Five bold moves Dolphins can make: Counterpoint

Dec 17, 2016 East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Miami Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills (10) celebrates his touchdown against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2016 East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Miami Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills (10) celebrates his touchdown against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bold moves can be a good thing but not when they involve taking a step back in the team’s progress.

The idea of the off-season is to improve your areas of weakness in all three areas of your football team.  That involves seeking to strengthen areas of weakness while also improving depth.  Sometimes, it even means replacing aging veterans who possess bloated contracts with younger/cheaper talent.

However, a key mistake I believe my colleague Brian Miller is making in his recent article  https://phinphanatic.com/2017/02/11/five-bold-moves-dolphins-can-make-ahead-free-agency/ is suggesting bold moves where consistency is needed.

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Kenny Stills

I actually agree with the majority of what Brian Miller states.  Miami doesn’t want to get into a bidding war, especially against itself before free agency even begins.  A salary of $8 million per season is about the tipping point of Stills’ value.  Where Brian and I differ is in the importance of Stills to Miami’s offense.

"Miami should strongly consider not getting into a negotiation with Stills’ camp. The Dolphins can allow Stills to leave and spend that money on the other side of the ball where it’s needed far more. Stills had a very good season in 2017 but the Adam Gase offensive system should be able to absorb the nine touchdowns that Stills gave the team. –Brian Miller"

First of all, let’s not kid ourselves into believing our offense was great last year.  Miami averaged 22.7 pts/game which was good for 17th in the NFL last year and 26th in passing offense.  Subtracting weapons from an already anemic passing attack is not a recipe for success.

Secondly, if you do let Stills go, who ‘absorbs’ those nine touchdowns?  Stills was 3rd in the NFL in yards/catch and was the only deep threat on the team.  Unless the team believes DeVante Parker is capable of filling his role, now you are still spending draft or free agent dollars for an unknown.