The official start to free-agency where players can ink deals with new teams is this upcoming Tuesday at 4pm, however teams can still have formal contract negotiations with players. The Dolphins have taken the bull by the horns and barring a breakdown in negotiations Ndamukong Suh will sign a deal with the phins that will pay him approximately $114 million with $60 million in guaranteed money. The contract is expected to be for 6 years and average around $19 million a year. This beat out an apparent offer by Detroit that would have paid him on average $17 million per year with $58 million guaranteed.
Most sports gambling fans will be giving the Dolphins some credit for finally landing an extremely high in demand free-agent. Suh is the biggest free-agent on the market and Miami put it’s money where it’s mouth was and closed the deal. Heading into next season they have already drastically improved their disappointing run defense. That was probably one of the biggest if not the main reasons why Miami fell apart at the end of last season, and failed to make the playoffs. Now that they have greatly upgraded that weakness on the team, they can put themselves in a good position to make a realistic push for the playoffs next season.
After Tuesday when Suh officially becomes a member of the Dolphins, this will also most likely conclude the tenure for both Starks and Odrick as members of the Dolphins. Last year Starks proved to be over the hill, and his release will give save the phins around $6 million in extra cap space and Odrick played well but this defensive scheme is not built to fully utilize his talents as well as he was going to demand a significant pay increase. Also today Wheeler was released and shortly it will be announced that Ellerbe will be released. So sports gambling fans can basically look at the Suh signing as a swap of players and contracts with Starks, Odrick, Wheeler and Ellerbe being substituted for Suh. Those four players salaries will basically pay for Suh this upcoming season, which means that Miami will still have some wiggle room to sign other free-agents.
Miami can still legitimately afford a quality corner-back in free agency, a veteran wide receiver, starting guard, or starting linebacker. If Miami can fill one of the above positions through free-agency with a quality player, then this free-agency period would be considered a huge success. After that they can focus on drafting players for the remaining positions of need.
This was a huge statement made by the Dolphins and Suh has a chance to make our defense one of the most dominant in the league. Don’t forget that for the beginning of the season Miami had one of the better defenses in the league, so there is definitely a solid foundation in place on defense. Now adding a player of Suh’s talents and skills will make everyone else better on the defense. He will demand more blockers, which will create more space for Wake and Vernon and our linebackers. Suh will also help improve our pass rush, which also provides support to our secondary, by not giving QB’s all day to throw the ball. How does the rest of Miami Dolphins news fans feel about this momentous signing of Suh?