2014 Miami Dolphins Offseason Preview
Notable Free Agents
Cornerback - Brent Grimes
Guard - Richie Incognito
Cornerback - Nolan Carroll
Guard - John Jerry
2014 Draft Picks
Round 1 Pick 19
Round 2 Pick 50
Round 3 Pick 81
Round 4 Pick 112
Round 5 Pick 143
Round 6 Pick 174
Round 7 Pick 211
*Still owe the Ravens a late round pick for Bryant McKinnie
Draft Prospects: Offensive Tackle Cyrus Kouandjio Round 1, Guard Gabe Jackson Round 2, Offensive Tackle Morgan Moses Round 2, Receiver Jeff Janis Round 5, Receiver Dri Archer Round 7, Corner Deion Belue Round 4 or 5
Biggest Offseason Needs
Cornerback: This all depends on whether or not they can bring back Grimes and Carroll. There’s not much depth behind them, but even if there was if you lose your top to guys bells and alarms should be going off. Lucky for them there are a couple guys available in free agency and a nice talent pool to pick from in the draft.
Offensive Line: The Offensive line will need to be reinforced after this season when the Incognito/Jonathan Martin situation. I’m not sure what Martin will do in terms of come back to Miami or not but its highly unlikely Incognito will be brought back. Like him or not this means the Dolphins are losing one of their best lineman and it will really hurt them if they can’t find quality talent to replace him. Their tackles are also aging so they need to bring some youth to the edges as well. Worst case scenario they need to find two to three starters on that offensive line this offseason.
Receiver: This is a need soley off the depth at the position. They obviously have two quality starters in Brian Hartline and Mike Wallace, but with only two other receivers on the active roster it wouldn’t hurt to bring some guys in. I would like to see thing bring in some playmakers that can play in the slot like De’Anthony Thomas out of Oregon or Dri Archer from Kent State.
One Player Miami Should Target (In Free Agency)
Eugene Monroe is one of the top offensive linemen in free agency. He’s only 27 so the Dolphins would be getting a good young guy to fill in for one of the aging veterans at Tackle. This would also let them let Dallas Thomas play guard full time filling one of their other needs. So at the end of the day this pick up fills two of your needs and most likely long term at that. It also frees up some of your draft board, they have the freedom to maybe bring in more playmakers for Ryan Tannehill.
One Player Miami Must Retain
Brent Grimes is their top defensive back and is coming off a pro bowl season. Nolan Carroll is another guy they need to bring back but he won’t be as hard to bring back as Grimes. Corner is a need for a lot of teams in the league and with Grimes at the top of the list, lets just say bringing him back won’t be cheap. Still he’s worth the money and the WWE style cage match with the other General Managers that are willing to pay the same even more.
Players in Need of Extensions
Charles Clay Clay is a really good tight end and he had a pretty good year for the Dolphins. This year was his coming out party as he had his best year as a pro and a pretty good one at that. He hauled in 69 catches for 759 yards and six touchdowns which was the most on the team. He also ran for a touchdown this season in Week two against the Colts. Clay is a good young talent that you don’t want anywhere near free agency.
Matt Moore if he’s ok with the backup/mentor role Moore is a guy that you should want to keep around. Especially with everything going on with the team and the bullying of young players, having a good veteran on the team like Moore is a must. It is also good for Tannehill to have an older guy who has been in the league and has experience as a starter in the locker room to show him the ropes.
Overall Offseason Outlook
The Dolphins had finally become a team on the verge of becoming a perennial playoff contender. They were at the point where a lot of people including me had them as the second best team in the division. That may have all been erased now after the team had to fired several coaches and a long time trainer. They will no doubt be losing Richie Incognito one of their top lineman that has proved to be not as good of a teammate. Who knows is one of their young guys Jonathan Martin will return to the team after he was driven away by Incognito, and who knows what we don’t know about this whole situation.
Long story short we don’t know if this is still a glass half full 8-8 team or a glass half full 8-8 team. Will the Dolphins continue their rise to the top of the division or fall back to the bottom and struggle through the next few seasons. If they can counter their losses and have a good free agency period with a good draft, I’m confident they can continue to improve. They need to strengthen the offensive line and add depth to other positions on offense. On defense if they can keep this core together and add a couple players here and there to improve the depth at defensive back they’ll be just fine.