Miami Dolphins are rebuilding the offense with a new coach
Where to begin with the week that was for the Miami Dolphins. When I started this post, the Dolphins had yet to name their new coach, and I was trying to figure out which way to go with their free agents. Since then, the Dolphins have named Mike McDaniel as the new coach, in addition, he has brought in Wes Welker as receivers coach as well as Jon Embree as tight ends coach as well as possibly bringing in Charles London, Falcons quarterbacks coach, to be the team’s offensive coordinator. Let’s take a look at positional targets for free agents from the Dolphins as Coach McDaniel builds his staff and team.
The addition of McDaniel to lead the team and bringing in Welker as well as Embree, who both served in the same positions with the 49ers, are solid additions to the team and the coaching staff and shows a commitment to get the best out of the offense, which for many has been troubling, to say the least. Embree is one of the top tight-end coaches in the league and in Welker, they get someone that not only is familiar with the Dolphins organization but has shown to be a great positional coach to put players in a position to succeed. Charles London as of this writing has yet to be confirmed as the new offensive coordinator, so we can look at that later.
With those additions to the staff, I feel it speaks volumes to the intent moving forward for the Dolphins team. From an offensive free-agent standpoint, the team has wide receivers, tight ends, and running backs to examine. The high priority target would be Mike Gesicki, the team needs to make a decision on as well as Mack Hollins, Preston Williams, Albert Wilson, Will Fuller as well as Durham Smythe to make decisions on. Gesicki for sure should be a high priority for the team to resign. He has consistently improved on his statistics from the previous year. With both McDaniel as well as Embree on board for the tight ends, I can see parallels to him being used in a similar offensive role.
Although there are quite a number of receivers that are free agents from the Dolphins, the likelihood of them all being resigned is minimal. Of the potential targets to resign, Preston Williams, as well as Mack Hollins, are possible likely targets to bring back to the team. Hollins emerged last season as a productive target for Tagovailoa posting career highs in yards, catches, and touchdowns. Williams has struggled to build on the momentum due to injuries as he has only played in eight games the past three seasons. Although bringing in Wes Welker to be the position coach should help the receiving group in the long run, however, it doesn’t seem likely that resigning any in the group will be a priority between those available in the draft as well as free agents from other teams, Chris Godwin and Davante Adams stand out as targets to make attempts for.
Running back seems like more of a position to address through the draft to at least bolster the running back group. Myles Gaskin has proved to be a solid contributor posting career highs in rushing yards and tied his career-high in touchdowns on the ground. He did post a career-best in receiving touchdowns. I’ll have a breakdown of running backs in the draft later.