The Dolphins may be tanking, but they won’t be taking all the way through 2020. In Tuesday morning’s press conference to formally announce the trade of Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Steelers, GM Chris Grier said the ‘Fins are ready to put some resources towards free agency in March.
[RELATED: Dolphins Trade Fitzpatrick To Steelers]
“We’ll be very aggressive,” Grier said. “We’re not going to sit on a bunch of money.”
A bunch of money is exactly what the Dolphins have after moving Fitzpatrick, trading Laremy Tunsil, and shedding Kiko Alonso. They also have tons of draft capital, which gives them the ability to find their next franchise quarterback and fill other glaring holes on the roster. Or, as Grier put it:
“We can do anything we want.”
It’s fair to be skeptical of the Dolphins, especially in light of their dreadful start that has players looking for life rafts out of Miami, but the Dolphins could theoretically take a page from the 76ers and use their stacks of cash and picks to turn the franchise around.
Lol the Sixers are a great example, spent years tanking to get high draft picks and they still haven’t won dick. Granted they’re more competitive now but it’s not like a bounty of high draft picks guarantees success. Regardless it’s not like any AFC East team has a chance unless Brady gets hurt or BB retires.
The point of the process is to accumulate as many lotto tickets as possible (draft picks, players who have fallen out of favor, etc.). Obviously it’s not a guarantee, but the more tickets you have the greater chance to hit. The sixers are a prime example. They were a franchise that was consistently middle of the pack in the east. In the NBA, that’s purgatory. Fewer elite prospects fall to the late lottery and you are left with a team that is competitive but not a contender. They tore it down and now they are arguably the best team in the conference and a perennial contender for years to come. The dolphins have been treading water for 20 years. Time to tear it down and start fresh
The problem is trading proven commodities for just that…lottery tickets. Unless you need to shed a big contract or a guy is up for a big raise and your team is up against the cap, it doesn’t make much sense to trade young, controllable, good, proven players for lottery tickets. You end up searching for young, good, controllable players that you hope prove themselves.
its about comparing the Houston Astros to the Sixers. both teams had many top picks but struck out on many. one won and one might still, but has major roadblocks. its true though – tanking isnt foolproof.
So that tool Florio’s two year tank job’s not correct? Imagine that!
Depends. You think the Dolphins will be good in the next 2 years?
They won’t be good for another decade or more most likely,but it won’t be on purpose like this year. It’ll just be because they’re the Dolphins.
The dolphins have sucked for the 39 years I’ve been alive and they will continue to suck!
Go out and spend more money on guys that are older than the ones you just traded.
Life long Dolphins fan. I hope they spend wisely on free agents this time around. They were always giving large contracts to players who weren’t worthy of large contracts. Hence the $53 million of dead money.
So happy they plan to spend money. But everyone who’s there is doing their best to gtfo so why would next years FAs want to even listen to Miami??
A team can have all kinds of money and cap space but free agent players STILL have to WANT to play there for all that dough to do any good. As it stands now, based on: player issues, front office trades of on-field personnel, player relationships with coaching staffs, the Dolphins should be at the BOTTOM of any free agent’s list of teams.
I gotcha a dollar