Dolphins Roster Moves Accelerate… Tannehill On Deck

Dolphins cut some players and tender others… The biggest moves are still to come

As we rapidly approach Free Agency, the Dolphins have made a series of moves over the last couple of days that point to where this team is going…

… and offers an appraisal of the past.

Chris Grier and Brian Flores have stated that they have a shared vision on how to build a team the right way. So, even though Grier has total control, Flores is part of the process along with Marvin Allen and Reggie McKenzie. These moves are the result of team evaluations…

… so our evaluation of this regime is officially underway.

Over the last several days, the Miami Dolphins tendered Guard Issac Asiata, Guard / Tackle Jesse Davis, D-linemen Jonathan Woodard, and Tackle Zach Sterup. Miami also released Andre Branch and Ted Larsen.

The analysis of Branch and Larsen is ‘easy peasy’.

Larsen was an average right guard asked to be a starter on the left side. The results were sub-par. Branch was solid in his first season, then injuries and sub-par play followed. Given his contract, Branch’s extension was a near disaster.

Addition by subtraction is a good summary of both players departure.

Asiata, Davis, Woodard, and Sterup takes a little more thought to gauge.

Sterup getting tendered was a surprise. He’s so tall (6’9”) and isn’t strong. The lack of leverage and power is only compensated by one tool: Length. Anytime a rusher gets off is hands, Sterup gets in trouble. Maybe some more development in his technique and in the weight room will change this… or maybe he’s just a camp body. The pay per head sites like www.AcePerHead.com are betting on the latter scenario.

Asiata’s return was another curious move. In his case, like Larsen, Asiata was miscast last season. Lacking agility, footwork, and recognition Asiata was plugged into the Left Guard spot where these skills matter a bit more than on the right side. I can only see him developing as a Right Guard in a conventional scheme… unless this staff is so good they can get him to make leaps of improvement on his weaknesses. This could also be a cheap roll of the dice to see if the new regime can make good on the 5th Round Pick used to draft him.

Davis and Woodard have the best chance to stick beyond this year’s camp.

Here’s a snippet of Jonathan Woodard’s play in 2018 for the Dolphins.

Woodard’s size 6’6” 271lbs and decent agility for a man that size fits perfectly in Flores’ system as he can play up and down the line. I can see his flashes being more consistent this year with better coaching and a scheme that suits him.

Woodard isn’t a lock, but he’s one to keep your eye on.

Then there’s Jesse Davis…

… I want to make this perfectly clear, Jesse…

I know some of you hate when I add GIFs—Jimmy does too. But I couldn’t resist. I’ll ride or die with Jesse.

His season had difficulties with a PFF grade of 55.6 that rates him as average. But, you could see Davis wasn’t playing with a lot of confidence last year and had more than double his mental errors from the prior year. To his credit, most of the big runs that went right were off his blocks. The term ‘sophomore slump’ became a ‘thing’ for a reason. I’ll embrace with both hands that Davis had sophomore season blues in 2018. I’m not sure if it’s blind love or objective evaluation… But I see Davis improving and being a better starter than he was last year.

Tannehill will probably end up getting cut

Then there is the hard reality Case Keenum was traded to the Washington Redskins along with a 7th Round Pick in exchange for a 6th Rounder.

This mean Tannehill isn’t worth much and his best suitor for a trade is gone. Ryan Tannehill’s market has dried up. Reality is: Tanny will leave Miami with $13 Million in return for nada, zero, zilch.

The Dolphins are always the bride’s mate but never the bride…

… But, maybe they can get something—anything—for Robert Quinn.

Again, another harsh reality as Andy Benoit pointed out:

And then there’s the worst news: The chances are very high that Cameron Wake will play for another team in 2019!

I get it… but I don’t have to like it.

This would leave only Harris and Woodard as the remaining Defensive Ends from last year.

Summing all these moves up

In total, the Dolphins made four moves on the Offensive Line and one (possibly 3 in total) on the D-line. The fact that the lines on both sides of the ball were the first to be dealt with is duly noted. It’s good to finally have a regime that is focused on the line play before the skills.

The remaking of the trenches is underway, Phins Fans… but it’s far from complete. Expect them to invest substantially in draft picks, UDFAs, and maybe even Free Agents on the trenches before all is said and done… at least I sure hope so. Go Phins!!!

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