The Dolphins made
all the wrong moves in the last offseason, Dave Hyde writes.
Here, to me, is the most painful part of this dismal Dolphins season: Nothing they did last offseason looks right. Nothing. Every move looks wrong. Every decision seems misguided. Every important step became a misstep. Every. Single. One. Let’s spin the wheel and start with promoting Matt Burke to defensive coordinator. The Dolphins gave up 23.7 points a game last year, invested heavily on the defense and got worse this year. They gave up 24.6 points a game. They dropped from 18th to 28th in the league in the heavyweight stat.
Was it Burke? Was it the larger offensive failures — Adam Gase’s offense dropped a whopping five points a game — leading to defensive failures? Or no incoming player expected to help actually ended up helping at all?
Exhibit A of the parade gone wrong is Lawrence Timmons. He signed as an every-down linebacker for $11 million guaranteed over two years and went famously AWOL before the first game. That’s the biggest play Timmons made, too.
It means the Dolphins aren’t on the hook for nearly $5 million guaranteed his second year. He can’t be invited back next year. Pittsburgh isn’t a dumb franchise. The Steelers let him go last offseason for a reason, as the Dolphins discovered.
Then there’s tight end Julius Thomas. He came advertised as a seam-splitting reclamation project being reunited with Gase. Turns out his two bad years in Jacksonville weren’t a fluke. Gase kept trying to feed Thomas the ball, too. That only underlined the mistake.
Next bad decision: Jay Cutler.
Another failed reunion with Gase. Yes, it was a desperation move after Ryan Tannehill was lost. And you got the logic. Cutler’s supposed best year was with Gase in Chicago. The bottom line in a bottom-line business is Gase spent $10 million and got the same mediocre quarterback Cutler was for 12 years. Surprised?
The better solution in retrospect: Matt Moore. The best solution is the Patriots way: Play the young guy you’re developing. Tom Brady entered when Drew Bledsoe got hurt. Matt Cassel entered when Brady was hurt. Jimmy Garoppolo played when Brady was suspended. Then Jacoby Brissett did when Garoppolo was hurt.
Smart teams always have tomorrow’s possibilities on their mind, not yesterday’s production. The Dolphins never have a young quarterback in the bullpen. Another mistake.
Let’s see. What other decisions didn’t work out? Laremy Tunsil moving to left tackle seemed a nobrainer in March. Didn’t the Dolphins rate him as the de facto No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft? Didn’t a marijuana gas mask let him fall to them?
Tunsil played decently at guard his rookie year before struggling at left tackle this season. The evidence is the staggering nine presnap penalties, which tie for the league high. Worse, all those teams saying the gas mask didn’t sway their thinking look right.
Still worse: The draft pick that was used for Tunsil came in a bad trade from Philadelphia that got worse this offseason. Philadelphia had the vision to grab Carson Wentz after packaging the Dolphins’ No. 8 pick with others to get No. 2 pick from Cleveland. The Dolphins ended up with Tunsil, Byron Maxwell and Kiko Alonso.
Maxwell gave a halfseason of good cornerback play last year before getting cut this year. Total cost: $17 million. Ouch.
Alonso was decent at middle linebacker last year, but the Dolphins didn’t like his play there. He was moved outside this year. On Sunday, Kansas City’s Orson Charles became the weekly tight end to expose Alonso with a 35-yard catch. It was Charles’ second catch this season.
Compounding Alonso’s issue is his contract from last offseason. He could have played at a restricted tender of $3.9 million this year. He was needlessly given a four-year, $29 million ($18.5 million guaranteed) deal. Good for him, right?
Andre Branch also got $24 million over three years last offseason. Branch has four sacks this year. That’s who he is. It’s what he averages over six seasons.
Smart teams keep players like Alonso on the cheap and have the confidence to find a Branch at a better price. But the Dolphins keep doing what the Dolphins do, regime after regime.
Oh, there were some bit pieces that worked out, like kicker Cody Parkey and reserve defensive end William Hayes, until he got hurt. But any significant good news came came with an ugly asterisk. Running back Kenyan Drake emerged. But that happened only because Jay Ajayi, an All-Pro in 2016, was thrown overboard to — where else? — Philadelphia.