When I received the notification of cornerback Xavien Howard receiving a contract, my first few thoughts were, “This is awesome we get to keep a talented player, who’s fun to watch on our roster. The second thought was “I wish we were able to do this for former Wide Receiver Jarvis Landry.” My thought process was then stuck on, “what happens next?”
You see, as a fan of a team that seems to be mired sin mediocrity for an eternity, this offseason showed itself to be different in many ways. First the team got itself involved in the compensatory draft pick formula that involved letting go of some pieces that would otherwise be expensive to keep, like Cam Wake, and Ja’Wuan James. By letting those players go and sign with other teams, we get back draft capital in next year’s draft. Then we traded away bad contracts attached to mediocre players to free up cap space in the future and get more draft capital. Then we manipulated the draft to come out with key pieces on Defense and Josh Rosen, who may be our franchise quarterback.
We then use the cap room gained to lock up a lock down corner who looks to be a key player at in Flores’ defense, and at the very least, the future plans of the team. Dolphin’s fans aren’t used to the team having a plan and being this intuitive with its resources. Their respect is growing what seems to be overnight. Laremy Tunsil should be next for a good contract, and the team still has 100 million next season it may or may not use to lure the pricier free agents to the team. The team hit a home-run in the early part of the offseason, the draft and now with the extension of Howard. Regardless of what happens in 2019, I am and I am sure most Dolphin fans are excited for our future. It’s just we’ve never seen this happening with our favorite team, and I have my popcorn ready for whatever happens next.
You guys rock