V's Rabbit Hole

  It’s taken me some time to process the last - whatever - ten days or so of football news. Since I learned about the Deshaun Watson allegations, my football brain has gone on hold. Waiting for there to be damning movement on either side of this thing. But I don’t want to talk about Deshaun Watson. I feel like I need to, at some point, but now isn’t that time. Miami traded their third overall pick for the 49ers 12th overall, then the 12th overall to the Eagles for the 6th. There were some other pieces that moved in that, but Miami ends up with two 1s in next year’s draft anyway. Let’s take a moment to give Chris Grier a round of applause. I know he’s been getting applause since the trade was finalized. But let’s just keep taking moments to applaud him. In an effort to try to spark feeling like I had something different to say than all the people paid to spew words about the Dolphins and the NFL at large, I flipped through headlines out of Miami. Seems like mock drafts are where the...

  Let’s talk AFC East roster building! The move that Buffalo has made that immediately jumps out to me is the Matt Haack signing. Because he’s a former Dolphin? Yes. But also because he was last year’s best punter. Didn’t know Buffalo coveted a punter. The Emmanuel Sanders signing reminds me of the 49ers and Saints picking up Ted Ginn for their respective Super Bowl runs. Not altogether different from Miami’s Will Fuller signing. Matt Milano is a guy whose name flashed a couple years ago. I’m guessing he either got hurt, opted out, or played at the same level this year. Total ignorance. I could find out, but… it’s Buffalo. And you’re not looking to me for that. What are you looking to me for? The Patriots have been busy, and I already spend too much time with Billy B on my mind. So I’m looking at the Jets. Corey Davis is who I had talked myself into wanting Miami to target. By the time I’d come to that conclusion, he was a Jet. Which is about how Free Agency goes for me. You can ma...

  I prefer to think about how Miami’s moves (in general) will work out. Will Fuller feels like a retread of an idea that hasn’t worked out in 20 years. To be fair, Will Fuller was not treated to the bombast of Mike Wallace. He feels like Kenny Stills - a number 2 who can take the top off. But I’ve been a private Will Fuller skeptic for years. To me, those guys get a lot of fan attention because they score a lot of points. Or, at least, when they score points, they do it in difficult and frankly poetic ways. I’m waiting for Miami to get someone consistent. My favorite receivers have always been guys like O.J. McDuffie and Hines Ward. DeAndre Hopkins a few years ago put on a performance unlike anything I’ve ever seen. His jersey was literally in shreds because defenders had no other options but to hold onto him for dear life. In other words - I like dudes who are open when they aren't. Chain-movers. Bucky Brooks talks about building your wide receivers room like a basketball team. I ...

  Robert Foster gets wide open like few receivers I’ve seen in the NFL. He’s tall and slim and ran a 4.41 coming out of college. I’ve been watching as much of his college and Buffalo Bills tape as I can find. I’m not exactly the best at that. (Yet?) He’s only going to be 27. This will be his fourth season. Robert Foster is exactly the kind of free agent signing I’m looking for Miami to make. You want to go into the Draft with no glaring holes. The addition of Robert Foster means that the Wide Receiver room has a variety of dudes with upside. Now they don’t have to get either Ja’Marr Chase or Devonta Smith in the Draft. You can get Kyle Pitts - and with everyone lauding New England for having two very good Tight Ends to bang the middle and supplement the run game, it won’t be a difficult sell. More importantly, I think, is that Robert Foster has good special teams tape. If he can contribute on Teams, he can find his way to the field. The story about him is, I guess, he has some For...

  Today marks Day 2 of NFL Free Agency. In that time, the New England Patriots have signed Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith and Nelson Agholor. If you’ve been paying attention to what I’ve been saying, you’re paying attention to what Billy B is doing. I said it last week: Two Tight Ends. Bang the middle of the field. The national guys are starting to say it now, too. They’re remembering Gronk and Hernandez. They’re remembering Billy B’s Tight Ends of the past. And now he’s got a big-bodied receiver who has lived running deep crossers. Brilliant. The Patriots are back. And if Miami is smart, they match this. The story goin ’round is that the Patriots free agency board had Pass Catchers including all the Tight Ends and Wide Receivers. Let me reset my focus on this thought for a moment. Let’s shift the camera, if you like. I think Cethan Carter was maybe my favorite free agent signing of the offseason. I love Fullbacks. I grew up playing Mike Allstott in Madden as my dad’s Player 2. Blowi...

