Phins sign RB Sony Michel

Not a bad option as a #3 back, but he's had a very mediocre career. I loved him in college, but he just never showed much at the next level. I wonder if Gaskin gets cut/traded, or if he gets a chance to compete with Michel?

Kinda surprised by this signing, considering that Michel is neither particularly fast nor a great receiver. He could carve out a short yardage/goal-line role, and he certainly has tons of experience in case Mostert or Edmonds have to miss time. I guess we'll see.

Bleh. Meh. Feh. Waste of time IMO. I'd rather keep Gaskin TBH. Why him instead of a center?

And yes I do remember Jmp liking him and being filled with dread when the Pats drafted him At least he admitted it.

Head scratcher to me. Someone is getting cut and headed to another team plus isn't there a FB we signed the MM likes?

The Ball boy is supposed to be a genius with the running game. Maybe Sony Michel resurrects his career in Miami?

The more I think about it, I think Sony will be used as a short-yardage specialist, and experienced backup so we don't get stuck having to rely on 5th and 6th string RBs as we have in the past. He could be a touchdown machine at the goal-line. One other thing to note is that he's an excellent blocker - much better than Gaskin, who went from being really good at it in 2020 to completely sucking in 2021.

I don't really understand this move. Then again, I'm not all that passionate about it given either Michel / Gaskin / Whoever is running third behind Mostert and Edmonds.

JMP wrote:...in case Mostert or Edmonds have to miss time.

that's exactly what this is. its a low risk, low cost insurance signing - especially considering Mostert's recent injury history. note both Mostert ($1.175M) and Michel ($2.1M) are only signed on 1-year contracts - low value, short term. neither one is a guarantee to make a significant impact (or the roster), and certainly not beyond this year.

but i think we also need to consider that last year SF had 6 RBs (including FB) on the 53 roster.

49 Trenton Cannon
23 JaMycal Hasty
44 Kyle Juszczyk FB
25 Elijah Mitchell
28 Trey Sermon
22 Jeff Wilson

and that doesn't include Mostert who was in IR. so its not implausible to think McDaniel might be inclined to keep all of them on the roster - especially at the start of the season until he has a handle on what he's got.

mercury22nathan wrote:

JMP wrote:...in case Mostert or Edmonds have to miss time.

that's exactly what this is.  its a low risk, low cost insurance signing - especially considering Mostert's recent injury history.  note both Mostert ($1.175M) and Michel ($2.1M) are only signed on 1-year contracts - low value, short term.  neither one is a guarantee to make a significant impact (or the roster), and certainly not beyond this year.

but i think we also need to consider that last year SF had 6 RBs (including FB) on the 53 roster.

49 Trenton Cannon
23 JaMycal Hasty
44 Kyle Juszczyk FB
25 Elijah Mitchell
28 Trey Sermon
22 Jeff Wilson

and that doesn't include Mostert who was in IR.  so its not implausible to think McDaniel might be inclined to keep all of them on the roster - especially at the start of the season until he has a handle on what he's got.

That's great info, merc. Maybe we end up keeping Edmonds, Mostert, Michel, Gaskin, Ahmed and Ingold? And then maybe we keep 3 TEs instead of 4? Definitely a lot of possibilities.

One thing is certain: this is the deepest RB group we've had in my memory.

Yeah, I thought he was gonna be good coming out of GA but so far he has just been a good NFL RB. Not great and nothing to do handstands over like DF316 would have if the Phins had drafted a Center.

It seems fairly obvious that the new Coaching staff looked at what we had and made a few conclusions...
ONE - The RB position stunk and needed a big upgrade.
TWO - The WR Position was just never going to be the WEAPON it needed to be unless something drastic was done.
THREE - While the Phins have some serviceable LBs, the position is not up to snuff.
And FOUR - Apparently the Phins current O-linemen ain't the worst possible talent in the NFL. There may be a few players that can be salvaged from ToxicTeamKiller's asinine Offensive Coaching EPIC FAILS!

I HOPE McDaniels is what it appears he is, but I have been fool'ded (that's like being fooled to the 3rd power) way too many times. We all like to think that what we see initially WILL GET BETTER in the 2nd year. And that is not always the case. Look at Dave Dumbstedt... He took JJ's team and did something with it. But the more Dumbstedt put his stamp on the personnel the gruesomer it became. And even when it was apparent ol'Dumbstedt had lost the team, ol'Wayne H was double fool'ded and let ol'Dumbstedt continue his fool'deding ways!

