The 2019 season is over and its now the question is what will the Miami Dolphins do to upgrade the talent on the roster for 2020? General manager Chris Grier tore down the roster and unloaded a bunch of bloated contracts to set the team up financially for this coming off season and beyond. The Dolphins will have over $100 million in salary cap space to spend on players this coming off season. However, this will be the first time Grier will oversee spending with this much money because he has final say in all football decisions so I’m curious how he handles free agency. Does he make some big splash signings, or does he take a conservative approach?
— DolphinsTalk.com (@DolphinsTalk) January 6, 2020
Salary cap space can be overrated, and the Dolphins have been down this road before where they have all this money to spend and they spend it on players only to get little return on their investment. Think about it when is the last time the Dolphins hit on a big money free agent? Off the top of my head, I would say Randy Starks and that was a good 10 years ago. The Dolphins have given big money contracts before and the player either underperformed, had durability issues, or had other issues the team didn’t see or neglected to take seriously. Don Shula’s final season, he signed tight end Eric Green to a big contract and got nothing in return. The team let him go after 1 season only to deal with the dead money tied to the salary cap. During Bill Parcells’ tenure the Dolphins signed offensive lineman Justin Smiley and Jake Grove, both players had durability concerns and Parcells disregarded it. The Dolphins got 1-2 years tops from both players and they also had injuries that kept them from getting on the field. Once again, the Dolphins had to deal the dead money tied up to those contracts for a couple of years. Jeff Ireland had over $60 million in salary cap space in 2013 and he gave big contracts to wide receiver Mike Wallace, and linebackers Danelle Ellerbe & Phillip Wheeler. Once again, the Dolphins got a lack of production from them as well as Wallace’s attitude, so the Dolphins got nothing to show for it. The most recent example was when Mike Tannenbaum signed defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to a $100 million dollar contract with $60 million guaranteed and we all know what happened with that. The Dolphins are finally off his contract.
I’m not sure how Grier will handle free agency. Grier isn’t the type who has an ego and does things his way, but rather a person who takes everyone’s input into account so I’m sure when it comes to free agency he will exchange ideas with head coach Brian Flores and the rest of the front office. The Dolphins have needs across the roster one or two big signings won’t change that.
There are good lineman, such as Joe Thuney, Brandon Scherff, and Andrew Peat who will be available assuming they aren’t franchise tagged. That is the road I would go getting an experienced offensive lineman. There are also good running backs available in Melvin Gordon and Derrick Henry that could boost the running game, but running backs are tricky to give big contracts too because you never know when they will slow down.
Grier will have a lot of options at different positions and with all the money at his disposal it will be interesting how he will approach free agency. Since he has been with the team for 20 years will he learn from the previous regime’s mistakes about free agency? Or is he going to continue that path and hope for things to be better or better yet take a conservative approach? These questions we will find in the next few months and we will learn a little more about Grier and his rebuilding plan.
My guess is Grier will continue what he did last year. Sign a few free agent who don’t command a lot of money. Give them a second shot at playing in the NFL. I don’t see Miami signing a Brandon Scherff. What he will do is sign good players to long contracts, to keep them in Miami.
Mia is a joke of a organization run by a bunch of idoits that will never be able to replace the great players they traded away. I’m not a fan of a team not trying to win. Even the Jets try to win but just have really bad luck Mia isnt even trying and winning 5 games made them look like even bigger fools. Mia is a joke of a team now that will NEVER win the SB and most likely wont even make the playoffs. Jerkoff fools I’m a Bill’s fan now
You used to like Miami but now you like buffalo? I mean how can anyone take you seriously after you say that. Have some wings that’s gonna be the best you get from there. But pretty much everybody has figured out wings by now so really not that special anymore. In the mean time as we struggle to figure out what to do without you here in Miami keep trolling Dolphins websites. It’s really all you have left. LMAO!
Very cool stay where you are a matter fact if you haven’t done so already move on up to Buffalo who cares what you think you only came on here to express your negative garbage and to be honest with you when I analyze what you’re saying 90 + percent of it you’re talking out of your arse. It’s a new day a new team a new regime I knew everything finally it looks like good decisions are being made so far that’s real fans hope to see it keep going grab your winter coat and head north peace out