Genovesi’s Grades: Miami Dolphins free agency grades Part 1

With free-agency winding down and the Dolphins looking toward the NFL Draft at the end of April. I want to review what Miami has done thus far in the off-season, and give a grade to each position/move the Dolphins have made.

This will begin a new series I will write in 2018 titled, “Genovesi’s Grades”. This piece will look at free agency. The next will obviously grade the draft. Then throughout the 2018 season I will grade a few positions each week after every Dolphins game.

Let’s get started:

Wide receiver: B

When the free agency period started with the Dolphins trading Jarvis Landry to the Browns I wanted to punch a hole in the wall. If you read either of my previous articles about Landry you know that I thought Miami should resign Landry in a heartbeat. I truly believe he could be a hall-of-famer at the end of his career.

With that being said, the Dolphins signed Albert Wilson from Kansas City and Danny Amendola from New England to replace Landry. Both receivers combined cost is less than what Miami would have paid Landry this season.

Wilson is coming off a season in which he caught 42 passes for 554 yards and three touchdowns. While those numbers may not seem impressive, Wilson was the fourth option in KC behind Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Kareem Hunt.

Just by watching a few clips from Wilson’s season last year, it’s easy to figure out how Gase will use 25-year-old receiver. *Hint: the dude can fly.

Wilson runs a 4.43 40-yard dash which creates mismatches all over the field, and once he gets the ball in his hands makes him tough to tackle. I’ll let these next few GIF’s from Ryan Smith of PFF and Travis Wingfield of LockedOnDolphins do the talking.

Albert Wilson should thrive in Adam Gase’s offense with Ryan Tannehill at QB. I’m excited about what he can bring to the table.

As for Danny Amendola, the nine year veteran knows what it takes to make a deep playoff run and win a championship. He brings experience to a wide receiver corps that barely has any. Before Amendola, Kenny Stills had the most experience at the WR position for Miami with five years in the league.

Many people were confused when the Dolphins signed Amendola. I would assume the confusion is because Jakeem Grant, Wilson and Amendola are all under six feet tall. My response is, who cares?

Do people already forget that Amendola had eight receptions for 152 yards in the Super bowl?

The Dolphins have plenty of weapons to spread the field and create the matchups they want. DeVante Parker and Kenny Stills can each win a jump ball deep down the field. Kenyan Drake is a receiving threat out of the backfield. And the trio of Grant, Wilson and Amendola can wreak havoc underneath.

What makes Amendola valuable is the rate at which he picks up first downs. 40 of his 61 catches turned into first downs for the Patriots last year.

On third down, Amendola had 18 receptions for 217 yards and a TD. 15 of those receptions went for a first down.

And finally, on third and less than four, Amendola was targeted nine times and he caught all nine passes for first downs. If that doesn’t impress you or help you understand his value then I can’t help you.

Overall, I believe you couldn’t have done much better than Wilson and Amendola to replace Landry. Plus, Miami gets them both at a cheaper price which is why I grade the moves the Dolphins made at the WR position a B when it could have been much worse.

Defensive Line: C+

Miami’s defensive line will look much different in 2018 without Ndamukong Suh in the middle. With the release of Suh, defensive tackle has become a need for the Dolphins heading into the Draft.

While I understand why the Dolphins let Suh walk, freeing up $17 million in cap space after June 1, the Miami run defense could easily suffer. DT’s Jordan Phillips, Davon Godchaux and Vincent Taylor will have to step up in 2018.

The Dolphins also made a couple moves on the defensive line. Miami traded for DE Robert Quinn from the Rams, and retained DE William Hayes.

I am a huge advocate of keeping Hayes. That run-defense that I mentioned, Hayes will help with setting the edge on the line of scrimmage.

Bringing in Robert Quinn is an interesting signing. On one hand, the Dolphins are not getting the 2012-2014 version of Quinn. Quinn had 40 sacks in those three seasons, including 19 in 2013 alone.

Quinn struggled in 2015 and 2016 with a measly nine sacks combined, but had a decent 2017 season with 8.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.

On the other hand, Quinn is back in a system that he excelled in. Quinn played OLB with the Rams the last couple years. He will strictly be a DE with Miami. It will be interesting to see if Quinn can get back to the double digit sack machine he used to be.

Overall, letting Ndamukong Suh walk is a big loss. However, I believe the young guys have shown potential to step up, and Hayes and Quinn will help. Which leads to my grade of a C+.

That wraps up the first part of the free agency edition of “Genovesi’s Grades”.  Part two will be released soon featuring the offensive line and running back positions. Feel free to comment below with any reactions you had to the piece.