As the madness of March nears its conclusion, the first wave of free agency and offseason movement saw a few splashes in South Florida. The Miami Dolphins have been busy and look to build on a 2022 season that, although it wasn’t without its share of controversy and disappointment, did include a playoff berth.
From the acquisition of defensive back Jalen Ramsey from the Los Angeles Rams two weeks ago, to the re-signing of several important Dolphins, mixed with a handful of key free agent deals, Miami has, at the very least, improved so far this offseason.
Before even getting to the new Dolphins, players like Andrew Van Ginkel and Nik Needham had options of playing elsewhere, yet chose to stick around in Miami, each inking one-year deals to stay with the team that gave them their NFL shot. Van Ginkel was a fifth-round pick in 2019, and Needham was an undrafted free agent in the same year.
General manager Chris Grier, and his sou chef in front office football cooking, Brandon Shore, sliced and diced the salary cap to make room for several new entrees which were brought to the table for the Dolphins. Those include linebackers David Long and Malik Reed, defensive back DeShon Elliott and wide receiver Braxton Berrios to name a few.
Some complimentary additions to the menu are offensive linemen Dan Feeney, as well as punter Jake Bailey, tight end Eric Saubert and backup quarterback Mike White.
With the Dolphins entering the offseason well over the salary cap, a few restructures of contracts fixed that in what seemed to be a blink of an eye, and even Ramsey restructured his contract upon being dealt to Miami. Tyreek Hill, Terron Armstead and Bradley Chubb all reworked their deals as well.
Including Ramsey in the offseason additions, Miami checked off several boxes, however, work still needs to be done in a few areas, and thankfully, there’s still plenty of time and options.
Any good cook aims to be consistent, and what Grier and Shore have done is bring back a great deal of Dolphins, namely the entire running back room, to keep continuity and consistency on a team that’s heading into Mike McDaniel’s second year.
Grier has shown he’s reluctant to spend big on running backs, but the foursome of Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson, Salvon Ahmed and Myles Gaskin was rather decent in 2022, but the volume of rushes wasn’t there throughout the season. Miami ranked 31st in team carries, and McDaniel also had some rookie head coaching moments of deviating from the…
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