Robert Quinn

Dolphins receive: Robert Quinn, Rams 2018 6th round pick

Rams receive: Dolphins 2018 4th and 6th round pick

Nick: The acquisition of defensive end Robert Quinn came as a surprise as last year’s first round pick, Charles Harris, was expected to take on a larger role this season. The Dolphins were already in cap trouble before this trade, and dug themselves a deeper hole as they are taking on the last 2 years of Quinn’s contract, which will pay him roughly $22 million, albeit not-guaranteed. Quinn was dominant from 2012-2014, but has since been hit with the injury bug, averaging close to 6 sacks per season over the past 3 years. If Quinn can return to form and avoid being injured for a chunk of the season, this trade could greatly help the Dolphin’s pass rush by giving much-needed depth. However given his history of injuries and his large cap hit, the move is kind of a head-scratcher if his contract isn’t restructured to provide some cap relief.

Grade: C+

Louie: Along with many of the seemingly endless defensive line transactions this offseason for the fins, this one seems to follow the puzzling strategy coming from our front office. Our defensive ends now take up about $30 million against the cap with Wake, Harris, Quinn, Branch, and Hayes alternating for playing time. This isn’t a terrible move strategically, as the fins now have some nice options for mixing up the run/pass schemes. Financially, I found this to be to be some of the same I’ve come to expect from the front office: acquiring injury prone players who have already played their best ball and paying them much higher than their value (in this case absorbing their contract). Especially with the loss of Suh, I feel the team should have looked to spend their valuable remaining cap space on the interior defensive line or linebackers instead of adding more depth at an already crowded position. Quinn only started more than half of his games for the Rams once since the past 3 seasons and despite playing in 15 games last season, he was graded as the 87th DE by PFF. I am still optimistic that maybe he can provide some value for the seasons to come, but the burden of his contract makes this acquisition another head scratcher for the Dolphins.

Grade: C-

Mark: This was an odd trade at the time and has only gotten weirder since. Before this trade, the Dolphins tagged Landry and were low on cap space but decided out of nowhere to pick up Quinn and his $11 million contract for the year. Not only did this hurt us with cap space, but it wasn’t even close to a position of need. DE is by far Miami’s best and deepest positional group as the Dolphins have spent over 30% of the cap on it now. Basically, Miami picked up a player, not a position of need and are paying him a good chunk of change that could have been used to keep Jarvis. None of that even addresses the fact that Quinn is a shell of his former self and is now an older player who has frequently been injured. Rams fans thought they would have to cut him this offseason just to shed his contract. Tannenbaum came to the rescue and swapped our 6ths and gave an additional 4th.

Grade: D

Jarvis Landry

Dolphins receive: Browns 2018 4th Round Pick, Browns 2019 7th Round Pick

Browns receive: Jarvis Landry

Nick: The Jarvis Landry saga finally came to an end after the Dolphins traded him to the Browns for 2 draft picks. After applying the franchise tag to Landry, the Dolphins were given three options: Sign Landry to a long-term extension, trade him, or let him play on the tag for the season. The franchise tag would have paid Landry just short of $16 million for the year, which is obviously a bit overpriced for a primarily slot receiver. Landry was demanding $15mil/yr and the Dolphins weren’t willing to go higher than $13mil/yr. However, Jarvis Landry was one of the more vocal leaders and consistent talents on the team, always giving the team 100% and making several Pro Bowls during his tenure in Miami. After discussing the possibility of an extension for the duration of the season, the Dolphins and Landry could never come to terms on his value and it eventually became inevitable he was going to leave via trade this season or free agency next season. The return on sending Landry to Cleveland is essentially what the Dolphins would’ve received as compensation had Landry left via free agency, which most likely would have been a late 3rd rounder in the 2019/2020 draft depending on which season he departed. The Browns own the first pick of the 4th round in 2018, so there is some value there. However, this trade once again proves that management has their priorities mixed-up on which players should be paid to stay and which they should let go. Losing your best offensive weapon is never good, regardless of the return. It’ll be interesting to see the contract Landry is given in Cleveland.

