Tag: Emmanuel Ogbah

4 Dolphins who could be cap casualties this offseason

A few Dolphins who could be released due to their contracts.

The Miami Dolphins are currently projected to be $51.9 million over the projected salary cap in 2024, according to Over the Cap.

With that knowledge, it’s not hard to imagine that this year’s roster might look very different than the Dolphins that take the field in September.

While Miami may try and re-work some contracts or make some trades, there’s a strong chance that some players get released to create some room this offseason.

Let’s look at some of the Dolphins’ candidates to be cap casualties in 2024.

Grading the Dolphins defensive linemen after their 2023 season

A look at Miami’s defensive linemen, and the year they had in 2023.

The Miami Dolphins finished their 2023 campaign with an 11-6 record and made the postseason for the second time in as many years under head coach Mike McDaniel. Unfortunately, it came to an end with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round.

While other teams are in the midst of their playoff run, it’s time to do some reflecting on the team in South Florida.

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be reviewing and evaluating different positions for the Dolphins in 2023. Today, we’ll look at the defensive linemen.

10 players the Jaguars could pursue before the trade deadline

With a week until the NFL trade deadline, these 10 players could draw the Jaguars’ interest.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are leading the way in the AFC South and just a game behind the Kansas City Chiefs for the best record in the AFC. If ever there was a time for the Jaguars to push their chips to the middle of the table, it’s now.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the Jaguars need to trade away their next three first-round picks to get a superstar. Making some kind of move to get a boost down the stretch makes too much sense, though.

Jacksonville could use some help at left guard after rotating between Ben Bartch and Tyler Shatley early in the season. But no area is in more need of improvement than the team’s lackluster pass rush.

While Josh Allen has provided the Jaguars with seven sacks through the first seven weeks, the rest of the defense has just six combined sacks. Only four teams (none with winning records) have fewer sacks.

With the Oct. 31 trade deadline just a week away, here are 10 players who would be worth pursuing for the Jaguars:

Dolphins’ Emmanuel Ogbah on the Bills: ‘I want to beat them bad’

Buffalo has won 11 of the last 13 matchups.

The Miami Dolphins, after starting their season 3-0, have turned their eyes to their AFC East rivals, the Buffalo Bills, ahead of their Week 4 matchup.

Miami hasn’t been overly successful against Buffalo in recent years, and the Bills have won 11 of their last 13 regular season and postseason battles. On top of that, they’ve also won the division the last three years and eliminated the Dolphins in the Wild Card game last season.

Before the matchup, Dolphins defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, who recorded his first career interception last week against the Denver Broncos, was asked what it is about Buffalo that makes this game a bit different than others.

“I really don’t know,” Ogbah said. “I guess I’ve lost to them more times than I’ve won. It’s just I want to beat them bad because they beat us multiple times. That’s just the goal, to beat them pretty much.”

Sean McDermott’s team seems to have righted their ship after an embarrassing performance in Week 1, winning their next two games rather convincingly.

If Tua Tagovailoa and company are able to leave Orchard Park with a win on Sunday, they would be incredibly well set up for the remainder of the season, with a two-game lead in the division and the tiebreaker before their second matchup in Week 18.

At the very least, we know Ogbah and his teammates are motivated for this meeting.

News and notes heading into Dolphins-Bills matchup in Week 4

A look at some statistics for Miami before the AFC East battle.

The Miami Dolphins have a 24-hour rule, which means it’s time to move past a historical performance and look toward a monumental task, as the Dolphins head to Western New York to face the hated rival Buffalo Bills.

Sean McDermott’s team has taken four of the last five and beat Miami at home each season from 2017 through last year, including a Wild Card playoff game.

The Dolphins do lead the all-time series 61-52-1 with the Bills leading 4-1 in the postseason. Miami will be seeking their first 4-0 start to a season since 1995 and their seventh in team history including 1972, 1979, 1981, 1984 and 1992.

So far this season, the Dolphins’ offense has totaled 1,651 yards, averaging 8.4 yards per play and have generated more yardage and points through the first three games of a season than any NFL team since the AFL-NFL merger.

Miami leads the NFL in several explosive play categories, including most plays of 10+ yards and most plays of 25+ yards. Their 60 plays of 10+ yards are tied for the most in the first three games of a season since at least 2000 when the New England Patriots had 60 10+ yard plays in the first three games of 2000.

