The Palm Beach Post

Goodbye, underachie­vers

Dolphins end 1-year experiment­s, save $10 million for 2018.

- By Jason Lieser and Hal Habib Palm Beach Post Staff Writers hhabib@pbpost.com Twitter: @gunnerhal jlieser@pbpost.com Twitter: @JasonLiese­r

Sometimes a team knows exactly what it’s doing and executes it exactly right. Other times, it’s just about catching a break.

In the case of the Dolphins’ one year with tight end Julius Thomas and linebacker Lawrence Timmons, it was some of each. They cut Timmons Monday morning and will let Thomas go shortly, saving around $10 million in salary cap space for the upcoming season. That’s important with free agency starting this week.

Both unde rachieved, but with Thomas the Dolphins were well-prepared for it. Jacksonvil­le was prepared to cut him a year ago, when Miami was simultaneo­usly about to do the same with left tackle Branden Albert, so the teams came up with the idea of trading them for each other. It’s worth keeping in mind that Miami gave up next to nothing to bring him aboard.

Thomas restructur­ed his contract in a way that allowed the Dolphins to let him go after one year if things didn’t work out. Both sides hoped he’d rekindle the prolific production he had with Dolphins coach Adam Gase in Denver. He never came close to the numbers he posted as a back-to-back Pro Bowler in 2013 and ’14: 152 catches, 1,277 yards and 24 touchdowns.

He went almost the whole first half of last season without catching more than three passes in a game

Thomas had a good second half of the season and finished with 41 catches (out of 62 targets) for 388 yards and three touchdowns. On the plus side, that’s more production than Miami got out of any tight end the previous year. The position remains a major issue to be addressed in free agency or the draft.

With regard to Timmons, one of the weirdest, most frustratin­g things to happen to the Dolphins in their recent history turned out to be one of their luckiest breaks. Timmons went AWOL the night before the season opener against the Chargers. Not only did he desert, he did it at a point in time that prevented the Dolphins from adding a practice squad player to replace him.

That seemed like one of the dirtiest things a player could do to his team, but the truth is Timmons did them an incredible favor. As part of his reinstatem­ent to the Dolphins, they were able to make the second season of his contract nonguarant­eed, a league source confirmed.

He’d almost certainly still be on the team this season if it wasn’t for that, and a 32-year-old linebacker who ran out of gas late last year is something Miami decidedly doesn’t need. His original two-year, $12 million deal was guaranteed for all but $1 million and almost certainly would’ve forced the Dolphins to keep him this year at an $8.2 million cap hit. That contract was a mistake in hindsight, but Timmons let them off the hook.

Going forward, the team is counting on a resurgent season by Kiko Alonso and an impressive talent in Raekwon McMillan, the 2017 second-round draft pick who would’ve been a starter last year had he not torn his ACL in the first preseason game.

Miami still has other cost-cutting moves to consider. The next big question is whether to rescind right tackle Ja’Wuan James’ $9.3 million team option, followed by navigating the complexiti­es of free agency.

Bushrod wants to play again: Jermon Bushrod, a former Pro Bowl guard who endured an injury-shortened 2017 season, said he wants to play a 12th NFL season.

“I’m going to keep going,” said Bushrod, who will be 34 next season. “I want to do it again. I feel good. I wouldn’t say I’m 100 percent healthy but after I get this brace off my wrist, I’ll feel a lot better about myself.”

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