Improving the Miami Dolphins by stealing from their AFC East rivals

The Miami Dolphins could improve if they could steal these players from the AFC East.

Today we will take a trip into the make-believe world and improve the Miami Dolphins by stealing one player from each of their division rivals.

The Dolphins have gotten off to a great start in their rebuilding process. During the free agency period, Miami was able to strengthen its team while weakening one of their rivals, most notably the New England Patriots.

In an effort to have a little fun, let’s take a few minutes to improve the Dolphins by pillaging AFC east rosters. No salary cap implications, total fiction. You could go so many ways doing this. My strategy was to strengthen three different units with young proven players. I had to resist the urge to build a defensive backfield that might have challenged for the title of best ever.

The New England Patriots – I’m going to say this really quietly so my Patriot fan friends don’t get upset with me, but their roster isn’t that good. Which is a testament to how well they are coached. My goal during this process was to take a player who filled a position of need on the Phins, not necessarily the other team’s best player. In the case of the Patriots, Stephon Gilmore would have been an obvious choice, and I had to talk myself out of doing just that. Having either Xavien Howard, Byron Jones or Stephon Gilmore as your nickel corner would be a nightmare for opposing quarterbacks. My choice though was left guard Joe Thuney. The Dolphins did a lot of work around the offensive line in both the draft and free agency but adding a second-team All-Pro would be of tremendous value. Protecting the future face of the franchise and giving said franchise quarterback a running game is a recipe for success. I also liked the fact that Thuney wouldn’t turn 28 until late in the season whereas Gilmore turns 30 in September. Thuney has started every game in his 4-year career eclipsing the 1100 snap count in each of them. In 2019 the left guard was not credited with a single penalty all year. This kind of consistency would be a welcome addition to the Dolphins.

Imagine a Miami Dolphins team built by taking from their AFC East rivals!

Buffalo Bills – This was really tough and also spoke to the fact that the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins are being built in similar ways. Many areas of strength for the Bills are also strengths on the Dolphins roster. I eventually settled on adding Defensive Tackle, Ed Oliver. Oliver isn’t that space-eating, running stopping 320 plus pound interior defensive lineman that the Dolphins could really use, what he is though is young up and coming, get to the quarterback interior defensive lineman. Oliver had a pretty impressive rookie campaign for the Buffalo Bills. Oliver finished the year with 43 total tackles (24 solo 19 asst.) with 5 tackles for loss, 5 sacks and 8 quarterback hits. A player like Oliver could once again give the Dolphins personnel flexibility in any situation.

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New York Jets – I really wanted Quinnen Williams. I had a man-crush on him coming out of Alabama last year. Plugging this guy in next to Wilkins and Godchaux and all the DE’s the Dolphins brought in would make for a formidable front seven. With that said I went with Jamal Adams. A hard-hitting safety would be a great addition and make the Dolphins defensive backfield arguably the best in the National Football League. Adams is a do it all safety who finished the 2019 season with 6.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and an interception to go along with 61 total tackles. Adams is the one player on the Jets defense that keeps offensive coordinators up at night. The Dolphins have a pretty good secondary right now, but add a player like Jamal Adams and the possibilities become endless.

It sure is nice to dream!

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