Hey Wrayfield, what are your hopes for the Dolphins in the off-season?
Scoring a field goal in Foxboro would be a start.
Do you want to see them go after some big ticket free agents or just focus on developing young talent from the draft? Maybe both? I'm kind of undecided at the moment. Obviously it would be great to draft a few young studs and build the team up that way without having to resort to a FA who is probably out of their prime but I'm not sure how easy it will be to find a true no. 1 WR who can contribute at a high level right out of college. This team can't afford to go another year without a legitimate deep threat at WR though, so I hope that's priority #1 no matter how they decide to handle it.
Also, this off-season is a huge opportunity for Ireland given how much cap space and high picks the Dolphins have. If he manages to screw this up he has seriously got to go.
I'd prefer if they built through draft instead of big FA signings. With Ireland calling the shots, that's kind of hard, I know. FAs rarely work out, see Dansby. He might be serviceble, but he's never worth that kinda money. Haven't followed college ball much this season so can't tell who is any good at WR. I should probably ask our Senior Director of GAF NFL Scouting, LJ, to give me his prospect list, but he is a Bills fan so I can understand he wouldn't want to share with a Phins fan.
For what it's worth, I don't think a no 1 WR will make that much difference. Our playcalling has been really mediocre. I hope it's Philbin just not asking too much from Tannehill in his first year so maybe we will need a genuine big WR with top speed, but drafting at, what is it, 12, I'm not sure we will get him. Still not sold on him, Tannehill that is. Like no-nonsense Philbin. Came across a bit awkward in Hard Knocks, but turned out better. I say, invest in lesser a couple of known O-linemen with a bit more upside in FA for depth, try to find some more speed at WR but not necessarily first round talent. Add a bruising back a la Tolbert for redzone stuff. Add one or two TEs who are bigger but have less STD-problems. Franchise-tag Long and deal him for a couple of picks, even if they won't be very high. Maybe the Raiders will give us five 1st rounders or the Cards give us Fitzgerald and Dockett plus a 2nd rounder
. The rest, just shore up D. I mean it. Go for young hungry LBs who knock the living shit out of opponents. Speed, strength, attitude.
In all honesty, we've talked about this before, all I want them is to have a plan. Try to improve every position, all the way down the depth chart and stick to the plan. Don't do anything crazy. I'm more of a conservative guy in that respect. Open up the playbook a bit more, then we could be a Wildcard next year.
Shirtless Dutch said:
Trade us Bess for a 2014 fifth rounder seems like a great way to start the off season.
You be quiet now. Grrrr!
