Miami Dolphins
Sunshine State Football
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
There are a lot things to love about Florida: weather, beaches, plenty of activities to keep you busy.
Coincidentally, a majority of those positives can easily turn into negatives. (Seriously, what kind of masochist enjoys visiting Orlando in July.)
You can go ahead and add Florida’s three NFL teams under both categories. They’ve all had their struggles over the past decade or so, but there’s good reason to think better days are on the horizon.
All three teams had high expectations entering last season. Miami and Jacksonville were both thought of as playoff contenders; to a point some people looked at them to be dark horses to win their respective divisions.
Tampa wasn’t exactly looked at to be a contender, but the expectation for drastic improvement upon their previous season certainly was there.
Two of the teams kind of hit their mark. One, not so much. Jacksonville had the type of season that would’ve made someone like Kelly Anne Conway want to pat the whole organization on the head and say, “Shhh. Mama knows. Mama knows.”
To compare the Jaguars’ season to a dumpster fire would be doing a disservice to dumpster fires everywhere. Blake Bortles is going to get a majority of the blame and he certainly deserves the lion’s share of it, but he was far from the only player that underachieved.
However, I do like the fact they brought in Tom Coughlin and Jacksonville does have some young talent to go with the free agents they’ve brought in.
Those are a few of the things for Jaguar fans to like about this team. Unfortunately, for those same fans, at the risk of beating a dead horse, picking it up off the ground and body slamming it as if I was running for political office in Montana, it’s all going to depend on Bortles. Good luck.
Miami did at least make it to the playoffs, although it wasn’t by much. About halfway through last season I wrote about Tannehill’s struggles, only to have him immediate follow my article and put together the best stretch of his career.
The defense has been better than perceived and as long as Adam Gase doesn’t wait until Week 5 or 6 to realize Jay Ajayi is on his team, the Dolphins have the making of a team that could be fun to watch for the next few years.
Tampa didn’t make the playoffs last year, but you could see the potential. Jameis Winston is coming into his third season and is going to have enough offensive talent around him that he could probably throw left handed and still put up All-Pro numbers.
Before the season began I was extremely critical when Tampa fired Lovie Smith and promoted Dirk Koetter. It’s only been one year, but so far so good. Out of all three teams in the Sunshine State, the Buccaneers probably have the brightest future, as it stands right now.
When it comes to professional football the state of Florida hasn’t had much to cheer about, on any type of consistent basis. If things continue to progress as they should, both Miami and Tampa Bay will bring a little more joy to their respective fan bases over the next few years. They are certainly on the right path to get there.
As for Jacksonville….well, I guess Meatloaf was right when he sang Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.
Sorry Jacksonville fans, I just don’t see it happening.
What Jaguars Got For Julius Thomas
By: Drayton Hogarth
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We are still a couple of weeks away from the official start for NFL free agent signings, but the Jacksonville Jaguars have been the talk of the NFL offseason so far.
The Jaguars have wasted no time in making two separate but related trades with their in-state counterparts, the Miami Dolphins.
The deal basically works as follows: Jacksonville sends tight end, Julius Thomas to Miami for offensive lineman, Brandon Albert; along with an exchange of late round draft picks. Miami sends their pick in this year’s draft, while Jacksonville’s pick won’t switch until next season.
Two seasons ago, the Jaguars made a huge move in free agency by signing Julius Thomas, the tight end who was highly productive for the Denver Broncos; back to back seasons of 12 touchdowns lead to big time contracts.
Thomas was never able to live up to the signing and never became the touchdown target for Blake Bortles that the Jaguars envisioned. The Dolphins have a plethora of quality offensive tackles on their roster, so many in fact that they have had to move a couple of them inside to play guard. It is kind of a play your best five mentality.
Brandon Albert will be entering his ninth season in the league and could provide the Jaguars a much needed protector for Bortles, as well as a road grader to help an anemic running game. This trade is truly a win-win on paper for both teams.
I mentioned earlier that Julius Thomas was a big time touchdown magnet while in Denver. Well, his offensive coordinator was Adam Gase. Gase just so happens to be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Thomas and Gase’s familiarity with each other should provide the spark that Thomas needs to regain that double-digit touchdown form that he achieved in the Mile High City.
