The Miami Dolphins have been in the news a lot this week with Brian Flores’ lawsuit and their head coaching search still going on, but there’s still business to attend to.
With the postseason wrapping up in the next two weeks, the 2021 league year will be officially over, and the 2022 season will begin in March, allowing players with expiring contracts to become free agents.
Miami has roughly 30 players who fall in that category, including some of their most talented guys on both sides of the ball. In preparation for free agency, Pro Football Focus has ranked 140 free agents, and two Dolphins fall in the top 25 – defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah and tight end Mike Gesicki.
In Ogbah’s two years with Miami, he’s recorded 83 tackles, 45 quarterback hits, 18 sacks, 17 pass deflections, four forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. He’s been a consistent force on Miami’s defense which is what ranked him as the 22nd best free agent on this list.
Here’s what PFF said about Ogbah:
“Emmanuel Ogbah has finally blossomed into a solid defensive end after a few years of bouncing around rosters. The Cleveland Browns made Ogbah the first pick of the second round in the 2016 NFL Draft and subsequently traded him to the Kansas City Chiefs for a fourth-round pick and safety Eric Murray before the 2019 season. Now in his second season with the Dolphins, Ogbah has a career-best 79.9 overall grade through Week 13 to go along with a 71.0 pass-rush grade — which would be his first above 65.0.”
For Gesicki, he’s really started to flourish the last two years as essentially a big-bodied wideout. Since the start of 2020, he’s totaled 126 receptions, 1,483 yards, and eight touchdowns. He’s being ranked as the 21st best free agent.
Here’s what PFF said about Gesicki:
“Gesicki will have one of the more interesting free-agent situations of any player in the NFL this offseason as he attempts to make the infamous Jimmy Graham argument that he should be considered a wide receiver for franchise tag purposes and not a tight end. Gesicki has played 94% of his snaps lined up in the slot or out wide as a receiver and is rarely ever in-line as a tight end. The wide receiver franchise tag is projected to be around $19 million, while the tight end franchise tag projects to be almost half of that — around $10 million-$11 million. It’s no small distinction.”
According to Over the Cap, the Dolphins are expected to have nearly $64 million in cap space, so they should be able to re-sign both guys if they want to. The question is: will they want to?
