Free agency almost here: A plan for the Dolphins to address NFL’s worst running game
The Miami Dolphins have a choice starting at noon on Monday when the NFL’s so-called legal tampering period (official name is negotiating period) for unrestricted free agency begins at noon.
The Dolphins can be smart.
Or dumb.
Their choice.
They are scheduled to have more salary cap space -- approximately $82.5 million in total cap space for everyone on the roster -- than any team in the NFL. And, yes, the Dolphins are going to be “aggressive,” according to a source.
But they’re also “not going to go crazy” handing out huge contracts for superstar players, according to another source.
But there’s a lot of room between being “aggressive” and “not going to go crazy.” And the hope here is while the Dolphins are likely to be somewhere in the middle, there are smart ways to do this.
And dumb ways to do this.
Trying to sign free agent running back Melvin Gordon at his current expected market value would be the epitome of dumb.
Gordon, you must recall, sat out part of the 2019 season after he turned down a contract that would have made him the third-highest paid running back in the NFL. He turned down a contract worth a reported $10 million per season because he wanted between $12-$13 million per season.
The Chargers didn’t pay it.
Gordon held out. And asked to be traded.
Gordon eventually reported to the Chargers and played in the season’s final 12 games.
The Chargers were 3-9 in those games. And Melvin averaged 3.8 yards per attempt in his contract season.
And while Gordon is fast and gifted as both a runner and pass catcher, I’m asking myself, why would the Dolphins be interested in this?
Yet, ESPN reported last week there was supposedly interest somewhere ...
..Which is either wrong by ESPN or just dumb on Miami’s part.
Let’s hope for wrong.
So why am I ruining your Monday free agency dreams already?
Because I’m trying to wake you from a potential nightmare. Because the guy who didn’t like the idea of the Dolphins trading a second-round pick for Josh Rosen last year, and hated the idea of paying Ndamukong Suh like a quarterback five years ago, is telling you paying Melvin Gordon his expected asking price is unwise.
Why?
Because I have eyes.
And I saw the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl with Damien Williams. Williams joined the Chiefs for cheap when the Dolphins let him walk in 2018 and then re-signed him at around $4 million per season, which is most definitely not $12-$13 million per season.
I also saw the Baltimore Ravens win more games than anyone else in the 2019 regular season after signing Mark Ingram for $5 million per season.
I have not seen, meanwhile, Ezekiel Elliott win a Super Bowl since he signed his six-year, $90 million extension. In fact, I didn’t see the Dallas Cowboys and their $15-million-per-year-back in the playoffs last year.
I did, however, see running backs in which teams invested minimal resources play at a very high level and that is something we’ve all witnessed practically every year.
Raheem Mostert started the Super Bowl for San Francisco.
Phillip Lindsay was undrafted and yet gained over 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons for Denver.
Seattle’s Chris Carson was second in the NFL with 1,230 rushing yards last season. He was a seventh-round pick in 2017.
So, I’m confused. Why should the Dolphins pay $10-plus million for a free agent running back again? Oh, that’s right, they shouldn’t.
Look, I love the idea of Melvin Gordon playing for the Dolphins. But only for about $4-$5 million per year. Max.
Maybe the Dolphins are seriously interested because their running game needs an urgent infusion of talent. I get it.
The Dolphins were the worst rushing team in the NFL last season.
But there are ways of changing this embarrassing fact other than simply throwing money at a running back who’s name is not Barry Sanders or Jim Brown.
Ready for the fix?
Throw money at offensive linemen and draft a running back.
I’d rather pay $27 million annually on average (much less against the cap) for two free agent offensive linemen and a rookie running back drafted at No. 26 overall (the third of Miami’s three first-round picks) instead of that $13 million to Gordon.
How?
The Dolphins need a starting center. The club declined an option on the final year of Daniel Kilgore’s contract last week. That means Miami has yet another offensive line hole to fill.
Except this one is unlike the issues at both tackle spots. This one may very well be filled in free agency because, well, the team didn’t create a hole without a plan for plugging it fairly quickly, according to a league source.
So look for the Dolphins to attempt to sign a starting center in the coming days.
The candidates?
Graham Glasgow remains atop my list after starting 31 games for the Detroit Lions the past two seasons. I wrote about Glasgow March 11 and nothing has really changed other than he now makes more sense since Kilgore’s departure.
Glasgow is 6-6 and 313 pounds and played at Michigan, which is never a bad thing for a potential Dolphins player, considering owner Stephen Ross’s deep love for the school.
Glasgow did not allow a sack last season. His ProFootballFocus grade was good at 77.4 -- higher than either Maurkice Pouncey or Rodney Hudson, the two AFC Pro Bowl centers.
Glasgow gets $8-$10 million per year from Fake GM Mando.
And then there’s Joe Thuney of the New England Patriots. He’s going to get paid, my friends. He could get maybe $15 million per season once the bidding begins.
It sounds like a lot because it is. But, look, the Dolphins cannot draft for every need. They simply have too many.
And they can’t save all their money. They must spend a percentage of their cap space according to the new collective bargaining agreement.
So pay Thuney because he’s good and is known to head coach Brian Flores from their shared time in the Patriots prison system. Thuney, 6-5 and 308 pounds, allowed only one sack in approximately 667 pass snaps last season.
His PFF grade was, wait for it, 77.4 last season -- exactly like Glasgow.
Those two guys for a combined $25 million per season average and a rookie running back picked at No. 26 signing a deal worth an average of $2 million annually and you’ve just gone a long way to addressing a woeful running game.
Is it noon yet?
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 12:20 AM.
