Dolphins Cuts Thread

The only cut that halfway worries me is Sitton, but hopefully they have a plan of building a line thru the draft. Of course I want them to keep Wake as well, but if they traded him to a contender that probably wouldn't hurt my feelings.

"KeyFin wrote:

The only cut that halfway worries me is Sitton, but hopefully they have a plan of building a line thru the draft. Of course I want them to keep Wake as well, but if they traded him to a contender that probably wouldn't hurt my feelings.

My feeling is they won't cut Sitton until after the draft or they decide to chase another guard in FA. The interior OL is bare without him, and even in a sense, bare with him considering his injury history. If you can luck out though, and get a stopgap year from him, then at least you buy yourself another year to round out the interior of the OL. Between FA and draft, we need to get at least a center and a guard, and we're not even talking about depth yet.

"KeyFin wrote:

The only cut that halfway worries me is Sitton, but hopefully they have a plan of building a line thru the draft. Of course I want them to keep Wake as well, but if they traded him to a contender that probably wouldn't hurt my feelings.

I would do Wake a solid and ask him if he wants to stay and then retire a Dolphin when it’s time, or would he like me to try and trade him to a contender. Yes, I am one of those. I sometimes make decisions with my heart and not my head. :-)

Pretty sure Wake is a free agent. I think they just won't offer him a contract and he can choose where he would like to play. If he is willing to play for $4 million or less, plenty of teams could use another pass rusher.

"invid wrote:

My feeling is they won't cut Sitton until after the draft or they decide to chase another guard in FA. The interior OL is bare without him, and even in a sense, bare with him considering his injury history. If you can luck out though, and get a stopgap year from him, then at least you buy yourself another year to round out the interior of the OL. Between FA and draft, we need to get at least a center and a guard, and we're not even talking about depth yet.

If we don't have a QB, then we don't need a high priced, aging guard either.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

If we don't have a QB, then we don't need a high priced, aging guard either.

True, but also since we wont be up against the cap it isnt like his contract is hurting us long term or holding us back.

I honestly think, tank or no tank, teams owe it to the guy taking snaps to protect him. I'd just keep Sitton another year but draft someone to hopefully compete for the job.

It isnt like Tannehill where keeping him sends odd messages.

We save a net of 7m vs the cap by cutting Sitton, which we can carry over into 2020. I'd much rather have that cap room later on than use it hoping that Sitton can keep whoever our QB is in 2019 upright.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

We save a net of 7m vs the cap by cutting Sitton, which we can carry over into 2020. I'd much rather have that cap room later on than use it hoping that Sitton can keep whoever our QB is in 2019 upright.

Especially since he will be 33 and hasnt played 16 games since 2015.

"Nappy Roots wrote:

Especially since he will be 33 and hasnt played 16 games since 2005.

Bit of an exaggeration since his rookie year was 2008! But I get the point, and agree, lol. He was a worthwhile gamble a year ago, but not now. Seems Green Bay knew what they were doing when they let him walk away after his 8th year.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

Bit of an exaggeration since his rookie year was 2008! But I get the point, and agree, lol. He was a worthwhile gamble a year ago, but not now. Seems Green Bay knew what they were doing when they let him walk away after his 8th year.

Oops...meants 2015 lol

"Surfs Up 99 wrote:

I would do Wake a solid and ask him if he wants to stay and then retire a Dolphin when it’s time, or would he like me to try and trade him to a contender. Yes, I am one of those. I sometimes make decisions with my heart and not my head. :-)

It's also smart business. Teams that are intentionally dishonest to their players have a much harder time acquiring talent.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

We save a net of 7m vs the cap by cutting Sitton, which we can carry over into 2020. I'd much rather have that cap room later on than use it hoping that Sitton can keep whoever our QB is in 2019 upright.

Umm. LOL. Not sure I follow. So we ditch our starting QB, only to bring in someone else that we're going to protect even less? I bet people would be lining up around the block for that job!