This offense is playing as prolific as any NFL team has to start three games in recent memory and even historically in the game, as they nearly broke an all-time single-game scoring record Sunday in their home opener against the Denver Broncos. They very well could have gotten a field goal and hit for 73 points, tying the record, but Mike McDaniel showed mercy and class, respectfully kneeling on the ball instead.

The Dolphins are building more momentum than seemingly ever, and here are more news and notes heading into Week 4’s pivotal contest, where Miami will enter as the AFC’s only remaining unbeaten team, joining the league’s only others – the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers.

Dolphins LB Andrew Van Ginkel’s family hosting charitable event in Iowa

Supporting a cause that’s near and dear to their hearts.

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The Miami Dolphins hit the field one last time on Thursday to close out their mandatory team minicamp. Following this session, the players and coaches will take a well-earned break from the game until training camp in July.

The time away will give players a chance to rest, recover and even return to their hometowns to do what all Dolphins do – support causes and fundraise for charitable endeavors. Philanthropy of all forms is an area in which the Dolphins are a first-class organization. Supporting the community has been a cornerstone of this franchise ever since legendary head coach Don Shula came to Miami in 1970.

The work throughout history that this team has done off the field is more impressive than the successes they’ve had on the field. This is, of course, a team with a pair of championships and a perfect season included.

Whether it’s raising money for organizations within South Florida, running food drives or supporting the Dolphins Challenge Cancer initiative, the players and employees continue to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Several players have shown consistency in their off-field work like Jaelan Phillips, Tyreek Hill and Emmanuel Ogbah to name a few. Plenty of Dolphins have been extremely charitable to help support causes close to them, one being linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel.

During the time away from the practice field, Van Ginkel and his wife, Samantha, will head back to their home state of Iowa, where, this Saturday, June 10, they’ve organized a local event in partnership with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. The ALSF funds impactful research, raising awareness, supporting families and empowering everyone to help cure childhood cancer.

Childhood cancer has been something the Van Ginkels have been passionate about as well as combating and raising awareness and money for, as, tragically, Andrew lost his sister to the disease when she was just nine years old. Samantha has also been a staunch supporter of battling this plague and started a Love Your Melon Campus Crew back in college, another organization to fight childhood cancer.

The Van Ginkels will host their event at the Rock Valley Sports Complex, and you don’t have to necessarily be in-state to support “Andrew Van Ginkel’s Lemonade Stand.” 100% of all proceeds will help fight childhood cancer, and this adds to the list of supportive endeavors made by the couple within the community.

They were among several Dolphin players and employees to contribute to a GoFundMe campaign recently set up to honor and support the family of Eric Carmona. Carmona tragically passed away in an accident and the campaign is nearly at $77,000 to support his wife and four children.

The linebacker has excelled on the field as well, earning an orange practice jersey last week, and even worked as an inside linebacker in organized team activities to add to his usual outside work.

Van Ginkel was a free agent in the offseason, but even while courted by half a dozen other teams, he remained a Dolphin and should be a key piece to Vic Fangio’s defense.

You, as well, can contribute to the Van Ginkels ALSF efforts as well as the Eric Carmona GoFundMe.

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Vic Fangio brings big changes to the Miami Dolphins’ defense

What will the Miami Dolphins’ defense look like under Vic Fangio? Here’s a detailed look, from fronts to coverages.

When you discuss modern defense in the NFL, you won’t get very far without discussing the “Fangio system,” i.e., the series of concepts installed by legendary defensive coach Vic Fangio over the last few years. The shorthand version of “Fangio” refers to light boxes, simulated pressures, and predominantly two-high coverages with an emphasis on quarter-quarter-half (Cover-6). It’s a system that has become all the rage in the NFL today, so it was not surprising that after a year off, in which he spent time studying tape in Florida and consulting with the Philadelphia Eagles, the man himself returned to the league as the Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator. Fangio was the head coach of the Denver Broncos from 2019 through 2021; he was fired after a 19-30 record and no playoff appearances, but Fangio ran a defense that ranked eighth in yards allowed and third in points allowed by the time he was done.

That’s aligned with his root philosophy.

“We’re in charge of not letting the other team score, and we will do anything and everything to do that,” Fangio said during his Miami introductory press conference on February 20, when asked about his overall defensive philosophy. “I’ve been places in the past where we pressured a lot. I’ve been places where we didn’t pressure very much. You’ve got to fit the scheme to the players that you have while also factoring in the opponents that you’re playing.