Let's hope the days of Phin Phans being fool'ded are over!

FF wrote:ONE - The RB position stunk and needed a big upgrade.
TWO - The WR Position was just never going to be the WEAPON it needed to be unless something drastic was done.
THREE - While the Phins have some serviceable LBs, the position is not up to snuff.
And FOUR - Apparently the Phins current O-linemen ain't the worst possible talent in the NFL. There may be a few players that can be salvaged from ToxicTeamKiller's asinine Offensive Coaching EPIC FAILS!

Well done. I think that's an on-point summary of the plan this offseason. I'm totally on board with what was done to address the first 3...now we have to see if the most important part - #4 - is where it needs to be!

finfanatic wrote:Yeah, I thought he was gonna be good coming out of GA but so far he has just been a good NFL RB. Not great and nothing to do handstands over like DF316 would have if the Phins had drafted a Center.

Too old for handstands but I won't lie, had the Fins drafted Tom I'd have done a little dance, made a little love and gotten DOWN that night

They still have no idea who the center will be BTW. Just sayin'. Is it Dieter? Is it Connor Williams? Is it someone who hasn't been signed yet? Is it some rookie FA? Who knows?

Seems like they need to find out more then they needed to sign some first round bust RB. Which is exactly what Michel is. And he won't help the passing game either, not when he's never had more than 21 receptions in a season.

What this team SHOULD'VE done was keep Duke Johnson, who was literally running better late last season than he ever had in his career. Had his first two 100-yard rushing games ever, and then averaged 7 yards a tote VS the Titans but of course Flores refused to run him!   Then he's allowed to walk and sign with the BILLS?!?! And even worse, his cap number is less than $1.1 million! Michel was just signed for about twice that much! SMH. But hey, at least they kept Phillip Lindsay, right? (Facepalms.)

https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/buffalo-bills/

https://www.profootballrumors.com/2022/05/dolphins-to-sign-rb-sony-michel

As for thinking the O-line will somehow be just fine (remember, they did add two FAs so it's not as if McDaniel thought everything there was perfectly okay as is) I just have one thing to say.

I can't remember a team doing a complete overhaul while still keeping the core together.

316 wrote:

They still have no idea who the center will be BTW. Just sayin'. Is it Dieter? Is it Connor Williams? Is it someone who hasn't been signed yet? Is it some rookie FA? Who knows?

Huh??? They know exactly who the center is, and so does everyone else...except you I guess! LOL Dieter is the starting center, and Williams is the starting LG. I think there's a good chance they'll bring in a veteran C at some point, but it is Dieter's job to lose. Williams got some reps at C to cross train him...Dallas did the same thing with him in practice and preseason. There is no mystery.

As for Duke Johnson, I love the guy. But let's be honest...he was out of football for more than half the season before the Phins signed him last year, and now he's the #4 back in Buffalo and will almost certainly get cut this summer.

I wouldn't call Michel a bust. He has actually played in the NFL and produced some yards. Now if you want to argue about his not living up to his 1st round draft position.... The draft is a crapshoot anyway, so I look at what player does not where he was drafted. The player is not responsible for the GM-Goober picking him too highly IMO.

I can remember having the same discussion about Ronnie Brown. People blamed him for not being a 2nd overall pick RB. That was on Saban and the Goobers running the Phins personnel dept at the time, not on Brown. Brown was a good RB. Just not second overall good, but...

O-line - The way everybody was talking you would have thought the Phins would have gone out and signed free agents at EVERY O-line position except RG maybe. They signed a LT and a LG. And didn't draft anybody else. That would seem to indicate the Phins Offensive Braintrust thinks there is some talent in the current players that can be coached and trained up into worthwhile players.

I may be entirely wrong on this, but I think he poor level of play by the Oline last year was the Dueling OCs and the first time O-line Coach. If the scheme and the line calls do not work together, you get the horrid mishmash of poor execution, poor performance, and simple confusion the Phins saw from the O-line at times last season.

All those 2nd year players and the Rookie Eichenberg and all the new O-line players they signed in order to fix the Coaching and Scheme deficiencies just never gelled IMO. Plus, add in the affect of ToxicTeamKiller Flores asinine behavior and you have a recipe for rolling tumble turds!!