All kidding aside, I hope we find a coach/scout that knows the O line and can build a starting unit through the mid rounds of the draft. We don't need superstars.....we just need consistent and the right coaches/scheme to maximize our talent. It's super hard to get that thru free agency and Sitton is not the answer....but at the same time I don't see cutting him unless you have a name in mind in the draft that's virtually a lock to be picked by us.

"KeyFin wrote:

Umm. LOL. Not sure I follow. So we ditch our starting QB, only to bring in someone else that we're going to protect even less? I bet people would be lining up around the block for that job!

All kidding aside, I hope we find a coach/scout that knows the O line and can build a starting unit through the mid rounds of the draft. We don't need superstars.....we just need consistent and the right coaches/scheme to maximize our talent. It's super hard to get that thru free agency and Sitton is not the answer....but at the same time I don't see cutting him unless you have a name in mind in the draft that's virtually a lock to be picked by us.

Well, I think that the most likely situation is that we end up with a couple of placeholders who have no other options at QB this year. We mix and match, produce the worst offense in the league, and end up with two or three wins. Something along the lines of 2004 or 2007.

I certainly hope all of you who endorse a scorched earth plan of gutting the Dolphins will still be supportive and endorse the Dolphins wile we go through and rebuild with a complete "rookie" team.

If we do indeed go this route, it's going to be painful to watch for a few years.

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

I certainly hope all of you who endorse a scorched earth plan of gutting the Dolphins will still be supportive and endorse the Dolphins wile we go through and rebuild with a complete "rookie" team.

If we do indeed go this route, it's going to be painful to watch for a few years.

I absolutely believe that it's the best path. I'll love the Fins forever, regardless. Watching the team gather and develop talented young players is a lot better than topping out at 8-8 anyways.

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

I certainly hope all of you who endorse a scorched earth plan of gutting the Dolphins will still be supportive and endorse the Dolphins wile we go through and rebuild with a complete "rookie" team.

If we do indeed go this route, it's going to be painful to watch for a few years.

I do not endorse that path at all- I honestly don't believe that we are that many pieces away from being a playoff team. Our downfall these past few years (besides key injuries) can be found on the LOS on both sides of the ball...you have to be able to run and stop the run. We couldn't do either consistently and it ultimately made the difference against the Bengals, Lions, Texans, Colts, Jags and Vikings.

I'm not saying we would have won all six with better people in the trenches- but even if we split them then we're a 10-6 playoff team. And really, the same goes for Tannehill....about half his sacks were from poor protection. Percentage wise, he was the most sacked in the league last season and it all came from down the stretch- that HAS TO be addressed now to have a competent team in a few years. We were worse off with Cutler and Osweiller percentage wise so it's foolish to say it was all Tannehill- it was every bit the trenches and the coaching as well.

Despite what the media claims, I never heard Ross say that the goal is to lose out this coming season. But if the plan is to get Fales slaughtered then I likely won't be tuning in.

I think some of you are misguided. Miami will NOT be scorched earthed. The GM and Coach have said this at the combine even. What they are going to do is clean house of players that don't fit the system or are not productive at their price tags.

They states ROSS was fine with that if thats the approach they wanted to take but they have said since they are not looking at a complete rebuild and they have some nice pieces already in place.

I'm not saying it wont be a slow burn / build strategy but its not like were starting from Zero. We going to get players for our new system might take a few years.

We all have different takes of course. I personally feel last year's team was far worse than their record, and we're likely to be getting rid of people who I consider among the team's best players. We're likely to be in a situation very soon where we have no QB, big questions at WR and TE, and huge holes across the OL. And on defense, we might have an almost entirely new group on the DL, and a gaping hole at the outside CB spot across from Howard.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

We all have different takes of course. I personally feel last year's team was far worse than their record, and we're likely to be getting rid of people who I consider among the team's best players. We're likely to be in a situation very soon where we have no QB, big questions at WR and TE, and huge holes across the OL. And on defense, we might have an almost entirely new group on the DL, and a gaping hole at the outside CB spot across from Howard.

