Rams Robert Quinn will be a Dolphin by March 14th
While signing of Quinn is good, broke Phins must now free up CAP
The out-of-left-field news from Friday is that the Miami Dolphins and the Los Angels Rams have a trade agreement in place to swap Robert Quinn for picks. The deal being touted is Quinn and a 2017 6th RD pick for a Phins mid-round pick in 2017 and a 6th in 2017.
What exact round that mid-round pick will be is yet to be disclosed… But it’s believed to be one of the 4th’s. We can only hope, of course.
Ultimately, if it is for a 4th (and even more so if it’s the Eagles 4th), then from a value standpoint it’s a win for the Phins.
YES it’s a win… even if it didn’t fill a need and puts a lot of money in a crowded and expensive position group. That doesn’t sound right? Does it. But it is… or more correctly, should be. Also, this deal’s success will depend on what wheeling and dealing Mike Tannenbaum does in the coming days and weeks to make the deal financially feasible, because the Phins are broke.
Despite Quinn having back surgery a couple of years ago and his production taking a dip since his mega 2013-14 seasons, he’s only 27yrs old (28 by the season) and a talented edge player who will do much better in the Fins Wide-9 / 4-3 alignment than he did in the Rams 3-4.
Personally, after watching some film of his, the position change from DE to OLB, along with recovering from the surgery, seems to have played a part in his production dip. Even still, Quinn posted 32 tackles and 8.5 sacks with 2 forced fumble in 2017 from mostly in the stand-up position. Better than Andre Branch did this season in his natural position–but to be fair though, Branch played hurt…
…Speaking of which, Miami currently has Cameron Wake ($8.6 mill), Branch ($10 mill), 1st Rd pick Charles Harris ($2.4 mill), and now Quinn for ($10.3 mill). Rough math says Miami’s invested $30 mill on DE’s, about 17% of their CAP.
That’s A LOT.
Robert Quinn doesn’t help the holes at QB, OL, LB, or RB
But a bigger question is how can Miami afford this loaded DE group since they have a current CAP of negative $8 mill and a hair?
The answer is, big moves are coming to free up space in the CAP.
An even Bigger question is, how exactly will they do it?
We all know that unless the Phins went insane Julius Thomas and Lawrence Timmons are good as gone. With Quinn’s contract in the books the Phins will be around negative $19 million. So the $14.7 mill they save from cutting Thomas and Timmons will still leave Miami in the red at negative $4 mill or so.
Now there’s likely to be a restructure or extension of Quinn’s deal to move money into 2019-20. But (let’s be generous) even if you wipe out all of Quinn’s contract this season (which won’t be the case as a portion will still stick in 2018), Miami will only be in the black $6.5 mill (minus whatever Quinn’s costs) after those cuts. This will be about what they need just for their draft picks, not including UDFA’s, FA’s, and ect.
Thankfully Landry’s Franchise Tag will be covered.
Ohh, and forget about a post June 1st cut of Suh that won’t help the Fins now when they need money for the offseason… this would only helped if they went with a hard reset and a purge. And I don’t see that coming.
Poor people don’t rent or buy a Porche
So that leaves Ja’Wuan James as the next likely cut likely freeing up $9.3 million. They’ll need a portion of that to hold over into the season in case of injuries and injury settlements, leaving Miami with $5-7 mill to use for FAs and UDFAs to fill up the roster. That’s not enough given Miami needs:
- Quality Running Back unless they rely on Radcliff and Perry
- Back up QB (1-2) unless they rely on Doughty
- 1-2 Tight Ends unless they rely on Derby, Gray, Duarte
- Left Guard
- Center (Pouncey’s status is always an issue and no backup is on the roster)
- Tackle unless they rely on Sterup, E. Smith, Hickey, Davis
- WLB & SLB unless they rely on Anthony, McMillian, Alonso, Allen
- Cover Safety unless they go with M. Smith, Calhoun, Elston
- Right Guard unless they rely on Asiata, Larson, Davis
Unless they go young and cheap, or plan on nailing every pick, the Dolphins will need to free up more money to bring in more live bodies. But given Gase is on a bit of hot seat and likely wants to win, I doubt a total rebuild is the case. So the Dolphins must also make some of these moves:
- Rescinding Landry’s Tag, trade him, or get him to agree on a long term extension
- Cut Pouncey to free up $7 mill
- Cut Wake to free up $8.1 mill
- Restructure contracts with Suh, Tannehill, Alonso, Jones, and / or Branch (last 3 would be nuts)
Tannenbaum, Grier, and Gase need to have their Opus Maximus this offseason
So the question now is, what’s the next big move to free up cash? I like the trade for Quinn in regards to talent, but this move will force the FO to make some other very big moves. Phinsnews has expressed their worry that Tannenbaum will go Jeff Ireland to save this regime. We’ve also talked about how Landry is in control and the Fins run the risk of losing him. We will find out very shortly what the case is.
So here we are with the Fins in a financial vice and they are making their situation tighter: The lowest rollover money in the NFL, top 5 in least money to spend, a pricey Franchise Tag in their lap, and coming off a terrible season with a bunch of holes to fill.
This tightrope the brass is walking could be amazing or a disaster.
Okay, this was a nice first move… if they follow it up with brilliance. And even if the Davis Trifecta is brilliant, they will have to sacrifice either the future, some Dolphins elder statesmen, or quality of the roster as a whole (unless they are better talent evlauators than they’ve proved in the past). This offseason has just become even more interesting… far, far more interesting. I just hope it’s not interesting like a train wreck. Grab your popcorn. Go Fins!!!
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