Down on the Miami Dolphins' roster? Adam Gase has never been happier with it

Vegas is wrong.

There's no other way to interpret Adam Gase's words Thursday.

While the outside world wonders how the Dolphins are going to compete after shedding many of their best players, Gase believes that, in Year 3, he finally has the team he wants.

"I think we wanted to create the roster that was the right fit for this locker room, for this team," Gase told reporters Thursday, on the eve of Miami's rookie minicamp. "And sometimes you get put in a position where you have to make a decision, whether it’s free agency or you feel like you’re in a situation where a number might be too high for you or you have an opportunity with a player that makes less money but you feel like the talent, it’s not that big of a swing. That’s where we’re at right now.

"We like the makeup of our roster," Gase continued. "I like our players. I like where our locker room is right now. I like watching these guys work. I’m excited to see these guys compete in OTAs and get this thing going in training camp and see how we grow."

Let's recap the Dolphins' offseason.

Out: Jarvis Landry, Ndamukong Suh, Mike Pouncey, Julius Thomas, Jay Cutler and Lawrence Timmons, to name a few.

In: Robert Quinn, Danny Amendola, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Mike Gesicki, Daniel Kilgore, Josh Sitton and a couple of journeymen quarterbacks.

Bettors look at that balance sheet and see five or six wins.

Gase sees it as a team that finally meets his vision.

He explained: "From what I look at it, you kind of look at, ‘How does that group get along for that year? How did they work together? Did they push each other? Are they all pushing the same direction? Are guys going to quit on you? Are they going to push forward when things get hard?’ I feel like the way that we’re assembled right now, the way our personnel department has kind of put that locker room together, I like our makeup right now."

Of course, the most important addition is the player who has been around since 2012. The Dolphins believe they have a winner in a healthy Ryan Tannehill. And that he will be the difference this fall.

But even if Tannehill gets hurt for the third time in as many seasons, Gase does not believe the season will go in the toilet.

Either Brock Osweiler or David Fales will win the backup job during training camp, and if one needs to step in for Tannehill, Gase said he is "comfortable" the team can still compete.

"If I wasn’t , then we’d have somebody else here," Gase added.

The Dolphins telegraphed that conviction by not using one of their eight draft picks on a quarterback.

Assuming Tannehill stays upright, Gase plans to finally run his offense this fall. What will it look like? Whatever gives the Dolphins the best chance to win in any given week.

"I can’t tell you what the personnel groupings are going to be or who’s going to be on the field," Gase said. "I like the fact that I feel like we’ve got a lot of options and it’s all going to be about how we can play it out and spread the ball around. Use guys to their strengths and create efficient plays, create explosive plays, find ways to get in the red zone more, find ways to get into the end zone."

That's the offense. How about the defense?

Gase believes the many offseason moves — they drafted Fitzpatrick and linebacker Jerome Baker and trading for defensive tackle Akeem Spence in the last two weeks alone — will result in much better results.

"I think we’re looking at group that’s looking to play good team defense," Gase said. "The way that our coaches are doing things right now, I really like what I’ve been seeing on air."

Any thoughts about a scheme change?

"No. We’re looking to stop their offense."

This story was originally published May 10, 2018 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Down on the Miami Dolphins' roster? Adam Gase has never been happier with it."