I don't think it will be scorched earth but I do believe there are some heavy cuts coming. With a salary cap of about 195M the Dolphins have 10 players that make up more than half of that in CAP space. Of these 10 players 0 of them made the pro bowl. I doubt any of them made the opposing team think twice on how they'd stop them. The list and CAP number below. These are from OverTheCap.com.

Ryan Tannehill QB $26,611,666
Reshad Jones S $17,160,000
Robert Quinn DE $12,932,332
Kenny Stills WR $9,750,000
DeVante Parker WR $9,387,000
Andre Branch DE $9,000,000 - Already cut, saved 7M
Kiko Alonso LB $8,272,500
Josh Sitton OL 7,000,000
T.J. McDonald S $6,002,000
Danny Amendola WR $6,000,000

I am not sure who will be cut or not but since Miami now has 16M in CAP space after releasing Branch, I'd say lots of cuts are coming and most of the ones above make the most sense financially.

Keep in mind we don't save 100% of the above numbers by cutting or Trading. Quinn, Parker and Amendola are 100% saves but Jones and McDonald would have to be trades to save money in CAP space. A June 1st cut of Jones would only save 2M. Trading Jones and McDonald helps this years CAP but really helps next year as their CAP hit next year would be $0.

A THill june 1st cut saves 19M.
J. Sitton cut saves 5M.

The Dolphins haven't been relevant in over 20+ years. I really don't care who they cut or don't cut. What I want to see is a team that plays as a team, that plays tough week in and week out and doesn't make those bone head mistakes that take the team to 1st and twenty or on D 1st and 5. I want to see better fundamentals, tackling and so forth, I want to see them play smart. The record over time will start to speak for itself no matter who they cut this year.

I don't have any hopes of playoffs this year but I am more excited about the Dolphins then I have been the past 20 years. As long as they build the "Team" as they say they are going to. The trenches need fixing first. I know we've heard QB talk and 3 yards per carry saying DB's will be drafted due to the schemes the D will run but in my humble opinion none of that matters until the trenches are good. I hope to see an OL and D front 7 heavy draft. Maybe a late round QB.

Next year, sell out for that top rated QB.

If the team feels that we're more than a couple of players away from being competitive then surely cutting the average and expensive players are the first places to look at improving in the long haul? Our cap situation is an odd one, in that at first looks it can seem like we're in a dire situation and yet with a few aggressive moves this off-season, we can suddenly find it flipped entirely. I'm not saying that we should be cutting everyone over 30 (although actually who would that cull?), just that it's not like we're trying to extend a window for us to be competitive but build a window to begin with and that in order to do that we're going to have to be honest about the type of player who can take us to that next level.

Depending on how the team handles it, should they do the cuts that most people expect this month, follow that by not spending much in free agency this year, and then a year from now, cut more players when there will be smaller amounts of dead money, the franchise could really go into next offseason with well over 100 million in cap room to play with. And even if they're able to resign Tunsil, James and Howard to long term deals, there's not a lot of guys otherwise who will be signed to big contracts already on the club.

Im honestly hoping that with better talent evaluations and play your role types of players brought in and signed we can have a team just as capable as last years team with a much more friendly cap number. I believe we overpaid players to try and get over the hump and thats been the cycle here. We had to overpay for mediocrity.

"Dorfdad wrote:

Im honestly hoping that with better talent evaluations and play your role types of players brought in and signed we can have a team just as capable as last years team with a much more friendly cap number. I believe we overpaid players to try and get over the hump and thats been the cycle here. We had to overpay for mediocrity.

I think that is possible. It's going to come down to coaching, player development, and the new team first culture. It will be interesting that's for sure. We will get to see how good (or bad) the FO and our coaching staff really is.