We still have a way to go yet of the 2023 season, but....

2024 not only is aimed at the draft, but also FA and trades. We are all pushing for the Fins to go far, very far, in 2023, and hopefully our guys will get where we all want them to be.

Once this season is over, Miami has many players, and many of them are front line players, that will have to be paid, and I am pointing out Wilkins. Why Grier didn't sign him earlier is out of my pay grade, but it is possible he will be out of the Fins' pocket book and will probably be with another team next season. Along with Wilkins, there are 22 other players that have contracts that are up, with many of them front line players. At present, Miami doesn't have the money to pay very many of them.

Once this season is over and done with and Hill has accomplished everything he said he wanted to accomplish, will he try to renegotiate his contract? Inquiring minds want to know.

I mentioned Wilkins a year ago. Defense is my thing, it wins championships, ask the 72,73 Dolphins. Team player, rarely hurt, always making plays......you build a team around guys like that.

GO DOLPHINS!!!!

Man, the DT market went crazy the latter part of last offseason...he'll definitely be more expensive to keep than he would have been 8 months ago.

There will have to be some tough decisions and we'll lose some players we'd like to have kept. In my opinion, you'd want to keep as many true blue-chip players as you can...the "math changers" as some call them. A couple of things that are encouraging in that regard:
- our offensive line has played much better even with all the injuries, and I'd have to attribute much of that to the new coach. If we can get quality OL play w/o having to pay premium $, that money can be used to keep blue-chippers on other units.
- similarly, under Fangio our defense seems able to weather some injuries and give a glimpse into how it might fare without some of the pieces we have now.
- Grier has been able to consistently draft legit talent and/or leverage draft picks well (i.e. via trade) over the past several years. Charles Harris in the 1st is a distant bad memory. He's had a couple hits in later rounds, but the only 1st/2nd round misses in recent years are Igbonoghene and, arguably, Eichenberg (who is doing better this year). I don't think he'll always be as successful as he has been the past ~5 drafts, but it's amazing to think that his drafting and trades of draft picks have netted:
- Tua
- Tyreek
- Waddle
- Wilkins
- Phillips
- Ramsey
- Holland
- Chubb
- Achane
All of these are really exceptional and among the top at their positions and don't include solid folks like Hunt, Jackson, Brandon Jones, etc.

None of this is meant to say I don't want to keep any of these guys...just NFL economics dictate that we likely won't be able to keep everyone we'd want to.

I have no clue what our cap space looks like or will look like. This team needs to make their run for it all now while we still have a lot of talent.

I'm hoping these guys want to keep their team together as much as possible since they seem to enjoy what's going on. But money overshadows loyalty in this day and age of the NFL. I remember Marino taking a salary cut in order to keep players on the team. Sadly those days are long gone. I guess we'll find out how much these guys truly love being Miami Dolphins.

I agree we should make a run for it while we can. Absolutely. But even in this era certain teams like the Pats ,the Eagles, The Chiefs, maintain greatness after losing key players .
You can lose players but great teams keep a nucleus together on offense and defense. Wilkins is one of those players.

GO DOLPHINS!!!!

Not news to anyone on this board, but having stability with the right combination of management, coaching and QB is a huge part of being able to make the right player personnel decisions. We've had dysfunction in that mix for so many years that, in my opinion, has resulted in not maximizing the talent on our roster. For example, we've for so long been the team where quite often free agents come...their performance dips while with us...then bounces back up after leaving.

I've admittedly been fooled in the past thinking we had a solid GM/HC combo and were just seeking the right QB to complete the holy trinity, so to speak. With Grier's performance even predating McDaniel, but really paying dividends now that McD is here I feel good on that front. With McDaniel, one of the key indicators is his willingness have Fangio join the staff. It showed he could build a staff without ego getting in the way. Both have strong visions for how their sides of the ball play out and track records of success. So, they're able to identify the kinds of players they prefer/need to maximize the team's productivity and results.

As perhaps the strongest single example of this, Tyreek - working in McDaniels' system w/Tua @ QB - has had 2 of his best seasons of a HoF career since we acquired him.

Maybe a better example would be AVG. Apparently Fangio convinced him to return to us. A 5th rounder in 2019 who's been a good part of the team...costs the team $2.65M this year...looks like he'll likely step in and prevent a significant drop-off from Phillips. The point isn't to turn around and pay him starter EDGE money, but more that Fangio could see how AVG - at the right price - would be significantly valuable to our defense. And, if he can do that in this case, I'd like to believe he could do it with some consistency, whether we're talking about drafting players or retaining/acquiring FAs.

All that to say I think we have a good infrastructure in place for making the kinds of decisions we'll need to make.

All good points for sure. For now..... let's enjoy the ride!!

GO DOLPHINS!!!!

I am expecting to see Wilkens walk this off season and am ok w/ it. We have some hard decisions to make and saving the oline is first. Am very happy to see Jackson get a 3 year extension today and also think the Phins agree, the Oline is first.

Next up is Hunt. Williams I would let walk and draft a center (young man from UGA) and sign a f/a. Eichenberg is signed thru 2024.