As much as Jacksonville needs an offensive tackle, as we have seen, Luke Joeckel and Kelvin Beachum have not lived up to their potential, or more so have been so injury prone that they have been salary cap nightmares for Jacksonville.
Although Albert’s career has not been without injury, the Jaguars have to hope that him missing extended time in all three of his Dolphins seasons is a thing of the past. The Dolphins should be able to handle the loss of Albert by shifting the young Laremy Tunsil, who will be entering his second season out to be their new left tackle.
This trade for Jacksonville and Miami helps set up both franchises for the rest of their offseason focus. Jacksonville will now be allowed to look to the draft to bring in playmakers and not take a chance on another possible lineman bust from the draft.
The Jaguars can bring in the proven lineman and allow rookie playmakers, possibly Florida State’s Dalvin Cook, to play behind the improved offensive line.
Miami needs a red zone target for quarterback Ryan Tanneyhill, and the history that Julius Thomas and Adam Gase have together is too much to overlook.
As well, Miami, who is likely closer to a deep playoff run, will free up about $45 million in salary cap room once Albert’s contract is off the books. Look for the Dolphins to take a run at DeSean Jackson, or possibly another interior offensive lineman, as this will be a very deep class in free agency at that position.
Often sports trades are one-sided. In this situation both franchises and players can be seen as winning with this deal. Sometimes it is just a matter of a change of scenery that can help restart productive careers.
One gets a sense that for both Julius Thomas and Brandon Albert this may be that exact case. Both players and their new teams should see immediate returns on this deal. In an offseason that is sure to be full of trades and free agent signings, keep this deal in mind for these two teams as big deals that happened early in the process.
Ryan Tannehill Worth Miami Dolphins Money
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Last summer I wrote a piece revolving around the contract extensions given to Cam Newton and Ryan Tannehill, focusing more on the Dolphins and how they really didn’t have a choice considering there weren’t a lot of alternatives for them to choose from.
I still stand by my opinion at the time I wrote it, but much like the dumbbells I own collecting dust underneath my bed, amongst my wife’s photo albums and lord knows what else, I wonder if Miami is starting to have buyer’s remorse?
What started out as a disastrous beginning to the season for Miami (1-4) has turned around somewhat of late. Their offensive line has been playing better, opening up some nice running lanes for Jay Ajayi, who has become one of the league’s leading rushers. Their defense is finally starting to live up to the exceedingly high expectations they were burdened with to start the season, and they are right in the middle of the playoff hunt.
I really want to jump on the Dolphins’ bandwagon and believe that not only will they make the playoffs, but make a run at New England once they get there. I have confidence in the ground game and feel better about their defense with every passing week, but I just can’t bring myself to jump aboard. Mainly, because of Tannehill.
It’s not that I think Tannehill is a horrible quarterback or anything, I just don’t have a lot of confidence in him. I mean, I like the fact I can buy a large cheese pizza from Little Caesar’s for $5. However, don’t confuse my enthusiasm that for so little money I can feed my kids and myself for a night while my wife is out with the fact that I’m actually going to enjoy that pizza. No matter how much I enjoy saving the money it’s not something I want to do with any type of regularity.
To be completely fair and honest though, I must admit my prognostications over the past two months have been anything but stellar. Seriously, take a look and you’ll see a losing streak that should put me on every bookie’s Christmas card list. So, don’t be surprised at all if Tannehill all of a sudden becomes the second coming of Dan Marino.
If you’re a Miami fan, you’d better hope that happens because you don’t have a plethora of other options, if it doesn’t.
Because Tannehill makes so much money it will be extremely difficult to find a trade partner if management decides they want to move him. And you can’t cut him since his release would end in what I would assume to be a huge salary cap hit. For better or worse, he is the Dolphins quarterback over the next few years.
I’m not saying Miami is anywhere near making such a drastic decision like either of those two options would be. But if you feel like you have a team that can make a playoff run (they do), and your quarterback may be the reason you are hesitant to look too far into it (he probably is), you’d like to have a little bit of flexibility, if needed.
Tannehill seems to have all the attributes that you look for in your starting quarterback, but for whatever reason just can’t put it all together on a consistent basis. If Miami is going to make a run at the playoffs they’ll need him to prove me wrong. If the past few months have taught me anything, my money is on Tannehill.
