how Finnegan convinced us to give him that contract will go down as one of the great mysteries of 2014.... http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2015/01/salary-cap-dolphins-underperforming-vs-nfl-.html just realized that of our top 20 contracts, more than half are bad deals. how sad is that? http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/miami-dolphins/
Great ROI at the QB, TE, and RB positions. The WR and OL columns make it abundantly clear that we're receiving poor returns at those positions. A lot of that is Branden Albert who I would have swapped with Veldheer if I had the chance last off-season. I felt he was overpaid then and still would feel that way if he had played this whole season at his high level. O-line is an 8 man group in today's NFL and you have to be able to find reasonably priced players there. An across the board average to good O-Line is better than a hodgepodge of great/good players (Albert, Pouncey, James) and Dallas Thomas'. It's not so much a sum of it's parts as it is a weakest link situation. Even if we solidify this line, if we pay Pouncey market value, it will be essentially impossible to receive a cost-effective ROI on our line. We'll just have to hope that the return is sufficient enough that the rest of the offense can be productive. If that WR column isn't enough to tell you that Wallace has to go, then I don't know what to tell you. Even if we were getting early Mike Wallace numbers, they wouldn't justify that contract. Mike Wallace just doesn't do enough to justify it. He's not complete enough a receiver. Another significant chunk of that column is Brian Hartline. Between the two, there's a cap hit of nearly $20 million. I'd honestly want to head into free agency with Landry, Gibson, and Matthews only. From there I look at Jeremy Maclin or Larry Fitzgerald. Arizona keeps saying they are willing to absorb that cap hit but I suspect he's movable for the right price. I would try to restructure Hartline first though. If he's unwilling, then he's cut. He can't get this much money in FA.
Uh not quite. She doesn't get to pick the players, she is just supposed to get the deal done. If the players were actually performing then some of those deals wouldn't be so bad.
You've already paid for Wallace and you want to cut him with and throw away that cap space? Rubbish, because that's exactly what he wants you to do so he can hit the FA market again in his prime rather than play another year and have to prove what he's worth because we'll cut him in 2016 and save like $10M.
Eh, personally would keep both Bline and Wallace Think if you add James to Albert's deal, it is reasonable Think Guard is just a hole, and would not mind if Pouncey left, adios mustachios (lol..spell check). To me it is just easier to replace a Center in the league and would rather finally, finally, plug the holes at BOTH guard positions. TBH, and it is a hard realization, until either Philbin shakes up his staff, or Philbin and Co are gone, we are all whistling past the graveyard.
lol why would we keep Hartline? I've been waiting for a new GM to come in so he could sever ties with Hartline, Wheeler and the rest of Ireland's overpaid bums. Hopefully Hickey and Tannebaum shake **** up, I mean they have to, we have needs everywhere yet very little cap space to sign guys unless we cut a bunch of players.
If we cut Hartline, then we will have Jarvis Landry and a bunch of problems at the position. I'm not interested in creating problems simply because of a high contract number. Hartline isn't going anywhere I believe, regardless of what anyone thinks. Matthews contract is up and he couldn't even get on the field last year (or most of his career) anyway. You want him to take Hartline's spot, or inconsistent Gibson to do that? Or just cut him and go to the market, good luck. It's not happening. Our "best" WR QUIT on the team, QUIT, Hartline's safe just because of that, Wallace though, better watch his a**. Gibson and Matthews haven't demonstrated as much value as Hartline on Sunday's throughout all of their careers. Hartline's safe, for this year at least I believe. Too many FOOTBALL problems elsewhere to create more due to a number.
Some of that though, I think is a bit misleading. For example they keep saying Miami's WR core when talking about how expensive they are. It's Michael Wallace that's expensive.. It isn't bad contracts all the way around. And when you look at his production this season.. 862 yards 10 Tds.. Im not sure how you can really say he was unproductive. Also.. Danelle Ellerbe, if you look at his production when he played for the Ravens, there's a reason why Baltimore thought they had Ray Lewis' replacement. We had to pay high to get him... But like alot of players that played well elsewhere... They suck in Miami. Now, is that the player or a bad choice by a GM.. Or ****ty coaching. I vote ****ty coaching or not using a player correctly.
I know everyone hates Jeff Ireland, I didn't like him either. But theres a good chance those players he's drafted.. Or signed as a FA.. Would have played great elsewhere. Look at Vontae Davis. Sean Smith is playing well in KC. Our coaching has been abysmal for far to long.
Why is that chart inherently bad? Its comparing us to the average of the NFL. All that tells us we aren't doing things the way average teams do them. That means we can either be above average or below average, but that chart doesn't tell us.
Vontae Davis was a very good player for us entering the prime of his career but was traded because a coach who couldn't tolerate his oh so bad behavior of taking a few practice plays off and taking a few phantom pee breaks. I refuse to be one of the fans that re-writes history on Vontae Davis to justify why we traded him. He was good and was only going to get better. That one is on Philbin and maybe Ireland too for allowing it.