“So hopefully, we’ll be a team that will keep the points down, make it hard for teams to score a lot of points, and put our offense in position to score points for us. I’m not a buzzword guy as far as that goes other than we want to play good defense and what’s good defense? Keep them out of the end zone.”

The 2022 Dolphins ranked 15th in Defensive DVOA under defensive coordinator Josh Boyer; 25th against the pass, and fourth against the run. In recent years, the Dolphins had a very specific defensive DNA that was radically different than what Fangio is bringing in, so that’s the best place to start.

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus, Sports Info Solutions, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise indicated).

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Dolphins DE Emmanuel Ogbah speaks on philanthropic efforts on ‘The Fish Tank’

From the trip with NFL Africa to his hopes to build a community center in Houston.

The NFL draft process has come and gone, and football clubs are heading back into a relative swing of things at their respective facilities. Including behind-the-scenes folks, such as podcasters on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, like “The Fish Tank.”

Co-hosts, Seth Levit and O.J. McDuffie welcomed a rare, currently-rostered Dolphin into their studio, as the staple podcast specializes in bringing former Dolphin legends into “The Tank.”

With action brewing again in Miami Gardens, Levit opened the show by saying, “There is a buzz in the building.”

Diving in on Tuesday was defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah. Signing with the Dolphins in 2020 after a year with the Kansas City Chiefs, Ogbah had a productive season with nine sacks and repeated the feat in 2021.

Following those seasons, Ogbah earned a new, rich contract in last year’s offseason, as he inked a four-year deal with Miami worth $65.4 million. Unfortunately, the pass-rusher was bit by the injury bug midway into the 2022 season, suffering a torn tricep in the second quarter against the Cleveland Browns in Week 10.

As he describes in the show with Levit and McDuffie, Ogbah compared the injury, in a starting over sense, much like his family started from scratch as immigrants, arriving in the United States from Nigeria when Ogbah was nine years old.

Ogbah cited the hard work and dedication of his father, driving a total of four hours a day to and from work to provide for his family in a new country. So, as a football player, it’s something the veteran defender is handling with relative ease.

The guys and Ogbah went on to discuss the “NFL Africa” program, in which Ogbah and other stars traveled across the Atlantic to Kenya to be football ambassadors to young athletes, teaching fundamentals of football and running drills.

Joining Ogbah were, Brian Asamoah of the Minnesota Vikings (Ghana), Arnold Ebiketie from the Atlanta Falcons (Cameroon), Paulson Adebo of the New Orleans Saints (Benin) and Ikem Ekwonu of the Carolina Panthers (Nigeria).

Ogbah mentioned the ages of the players were 16-21, and when asked if there were any potential future Dolphins, he described at least one prospect in detail. For those specifics, you simply have to listen yourself, but Ogbah did say that the answer was, “1000%.”

Ogbah went on to discuss the program, the joy it was being able to be back to his home continent and his own charitable endeavor, the “Rise Above Foundation.” The defensive end says that the mission of the organization is to create ways for youth to have a “sustainable program to help their long-term achievement.”

Ogbah’s philanthropic goals go beyond this program and his football camps, with hopes of creating a community center in his hometown back in Houston.

Dive into “The Fish Tank” to hear about his efforts and thoughts on and off of the field.

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Grading Dolphins defensive linemen after their 2022 season

Miami should try to lock a few of these guys up long term.

The Miami Dolphins may have finished with the exact same regular season record in 2022 that they did in 2021, but this year, it was good enough to make the playoffs.

Unfortunately, due to injuries and mistakes, Miami fell short of their ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl, but there were still some solid performances from individuals throughout the season.

With their season over, we’ll be taking some time to go through different position groups and review how they played in 2022. After starting with the quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and offensive linemen, we’ll jump over to the other side of the ball and start with the big men in the trenches.

DE Emmanuel Ogbah was planning to return if Dolphins advanced

He suffered a torn triceps back in Week 10.

The Miami Dolphins were defeated by the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, ending their quest for a Lombardi Trophy, but if they had won, they may have had reinforcements coming.

According to NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe, Emmanuel Ogbah told those in the locker room on Monday that he was planning to be cleared to return to action if Miami had advanced. Ogbah suffered a torn triceps just 11 snaps into the Dolphins’ Week 10 win over the Cleveland Browns.

If Ogbah had returned, he may have provided even more of an impact for a unit that sacked Josh Allen seven times in the wild-card matchup. However, now he can focus on his preparation for the 2023 season and make sure that he’s fully healthy before he plays again.

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