Chris Grier has 26 reasons why the Dolphins must be active in free agency

Miami Dolphins GM Chris Grier will take a less than free-spending approach in free agency but he has no choice but to be active.

The Miami Dolphins have no choice but to be active in free agency. They have 26 reasons why. The Dolphins have that many impending or already released free agents. The additions of Xavien Howard, Emmanuel Ogbah, and Cedrick Wilson to the list of free agent names leave the Dolphins with massive roster holes.

The Dolphins are not filling those holes in the draft. They only have six draft picks. They can't simply sign 26 players or more to a one-year contract and they surely can't assume that all of those players will be depth considering they need starters as well.

Miami's offseason is going to be interesting this year. They still have to make moves internally to get the cap under control and that will come with restructured contracts and maybe another few cuts. That leaves more holes that need to be filled.

Miami can say whatever they want but because of Grier's consistent one-year contract signings, he is faced with needing to put people on the field. Add into this entire equation the injuries that continue to plague the team, he is going to need players to fill those holes at some point.

I don't expect Miami to make any huge trades. I think he is right about that when he looks at the salary restraints vs. the contracts it would take to get those players here. Furthermore, trading for players needs draft picks and Grier is at the point where he needs them to rebuild and supplement his roster.

The Dolphins have a lot of work to do when free agency starts and while the players he signs may not be tier-one or even tier-two players, he has to add quality players who will either compete for a starting job or come in with the starting job to lose. The Dolphins simply don't have the personnel not to be active in free agency and they are not going to re-sign all of their own impending FAs.