Miami Dolphins tight-end unit gets upgraded in free agency
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins have added to their tight-end group for the 2019 season bringing questions and competition to Chad O’Shea’s offense.
If there was a surprise for the Miami Dolphins in free agency it wasn’t the fact they didn’t spend much money. It was the fact they added not one but two tight-ends to what was a crowded unit.
In 2019 Adam Gase kept four tight-ends on the roster. MarQuies Gray went down in training camp and missed the entire year being place on IR with an injury. Miami entered the year with two rookies, Durham Smythe and Mike Gesicki as well as A.J. Derby and Nick O’Leary.
2019 is going to be a bit different. Derby is not on the roster and remains an unsigned free agent. Nick O’Leary signed a one year extension last season but any guarantees on that deal would have already been paid out.
Miami spent the first few days of the free agency period signing tight-ends. Veterans Clive Walford and former Patriots TE Dwayne Allen have both inked deal. Allen knows the Patriots system that Miami will likely use as a base for their own. He is a very solid blocking tight-end, something that Gesicki is not.
Walford signed a one year deal worth $720k so he will need to compete for a job on the unit. Many Dolphins fans will be watching the tight-ends closely this year as they hope Chad O’Shea can bring some of what he learned in New England. The Patriots are one of the best in the NFL at using two tight-end sets. Hopefully O’Shea can help speed the development of Gesicki.
The two free agent signings bring Miami’s total TE count to five and that should change a bit when camp approaches with another one added for reps. The Dolphins could keep as many as four on this years roster.