There is a clear pattern to the Miami Dolphins free agency plans
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins clearly have a plan for the free agency which should make you believe they have a clear plan for the draft as well.
Two days into the legal tampering period which has now become the NFL’s “sign and drive” event of the season, the Miami Dolphins are executing a plan within the market that should quiet down some of the disbelievers.
Cleary the Dolphins are not simply throwing money around the NFL landscape as they have in the past. Remember those days when the Dolphins would toss money to an FA simply because his name was at the top of the market list? Yeah, sadly, me too. Those days appear gone now and instead of seeing guys like Ndamukong Suh, we are getting young players ready to make their mark instead of looking to collect.
There are commonalities between each of the players signed thus far and we are going to look at those here so you can start to see the puzzle evolving in front of you.
Age
Byron Jones – 27
Emmanuel Ogbah – 26
Kyle Van Noy – 28
Ereck Flowers – 25
Shaq Lawson – 25
Clayton Fejedelem – 26
Experience
Ereck Flowers – 5 years
Byron Jones – 5 years
Emmanuel Ogbah – 4 years
Kyle Van Noy – 6 years
Shaq Lawson – 4 years
Clayton Fejedelem – 4 years
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Draft round
Shaq Lawson – 1st
Ereck Flowers – 1st
Byron Jones – 1st
Kyle Van Noy – 2nd
Emmanuel Ogbah – 2nd
Clayton Fejedelem – 7th
The Dolphins are targeting players coming off their rookie contracts. Van Noy is the exception here as he was re-signed by the Patriots on a two-year extension after his rookie deal. He is also the oldest at 28. Still, Van Noy knows the system that Brian Flores is running and will be invaluable to the growth of the youth in that system. The best part he is still playing at a high level and has plenty of years in front of him.
The team is also looking at early drafted players. These are guys who came into the league as top prospects who have yet to reach their full potential but are still showing the opportunity to develop more. Fejedelem is the exception here. He was drafted in the 7th round but was signed for his special teams play.
Miami is also not overpaying in most cases. Van Noy is got a $51 million contract and Jones received an $80 million deal but the rest are solid team contracts with front-loaded money.
Another commonality is winning. With the exception of Fejedelem who arrived via the Bengals and Flowers who was with the Redskins, Miami signed players from New England, Kansas City, and Dallas.
With a lot of free agency to come, check back as we add players and explain how this free agency period will change the draft.
What we can see for now is that the Dolphins went into free agency with a designed plan to get better on defense and supplement the offense depending on how the market dictated. That should continue through the rest of the week and should give us an idea of what they plan to do with their draft.