Miami Dolphins depth a present and future problem
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins are tweaking their roster today but they are all business getting ready for the Seattle Seahawks next week. There hasn’t been much optimism about 2016 and 2017 may not be much better.
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Someone has to say it so it may as well be me. The Dolphins have a depth problem. Right now. They will in 2017 and barring major upgrades to the team, they just might have problems in 2018 as well.
Making matters worse is that there are no guarantees that Miami won’t need starting help either. That does not bode well for Adam Gase. Now the sky isn’t falling and I’m not playing “Mr. Debbie Downer” here but looking over the roster as it stands today and there are legitimate questions that need resolved.
2016 will be intriguing but if the Dolphins find success in 2016, like a post-season birth, the changing tides may not be close on the horizon.
Looking position by position it’s much easier to see what the Dolphins need to do and what problems may lie ahead for them. The Dolphins have only so many draft picks and free agency hasn’t exactly been kind to the Dolphins.
Quarterback
To say that Ryan Tannehill is the future of the franchise would be wrong. In fact his 2017 cap number balloons to just over $20 million. Releasing Tannehill would save over $9 million. Almost all of Tannehill’s guarantees are already paid. If Tannehill doesn’t play to the expectations of the team and Adam Gase, he could be gone.
If Tannehill is gone, the Dolphins have even more holes to fill. It’s a reason that this season is so pivotal not just for Tannehill.
Matt Moore is on yet another one year deal and it’s likely that the rest of his career will be one year deals and likely with Miami. At some point however the Dolphins have to hand over the back-up job to someone else.
Running Back
Assuming that Arian Foster works out and stays healthy, the Dolphins could re-sign him to another deal after the season. Jay Ajayi still has plenty left on his rookie deal so the Dolphins don’t have to worry about him and Kenyan Drake is a rookie this year.
While the Dolphins will probably need to see if this unit can be productive it’s not an immediate need for the present or the future. Frankly finding a running back in today’s NFL isn’t that hard either. Holding on to them is.
Next: wide receivers