The Miami Dolphins are setting up to aggressively add talent in 2022. Grier and Flores are giving themselves a ton of flexibility for next year.
In my last article I talked a bit about the Miami Dolphin’s salary cap situation and how quarterbacks fit into that equation. I did that as a precursor to this article and to get you all thinking about our potential moves to take advantage of Tua still being in his rookie contract.
Did you notice, by chance, all the one year deals Miami signed their 2021 free agents to this year. Brown, Skura, Brissett, Fuller, Roberts, Fluker all one year deals (These are just the ones I remember).
Maybe the players are positioning for big money when the cap goes up or maybe the Dolphins are prepping for 2022 and don’t want to be bogged down by free agent dead money mistakes.
Speaking of dead money, according to spotrac.com our dead money this year is 14 mil or 7.3% of our cap. As of now, next year’s dead money is expected to be 3 million from Ereck Flowers and I anticipate Jakeem Grant will be cut which will increase 2022 dead money to about 4.5 million total.
This year the Dolphins have little cap space and had to be judicious adding free agents. Next year (assuming the cap is around 192 million) it looks like the dolphins will have 59 million in cap space. This puts the Dolphins as having the fourth best cap situation for 2022.
In addition, if the Dolphins cut Rowe and Mckinney next year (not saying they will) they could save an additional 15 mil with no added dead money. That would give them 75 million (assuming 192 cap).
All of this makes me think that the Grier and Flores are planning to be very active and much more aggressive in the 2022 off season.
If you think we’ve added enough talent this year, I beg you to remember the season finale when Buffalo showed us how much we really need to improve. If you watched the game, Buffalo beat us on both sides of the ball especially in the trenches.
Yes, we’ve added some nice talent. Our offensive line should be better (if our year two players can step it up). But, overall, I don’t think we’re quite there yet. And, I don’t believe that Grier and Flores think the team is there yet either.
If Grier and Flores thought we could seriously make a run this year they would have added a bell cow running back. They would have added to the defensive line. I don’t see the front office making moves for the right now that says, ‘we’re so close’.
I believe this is what Grier and Flores are thinking. They want one more year of seasoning for Tua on a much better (at least on paper) football team before they get super aggressive filling holes. So, with an eye on the future, they have set themselves up with a ton of flexibility in 2022.
Ok, I can hear some of you telling me that the Dolphins are going to the Super Bowl this year and I have no clue what talent looks like.
By the time 2022 rolls around Tua and the Dolphins should be a much improved football team. With a lot of extra money, Grier and Flores can look forward to finding those select players thru the draft, extending current players, and/or buying the free agent pieces needed to put it all together.
If it works, I believe the Dolphins are about a year away from finally having all the talent for a deep playoff run. Wow, how many years have I been waiting to say that?
