Much like last year, their are a lot of teams with tons of salary cap room. Some of these teams have enough cap room to make multiple big name free agent acquisitions. About 2/3 of the league has cap room for at least one big ticket free agent and their just aren't that many elite players on the market. By now, I would have hoped Miami would have signed at least one of their free agents of Stills, Branch or Sims. One thing I have notice league wide is that very few pending free agents are signing contracts with their existing teams then I can remember in years past. I suspect many agents are encouraging their players to at least test free agency.

Initially, I thought Miami would make a push for one of the high end LB and OG, but after seeing Gase and Grier pre-combine press conferences, I am thinking it won't happen. They mentioned that they were not going to make a big splash. Gase said free agency is a crapshoot and hates free agency, which he later clarified with getting players with bad habits.

I hope Miami put a 1st round tender of $3.91M on Kiko Alonso. $1.8M tender get them a 2nd round pick. Teams may not risk a 2nd round pick but Miami can not afford to have to replace all 3 LB again this year.

With the way the salary is increasing, I hope Miami is able to sign Landry, Alonso and Jones to contract extensions this year. The contracts may seem expensive, but by the time they get to free agency they may end up being reasonable deals. If my theory of players testing free agency is a trend, locking up players early could be a good strategy to keeping core player on the team.

All's quiet in phin land. The way it should be the first day of FA.

Gone are the days of winning March and actually building a team.

Thanks, Coach Gase. It's been a long time coming.

It looks like branch has signed a contfact. 3 year / $27m, that is more than I expected. I was expecting something in the $6M/year range. Atleast it's one less hole to fill.

dgoodhue Wrote:
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> It looks like branch has signed a contfact. 3 year
> / $27m, that is more than I expected. I was
> expecting something in the $6M/year range. Atleast
> it's one less hole to fill.

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Branch fills a need, but at $9M? Too high.

Miami still needs to draft a DE.

We needed to sign Branch could not go into free agency with just one veteran DE (wake). Fede has not done ****. 9 mil is too high in my book too but we had virtually 0 options on this one.

Kenny Stills signed for 4 years $32M with $20M guaranteed money. Crazy that Stills signed for less average money than Branch. It will be interesting to see how much Branch's contract is and how guaranteed money is included and how likely he is to get the last year.

Wait and see how Branch's contract is structured. Agents like to toot their own horn with the total # but my guess is it's very team friendly.

I think it's a good sign that our players are willing to perhaps take less $$$ to stay in Miami and play for Gase.

Stills is our 3rd receiver still thinking we should have let him walk. Im wondering if someone offered us a top 10 pick for Landry?

In the Herald they are reporting that Andre Branch's contract is 3y $24M with performance escalators of up to $3M. (Those escalators are probably are sacks and/or pro bowls). $8M annually is still pretty high for a player I though going to be closer to $5-6M.

8 is better than nine I had him at 7. The cards were in Branch's hands and he played them. Life in free agency.

Bad news, looks like we are losing Sims to the Bears. The good news looks like Anthony Fasano is coming back. He was one of my most respected Phins during his time here.

Sims looks like he was about to turn his game up a notch. Hate to see him go.

if anthony fasano is coming back then im happy fasano is 10 times better than sims....

Fasano has kept his main home here in Fort Lauderdale the whole time, is tight with Tannehill.. He also lives about 2 blocks away from Gase.... I imagine Fasano signed a very team friendly deal to come back down here....

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All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
Nietzsche

Kiko is worth the 1st rd tender money... And no one is going to give up a 1st to get him.. Smart move by our front office IMO...

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All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
Nietzsche

So far, I think the front office has done a pretty good job during free agency.

Fasano, signed a one-year, $3 million deal, replaces Dion Sims, who appears to be on the verge of signing with Chicago.

Lot of activity for the Dolphins yesterday.

I found one tweet that say Julius Thomas contract was restructure to $6.2M average for the 2017 and 2018 contract year, it seems reasonable considering that Dion Sims signed with the Bears for 3 years for $18M. I didn't realize previous but Fasano is excellent run blocking TE, seems like a reasonable to deal.

They signed OG from the Bears Ted Larsen not sure of the money of terms.

Traded Miami's 6th Round pick for William Hayes and Ram 7th pick. Hayes was the Rams starting DE and it due 5M for 2017 and 5.5M for 2018. He was rank #11 for DE against the run. Not back swap of picks for a rotational DE.

Miami signed the long snapper Denney for about $1M. He is a super consistent LS.

Miami extended Reshad Jones to 5 year $60M contact extensions. Its a lot money, but as the Salary cap expands, it get hard to sign some of the high price FA. I am not so Jones is going to last the length of the contract though, since he already has 7 years in the NFL.

They cut Isa Abdal-Quddus, apparently he isn't progressing well from his neck injury. Too bad for him. I thought he was a decent S for the money they signed him to.

I expect Miami to sign couple LB, another G, S and maybe a DT, but nobody high profile or expensive.

I expect them to continue negotiating with Kiko Alonso and Jarvis Landry for extension. Miami biggest spending splashed are going to be resigning and extending their own players.

Lawrence Timmons signed to a 2 year 12 million dollar contract. 11 million guaranteed. I like the signing but am concerned about the lack of any quality guards on the roster. The pickings are getting slim.

Did the Dolphins cut Isa Abdul-Quddus? I thought he had a pretty good year.

Abdul-Quddus is probably retiring. Not recovering from neck injury.

We will resign Bushrod or sign another depth guard and draft one as well.

I'm more worried about our fragile C than guards. I'd get Mangold as insurance.

jsm08 Wrote:
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> I'm more worried about our fragile C than guards.
> I'd get Mangold as insurance.

Agreed. Pouncey has proven to be pretty fragile. I'm just sick and tired of going into each year with journeyman guards and expecting them to be adequate. Couldn't we have signed at least one quality guard? I'd rather have done that than re-sign Branch who was okay but could have easily been replaced with a very deep pool of pass rushing ends in this year's draft.

Please please sign Zach Brown today!!

Its taking some getting used to. You know, having a winning season and a coach that doesn't try to build a team thru free agency. I'm pleased with just about every move Gase and company have made since coming to Miami. As for contracts that seem too high, just remember the cap has gone up over recent years. 5 million is the new 3 million, etc etc.

Couldn't agree more, footballgod. I know coaches have egos and want to do things their way but I always wondered why coaches didn't try to emulate the "patriot way" and it seems Gase is doing just that. It will take him a couple years but it is refreshing.

I only hope he continues to keep tannenbaum in check. If so he'll have a great chance at building a continual winner.