??? Most of the poster's on here were calling her a cap "GURU" Now most of you are realizing Philbin really does suck and The cap Guru , well that picture I will leave to your imagination Jeff Ireland wasnt great, but he wasn't what most of you guys painted him to be
This all goes back to drafting better IMHO. Drafted players are your cheap contracts. If you don't hit on draft picks you have to pay considerably more for MAYBE competitive talent. The Dolphins have been supplementing proposed drafted talent with FA talent for a long time and I think this is a representation of that. That and simply jettisoning the drafted talent you do have on your team in favor of higher priced FAs with marginal increase in performance or at times decreases in performance.
Dude. Have a clue before you complain, Man; learn at least one thing about the NFL. 1) The Finnegan deal is as common as dreads in the NFL. It's ostensibly always been a 1 year deal that gives him a bonus, but pays him a small salary. Then, if he is great and the team wants to keep him, they have to pay him in year two. But, if he is not, the team is free to cut him and save $$$ on the cap and he becomes a free agent again. This happens all the time. It's a standard deal. The Starks deal was similar - they are going to cut him as well. 2) These numbers are a function of big numbers coming up on guys who always were going to be released (like Finnegan; Shelley Smith; et al) and a couple of big recent contracts (like Albert; and it just so happens that Pouncey is in his final year of his rookie deal which means he has his biggest cap #). So the OL # is skewed with that storm of Albert, Pouncey, and Smith who has a big cap # but will be cut. On the DBs - throw out Finnegan who is gone and that # changes (It is also high because we just signed Brett Grimes to a big deal last year). Why not read something that actually gives the true picture. And then see what's going on. http://overthecap.com/calculator/miami-dolphins/ First, the Dolphins are right at the cap # (slightly over). But, will have rollover from last year (about $9 M). Second, they cut: Finnegan ($5.4M), Starks ($5M), Hartline ($3.1M), and Ellerbe ($5.6M); others with a good chance of getting cut, Gibson ($3.2M); Smith ($2.7M); Garner ($1.6 M) . If they cut the first group that drops them another $24 M under the cap. Add say $8 M to that and they are $32 M under. It will take $6 M for the draft so they are still $26 M under the cap after those four cuts. If you add the others, that would put them $33 M under the cap for free agency. That's really not a bad situation at all. The Ellerbe signing was a really bad one because he did nothing for the D. When you are $26-30 M under the cap and the players lost from that are not major contributors - or going to be - its not bad. The team is not in great shape because they have limited talent development. But, the cap is not a bad situation at this point.
you forgot one thing. We still have to replace those players we just cut and fix all the holes that are everywhere on this team. While being 26/30 mill under is great it is not enough to fix this team That is the story of the Miami Dolphins. Throw in the fact that Philbin is on the hot seat along with Hickey and you have the makings of having to pay more to players for coming here. Who the heck wants to sell their house up route their family, take their kids out of school and away from their friends. nope that comes at a premium - all the while making the 26/30 less effective because we will have to pay more for better talent I hate it, and I would love to be positive but it is going to take a regime change and years to get this team back to respectability. It will be a slow and laborious process. Real question is can Hickey get it done??
We're not about to get any of that money back. If we cut him after June 1, rather than his $12 million hit, his dead money is just over $5 million and we get just under $7 million in cap savings. $7 million is enough to pay a difference maker at a position of need. Along with Ellerbe, Hartline, and Finnegan, that's $27 million in cap savings. I am 100% certain we can get better production for equal or less money with respect to the last three. We don't actually have to replace Ellerbe's production and a speed bump at the line with a scarecrow 10 yards down field should give us at least as much coverage as Finnegan. Jeremy Maclin almost tripled Hartline's production in every basic receiving category (save for YPC) with Mark Sanchez at QB for a significant amount of snaps. Essentially we'd pay around 1.36 times the cap number of Hartline for roughly three Hartlines worth of production. In reality, though, there are pretty much only two guys like Wallace in the NFL and the other is DeSean Jackson. Wallace is expendable and overpaid.
they gave him $5.5 million guaranteed, that's not small. Better corners like Cromartie and Tarell Brown signed for less.
Lol what is my "agenda" exactly? Criticizing the franchise for the consistently bad decision making that has caused us to see the playoffs only once in the last 13 years?
Since no one seems to be stating exactly what happened in the game against the Jets. I have no idea how you have determined Wallace QUIT during that game. Philbin stated after the game the decision to sit Wallace in the second half of the game was a coaching decision. He never stated that Wallace QUIT. The Dolphins can't afford to cut Wallace at this time and it is unlikely any other team will trade for him because of his contract. Therefore as the head coach, it is up to Philbin to sit down with his best wide receiver and find a solution to the issues Wallace has with the offense. It would also be nice to see Tannehill show some leadership by contacting Wallace and arranging a meeting with his best WR. Getting rid of Wallace is only going to make this offense less potent. These are suppose adults on this team and it is time they all start acting like adults by sitting down and working out whatever are the problems between them. The Dolphins don't have a viable replacement for Wallace at this time and they have far too many needs on the rest of the team to make WR a priority in the up coming down.
He showed up drunk to practice. If you don't want to rewrite history then don't minimize the behavior either.
Vontae was definitely immature when here. He needed to grow up. Philbin didn't want to bother to try.
