Listen Up, I Got A Real Funky Concept

Listen Up, I Got A Real Funky Concept

Listen up, I got a real funky concept
I got an idea,
that I wanna share,
you don’t like
so what
I don’t care
–Rob Base

If you know this track, you are with me, on that it is probably one of the best old school hits that you can remember.  This track played on my ipod last night, while I was reading some post about our Miami Dolphins and I started putting the two together.

Here’s the real funky concept, we do need two to make a thing go right. What am I referring to, well that’s easy; two new Wide Receivers.

I was only five years old, when the Dolphins made their last Super Bowl appearance, and all I remember hearing about was the Marks brother; Mark Duper and Mark Clayton. The highlight catches, the juke moves, the separation they would get from opposing corner backs.  This might sound bias, but probably one of the best Wide Receiver tandems to ever play the game.

Dan Marino was a rookie quarterback then, and he entered the game knowing that he had two amazing Wide Receivers that would fight for the ball, and have the ability to go to the house on almost every play that would unfold.  It was a perfect situation for Marino to walk into, and how did he look on the field, was portrayed by our Super Bowl appearance.

Fast forward to 2013, and here we are with a rookie quarterback taking the field, with nothing that resembles the Mark’s Brother’s.   Brian Hartline will be a free agent and is not worth 6 million a year that he is demanding.  Davon Bess is our best WR on the team.  He’s goes out and performs like he’s 6’7 250lbs, and that is something you can’t coach.  However, his game is best catered towards a slot WR.

With no true wide receiver talent on our current roster, this leaves our front office with two options; Free Agency or the Draft.

If you look at the Free Agent market you can’t help but notice some attractive players on the market.  With over 40 million of cap space, we have the ammunition needed not only to make a splash but a wave in the free agency pool.

The best options are Mike Wallace, Dwayne Bowe and Greg Jennings.   If I am playing our GM, I am going to rule out Jennings because, I don’t want at 30 something WR with injury issues that is going to be asking for a 8 to 9 million dollar deal, regardless of his familiarity with our head coach and offensive play calling.  If we can negotiate something less, than that I would re-open talks, but for now I want to focus on two WRs; Mike Wallace and Dwayne Bowe:

What stands out about Mike Wallace, is speed.  Extraordinary speed! He’s the home run WR that simply can go to the house with an easy double move on the opposing CB.  Furthermore, he’s young at 26 years old; he is just entering his prime years.  We would have a legit number one receiver that teams have to pay attention to.  Which means opening up the field for other players, by opposing defenses playing a bubble coverage on him.

Extracted from ESPN.COM

If we take a look at his stats you can’t help but notice that this WR, has played every game and not missing any time with injuries, with the exception of last year (-however that might have to do with Wallace missing out on training camp due to his contract holdout).  This is great knowing that we would potentially be getting a proven healthy player that has shown positive growth in every year.  Although his yardage decreased we see an increase in total receptions, which is a great balancer indicator.   Name the last time we had a WR on our team that averages 8 TD per season?

Dwayne Bowe had a breakout year three seasons ago, where everyone was thinking he would be the next star WR in the NFL, however that took a negative perception last year where we saw this former first round pick play the same amount of games, but produce ten fewer TDs.

Extracted from ESPN.COM

Some people state that the amount of double coverage became a factor and was the reason why Bowe had a bad year; I look at the other side of the coin and say it was the lack of players around him.  After Jamaal Charles and Matt Cassel went down, whom else on the Chiefs offence would you have to game plan for?   How would Bowes look in a Miami….pretty nicely if you ask me!

As the GM, my goal would not be to sign one of them, nope; I want both playing for the Dolphins next season.  If we have learned anything about the transformation of our game, we are no longer dealing with run and pound offensive mentalities, rather the complete opposite.  Teams are now passing to set up the run.   This is why we need to adapt to this new ideal and run with it.  We took our first step by signing Joe Philibin last year, who is trying to implement the spread Green Bay offence that we have seen Aaron Rodger master, now let’s give Ryan Tannehill all the tools he needs to succeed.

Reviewing NFL teams success stories, the evidence is there to back up my plan of attack:

–          Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin

• SuperBowl finalist

–          Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz

• SuperBowl Champions

–          Rody White, Julio Jones

• NFC conference finals

By now I am sure you see where I am going with this, signing both Wallace and Bowe would be an offseason to remember in Miami.  Both players would be requesting contracts north of 9 million an year, but why not give it to them and focus our draft on fulfilling all other areas of concerns.  This offseason for the first time in years, we have 5 selections in the top 100.

No one thought Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh would all sign with the Heat a few years ago, but it happened to the surprise of almost everyone.  The Miami Heat made a statement to all their fans that they are going to do whatever it takes to bring a championship here to Miami, and it worked out perfectly as the Heat won the title last year.

I know too many of you this might seem like a daydream rather than an actual plan of attack but like a said in the beginning, “listen up, I got a real funky concept.