Grade: C-

Louie: What would have been a disappointing yet appropriate move for the Dolphins quickly turned into a head scratcher. The signings of Albert Wilson and Danny Amendola, two slot receivers much less talented and proven than Landry, consumed all of the cap space the Dolphins sought to save from the Landry trade (Wilson 8 mil/year, Amendola 6 mil/year). Sure, there is some potential that these two can potentially become dangerous options for Tannehill, but seeing this as a beneficial replacement of fan-favorite Jarvis Landry is beyond reach. Landry was certainly one of the best draft picks the Dolphins have made in recent memory and losing such a dynamic, passionate player for two third day picks just shows the front office is once again choosing to overpay the wrong players while letting the one go that might have deserved to be overpaid.

*Note: My grade would have been different based on the initial trade, but I felt the follow-up actions by the front office forced me to grade the situation as a whole.

Grade: D-

Mark: What a weird sequence of events that led to Jarvis being tagged and then traded while on the tag because we couldn’t afford him. There were rumors all summer about him leaving, and it became extremely clear we had no interest in him when we made the move for Quinn. Jarvis has been the heart and soul of the Dolphins offense for the past few years, wearing his city on his sleeve and we repaid him by sending him off to the Browns over a few million. It seems clear that there were more problems behind the scenes with him as opposed to just a disagreement about money. This lends credence to the fact that this was a good return because we basically wanted him gone at all costs. He would have more than likely netted Miami a third-round compensatory pick next year, but instead we picked up a 4th round pick this year and a 7th rounder next year. The return wasn’t terrible and obviously, management got the $16 million from the tag off the book. It would have been nice to keep him, but it wasn’t the worst deal if the Fins then decided to use that money on positions of need. Instead Tannenbaum went out and signed two new slot receivers with that same money which doesn’t make much sense and lowers the grade on this move a little bit.

Grade: B-

Albert Wilson

Signed: 3yrs/$24million, guaranteed $ TBD

Nick: The Dolphins followed up the Landry trade by turning to former Kansas City WR Albert Wilson to fill the void left in the slot position. Wilson is coming off his best year yet, racking up 42 receptions for 544 yards and 3 TD’s. These stats can be a bit misleading however as Wilson had 10 catches for 147 yards and 1 TD in week 17 vs the Broncos, a team already far removed from playoff contention at that point. While the new Dolphins receiver is highly regarded for his speed and ability to shed tackles, no wideout should be paid $8 million/yr for averaging just above 2 catches per game. The contract hasn’t officially been signed yet, so it will be interesting to see if the initial reports match the actual offer sheet.

Grade: D

Louie: As previously stated in my Jarvis Landry analysis, I believe this acquisition was another waste of valuable cap space for an unproven talent. Wilson was only able to scrape a few targets each game from a team that had a major lack of talent and depth at the receiver position. With quarterback Alex Smith having a career year throwing for over 4000 yards and 26 TDs, Wilson was only able to rack up about 550 years and 3 TDs, with 150 yards and 1 TD coming from week 17 when Patrick Mahomes took over under center. This statline came with him competing with mainly Tyreek Hill and Demarcus Robinson. I will say that Hill did have a breakout season, but this is still no excuse for such a lack of production on the part of Wilson. With free-agent Jordy Nelson signing with the Raiders for about $7.5 mil/year, I feel Wilson’s $8 mil/year hit is too much for his production and potential.

