This Sunday’s game between the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills are two teams heading in opposite directions. The Dolphins season is 0-5 going nowhere while the Bills are 4-1 and going to be in the AFC playoff picture all season. However, both of these teams are trying to build their football teams the same way by rebuilding their rosters. I know things are different the Dolphins are just starting, while the Bills are in year 3 of rebuilding their roster. If you look at thing closely its almost identical philosophy same concepts just different results for different reasons.
Three years ago, when the Bills hired general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott, they wanted to rebuild their roster and one of the first things they did was get their salary cap in order. The Bills cut the cord with several veterans or high draft picks from the previous regime under former general manager Doug Whaley and head coach Rex Ryan. The Bills last year had more than $50 million in dead cap space tied to players no longer on the roster and this off season they had more than $80 million under the cap to set themselves up this off season. The Dolphins did the same thing this off season getting rid of older veterans and players with bloated contracts to get their finances under control. This year just like the Bills a year ago the Dolphins have more than $50 in dead cap space tied to players no longer here. Next off season, the Dolphins could have as much as $115-120 million in salary cap space to remake the roster and possibly more when it’s all said and done.
In the process of getting their salary cap in order, both teams lost key players in free agency. For the Bills, they lost Stephon Gilmore and Robert Woods. The Dolphins said goodbye to Cameron Wake and Ja’Wuan James. The biggest difference with the teams in free agency was Bills were a little more aggressive in free agency getting players like Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, while the Dolphins did absolutely nothing this off season in hope of getting more draft pick next year in that compensatory formula for free agent losses.
Both teams made timely trades to acquire more draft picks to get a potential franchise quarterback. In the 2017 draft, the Bills traded down 17 spots in the first round and got an extra first round pick in 2018. They got an extra second and third round pick after trading Sammy Watkins and Tyrod Taylor. Going into the 2018 draft, the Bills had 2 first round picks, 2 second round picks, and 2 third round picks. The Dolphins did the same thing and arguably hauled in better. They acquired 2 first round picks in 2020 after trading Laremy Tunsil, Kenny Stills, and Minkah Fitzpatrick. In the Tunsil-Stills deal, they also got an extra first and second round pick in the 2021 draft. The Dolphins in the 2020 draft have 3 first round picks and 2 second round picks. Then in the 2021 draft they have 2 first round and second round picks.
The Bills and Dolphins also realized they needed to find a franchise quarterback. In 2018, the Bills traded up to get Josh Allen in the first round. Now the Bills had to get creative moving around in the first round because they made the playoffs in 2017 as did the Chiefs, whose first round pick they owned. The Bills made another calculated move in trading their left tackle Cordy Glenn and moved up ten spots from pick 22 to 12 swapping with the Cincinnati Bengals. With that move, the Bills moved up 5 spots to take Allen and traded both of their second-round picks. Without the Glenn deal, the Bills might have had to use all of their draft capital to move up to get Allen. The Dolphins it’s looking like will get the number 1 overall pick so they in all likely hood won’t have to trade up for a quarterback because it will be whoever they choose.
The biggest difference in this rebuilding process is the Bills were far more competitive and got into the playoffs in 2017 while the Dolphins have been anything but competitive. Plus, it took the Bills 2 years of salary cap hell to get them into position and it’s going to be 1 year for the Dolphins. The Bills found their hope at quarterback in Allen. The Dolphins now have to find their savior next year. The Bills have built a very good roster with their rebuilding. For the Dolphins time will tell because they are just beginning. It’s weird how two hated rivals are basically mirroring one another in building their team.
