hated watching him turn a 1-3 yard gains into a 1-2 yard losses.

 

Has the salary cap ever stopped any team ever? Remember the Redskins a few years ago

 

I've also seen him turn 1 yard runs into 20 yard TD's. Dude smells the end zone. I'd like to keep him if we can afford it. If not, ok, we're not losing CJ Spiller here.

 

Reggie Bush is a young 28. He doesn't have the mileage of a 28 year old back. Reggie Bush is a proven playmaker on the ground and in the air. He's also strong leader. Miller looks promising, but he's not proven. DT sucks. And Gray is all potential at this point.


Something like 4 years, money up front for 2 years and the final 2 years very little guarantees. He gets paid, we keep our leader/playmaker, and we assume little risk at the back end in case of injury or decline. Kind of ridiculous not to make a deal if something like that is possible. Which is why I believe it will. All off-season we've heard the Miami FO talk about playmakers. I can't imagine we're going to willingly give one up unless Reggie wants a ridiculous deal (which we have no evidence of for or against). Which in that case, he can walk.

 

Exactly, he reminds me of Chris Johnson except not as good. It was a good move to get Reggie for peanuts but it would a tremendous waste to overpay him to stay.

 

its absolutely no problem to let some of these players that are FA leave, heck for me we could get rid of all of them, we have the resources to try to get better players in here, this core that is on the way out had their chances to show it on the field for quiet some time and if you look at it....did they really deliver....?....is this what you want on the field sunday ? players who don't take away the football, players who don't score touchdowns on a regular basis ? i'm ready to give this team some fresh blood...you might call it rebuilding...but i would call it trying to get better...i would resign starks...thats it

 

I hate this part of the year. Every offseason, around this time, the media writes a bunch of garbage because they have nothing better to do and the internet world vilifies players for asking too much. It's all damn lies! Question the information, the source and everything we know about each situation and don't believe the hype. It borders on propaganda.

For all we know it could be negotiation by media. Player X wants to be overpaid and GM Y is low balling and we as fans are just pawns.