The Dolphins’ offensive coaching staff in 2020 will have a lot less former New England Patriots in the picture, but that apparently isn’t going to stop the Dolphins from going hot and heavy after a bunch of Patriots on the free agent market this offseason. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald is reporting that the Dolphins are going to be in on a number of free agent players from New England — including some household names that have helped the Patriots’ dynasty extend over the past few seasons.
Jackson is reporting that the Dolphins are, at the very least, interested in OG Joe Thuney, FS Devin McCourty, C Ted Karras and (most recently of the Tennessee Titans) CB Logan Ryan.
Miami’s spending habits this season are the big variable. The team will have money to spend — but how much of their cash surplus are they willing to throw at problems for a 2020 turnaround and how much of it is going to remain in reserve for future seasons and future building efforts?
The Dolphins’ have painted themselves as interested in getting competitive quickly but also attacking this rebuild with “sustainable success” in mind — so don’t expect them to spend their full allotment of cap space on former Patriots this offseason. That said, Miami is probably going to be spending $50M to $60M in cap space by the time it is all said and done. That budget could easily account for the $15M Thuney is projected to command, the approximate $10M for McCourty’s services (he averaged $9.5M on his last contract), the $8M to $10M necessary to add Logan Ryan and whatever marginal cost it would take to add Karras to the picture as well.
This doesn’t even include LB Kyle Van Noy — the former Patriot who has been tied to the Dolphins by other resources this offseason. It is within reason that the Dolphins, if they could convince all parties to make the leap, could spend $40M this offseason in infusing their roster with players with a championship pedigree from Foxborough and then compliment the rest of the roster with the team’s NFL Draft capital.
The good news? We only need to wait two weeks to fully get a handle on where the Dolphins plan on taking their free agent game plan.
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