David Hyde: Ten Moves to Make

I enjoyed this writeup from Hyde on the approach he recommends this offseason.

You can sign me up for his plan right now. I pretty much agree with everything he suggested.

I'll add one to his fourth point: San Diego may be releasing their left guard, who is due something like 6 million. A six year veteran he has started all but 7 games over his career. Not a bad target for us if he is released.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-hyde-column-0212-20170211-column.html

That's not bad. My goal is just to at least have a starting guard and LB before the draft.

I agree with some of Hyde's suggestions, but have a few disagreements.

The free agent LBs Hyde mentions all have extensive experience in 3-4 schemes. Before you throw tons of money at guys like that, you damn well better make sure they fit the Dolphin 4-3.

I want no part of Julius Thomas. Gets hurt a lot and doesn't play through injuries, teammates have questioned his desire, and he has pretty much done nothing with QBs not named Peyton Manning.

I don't really want Michael Thomas and Damien Williams back. Thomas sucks at safety and Williams is mediocre at best. I'd look for upgrades.

"Cross your fingers your young cornerbacks are ready to go next year?" Not me. I'm not crossing my fingers...I'm adding at least one corner to compete for a starting job, and I'm cutting Maxwell. And, bring in competition for McCain in the slot.

I doubt MUCH of that stuff happens. For whatever reason, what he average fan/reporter sees, is not necessarily what the Phins braintrust sees?

JMP wrote:I don't really want Michael Thomas and Damien Williams back. Thomas sucks at safety and Williams is mediocre at best. I'd look for upgrades.

You are assuming these upgrades are a: cheaper b: available and as we all know, actually c: upgrades.

The whole problem the Dolphins have and have had for years, is their inability to evaluate talent, so the probability that they could replace Thomas or Williams with BETTER players is remote. Not exactly ZERO, but not something I would be willing to bet on.

Keep the players that you know can contribute to the team and get rid of the scrubs and those that do not contribute. Once you get to a level of talent where you are a perennial playoff team, THEN you can start fine tuning IMO.

finfanatic wrote:

JMP wrote:I don't really want Michael Thomas and Damien Williams back. Thomas sucks at safety and Williams is mediocre at best. I'd look for upgrades.

You are assuming these upgrades are a: cheaper b: available and as we all know, actually c: upgrades.

The whole problem the Dolphins have and have had for years, is their inability to evaluate talent, so the probability that they could replace Thomas or Williams with BETTER players is remote. Not exactly ZERO, but not something I would be willing to bet on.

Keep the players that you know can contribute to the team and get rid of the scrubs and those that do not contribute. Once you get to a level of talent where you are a perennial playoff team, THEN you can start fine tuning IMO.

It should be super-easy to find a backup safety and a #3 RB. My point is, why keep players that you know aren't going to contribute much? Sure, Thomas makes some STs plays, but he absolutely sucks at safety. Why keep him - giving him a raise in the process? And Williams made some big plays - he also made some awful plays. Drake should now be solidly at #2, and that makes Williams - who is also in line for a raise - absolutely expendable. You can't improve by sticking with the status quo.

JMP wrote:It should be super-easy to find a backup safety and a #3 RB.

Nothing involving talent evaluation or personnel is "super-easy" for the Phins IMHO.

The Phins have been looking for safety help for years. A "super-easy" backup safety means no upgrade IMO. Again...an upgrade would be wonderful, but a change just for the sake of change is not an upgrade.

On Williams...eh...I can live with him or without him, but counting on Drake for much more than change of pace is going to be a disappointment. If he stays healthy with a major work load I will be highly surprised.

If they are cheap enough, I would keep them. But it is not like they are make or break players for the Phins.

That's my point - they're not make or break players, so why give them a raise and keep them on the roster?  I'm not proposing change for the sake of change - I'm proposing change to make the team better.  The best teams always look to upgrade the back half of their roster - to improve depth and hopefully find future starters.  But if you continue to keep players that aren't really giving you much - and increasing their salaries to boot - then you're just treading water.  

I'd rank both Thomas and Williams one step above "dead wood".  No need to settle for players of that caliber - much smarter to move on and try to improve.  I don't see the logic in paying players millions of dollars a year when you can get the same production from undrafted rookies at a fraction of the cost.  Hopefully we can get even better than an undrafted rookie, but with all the needs on this team you have to start somewhere.

Thomas is a very good special teams player. I'd like to replace Williams with a thumper that can catch.

he not worth all that money for him to be on Special teams

Birdmond wrote:Thomas is a very good special teams player.  I'd like to replace Williams with a thumper that can catch.  

We already have a STs player that also isn't good enough to play safety - Walt Aikens. No need for both Aikens and Thomas, and I'd rather keep Aikens, who IMO is better (and cheaper). It would be nice for a change to get a backup safety that could, you know, actually play safety!

JMP wrote:That's my point - they're not make or break players, so why give them a raise and keep them on the roster?   But if you continue to keep players that aren't really giving you much - and increasing their salaries to boot - then you're just treading water.  

Or, you end up with Koa Misi.

scotgif wrote:

JMP wrote:That's my point - they're not make or break players, so why give them a raise and keep them on the roster?   But if you continue to keep players that aren't really giving you much - and increasing their salaries to boot - then you're just treading water.  

Or, you end up with Koa Misi.

Koa Misi is the type of player I'm talking about. We keep him for years because he's a nice guy and the coaches like him, and we give him raises - but he's not a good player. Why??? Why not try to find an upgrade? You can't be afraid to get better. Better to try and fail than to do nothing and keep treading water.

Koa Misi is the type of player I'm talking about. We keep him for years because he's a nice guy and the coaches like him, and we give him raises - but he's not a good player. Why??? Why not try to find an upgrade? You can't be afraid to get better. Better to try and fail than to do nothing and keep treading water.

I would be totally fine if we release Misi. HE'S the player I am talking about also. In fact, I read that a big reason he's on the roster right now is that he's hurt and likely could not pass a physical in free agency. For the time being, a class act by the Fins.

IMO Michael Thomas and Damien Williams have given the team much more than Misi ever has. They've been reliable special teams stalwarts, Williams scored a number of key touchdowns, and they are still getting paid much less than Misi. Probably because Misi was actually a starter and not a depth / ST guy.

In short, I'm fine dumping Misi. Williams and Thomas are worth keeping, especially at a depth player/ ST salary.

If Williams and Thomas were still under contract, I'd be fine keeping them. But both players are now free agents (Williams is restricted) and in order to keep them, you're now talking about making them million dollar players. It's one thing when they're making $600,000 or whatever, but now you're talking about significantly more money for players that are nothing but backups and STs players. I guarantee that we can sign undrafted free agents to do what they do, at a fraction of the cost. Especially Williams - why are we going to pay a #3 RB millions of dollars?? It just doesn't make sense to me. It's not like we're talking about all-time great STs players that can't be replaced (like the Pats' Matthew Slater for example, who isn't even making a lot of money). Again, let's actually try to get better.

As for Misi, he should have been gone years ago. Let's hope it finally happens...

As for Misi, he should have been gone years ago. Let's hope it finally happens

I'm worried Misi injury may end his career. I did not want to see him go out like that. The one thing he did well was stop the run. Just could never stay healthy. We was a lunch pail kind of guy, and you always need a few on the roster.

Our problem is, even our best players at way too many positions are "lunch pail guys". We need more guys like Suh, Wake, Landry.

Yep, that whole "lunch pail" mentality is a leftover form Parcells.  Sure, it's nice to have a couple of those guys.  But when you have a roster full of them, you end up with a very mediocre team.  

I like that saying "lunch pail players"