Its time for the slowest 4-5 weeks of the off season. Buried in the avalanche of Mini-camp reports was this piece. Glut of 1-year and expiring contracts portray a Miami Dolphins team gearing up for 2013 http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thedailydolphin/2012/06/18/glut-of-1-year-and-expiring-contracts-portray-a-miami-dolphins-team-gearing-up-for-2013/ LT Jake Long RB Reggie Bush QB Matt Moore WR Brian Hartline CB Sean Smith DT Randy Starks TE Anthony Fasano P Brandon Fields SS Chris Clemons FS Tyrone Culver OL Nate Garner OL Ryan Cook Which of these starters do you think have the best chances of being retained ? A few could be goners no matter how well they play ! I do think we can be very competitive this year, its the same damn team (-marshall/+ocho), that fought like dogs the 2nd half. But I agree that it's in the teams best interest to "build" towards 2013, and beyond of course.
Long, Hartline, and Smith are likely to return in my mind... Bush, Starks, Fasano, and Clemons would be on the fence depending on dollar signs mainly as well as their performance this year. I don't see Moore, Culver, Garner, and Cook returning... I also think we'll just draft a punter than re-sign Fields.
Smith doesn't do anything but talk, so I can't see him around after this year tbh. Hartline needs a solid year or else he's gone too (especially with the young talent we have and brought in). Why else bring in Ochocinco? and we'll probably re-sign fields. Guy has been a beast for us. No reason to get rid of great ST players.
We didn't bring in Ochocinco because of Brian Hartline... that's laughable. Sean Smith is a fine #2 cornerback... he'll be back in Miami.
If OTAs and Mini Camps are any indication (which they're not always, obviously) then I think Reshad Jones is the one excelling in Coyle's system, not so much Chris Clemons. Could open the door for Jimmy Wilson. Could open the door for a draft pick at safety in 2013. I wouldn't be sure about Clemons coming back, though. Jeff Ireland would never agree to give Jake Long up so he'll be back. Brandon Fields will probably be back. Brian Hartline, Anthony Fasano, Sean Smith and Randy Starks are in the one year audition category. They'll get to make their case for staying and then it'll be about price tags. I would actually like to keep all of them. I could see them bringing Jamaal Westerman back. Maybe Quinten Lawrence if he makes it this year which I think he very well could. Hard to say on Chad Johnson. David Garrard could come back. Matt Moore will not be back, IMO. Not with Ryan Tannehill here. The same is true in all likelihood about Reggie Bush, now that Lamar Miller is here. They're grooming Miller to do the exact same things Bush does. I doubt Tyrone Culver, Nate Garner or Ryan Cook will be back. I doubt Legedu Naanee, Artis Hicks, Gary Guyton, Tyrell Johnson or Ryan Mahaffey will be here in 2013. Steve Slaton probably won't be back. Nor Austin Spitler. Hard to say on Jonathan Wade, guess it depends on the competition between he and Quinten Lawrence, but I'm plugging Lawrence in over Wade for the moment. Ryan Baker likely gone. Lydon Murtha is a tough case because I would probably want him back but he will want to start somewhere in the league at tackle, and that's not going to be in Miami. So...to round up: Will be Back Jake Long - $11 million Randy Starks - $6 million Sean Smith - $5 million Anthony Fasano - $4 million David Garrard - $4 million Brian Hartline - $3 million Brandon Fields - $2.5 million Jamaal Westerman - $1 million Quinten Lawrence - $0.5 million That eats up $37 million of the $60 million in cap space the Dolphins supposedly have, leaving $23 million plus whatever we roll forward from 2012 after final cuts. Let's say what the Dolphins roll forward pays for their 2013 draft class. You've got $23 million to play around with in free agency. That could buy you two real big names.
i agree we are in good shape, we can resign who we want from that huge list and go shopping too, nice work by the cap guys, isn´t also 2014 the year where the new tv deal will have to come, that will give us probably also very good cap shape as well
Here is my predictions: Retain LT Jake Long - Via Franchise Tag. Long will be 28 next season and while he is still in his prime, his body broke-down last year. Pro Bowler, Tony Boselli was 28 when his body started to breakdown too. Am I comparing the two players? No. That being said, I think giving Jake Long "fair-market value" will be a lot more than we will be willing to tie up with him (if the injuries keep coming) and considering the tackles the Packers had. I think the franchise tag makes sense because it give us one more year to see how his body holds up and we have the money to do it. Overall, If he plays extremely well this year with no injuries we might try to lock him up, if he has a couple injuries here and there I expect us to franchise him. WR Brian Hartline - We were already trying to lock him up. I think next year we try to add more weapons around him. While he will never be a great WR, I think he will be a great WR as the number 2,3, or 4. If he was our number 4 WR, he could be incredible. CB Sean Smith - This is just my gut feeling. I think people on this board give him a lot more flack than he deserves. Does he piss me off at times? Yes, but he is still a solid CB. If Marshall comes in and plays lights out at CB we might let him walk though. P Brandon Fields - One of the best punters in the league. I don't see why we wouldn't try to retain him. OL Nate Garner - This year could be the deciding factor. I just have a feeling we will retain him because he won't command a big deal. Solid back-up. Lose RB Reggie Bush - He game is all about speed, as he ages he is going to lose his speed. After drafting Miller and Thomas I think we let him walk and save some money. If he only wants a small contract we might retain him though. QB Matt Moore - I think someone is going to offer him decent money next year. He could be the Matt Flynn of next year. We will probably draft a QB in the mid to late rounds next year to groom as our back-up QB. DT Randy Starks - I love Randy Starks, but I feel like he will be in the same situation as Kendall Langford come next season. TE Anthony Fasano - We have tried to upgrade this position the last 2 years in the draft. That tells you their opinion about Fasano. SS Chris Clemons - His career started off so promising and then he quickly became overshadowed. I think we let him walk next season. FS Tyrone Culver - He has been a solid back-up but I think he goes somewhere else for more money. OL Ryan Cook - Older guy. I think we move on from him.