Then we have Van Ginkle and others.

Management has been good w/ handling contracts and free agency. We have been retaining our players but now its time to pay the piper and this year we will see some leave. I think Wilkens and Davis will be with other teams. We should get a 3rd rnd compensatory pick for Davis (another for Williams) in 2025. I also think we will not retain Baker and Ogbah maybe trade them.

We still have a big payday coming w/ Tua. Its time to pay players and collect draft capital. As well as win.

Think of how many times The defense has saved this teams behind. The defense struggled before Ramsey made such an incredible recovery but that line , largely led by Wilkins is the reason for many wins . Not only his play, he's a captain and a great pretense in and out of the locker room. You don't draft guys like him and let them walk. I'd let Chubb go first and possibly Even Howard if money becomes an issue before even thinking of letting him walk.

GO DOLPHINS!!!!

Build around wilkins.they need to resign him.

The person we need on this defense is Davis. He is the unsung hero of that front holding the center. 2023 our D sucked when he was out. You could see it this season then they signed Hand and he can handle the job while Davis gets a breather.

Wilkens will be the Gesicki of 2024. We will learn we can live without him.

Chubb carries too much dead money on his contract to let go.

Its time to pay the bills front office sees this coming.

Not totally counting Wilkens out but it would take others renegotiating their contract imo. Right now I think oline, Van Ginkel, Davis, Tua's future contract and depth come before Wilkens.

21 century NFL, you cannot defend all positions salary wise.

Right now Im enjoying the 2023 season.

If Jackson continues to play at this level and on a trajectory of getting better, it's a good contract. OT is generally more valuable than OG, which makes me wonder if the trade-off on the OL is Hunt not being resigned. I freakin' love Hunt and hope he can stay. The fact that the Jackson signing isn't incredibly expensive relative to OL contracts league-wide gives me some hope that maybe we can keep both.

Ogbah likely gone this upcoming offseason. I figured Baker would be gone even w/o the injury, so I think that makes it even more likely. These 2 moves essentially get us to the 2024 cap. There are a couple of other moves that could free up a bit more (e.g. Keion Crossen for $3M.

The 2 big moves that could free up sizeable chunks:
- I think Howard will be let go next offseason as a post June 1 cut or trade if we can find a partner. That would give $18.5M. May be time next year to see if the 2nd rounder we spent on Cam Smith was worth it.
- A L/T contract for Tua. I don't know what that would free up, but Justin Herbert's 2023 cap # is $8.5M vs. Tua's current 2023 5th year option at $23M, so maybe about $14M there?

I'm sure there are other moves like restructures that I'm just not smart enough to figure out that could help.

I love having Wilkins on the team and sincerely hope he's among those who are on the team in 2024 and beyond. I don't know whether his play in 2023 has changed the team from having a number in mind (which may be higher than it was last year this time) that they won't exceed. My understanding is that the sides were pretty far apart. Wilk's side probably looks at it that his play in 2023 solidifies their perception of value. The team likely sees that the defense is a ton better this year than last, but Wilk's individual performance/contribution has been relatively steady (really valuable, but, at least per PFF, has actually dipped this year from 2022). That would lead them to believe that they're able to build a strong defensive roster whether he's a part of it or not - i.e. don't overpay. As mentioned by mizzou, compensatory picks are part of the consideration.

I often warn against falling in love w/ a player. I like Wilkens but if you notice he has no sacks in our 3 losses. He has been feasting off bad teams.

The reality.

The entire team has been feasting on bad teams. And struggled against the only teams who are probably playoff teams.

Buffalo Philly and KC.

We need to restructure or resign as many players as we can.

Gesicky was not even close to been as good Wilkins.

Gesicky couldn't block which is the number one job for tends on this team. He occasionally caught a pass. That's all he did.

We will see what happens soon.

We had key injuries.....having that hurt player at corner cost us against better teams. Let them try that shit against Ramsey.

GO DOLPHINS!!!!

Wilkins is funny as shit to listen to when he's mic'd up. I enjoy watching him on YouTube he cracks me up. He has a lot of fun on the field.

Mizzou is right about his warning of falling in love a player and I think I'm 100% guilty of that, but I have to trust whatever the FO decides to do in '24.

I agree that Ramsey has completely changed the defense for the much, much better. He may have been the difference in the Buffalo game where Kohou was picked on in the passing game, and that was a big part of the game just getting out of hand. In the Philly game, I think the #1 reason we lost was the officiating. If we'd had Ramsey and fair officiating, we certainly don't lose by 14 and may have won that one. He was part of the defense that only gave up 14 offensive points to KC, and then we $hit the bed on offense that day.

Absolutely Tamper! With lock down corners Van Gickel and Chubb have been going nuts . Simular to The rein of terror Zack Thomas enforced. Ramsey is beyond lockdown. He's 0.0% !!! Allen won't know what him him.

GO DOLPHINS!!!!

My son & I watch the games together just about every week, and I've told him this defense is like the one we had in the late 90's/early 2000's with Zach, JT, Madison, Surtain, etc. Only this season our offense is 2nd in the league in rushing and 2nd in passing.