Several Miami Dolphins players will play their final two game for Miami

The Miami Dolphins have two games left in their season and while mathematically still alive for the post-season, the off-season is getting closer.

When the Miami Dolphins finish their season in what is more likely than not, in two weeks, several members of the current team will not be around for the start of training camp or off-season workouts. These players will be playing in their final two games as Miami Dolphins.

Tough decisions will be made this off-season but perhaps they shouldn’t be all that hard to make. In a post earlier today, we discussed the off-season decisions that will need to be made. On the second slide of that article (it’s rather long) we talked about a couple of the players that might be gone this off-season. Now we are going to look at it a bit deeper.

No matter what Miami has to create some holes this off-season unless Stephen Ross decides to retain everyone and tells them to ride it out with what they have. Creating holes is an off-season necessity when changes are going to be made in some fashion. The question is which created holes are easier to fill?

Receiver:

The easiest move to make is releasing DeVante Parker. Parke will make $9.3 million on his 5th year option and is nowhere near worth it. Miami gets all of that money back if he is traded or released. Replacing Parker is the easiest off-season challenge for Miami for two reasons. One, Parker hasn’t been consistently good and really hasn’t contributed much over his entire NFL career, and two Miami has two capable replacements, Brice Butler and Albert Wilson, already on the roster. Butler will need to be resigned but he has played well since joining the Dolphins.

Danny Amendola has been a professional all year but his production hasn’t been all that great and he is easily replaced by Jakeem Grant on the inside. MIami would save the entire $6 million of Amendola’s contract if released.

Tackle/Guard:

Miami needs to find a guard for the right side and a decision will need to be made on Ja’Wuan James who will be a free agent if Miami does not re-sign him. James has played well but well enough to draw a big contract from the Dolphins? Probably not where Miami wants to spend the money.

If James goes the Dolphins will look to free agency or to the draft but don’t expect high draft picks on a tackle, or a guard for that matter.

Quarterback: 

Will Ryan Tannehill be the quarterback in 2019? That is the question everyone wants to know and chances are very good that he will be. The question is will the Dolphins draft one early or look to free agency for competition? Tannehill’s contract will count $26 million against the cap and $13 million of that can be recovered if released. In 2018 Stephen Ross wanted the Dolphins to draft a quarterback and they will likely feel they need to this off-season.

Defensive line:

Andre Branch, Williams Hayes, and Robert Quinn will not likely be back. Of the three Hayes has the better chance because he will be cheap. Cutting both Branch and Quinn will cost the Dolphin very little in dead space. $2 million for Branch and none for Quinn. They will get back $7 million for Branch and the full $12.9 million for Quinn.

The question is what about Wake? Wake is still playing good football but not $9 million a season good football. A free agent at the end of this season will Wake opt to leave Miami for a chance to make a Super Bowl before he retires? That is a possibility unless Miami can convince him to stay with a big open checkbook. Chances are he will be back on a one or two-year deal.

T.J. McDonald is going to cost Miami $6 million of cap space and very little is returned if he is released. Still it is possible if the Dolphins designate him a post-June release. Miami may actually wait this one out to see how free agency and more specifically the draft shakes out.

There are a lot of other players that could add a million or two to the spending account but those players, Ted Larsen types, are supposed to be depth players and those players seem to turnover quite often throughout the season. The bigger changes are the ones that come up top.