The Dolphins have had a very competitive training camp and preseason in regards to their kickers. Sturgis who was struggling with a early injury is now healthy is now in a battle with undrafted rookie Franks for the starting field goal kicker position. In the last preseason game against the Falcons, Franks hit a big 51 yarder and made the decision a bit harder on the coaches. With all that being said, the surprise move in regards to the kicking unit is that Miami has just released former Pro Bowl Punter Brandon Fields.
What is even more shocking is that Miami recently made Fields restructure his contract in the off-season to a base salary of $1.65 million in order to create some salary cap flexibility. Being a good soldier Fields took the pay cut, but now hos loyalty is being repaid with getting cut for someone younger and cheaper. I have sympathy for Fields considering he showed that he was a team player by taking a pay cut, but I do understand that the NFL is a business after all and the decision does make sense.
So Miami Dolphin news fans meet your new Punter: Matt Darr an undrafted rookie from Tennessee. He punted 80 times his senior year for 42.2 yard average with 30 punts downed inside the 20, and 21 punts that went for 50 or more yards. So far this preseason Darr punted the ball 7 times and has averaged 51.2 yards with a net average of 42.6 yards, but only one punt has been downed inside the 20. Field’s forte was downing punts inside the 20, so it will be interesting to see if Darr can improve on this part of his kicking game because there is no question that he has a big, live leg to boom long kicks.
In terms of money the net savings for the Dolphins this season will only be $544,667. However, the real savings will be seen next season where they have now completely shed Field’s $3.55 million salary for the 2016 season. Besides choosing the younger and promising Darr, Miami’s ‘capologist’ Dawn Aponte was clearly using the strategy of making cap room for next year when Suh’s contract will make the biggest hit on the team’s finances.
This was a bold strategy by the team to bet the house on Darr, but I do like the fact that they netted around $3 million in savings for next year. In addition, $3.55 million is way too much money to be paying a punter, and there is no question that Darr does have a high ceiling. If the coaching staff can help him improve his hang time and his consistency of downing punts inside the 20 yard line, then I think this could prove to be another shrewd and prosperous decision by the organization. What does the rest of the Miami Dolphins News fans think about the Dolphins decision to waive Fields, and keep the rookie Darr? Also we can add one more rookie that will be starting from this 2016 draft, and undrafted Rookie class? If we can then it would be another feather in the caps of Hickey and Tannenbaum.
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