Like I said... I may be wrong... But have you ever seen players do sort OKAY in their rookie seasons... like Jackson and Kindley... and even Davis....and then just look totally like absolute suckwads the next season? After a season to get used to the NFL, a season to know how to train and workout and what is expected of them? And then look like BUSTS in their second season!

No, that has the scheme change, coaching change, and other egregious reasons behind it IMO.

But we shall see.

McDaniel may pull a Gase and kick a host of players to the curb at some point.

finfanatic wrote:Like I said... I may be wrong... But have you ever seen players do sort OKAY in their rookie seasons... like Jackson and Kindley... and even Davis....and then just look totally like absolute suckwads the next season? After a season to get used to the NFL, a season to know how to train and workout and what is expected of them? And then look like BUSTS in their second season!

ACTUALLY...there's even a term for it. Surely you've heard of the sophomore slump? Some of these guys turned out to be okay, but not all...

https://sportscroll.com/25-nfl-players-who-suffered-serious-sophomore-slumps/

finfanatic wrote:I wouldn't call Michel a bust. He has actually played in the NFL and produced some yards. Now if you want to argue about his not living up to his 1st round draft position.... The draft is a crapshoot anyway, so I look at what player does not where he was drafted. The player is not responsible for the GM-Goober picking him too highly IMO.

I can remember having the same discussion about Ronnie Brown. People blamed him for not being a 2nd overall pick RB. That was on Saban and the Goobers running the Phins personnel dept at the time, not on Brown. Brown was a good RB. Just not second overall good, but...

O-line - The way everybody was talking you would have thought the Phins would have gone out and signed free agents at EVERY O-line position except RG maybe. They signed a LT and a LG. And didn't draft anybody else. That would seem to indicate the Phins Offensive Braintrust thinks there is some talent in the current players that can be coached and trained up into worthwhile players.

I may be entirely wrong on this, but I think he poor level of play by the Oline last year was the Dueling OCs and the first time O-line Coach. If the scheme and the line calls do not work together, you get the horrid mishmash of poor execution, poor performance, and simple confusion the Phins saw from the O-line at times last season.    

All those 2nd year players and the Rookie Eichenberg and all the new O-line players they signed in order to fix the Coaching and Scheme deficiencies just never gelled IMO. Plus, add in the affect of ToxicTeamKiller Flores asinine behavior and you have a recipe for rolling tumble turds!!

Like I said... I may be wrong... But have you ever seen players do sort OKAY in their rookie seasons... like Jackson and Kindley... and even Davis....and then just look totally like absolute suckwads the next season? After a season to get used to the NFL, a season to know how to train and workout and what is expected of them? And then look like BUSTS in their second season!

No, that has the scheme change, coaching change, and other egregious reasons behind it IMO.

But we shall see.

McDaniel may pull a Gase and kick a host of players to the curb at some point.

Yep, Michel has been a good, solid NFL player. I think he'll end up having his number called a lot this season - let's just hope he produces.

As for the OL, I agree - it is VERY odd to see a group of young linemen play well (overall) one season, and then completely shit the bed the following season. But the more I "dissect" that offense last season, the more I think it was just a complete clusterfuck that never had any chance of working. A young QB behind a young OL, with a limited receiving group and no legit RBs, being guided by a coaching staff that for the most part featured coaches that had never performed their specific jobs before, all overseen by a mentally-unstable head coach that hated the QB and stopped talking to his offensive staff at midseason. Looking at that, what could possibly go wrong?

The fact that I'm not making any of that up really speaks volumes about the ineptitude this team displayed on offense. The only miracle is that the overall results weren't much, MUCH worse. I'm perfectly willing to throw away and forget about everything that happened last season. This year, it's a clean slate. Let's see what these young players can do in a situation that is infinitely better than what they faced last season.

JMP wrote:Yep, Michel has been a good, solid NFL player.  I think he'll end up having his number called a lot this season - let's just hope he produces.

If Michel is such a "good, solid NFL player" then why is this his third team in five seasons? You think the Pats and Rams just throw good solid NFL players away?

As for the OL, I agree - it is VERY odd to see a group of young linemen play well (overall) one season, and then completely shit the bed the following season.