I would agree with this assessment, although I think Hartline is higher up on the FO's radar. Afterall they did have preliminary discussions about an extension with him back in March. So if they don't get a deal done with him by the start of the season I think he will have to play himself out of a roster spot in 2013 than into one. I also think there is a chance Bush will be back as 29 year old RBs don't command top dollar from anyone.
Fields is an interesting one, he deserves top punter $. Clemons is definitely getting a chance to audition, but I think we like what we have in Jones and Wilson. Fasano is a very nice player but with a blend of Clay and Egnew (*& Brown) he could become expendable. Clay will have to build on his blocking from a 3 point stance. I like Starks more than i do Smith, but think Smith would be the wiser choice to resign. CBs of seans ability are hard to find and come at a premium, you'd hate to see him get better and better on a different team. With Soliai and Odrick we have two awfully talented DT's. We could draft another for the rotation. If Starks and Fasano arent resigned which i think is very possible.... its closer to $33 mil in space!
We have a ways to go before we start penciling in Starks and Fasano to take off and never come back. Egnew hasn't shown us anything yet and Odrick will be playing a lot of defensive end this year.
Anthony Fasano is a hard guy to replace, and I tend to think the guys on the roster make it more likely, not less likely he stays. Anthony Fasano is a tight end that can block, but is still useful in passing situations. Outside of the ultra rare guys who are good at everything like Jason Witten and Rob Gronkowski, pretty much everyone else who can block worth a **** is a blocking tight end, someone who is hard to justify playing any serious amount of passing snaps or formations. When Philbin talked about the tight ends, he really mentioned that you can do stuff with Fasano you can't do with the others on the roster, highlighting that you could force defenses into the Nickel package then use Fasano to help beat the **** out of their sub package in the run game. When they talked about Charles Clay, he talked about him lining up in the backfield, and split wide, and then seemed less sure about him actually playing on the line. Michael Egnew, as much as they're going to try to teach him might as well be a wide receiver. The Dolphins are probably going to end up playing a lot of two tight end packages. They're going to want someone who can actually play a traditional tight end role, and it'll be pretty hard to replace Fasano.
Wishful thinking at this point. I know Fasano would be hard to replace. Philbin sure has taken a liking to him..... But there's at least hope that Clay can do a lot of the same things. We do need two of those tight ends, however. Egnew & Brown aren't going to provide those attributes. Love Starks, but he could command some serious bucks, will want to make as much $ as possible at this stage of his career. Is it possible that Vernon can be more than a situational pass rusher ? Would be nice to keep Odrick inside.
Looking at the list of potential 2013 free agents has me thinking, we should use the $ to keep what we have. Even Bush if the price is right.
This is exactly the quote I was thinking of I think Clay can do a good job as a blocker, but I think he's got a lot more hope at doing it in the backfield than on the line. He looked pretty solid lead blocking, and the fullback/H-Back stuff in this blocking scheme will fit him a lot better than the more iso-oriented stuff last year. The Packers also did a lot of lining up fullbacks/H-Backs in the backfield in various roles in shotgun formations too, which will fit him well. There's a lot of stuff there for him to do in that capacity, and the Packers have used a lot of that in lieu of a quality "real" tight end. That being said, it's still not blocking on the line. A quality run blocking tight end is a really nice thing to have in a zone run scheme. There's a reason why a lot of zone heavy schemes make an investment in high quality blocking tight ends, to the point of having guys who converted to offensive line(Dwayne Carswell with Shanahan), or converting offensive linemen(Eric Beverly with the Alex Gibbs era Falcons). Having an extra gap that you're likely to win in the run game is good times, especially if you're bulldozing a defensive end on the front side of the play.
Starting to realize Yeatman, Mastrud, and new pickup Mahaffey will be battling for an important role in the offense. We'll have to carry one of them on the active roster. One slight possibility for next year is one of my favorite players, Jason Witten.... should he somehow slip away. Otherwise your all right, Fasano will be a necessity.
