Dolphins day one free agency review

The Miami Dolphins and the rest of the NFL will not get much sleep tonight. Some might say the Dolphins have been asleep all day. What did the Dolphins first day of free agency look like?

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The Dolphins seemed to have done the majority of their work in the two day tampering window. The Dolphins signed defensive end Mario Williams and traded for cornerback Byron Maxwell and linebacker Kiko Alonso. When today finally kicked off officially, the only thing official for the Dolphins was the trade being made, well, official.

Miami swapped the 8th spot in round one for the 13th spot in round one to consummate the trade. It’s a small price to pay if both players become more than just bodies that are starting. In other words they work out. The Dolphins however may be finishing the day with more holes than when the day started. In fact, it’s safe to say they are.

The Dolphins today lost Lamar Miller, Olivier Vernon, Derrick Shelby, and Brent Grimes. While Vernon and Grimes are filled by Maxwell and Williams, Alonso is an injury risk at linebacker and the Dolphins will still need to address the position at some point this off-season. They will lose Kelvin Sheppard at some point as well.

The loss of Miller creates a hole at running back. Miami was in play for Matt Forte but Forte chose to sign with the Jets. Miami was also in play for Adam Jones at corner but Jones opted to stay with the Bengals.

What the Dolphins failed to address was the one spot they reportedly deemed as their priority. The offensive line. Miami stuck to their guns about what they were willing to pay. Kemeche Osemele signed a huge deal with the Raiders and it appeared that Miami had a deal close to being completed for Alex Boone. Boone was scheduled to fly to Miami but was offered a better deal by the Vikings.

This would play out most of the day. The Dolphins would lose out on the top three guards in this years class and many wonder if there is enough value still on the market to make a difference at the guard positions.

What Miami has done is managed to not spend freely like they have done the last three seasons. It’s a smart move. When the Dolphins did sign a player, many weren’t sure who he was.

Miami made George IIoka a priority but the safety opted to stay with the Bengals. Miami immediately turned to their 2nd choice, Isa Abdul-Quddus. The starting safety for the Detroit Lions. Initial reactions of the move were not good but Quddus actually comes with a pretty good resume and is one of this years sleeper players in free agency. His contract, worth around $12 million total over three years puts him as the likely starter next to Reshad Jones.

The Dolphins have a lot of work to do this off-season, especially on the offensive line and the moves that were not made today could be setting the team up for must make moves during the draft. We will see how day two plays out.