MIAMI — The kind folks on social media are snipers taking dead aim, as always. They are having fun making fun of the Miami Dolphins’ offseason. The theme in the Twitterverse seems to be that, while the rest of the NFL percolates with exciting major trades and big free agent signings, Fins general manager Chris Grier has picked a hell of a time for a long nap and forgot to set the alarm.
It isn’t true. Well, not entirely, anyway.
Miami entered the weekend having made 16 offseason transactions. Only Houston (17) had made more, followed by Detroit with 14 and the Jets with 12. (Ah, the company we keep!).
The problem is the Dolphins, trying to make the leap from consecutive winning seasons to playoff-good, have made mostly gentle ripples amid the cannonball splashes all around them.
Russell Wilson is in the AFC now, immediately vaulting Denver ahead of Miami in the sportsbooks. So is the best receiver in football, Davante Adams, doing the same for Las Vegas. Von Miller is now in the same division, further tipping the East in Buffalo’s favor.
ESPN’s latest free-agent rankings have the top six most-improved teams all from the AFC, none of them Miami.
Tsunami stuff is happening relative to the Dolphins’ strategic (and cost-effective) fine tuning.
What I do like is that most of the notable moves have been aimed at building around and/or protecting third-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. After a brazen interest in Deshaun Watson that hung Tagovailoa out to dry last season, Watson reportedly has chosen the Cleveland Browns while the Fins claim to be all-in on Tagovailoa.
So they are building his arsenal this spring, albeit not exactly with missiles and tanks.
Ranking Miami’s offseason moves the first week of free agency:
— Signing offensive guard Connor Williams from Dallas (two years, $14 million). A major need, and he has 51 NFL starts and is not yet 24. The knock is penalties. He led the league with 13 holds last season. But Miami believes that is a technique thing that can be coached out of him.
— Signing wide receiver Cedrick Wilson from Dallas (three years, $22.8 million) is the closest to a major deal, though it isn’t quite. He had 45 catches for 602 yards and six TDs mostly off the bench last season, and Miami believes he will mesh with Jaylen Waddle and DeVante Parker to form a potent trio for Tagovailoa.
— Adding running backs Chase Edmonds from Arizona (two years, $12.6M) and Raheem Mostert from San Fran (one year, $3.1 million). New coach Mike McDaniel likes a stable of RB legs, and these are good fits on the cheap and will push/augment Myles Gaskin. Mostert has a high upside when healthy. Edmonds’ 4.9 average per carry the past three years pops loud. Add FB Alec Ingold from Las Vegas (two years, $7.5M), more armor for Tagovailoa.
(OG Williams, WR Wilson and RB Edmonds are already on the depth chart as starters).
— Franchise tagging tight end Mike Gesicki to keep him at another season. A big pass-catch threat.
— Re-signing edge rusher Emmanuel Ogbah to a four-year, $65 million deal, after consecutive nine-sack seasons. Market says it may be an over-pay, but it was a tangible commitment to keeping intact a top-10 defense.
— Signing QB Teddy Bridgewater from Denver for one year at $6.5 million. Fair price for a quality backup, and Teddy B is an upgrade over Jacoby Brissett.
— Adding cornerback depth in Keion Crossen from the Giants (three years, $10.5M).
— Keeping the linebacking corps together by re-signing a trio of cheap but solid players to one-year deals: Starter Elandon Roberts ($3.3M) and role guys Duke Riley ($3M) and Sam Eguavoen ($2M).
— The other adds are minor: Re-signing WR Preston Williams, OLB Brennan Scarlett and safety Sheldrick Redwine, and adding WR Trent Sherfield from San Fran.
Miami likely isn’t done with free agency in the buildup to the April 28-30 draft.
Notably still available are three quality offensive tackles in Terron Armstead, Trent Brown and La’el Collins, though all are 29 or older.
As is, signing three new starters and keeping two others is not a bad offseason haul for Miami.
But all of it pales in importance alongside the onus on Tagovailoa to simply be better — to make a sizable, noticeable Year 3 leap in what could be his last shot at being the long-term answer.
Miami and Dolfans spent seven years wondering if Ryan Tannehill was good enough and are three years down that road with Tagovailoa. Of course, the longer you have to ask the question, the more the answer seems self-evident.
In Williams, Wilson and Edmonds, especially, Tagovailoa has three more reasons to succeed, three less excuses to fail.
At some point, though, it isn’t about the surrounding cast. It’s on you to lift whatever surrounds you.
Look around and realize why he must, and in a big way.
Never has the QB position pulsed as more vital.
Tom Brady unretires in Tampa, Aaron Rodgers re-ups with Green Bay, Wilson goes to Denver, Watson is about to reemerge.
That’s not to mention Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and a now Adams-fortified Derek Carr all blocking Miami’s path out of the AFC. Or the likes of Mac Jones and Trevor Lawrence as young-gun rivals.
That is Tagovailoa’s competition and challenge, as much as any defense he’ll face.
NFL.com ranked Tagovailoa as the league’s 22nd-best starting QB at the end of last season, up from 28th the year before.
“There’s no one quite like Tua,” wrote the network’s Gregg Rosenthal. “He lacks arm strength and special throws, but his timing and accuracy on quick-game concepts are major assets. His [Drew] Brees-like skill set was always going to take time to develop.”
Develop and blossom it must.
Miami needs an even bigger leap from their guy this season or all the rest of it — free agency, draft, new coach — will be so much window dressing unable to hide the real problem.
