There’s already been a lot of speculation and “inside information” (which is really just a reporter making a guess while pretending to have a friend on the inside) about which players the Dolphins will keep and who will walk, etc.

And before we start, just remember what I always point out: Nobody is ever cut because of salary reasons. They are let go because, in someone’s eyes, they aren’t good anymore. If you are a zillion dollars OVER the cap, there are still creative ways to afford new free agents, and this happens all the time. So when the team says “It was a business decision,” don’t buy it.

Let’s start with Julius Thomas, who was a bust of epic proportions in 2017. Here’s a man with a long history of working with Adam Gase. Let’s face it: Gase added Thomas as a personal favor to a friend, because he certainly didn’t bring him aboard to drop passes and run incorrect routes. Thomas dropped so many easy passes this year that he looked like DeVante Parker. He was an utter embarrassment, and he hurt the Dolphins far more than anyone else on offense.

Needless to say, Thomas is gone. Gase will say he is gone because it’s a salary decision, and will not acknowledge how awful Thomas played. And, sadly, in Gase’s mind, Thomas probably did play well.

Ju’Wuan James is our starting right tackle. Like the rest of our line, he had an up-and-down year. He made mistakes, but otherwise he was steady. The Dolphins merry-go-round on the offensive line has to end now. We need to keep Ju’Wuan James. He may never be an All Pro, but I’ll pay more for some stability and reliability, rather than being cheap and bringing in some old free agents or even more young undrafted free agents. That has not worked. Pay James, or even overpay James. But let’s keep some continuity for once.

Jermon Bushrod is another lineman who the “experts” say should be gone. Again, Bushrod is steady when he’s healthy. He’s not a devastating force on the line, but he’s serviceable and knows the offense. Drafting a guard in the early rounds will be a mistake, especially since we need playmakers on defense.

With regard to James and Bushrod and the rest of the line, can you name me one game that the line cost us? Sure, they let up some sacks and had numerous false starts. But in no game were they manhandled the entire time. Cutler cost us games. Moore cost us games. Certainly Julius Thomas and Devante Parker cost us games. Even Jarvis Landry fumbling all over the place in our last two games contributed to losses. But the line? Leave it be and hope the younger guys step up.

That leads us to Landry. Although he infuriates me with his after-play antics, he’s one of the few players fighting to win. There is no doubt that he hates to lose, and that means a lot on a team when everyone else is so fine with losing. (For example, we’re still waiting for Ryan Tannehill to show some anger with a loss or a bad play). Landry is our best playmaker on offense, and it’s a no-brainer that he’ll be back.

While other analysts see Lawrence Timmons as a bust, he really won me over. After skipping the first two games because of some whacky immaturity involving his kid, Timmons grew into our best linebacker. Yes, I know that’s not saying much. I’m not looking up the number of tackles or hits or sacks. I’m just going by instincts after watching every single Dolphins’ play. Timmons was decent in coverage and chased down quite a few guys. He has that Steeler pedigree, which goes far. Seriously, which of our linebackers was the best of the bunch? No one stands out for me. But at least Timmons wasn’t out of position every other play or getting beat by tight ends every other play.

Anthony Fasano is a guy I would beg to stay another year. He was our most steady tight end, and very under-utilized by Arrogant Adam Gase. All year long, Gase continually called plays for Julius Thomas. After Thomas got hurt, Gase called plays for practice squadder AJ Derby. It was ridiculous. Fasano is a valuable receiver, and Gase is just clueless on how to use him. You don’t have to consider these subjective opinions. Just watch tape of all the drops Julius Thomas had this year. It’s baffling why Gase kept going to him.

So I’m in favor of keeping James, Timmons, Fasano, and even Bushrod. I’m certainly against re-signing Julius Thomas.

That leads us to the draft.

I would select linebackers in the first 4 rounds. Nothing but linebackers. We need defensive playmakers desperately, especially at that position. I would fish for a backup QB in with our second 4th-round pick. Then I’d go back to defense.

Our offense already has the materials to succeed. We have some dynamic play-makers. We need a play-CALLER who understands that.

In our next blog, I will write about the coaching situation. I’ll assess Adam Gase and discuss what coaching changes need to be made. Ideally, Ross fires Gase and gives us Jon Gruden, but this is Dolphins Truth, not Fantasy Land. 🙁

20 Comments

  1. @Admin

    Bring on Fantasy Land!!!!!!!