*Note: Grade is based on not knowing the amount of guaranteed money in his contract yet

Grade: D

Mark: Add this to the list of moves that Tannenbaum makes that everyone is questioning. The former Chiefs WR is a combine warrior whose skills just haven’t panned out in the NFL yet. He’s been buried on the depth chart for years in Kansas City behind some average wide receivers, which makes you think he wasn’t showing much in practice. Last year he had his best year with 42 receptions, but almost 25% of his production came in week 17 against the Broncos third stringers in a game that didn’t count for anything. It’s hard to say exactly what to make of this deal without the guaranteed money being known yet, but it’s clear we’re paying for potential at a position where the Dolphins had a consistent wideout in Landry for years.

Grade: C-

Ndamukong Suh

Cut: 3/14/2018

Nick: Designated as a post-June 1st cut, Suh’s departure will save the Dolphins $17million in cap space this year. Suh was arguably the best player on the Dolphin’s roster for the past few years and has been a consistent force on the Fins poorly performing defensive line. When Suh signed his lucrative contract 3 years ago, the team knew what they were going to get from his character and style of play. While Suh didn’t put up flashy numbers (16.5 sacks during 3 seasons), he never missed a game and would often draw double-teams on the line, freeing up space for the rest of the pass rush to pressure the QB. The DT did also have one pro bowl appearance in a Fins uniform, and was ranked in the NFLs top 100 players all 3 years. This move comes after Miami’s supposed “culture change”, but it’s hard to see how the Dolphins DL will improve with their best player gone. Suh should command big money in the market, and is nice to have off the books, but his on-field performances will surely be missed.

Grade: C+

Louie: This move was really like playing with a double-edged sword. On one hand, the contract Suh received was way over market value when it was signed and is still way over market value today. He is the only player in the league on a list of the top 10 cap hits this year to not be a quarterback. On the other hand, Suh was consistently living up to a big payday (although probably not his payday) on the field and ranked among the top defensive tackles in the league each year while staying injury free. Although it is a hit to our defensive front 7, I ultimately feel that with the direction the front office is headed, this was the right move for a team that is clearly not really in a win-now mindset.

Grade: B

Mark: This was a hard deal to justify at the time three years ago as it was basically a win now move on a win later roster. Three years later he’s been great for Miami, but it hasn’t really mattered. He’s been a top 5 DT and made one pro bowl with the Fins, but our defense has been average with our run defense being below average. That scares me about our run defense this year because now the Dolphins have lots of unproven players who are going to get a lot of snaps in the middle. Add that to our secondary not being good enough to keep up if the QB has a lot of time to throw with a strong run game. Although he’s been great, this move was purely financial saving 17 million. That’s a lot of money, but the problem is Tannenbaum has been using it on players we don’t need so it would have been nice to keep Suh around.

Grade: D+

Danny Amendola

Signed: 2yrs/$12million, $8.25 million guaranteed

Nick: Amendola signing with Miami came as a large surprise as the news broke just a few hours after Wilson’s contract was reported. He’s struggled with injuries throughout his entire career, but could prove to be a valuable and reliable asset when healthy. I think it’s easy to compare this signing up against Wilson’s, but it needs to be looked at as its own entity. A fairly friendly contract and another veteran presence makes this decision by Tanenbaum and the rest of management okay.

Grade: B-

Louie: With this more team-friendly contract, I am more optimistic about this acquisition than I am about the Wilson deal. Although Amendola does not put up spectacular regular season stats, he became a postseason favorite for Tom Brady and has established himself as a consistent slot target. With only $8mil/year guaranteed on his two seasons, Amendola will hopefully prove to be a reliable, cheaper option for Tannehill in the slot. I do not think he alone will fill the void left from Landry’s departure, but his presence should be a start.

Grade: B

Mark: Giving a 32 year old injury-prone slot receiver $8.25 million guaranteed is definitely a weird way to spend money after getting rid of Landry. He’s been great when healthy but he’s also had Brady throwing to him so it remains to be seen what he can do with Tannehill instead.