  I don’t have much to say vis-a-vis Drew Brees. Rather, I don’t have much to add to the pile of career retrospectives. Drew Brees first came to my awareness after Hurricane Katrina and his Super Bowl win with the Saints. I wasn’t particularly connected to football - or the wider world culture(s) - when I was in high school. But after that, everyone wanted to talk about how he was almost a Dolphin but Nick Savan passed on him. So, while the Saints went on their magical 15? 17? year run, I mostly ignored Drew Brees and the SAints. As a Dolphins fan, it wasn’t too hard. Different conferece made it easier. That he was always (at least) third billed of the quarterbacks in the League made it nearly effortless. And I think that’s what I’d like to take away from his career. I was listening to Rich Eisen, today, talk about Brees’s career accomplishments. Brees is not the first 5,000 yard in-season passer. He is the only quarterback to do it twice - Brees did it five times. Five times. And...

 Football games are not won in March. I think we understand this on some level. But I also think that Free Agency, like the draft, is fun. Is about fun. For the fans, for the media, for people like me who are caught somewhere between, free agency is a chance to dream - to imagine your team with all the best available talent on it. The Miami Dolphins are not going to target much of that talent. I think their pre-free agency trades are proof of that. I think if they were going to sign a wide receiver, they would have done it already. Signing a guy on Day One of the free agency period is about prestige. It’s a chance for these billionaire owners to show the world something expensive they bought. To borrow a quote from Jerry Jones: “The truth is most anything that I’ve ever been involved in that ended up being special, I overpaid for, every time, to the end.” Is there anyone special among these free agents? I don’t think so. And I don’t think that Chris Grier, Brian Flores, or Stephen ...

  When I look at the Miami Dolphins’ roster, I do not see a lot of holes. I do not see a lot of stars. But I don’t see a turnstile left tackle for instance. I know that’s not a popular take among Dolphins fans. What I think the Dolphins lack and no one really gets excited to talk about is depth. But… scrolling through the internet, it comes to my attention that I am not a tape hound. And wouldn’t know what the Dolphins are looking for schematically, anyway. So what I’ve decided to do is look at 7 offensive players I think the Dolphins might but probably won’t target. Let’s do some Fantasy-style wish-casting. Miami’s most pressing need is a dynamic running back who can impact a defense. Bryan Baldinger, with one of his BaldysBreakdown tweets, described Aaron Jones as someone who “makes your offensive line look better”. I played Guard in PeeWee. That doesn’t give me any kind of authority to talk like I know what I’m talking about. But I can tell you from experience that having a runn...

I grew up playing the Madden and NFL 2k games. For me it was more fun to play GM, assembling rosters through free agency and the draft, then simulating through seasons to see how I’d done. One of the first lessons you learn when you play through ten-plus seasons this way is that the salary cap is your greatest enemy. Do you know how many dynasties I’ve seen broken up by the salary cap? Literally too many to count. There are exactly three ways to add talent to your team’s roster: the draft, free agency, and trades. The old philosophy, which you still see around in places like Green Bay and employed by disciples specifically of Ron Wolf, is to draft and develop. Free agency is, in the context of the League’s history, a newfangled idea. That’s why you keep seeing teams get it wrong every year. Because I’m still new at this and our relationship is still young, I’m going to point to the Patriots as a guidepost for a while. Because it’s easy, yes, but because Brian Flores, Miami Dolphins and...

 Decided to do this again. New domain, same inane...ity. Think of this: it’s the night of the Draft. Miami has sprinted their pick up to the podium after two quarterbacks go with the first two picks. Everyone in the building and the looking-on football public is sweating, biting their nails. Who are they going to pick? What are they going to broadcast to us all as their plan for the 2021 season and beyond?  The name?  Kyle Pitts.  Forget the Patriots’ two tight end attack. Forget that Brian Flores was an offensive assistant the year Gronk and Hernandez were drafted. (interesting side note, Buccaneers GM Jason Licht was on that same staff). Forget all that for a second.  Kyle Pitts is the best receiver in this draft. Bar none. There are two players in this draft that are guaranteed hall of fame players: Trevor Lawrence, and Kyle Pitts.  When you draft with a top-5 pick, you have two goals in mind. Draft a franchise quarterback or draft a hall of famer. This ...