    1. Author

      With Chuck Pagano and former Dolphin Jack Del Rio now available, I’d love to see Matt Burke get a pink slip.

  2. Timmons couldn’t cover me running a pass route and I’m 66! Saying he’s our best LB is not a compliment because the bar is literally on the ground. He’s a waste of skin.The LB crew is almost as bad as the OL. We will draft an OG in the 1st round unless we move up in the draft. Maybe the kid from ND. Rake On McMillan will be back so Timmons can leave.
    We need a new Defensive Coord. and an Offensive Coord that CALLS PLAYS!

  3. We wasted 10m on Cutler as either Moore or Fales could have got us 6 wins,even though I said 7. We beat 2 teams who we had no business beating,N.E. and Atlanta,so getting to 6 wins was astounding. W could hav eused that 10m to upgrade nearly every position in the team this season but Gase was worried about appearances and his fall-back was Cutler for an absurd amount. Again,either DoorMat Moore or Fales could have got us to 6 wins.

    1. But, ZACH said the Dolphins got Cutler on the cheap……

        1. Hey ZACH the QUACK… only a fool like you and GASE would think that throwing a contract at a washed up, over the hill, nobody wanted, replaced by Mike Glennon, retired NFL quarterback is worth getting a $10 million dollar contract for one season contract.

          Get off the drugs, idiot.

  4. I would say the oline somewhat cost us the raiders game. In the 4th quarter they had drive killing penalities 2 drives in a row. I think linebacker is the bigger need but I’d like them to take a guard and a big wide out (Parker isn’t the answer and Landry is better in the slot) as well as 2 linebackers with there top 5 picks. Our 2nd round pick from last year will be back so that’s pretty much 3 new linebackers.

  5. So long DoorMatt Moore,keeping Fales. At least Fales isn’t planted to the ground and has a better arm than Moore. Fales is better than Trannyhill when it comes to impending doom.

    1. Yes, but we all saw Fales could have run for about 5 different first downs vs. the Bills, but instead he puller up at the line of scrimmage and tried throwing it to Derby. Very poor decision maker like Cutler

  6. What the fuck has Fasano done for the Dolphins since he returned?

    They shipped off Clay and brought back Fasano…. no wonder this team is so confused.

    1. He has showed up to every meeting and practice and made over 1m this year. Other than that,some run blocking and catching a few passes.

      1. Author

        They shipped Clay 3 years ago and brought in a whole bunch of replacements since. None have panned out at all.

  7. Yea cutler was a dissapointment everyone knows this. But they gave him 10 million near the end of training camp and he was 6-8 as the starter. Matt Moore was 0-2. That 10 million was not going to be used on anyone else useful weeks before the preseason. If Miami started fales or Moore they most likely go 3-13 or 4-12 why because they wouldn’t beat the chargers, the Falcons or the pats.

    1. Why,because Cutler was the reason for those 3 wins? Please. Maybe the Pats game. Otherwise Fales was at least as good as Cutler in the other game and possibly better.

      1. That’s laughable, cutler was the reason we won the chargers game and there is no way fales takes Miami on to touchdown scoring drives in Atlanta to come back and win. Cutlers problem is his inconsistency, if you didn’t see the drop off between when he started and when Moore did I’m not really sure you even watched the games. Also Miami had 3 points intill the 4th quarter against the bills. Not sure I would call that game winning stuff

  8. What’s laughable is you thinking Cutler was the reason for those other 2 wins,besides NE. And to be clear,I’ve watched far more games than you have and possibly ever will. But back on topic,you have no way of knowing what Fales would or would not have done against the Chargers. Talking about his inconsistency is not germane to this your statement.Also,cherry picking about when points were scored,i.e. the 4th qtr,also isn’t relevant. Points are points. Winning stuff is winning games-Cutler failed miserablt except for maybe a total of 12 quarters this season. He managed to put a few together against NE.Bye.

  9. I’d prefer to see a LB in the first and after that OG, DE, TE, QB, RB all BPA. The LB has to be able to cover a TE or find a S that can. Double up at LB or OG although it’s probably not as bad with McMillan back and Davis and Young were decent. Asiata hopefully is ready too.

    Otherwise I don’t disagree with admin on most of this. If QB’s play better the whole offence will improve.

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