I somehow completely missed the part where Jackson played well as a rookie. Kindley no longer fits the current ZBS (too big) and is sure to be cut or traded soon. Eichenberg was a rookie last season so you can't even say he used to play well. His arms were too short for OT which is why he flopped there and then he sucked when he was moved inside too. Sometimes players are just bad and there's nothing any coach can do about it. Dieter didn't seem to suck at center, but every metric I've seen says otherwise. Hunt at least seems to show some potential. PFF ranked the O-line 28th in 2020 so it's not as if they were that good even then. Let's not pretend Jackson, Kindley and Hunt were all on the All-Rookie team and fell off a cliff.

I'm not even disagreeing about Flores' effect on the offense. I'm just saying that he wasn't the only reason they were bad. The WR and RB groups were overhauled so obviously McDaniel felt their problem was talent, not coaching. Why he seems to think he can "coach up" the O-line is beyond me.

DolFan 316 wrote:If Michel is such a "good, solid NFL player" then why is this his third team in five seasons? You think the Pats and Rams just throw good solid NFL players away?

Yep, a career YPC of 4.2 and 20 TDs is a good, solid NFL player in my book.  

DolFan 316 wrote:I somehow completely missed the part where Jackson played well as a rookie.

Yeah, I guess you did.

DolFan 316 wrote:Kindley no longer fits the current ZBS (too big) and is sure to be cut or traded soon.

Maybe.  But this scheme is more about athleticism/movement than size.  McDaniel has said that he prefers bigger OL, but the key is how athletic they are.  Obviously, the bigger the lineman the less likely he is to be athletic - but that's not always true.  Kindley was, at one point, fairly athletic.

DolFan 316 wrote:Eichenberg was a rookie last season so you can't even say he used to play well. His arms were too short for OT which is why he flopped there and then he sucked when he was moved inside too. Sometimes players are just bad and there's nothing any coach can do about it.

Eich was a very good LT at a major college program. He still has the potential to develop at this level. No reason to write him off after just one season.

DolFan 316 wrote:Dieter didn't seem to suck at center, but every metric I've seen says otherwise.

Dieter played very well before he got injured.

Let's not pretend Jackson, Kindley and Hunt were all on the All-Rookie team and fell off a cliff.

I never heard anyone call that group All-Rookie. But all three played well at times and showed potential, especially Hunt and Jackson.

DolFan 316 wrote:I'm not even disagreeing about Flores' effect on the offense. I'm just saying that he wasn't the only reason they were bad. The WR and RB groups were overhauled so obviously McDaniel felt their problem was talent, not coaching. Why he seems to think he can "coach up" the O-line is beyond me.

Flores was THE reason the offense sucked: he hired the coaches, he undermined the QB, and he turned his back on the offense at midseason.

The WR and RB groups were clearly lacking in talent, and McDaniel wisely upgraded both.  The OL was upgraded as well, both coaching and players, and now a competent staff has an opportunity to develop the young talent we have.

Were there any O-linemen in that sophomore slump article?

You can expect a sophomore slump from players sure... but do they go from "Okay, may turn into a solid Lineman" to "totally sucks" very often?

You SHOULD be able to expect some improvement simply because the players are being strength trained for the NFL, they have acclimatized to the NFL game speed, and they know what is expected of them. For at least SOME of the players IMO.

Not all of them are gonna stink it up or have a slump!

The entire Oline looked like warmed up shinola. Add to the facts mentioned above: Grier and Co sent "Wreck" Flowers packing when he apparently was a monstrously stabilizing influence on the youngsters. They shyte-canned Veteran Center Skura thinking Davis would be the Backup C because Jackson and Eichenberg would be OTs, but then Dieter went down and Davis was filling RT because Jackson could not even perform up to his "barely acceptable" level at LT as he did the year before. Which meant Eich had to man LT and Davis was at RT, shift Jackson to LG and then who plays C?

The whole pre-season was when I started to realize something was amiss...They kept shifting and changing and then went to signing scrubs and backups and starting them, and the O-line NEVER looked good all season long!

I think the inexperienced and inept Offensive Coaching Staff, ToxicTeamKiller was forced to field when nobody worth a rusty shekel would work for the arrogant imbecile, started off bad and then never got much better throughout the season.

I am HOPING we see something far different from the new Offensive Coaching staff, but who knows?

As I said, we may see McDaniel dump a few players if he realizes they are bums and go after free agents and practice squad players. Or even TRADE for some backups maybe?

I would really like to see the starting O-line SETTLED before the last preseason game. If they are still shifting and moving players then, we will KNOW that maybe these players are trash and the season will not be as good as we were hoping?

We shall see.

Perfect post, FF! Well said.