Grade: C-

Ja’wuan James

Contact Extended: 1yr/$9.375million

Consensus: The Dolphins picked up James’ 5th year option, paying him over $9 million for the final year of his rookie contract. James has been a reliable member of the offensive line over the past 4 years, but has struggled with injuries in 2 of the seasons on the team. While he may not be the best of tackles, this is a “prove-it” extension that will hopefully incentivize James to play at his highest-level to get a rewarding contracts next offseason, even if he’s not worth the value of his contract. Grade: B

John Denney

Re-signed: 1yr/~$1million

Nick: Fin for life. Basically ol’ reliable at this point.

Grade: A+

Louie: Very glad we re-signed the longest tenured Dolphin as well as one of the best long snappers to play the game. Should be in hall of fame contention as the first long snapper inducted imo.

Grade: A+

Mark: God damn stud; glad Tannenbaum didn’t blow this one.

Grade: A+

Mike Pouncey

Cut: 3/15/2018

Consensus: He asked to be cut when he tried to get a raise and the Dolphins gladly granted him that wish. He’s been great when healthy but being healthy and Pouncey just don’t belong in the same sentence. He’s been constantly injured and hasn’t been worth what we paid and especially isn’t worth a raise. Good riddance. Grade: B

Josh Sitton

Signed: 2 years for $15 million (could be worth up to $18mil w/ incentives), $8 mil guaranteed

Nick: The Miami Dolphins FINALLY addressed the guard position by signing veteran Josh Sitton. Sitton has been in the NFL for 10 seasons and has been selected for 4 pro bowls. A top of the line guard rarely affected by injuries is something the Dolphins really needed, especially to protect Tannehill from another catastrophic injury. The former Chicago Bears guard is considered to have a leader presence in the locker room as well, which should help improve what the coaches think is lacking in character amongst the current players. The Fins front office also deserves credit for signing Sitton to a flexible contract, which doesn’t commit them to more than 1 year if the guard isn’t the right fit.

Grade: A

Louie: The thought of the Dolphins having a consistent guard is something the fanbase has not seen in years. With the departure of Pouncey, the Dolphins were able to make a move on one of the most talented guards in the free agent market and not cause too much damage against the cap. This deal, along with the right draft picks, should give Dolphins fans some hope that they will finally have an offensive line that doesn’t rank in the bottom 10 of the league each year. Each year, we have seen Tannehill’s success has seemed to correlate to the stability and play of his offensive line. In a critical year for Tannehill, this move should help better his performance while also increasing the pressure on him to perform.

Grade: A+

Mark: It’s about damn time the Dolphins have a guard that understand they’re supposed to block and protect the QB. It’s been forever since we’ve had solid guard play and this should be a welcome sight for all fans. Sitton is one of the best guards in football and is still relatively young for a offensive lineman. He should have a few more years before he starts to really decline and we got him for only 8 million guaranteed. Great deal for the Dolphins.

Grade: A+

Daniel Kilgore

Dolphins receive: Daniel Kilgore, 49ers 2018 7th round pick (227)

49ers receive: Dolphins 2018 7th round pick (223)

Consensus: When Pouncey requested his release the Dolphins had another hole on the offensive line but that was patched before people even realized he requested his release. We replace him with Daniel Kilgore who is an average center but someone we can count on to be there every week. He recently signed an extension with the Niners but he became expendable when the Niners made a big splash in free agency signing the top center available, Weston Richburg. We swapped 7th rounder’s so basically just picked him up for his salary which is solid for a center. He only gave up one sack in games started by Jimmy last year so the upside is there with him.

Grade: B

William Hayes

Re-signed: 1yr/$TBD

Consensus: Although the contract details have not come out yet, we believe this is a favorable signing for the Dolphins as Hayes should be a cheap, but very effective run stopping DE. After the 2017 season, Hayes actually ranked second on PFF for run-stopping efficiency for DE. Hayes, along with combinations of Wake, Quinn, Harris, and Branch should be effective for run-stopping throughout the season.

Grade: B+ (until contract comes out)