The Dolphins have to make quite a few difficult decisions this off-season regarding their players, and they must choose wisely, because unlike the last two years where the Phins were awash with money, the Dolphins need to have some financial wizardry to create some cap space to upgrade the talent at a few key positions. One of Miami’s areas of strength last season was the wide receiver position, however the phins will need to make a decision on three players at that position; Brian Hartline, Brandon Gibson and Mike Wallace. They all have high priced contracts going into next season, so most football gambling would say that probably one or two of them is not going to be a Dolphin next season.
Brian Hartline produced back to back 1,000 yard seasons in Tannehill’s first two seasons in the league. Hartline was Tannehill’s security blanket the first two years, and he always made the tough catch, and showed off his elusive speed after the catch. However, in Bill Lazor’s new offense this season, Tannehill spread the ball out a lot more, and Hartline was often a third or fourth option on passing plays. Hartline finished the season with only 39 catches for 474 yards and only 2 touchdowns. Definitely the biggest knock on Hartline is that he never really produced a lot of touchdowns.
Hartline is going to count 7.35 million against the cap next season, and to put it bluntly, a receiver that is a third or fourth option that only had 2 touchdowns and 39 receptions does not merit an expensive contract. There was a time when Hartline was the best receiver on the team, however the Dolphins have clearly upgraded their receiving core over the last couple of years, which is a good thing, but that also means that Hartline is definitely expendable. The Dolphins did a good job of drafting Landry last season, so they may decide to take a similar path and draft another young receiver early in this upcoming draft.
The bottom line is that unless Hartline takes a significant pay cut, then there is no reason to pay that kind of money to a receiver that can not be as productive in Miami’s new offense. The Dolphins need to replace Hartline with a cheaper option, but also an option that has a nose for the endzone. Miami is still missing that big bodied receiver that is a capable of getting open in the redzone.
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