The 2015 season officially gets underway with the opening of the Free Agency signing period on Tuesday March 10th. Teams can begin speaking with players and their agents today, Saturday March 7th. The Wide Receivers have been covered in recent post, and now some other positional desires of need are brought to the negotiating table, so here they are.
Offensive Line Savior.
Bryan Baluga will turn 26 this month, he is 6 - 5, 314 pounds, and has started at right tackle (for the most part) in 48 of 52 games played over his five seasons in Green Bay. He missed 11 games between 2011-12 (4 and 7 respectively), and all of the 2013 season while missing just one game in 2014. His only non starts of games played came in his first four games of his rookie season as a 2010, 23rd overall first round draft pick.
Mike Iupati 28 in May dents the turf as a guard at 6 - 5, and 331 pounds. He has missed just five games in his five years for the San Francisco 49'ers, and has started in all 75 of 75 games played. He was the 17th overall first round pick of the 2010 draft.
Clint Boiling turns 26 in May and stands at 6 - 5, 310 pounds. Over his four seasons he has started in 47 of 49 games played for the Cincinnati Bengals. He started in all 16 games at left guard in 2012 and 2014 while missing four games in 2013. He started three of five games played as a 2011 rookie fourth round pick.
Of the profiled defensive prospects in this piece. All but Kareem Jackson's Texans play a 4 - 3 Defense primarily. The Miami Dolphins play the 4 - 3 which (at least to some extent) should be an asset to all involved.
Corner Back Pick-off
Sterling Moore is 25 years old at 5 - 10, 202 pounds. He started three of six games played with two interceptions and a touchdown coming against Buffalo as a rookie for New England in week 17 of 2011. He was traded to Dallas midway through the 2012 campaign. A four year veteran of the Patriots and Cowboys that became the starter for Dallas over 2014's last seven games.
Kareem Jackson 27 in April is 5 - 10, 188 and runs a 4.4 forty. In 71 games started over five years for the Houston Texans, he has ten career interceptions with four and a touchdown in 2012 while three picks came in 2014.
Byron Maxwell 27 stands at 6 - 1, 207 with 4.43 speed. He is a four year veteran that started the last five games with four interceptions for the 2013 Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks. He had two interceptions in starting 12 of 13 games played for their 2014 Super Bowl losing team.
Safety Steals
Da'Norris Searcy will be 26 until November, and is 5 - 11 at 207 pounds. He is a four year veteran of the Buffalo Bills and started 13 of 15 games played with three picks in 2014. He started three games as a 2011 rookie and became their full time starter midway through the 2013 season with four sacks, a pick, and a touchdown.
Devin McCourty 28 at seasons start looms the field at 5 - 10, 195, with 4.41 speed. He is a five year, 77 game starter for the New England Patriots with 17 interceptions, and can also play corner back.
Linebacker, Middle-Man Stud
Mason Foster just this month turned 26 years old, he stands at 6 - 1, 241 pounds, and plays the Middle Line Backer position. He has started all but three games in four years for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since his rookie 2011 season as a third round draft pick. Miami Dolphin General Manager Dennis Hickey played a large roll in the Tampa Bay draft process back in 2011, and the Bucs play a 4 - 3 base defense. Mason Foster has accrued 343 tackles, six sacks, five interceptions, and two touchdowns in just four years from the Middle Line Backer spot.
Defensive Tackle Superstar
Ndamukong Suh will be 28 years young through 2015.
Suh demands a minimum of two blockers on every play which suggest that Olivier Vernon, and/or Cameron Wake would have to beat just one guy on any given play! He is a four down guy that minimizes the ("do we have the right defensive line personnel on the field") timeouts. Suh instantaneously makes everybody on the Defense a better player!
He has 36 sacks in his 5 years from the Defensive Tackle position, and is a run stuffing monster! Miami has obviously been severely incapable of stopping the run, and have NEVER had a Tackle that can get to the Quarterback with relative ease!
Randy Starks has 41 sacks in his eleven year career, and he was a pass rushing defensive end for more than half of those years. Jared Odrick had 16 sacks over the same five years as Suh and his 36 sacks !!
If the Dolphins were to keep Starks at his contracted 5 plus million, and re-sign Free Agent Odrick, it would cost them approximately 10 million per year. For few more million per year. Suh is far more of a force all by himself than that of the Starks/Odrick combo.
Miami is talking 100 plus million for Quarterback Ryan Tannehill over seven years (which doesn't have to be done this year). There are other options that can be used to insure that Tannehill remains with the Dolphins (until absolute proof that he's worth that kind of money comes to the surface). At which time, his then earned payday can also be manipulated cohesively with a Suh contract to the benefit the teams cap situation.
Suh is worth that kind of money right now as he is an obvious superstar that simply upon his presence makes everyone around him immensely better! The Wake, Vernon, Jordan, Mitchell, Misi, Jenkins, Grimes, and Jones' of the world become immediate upgrades to what they've been.
For those that think that Ndamukong Suh is a penalty waiting to happen. Over his five year career, he has been fined just four times for overaggressive, unsportsmanlike conduct while he has been the most aggressive football player in the league on every single play of his 78 games started!
Most fans don't want to spend money in free agency for a bunch of run a of the mill, maybe they'll help type guys!
Teams have to spend Free Agent money to stay within a reasonable range of the leagues mandated cap structure over a certain time frame! Other-wise they are forced to overspend on everybody somewhere down the road in order to get near the suggested cap number, or face penalties of draft picks taken away!
The Dolphins are going to spend money in Free Agency! Why not spend it on a guaranteed force for the best Defensive Tackle in all of football? Which is something that they are in obvious desperate need of!
The only real question is.
Would you rather have a fading fast, sack deprived duo of Randy Starks at 32 years old and a Jared Odrick skill type for 10 or so million combined, or a SUH for a few million more per year (for the next half a decade plus)?
That three or so million dollars more per year that Miami were to spend on Suh might buy them another bottom 46 player. Other-wise the Dolphins will still have a somewhat similar amount of dollars available, whether they were to go with the Starks & Odrick combo, or Suh!
Starks is about washed-up, and Odrick does a good Pee-Wee Herman!!
Ndamukong Suh is an absolute SUHperstar that will earn the worth of every single dollar offered!
THANK YOU for an Open Minded Read, and we look forward to your angle of view :)) !!
GOFINS!!!
Other youthful starters of potential note;
Offensive Tackle
Byron Bell 26 year old Panther Left Tackle, Marshall Newhouse 26 year old Bengal Right Tackle
Orlando Franklin 27 year old Denver Left Guard/Tackle
Cornerbacks
Chris Culliver 27 (SF 3-4), Brandon Flowers 29 (San Diego 3-4)
Safety
Chris Conte 26 Chicago Free Safety, Marcus Gilchrist 26 (San Diego 3-4) Strong Safety
Middle Line Backer 4 - 3 Defense
Rey Maualuga 28 Cincinnati, Brandon Spikes 27 Buffalo
