A Dolphins assessment from fantasy league expert. And Dolphins finish signing draft class
How do Miami Dolphins skill position players stack up as options in fantasy drafts this year?
Our old friend, former ESPN writer KC Joyner, offered an assessment for us on several of them:
QUARTERBACK
Ryan Fitzpatrick. Joyner ranks him 30th in his fantasy QB rankings “in large part due to the possibility (or maybe more accurately, probability) that he will lose significant amounts of playing time to Tua Tagovailoa. But another factor that led to this low ranking is Miami’s tough schedule.
“According to my matchup points system that grades a player’s schedule strength on a 1-100 scale (with 100 being the most favorable), the Dolphins have the toughest pass defense schedule in the league and thus Fitzpatrick gets a ‘1’ total in this category.
“Miami’s fantasy players also get a downgrade in my fireworks points system that measures how likely it is that the team will get into a lot of high scoring contests. The Dolphins schedule is chock full of opponents with subpar offenses, so Miami also ranks last in the league in this category with a ‘1’ mark.
“To be fair, Tua is a tremendously valuable selection in dynasty or keeper leagues. So don’t lean very heavily on his 2020 prospects when considering his draft potential in those formats.”
RUNNING BACK
Joyner said Jordan Howard and Matt Breida “are likely to have an almost pure platoon workload split where both backs garner roughly 50 percent of the running back scrimmage plays. Platoon backs usually have a fantasy football ceiling at the running back 2 level and often end up in the the running back 3 category.
“Howard and Breida fall a bit lower than that latter level in part because of the aforementioned low fireworks points total” and other factors. Joyner places them tied for 37th in his running back rankings.
“One element of note for these two is they both tallied green-rated (strong starter-caliber) rankings in my upside grade category that measures a fantasy player’s ranking ceiling if all goes well,” Joyner said. “Since Breida and Howard are falling to the ninth or 10th rounds in many mock drafts, this could make them good late-round upside plays in certain draft rooms.”
WIDE RECEIVER
Jordan said DeVante Parker is his “highest-percentage player on the Dolphins roster due in large part to his highly impressive 9.4 yards per target (YPT) total last season.That wasn’t the first time that Parker has posted a quality YPT total, as he tallied an 8.6 YPT on 87 targets in 2016 [per pro-football-reference.com].”
Joyner notes that “Parker ended up as a bona fide wide receiver 1 last season, [and] ranked sixth in wide receiver fantasy points per PFR. But it probably is not a good idea to expect a repeat of that showing for a number of reasons” — including the caliber of pass defenses the Dolphins will face.
TIGHT END
Joyner said “in some recent seasons, Mike Gesicki might have ended up as a mid-tier tight end 2 with low-tier tight end 1 upside potential in 12-team leagues. This year he has the unfortunate element of dealing with what might be the deepest set of tight end prospects in many years.”
But even though Gesicki improved considerably last season, Joyner has Gesicki rated low on his list of fantasy tight end prospects in part because of the pass defenses Miami will face.
For more fantasy-league writeups from KC, go to footballscientist.com.
HUNT AGREES TO SIGN
Offensive lineman Robert Hunt on Wednesday became the 11th and final Dolphins draft pick to agree to terms, according to a source.
Hunt, selected 39th overall in April’s draft, agreed to a four-year, $8.1 million deal with a $1.7 million signing bonus.
The Dolphins are expected to look at Hunt at right tackle and right guard in training camp.
The Dolphins now have 87 players under contract (there’s a special roster exemption for guard Durval Queiroz Neto).
Miami will need to cut at least six players if the NFL and union agree on an 80-player limit for camps, which has been discussed.
According to the NFL players union, Miami had $20.4 million in cap space entering the week. The cap hits for the two draft picks signed this week — Noah Igbinoghene ($2.1 million) and Hunt ($1.4 million) — would drop Miami’s cap space to $16.9 million.
About $3 million would be needed to sign a practice squad, which reportedly could expand from 12 players to 16 players.
Most of the upcoming cuts won’t impact the Dolphins’ cap space, since only the top 53 count against the cap.
But cutting a few veterans who are on the bubble to make the team would result in modest cap savings. For example, Miami would save $825,000 in cap space if it parts ways with former third-round pick Cordrea Tankersley, who hasn’t played in a game in 21 months because of a knee injury.
The Dolphins likely would prefer to carry over their remaining cap space to next season, when the cap might drop moderately or significantly because of an expected drop in league revenues.
But Miami might need to use some of the $14 million or so if it needs to replace players who are sidelined by injuries or COVID-19.
All Dolphins rookies report to camp on Thursday. They will take a COVID-19 test on Thursday, stay home on Friday and Saturday and return for another COVID-19 test on Sunday.
The full team reports July 28 and will undergo a similar testing procedure.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 12:27 PM.
