Who Miami Dolphins, with windfall to spend, should target in offseason to fix offense fast | Opinion
Can the wheezing old franchise keep up, catch up, get back in the game? The Miami Dolphins are the South Florida flagship team that’s been leaking and listing and hardly moving for 20 years. Stuck.
Now comes the latest reboot with the latest new hope-seller in Mike McDaniel, never before a head coach at any level, as the Dolphins try to get back to relevance in the NFL but first in their own market.
All of this under the powder keg cloud of an owner, Stephen Ross, being investigated by the league for allegations he offered former coach Brian Flores bribes to lose intentionally in 2019, a seismic scandal if true, a major, distracting embarrassment if not.
And all of this as Jimmy Butler’s relentlessly competitive Miami Heat fight for the lead in the NBA Eastern Conference and Jonathan Huberdeau’s exciting, high-scoring Florida Panthers do the same in the NHL — in championship contention together for the first time ever.
Dolphins fans also look around and see optimism for Hurricanes football spiked as big as it has been since the glory days with new savior-coach Mario Cristobal sowing hope. They see UM men’s basketball headed for an NCAA Tournament bid. They see the Marlins headed right, building steady, now with ESPN’s fourth-ranked farm system including seven top-100 prospects. They see Inter Miami sure the third time’s the charm as MLS Year 3 opens this coming Saturday.
All of it makes the coming NFL offseason the most critical in Dolphins’ history as the team prepares for a make-or-break season for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in an evolving, empowered AFC so deep even the once lowly Bengals just made the Super Bowl.
And the heat is on, broiler-high. It is on Ross, fighting for his reputation and his right to be owner. It is on McDaniel,. to justify Miami’s gamble on him. It is on general manager Chris Grier, who many thought deserved to get the sack instead of Flores.
The Dolphins have $63.8 million in cap space to spend this offseason — most in the NFL.
Consecutive winning seasons plus that kind of money to spend position Miami to be a major player in 2022.
The NFL analytics website Pro Football Focus offered best-case/worst-case scenarios for all 32 teams’ upcoming offseasons and for the Dolphins the worst-case read: “None — they are too rich in cap space and draft capital to falter badly this offseason.”
Uh-oh, right? A fail-proof, foolproof offseason, huh? Do they not know these are the Dolphins? The team whose missteps the past 20 years have far outnumbered steps forward?
PFF’s worst-case scenario for Miami might well have read: “The Dolphins being the Dolphins and making the usual litany of bad decisions.”
Early signs from McDaniel are encouraging. He takes over a squad rated only 20th in ESPN’s post-Super Bowl rankings (and 11th in the AFC), but he has much to work with, arriving as the young(ish) wunderkind from San Francisco, the deft play-designer and run-game guru. He inherits a team 19-14 during the past two seasons, one with a defense you can win with.
I like that McDaniel will call his own plays. Like the look of the offensive staff he has assembled. Like that he knows to leave well enough alone with the defense.
And I love that Miami finally seems to be committed to build around Tagovailoa and give him his best chance (maybe his last chance) to justify Miami drafting him fifth overall in 2020.
This is an offseason of quarterback upheaval — with huge stars Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson atop all of the names dangling out there, available. May the Fins’ supposed firm commitment to Tagovailoa prove real against all this temptation.
Two major elements of the offseason will shape Miami’s needed improvement: Free agency beginning March 16, and the draft April 28-30. Let’s look at both for Miami.
Free agency
Clearly the Dolphins priority should be greatly improving their offensive line, whose block win rate of 46.6 percent was last in the NFL in 2021, and adding a third reliable wideout receiving weapon to augment Jaylen Waddle and DeVante Parker. But first the Dolphins must take care of business with their own roster and keep the only two pending free agents they mustn’t let get away: tight end Mike Gesicki and defensive Emmanuel Ogbah.
Gesicki has 177 catches during the past three seasons. He’s a major weapon and can be even bigger under McDaniel, whose offense made tight end George Kittle a Pro Bowl star with the 49ers. Miami has been laissez-faire with Gesicki. Change that. Re-sign him!
Ogbah has 18 sacks the past two years. Last season his 12 passes defensed (most on bat-downs at the line) were second on the team after Xavien Howard. He’s a major part of the defense and an absolute keeper.
In terms of other teams’ free agents, this is the perfect offseason for Miami to hit big, as almost half of ESPN’s top 50 free agents (23) are either offensive linemen (14) or wide receivers (nine).
Highest-rated available tackles are Terron Armstead (second) and Orlando Brown (sixth). Top guard is Brandon Scherff (13th) and top center is Ryan Jensen (27th). For a cheaper, more targeted lineman, keep an eye on Laken Tomlinson, the guard rated the 38th-best free agent overall. He was with McDaniel in San Francisco and would perectly fit the offense the new coach is bringing here.
Top wideout options are Davante Adams (No. 1 overall), Mike Williams (third), Chris Godwin (fourth) and Odell Beckham Jr. (10th).
Adams, who was Rodgers’ favorite target in Green Bay, is an elite, top-tier weapon, the best free agent receiver in years. What a statement, what an ultimate investment in Tagovailoa, if Miami made Adams its offseason priority. The Fins have the money to afford him. But do they have the nerve?
It would take more than a mega contract. It would take convincing Adams that Tagovailoa is good enough, and that Miami is close enough to competing for everything. Tough sell. But oh the windfall if you succeed!
Another major hurdle: Green Bay seems likely to apply the franchise tag to Adams (between February 22 and March 8) to keep him off the free agent market, despite the severe salary-cap ramifications that would create.
While we’re at it: Running back. Two available names for you. Leonard Fournette, who revitalized his career in Tampa Bay. And Cordarrelle Patterson — a RB/WR hybrid such as McDaniel used with such great success in Deebo Samuel in San Fran.
Draft
Free agency gets will shape how Miami approaches the draft, but figure offensive line remaining a likely priority. Miami traded the 15th overall pick (to Eagles) and settles for the 29th pick (from the 49ers), so choices will be limited barring a major trade-up in a draft that could see four offensive linemen taken in the first 15 picks.
Fins’ pick at 29 could be a tackle such as Trevor Penning, who looms as a 6-7, 321-pound find from Northern Iowa.
If it’s a receiver at that spot keep an eye on Jameson Williams of Alabama, Waddle’s former teammate.
No running back is consensus first-round, although some believe Texas A&M’s Isaiah Spoiler should be.
Bottom line:
Miami hired an offensive guru as a new head coach, has committed it seems to Tagovailoa at QB and now has NFL-leading money to spend to very quickly turn a boring, subpar offense into something special.
Majorly fortifying the offensive line is the necessary grunt work.
But this Dolphins team — its offense, and Tagovailoa, and its fans — deserves a jolt of electricity.
This is the offseason to go all-in and aim as high as you possibly can.
That starts with Davante Adams if he’s there.
