Free Agency: The Dust has settled

After a hectic week of major losses and then some signings, the dust has settled, and we can look at where the roster stands with regard to our new players, and a few former/current Dolphins who chose to stay.

Here are the new:

Jordyn Brooks LB

Aaron Brewer C

Kendall Fuller CB

Jonnu Smith TE

Siran Neal S

Neville Gallimore DT

Anthony Walker Jr. ILB

Jack Driscoll G

Jonathan Harris DT

Benito Jones DT

Jody Fortson TE

Shaquil Barrett OLB

Jordan Poyer S

With the exception of our old nemesis Jordan Poyer and former Dolphin Benito Jones, I have not heard of any of these guys. I’m not saying they are no-name journeymen; in fact, some of these guys have been to Pro Bowls etc. But I’ve been a Dolphin fan my whole life, and this is the first time ever where we signed a whole bunch of guys who I never heard of.

Without getting into their biographies and experience, I’m just going to break this down by position.

Poyer replaces DeShon Elliott. We still need to replace Brandon Jones, a HUGE loss. I really liked his play. Siran Neal is another new safety, but he’s essentially a special teams player only.

Shaq Barrett replaces Baker.

Anthony Walker replaces AVG.

Jordyn Brooks is a depth linebacker, probably will be used on the edge because it’s unlikely that Chubb and Phillips will be ready for Week One.

Jonnu Smith had some nice seasons elsewhere, but I am thoroughly convinced that Mike McDaniel does not know how to use a receiving tight end, so this is wasted money.

Same for Jody Fortson. Bringing in two tight ends probably means the other bums who play behind Durham Smythe will be gone. 3 TEs on the roster, so somebody better PLEASE tell McDaniel about the new NFL rule that allows you to throw to a TE.

Aaron Brewer replaces Connor Williams, who remains on IR with a bad ACL. Something is fishy with Williams, because both sides are saying, “Connor is just concentrating on his rehab and isn’t concerned about contract extensions.” This is nonsensical shenanigans. Are you saying that because you go to physical therapy a few hours per week, you can’t have your agent field offers of interest? If I were injured and my financial future uncertain, I’d be chomping at the bit to gain some financial security by signing a deal! Something is going on.

Kendall Fuller replaces X Howard.

Neville Gallimore replaces Wilkins.

Jonathan Harris replaces Ogbah.

Benito Jones brings inexpensive depth. Knock on wood, but Zach Seiler plays like 99% of our snaps, and we’re dead without him.

Jack Driscoll replaces Hunt. (We also re-signed Isiah Wynn, which I think is excellent. Our whole season evaporated after the 3-0 start when Wynn and Kendall Lamm starting getting hurt. Losing Williams and Armstead was bad, but we were able to cobble a line together without them. But losing both Lamm and Wynn for extended periods took away all our depth. Very happy to have them back.

So if you look at the positions we lost, Grier did a good job of filling those positions. That’s a start.

You don’t replace Wilkins, AVG, X Howard, and Hunt by buying high-priced WRs, for example. We had needs, and Grier filled them.

Granted, some of the new guys SEEM to be a step below the guys we lost. But to be fair, we don’t know that yet. I’m going to keep an open mind. Free agency is not done, and we still have the draft AND a first-round draft pick for once that Ross has not screwed us out of.

Finally, I was extremely encouraged by guys like Jalen Ramsey, Alex Ingold, Bradley Chubb, Durham Smythe, Zach Sieler, Terron Armstead, and others. They willingly allowed the Dolphins to re-negotiate their contracts. No one is taking a pay cut, per se, but rather having money deferred for the future etc. They did not have to do this; they willingly chose to in order to help the Dolphins financially. If only Wilkins or Hunt were this loyal !