Tag: Emmanuel Ogbah

Mike McDaniel shares Dolphins plan for soon-to-be free agent DE Emmanuel Ogbah

It sounds like the Dolphins want to keep their top free agent.

All 32 NFL teams, including the Miami Dolphins, are preparing to sculpt their roster this offseason to get the best product that they can on the field in 2022.

For Miami, they have a few crucial decisions they’ll need to make, including what to do with defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, who is set to hit free agency on March 16.

At the NFL Scouting Combine, new Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel gave a peek into their feelings about the soon-to-be free agent.

“We want Emmanuel Ogbah and will do our best to get him,” McDaniel said, transcribed by the Palm Beach Post’s Joe Schad. “Our hope is that is not the case that we lose him. If you are texting him right now you can tell him as such.”

While McDaniel throws in some of his patented flair at the end, he makes it very clear that the Dolphins want Ogbah back in the future. This defense would be hard-pressed to find someone this offseason who impacts the game each and every week for Miami the way that he has in the last two seasons.

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Ravens get talented DL in ‘free agency mock draft’ by CBS Sports

The Ravens selected a talented defensive lineman in a “free agency mock draft” by CBS Sports

The Baltimore Ravens enter 2022 free agency with multiple different needs to address. The NFL as a whole has many talented teams in it, and Baltimore will need to keep up with them if they want to give themselves the best chance to win a Super Bowl championship.

Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports put together a “free agency mock draft“, which entails each team drafting a free agent based off of the 2022 draft order. With the No. 14 overall pick, the Ravens secured a talented defensive lineman in Emmanuel Ogbah, who has spent the last two seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Benjamin talked about how Ogbah offers more upside than veteran defensive lineman Calais Campbell.

“Calais Campbell could easily warrant another short-term deal here, but Ogbah offers longer-term upside and some emerging pass-rushing juice for a defensive front that’s lacked steady pressure.”

Ogbah is a very talented player who has had steady production over the course of his NFL career. He had nine sacks in each of the last two seasons, and has brought the quarterback down 36 times in his six-year career. He has a bit of positional versatility as well, but would provide the Ravens with a very solid interior pass rush presence who is 28 years old.

Looking at Chiefs’ potential free agent options at edge rusher

Our @Nicolas_Roesch takes a look at some pending free agent edge rushers that the #Chiefs could be interested in.

After finishing 29th in the NFL in sacks last season, many believe edge rusher is the Kansas City Chiefs’ biggest need.

The team currently has five defensive ends on the roster. Frank Clark and Mike Danna are the only players of those five who have played significant snaps in the NFL. Clark is the elephant in the room — one who most people believe the Chiefs will cut ties with ahead of the new league year.

K.C. can cut Clark now and save the team roughly $13 million in cap space or designate him as a post-June 1 cut and save $19.5 million. With or without Clark, the defensive end position will be a big need for the Chiefs in 2022. Let’s take a look at some free agent options that could fit with the team.

Are the Colts a match for free agent DE Emmanuel Ogbah?

Gil Brandt suggests the Colts are a fit for free agent DE Emmanuel Ogbah.

Outside of deciding their path at quarterback, the biggest need for the Indianapolis Colts to address this offseason is the pass rush.

While the Colts have never been one to spend big in free agency on an edge rusher, there are some names that should pique their interest when the market opens in a few weeks.

Notably among them is Miami Dolphins defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, who was listed as a fit for the Colts by Gil Brandt of NFL.com.

The Colts’ defense finished a decent 16th overall in 2021, but the pass rush was sorely lacking; Indianapolis tied for 25th in sacks (33) and 24th in pressures (157). As great as DeForest Buckner is, it’s not ideal when an interior lineman with seven sacks leads your team in that category. Ogbah, who’s spent the past two seasons in Miami, finished with the 14th-most pressures (54) in the NFL in 2021, per Next Gen Stats, and his 18 sacks over the past two seasons are tied for 10th-most in the league (matching pass-rushing studs like Joey Bosa, Brian Burns and Yannick Ngakoue).

A second-round pick with the Cleveland Browns in 2016, Ogbah has posted 9.0 sacks with the Dolphins in each of his last two seasons.

Under new defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, Ogbah would likely play the “Big End” role on the defensive line. At 6-foot-4 and 273 pounds, Ogbah checks a lot of boxes in what the Colts like in their defensive ends.

Though it was a while ago, Ogbah’s measurements and pro-day testing numbers fit the mold that Chris Ballard likes in his edge rushers. He torches the arm length threshold (around 33 inches) having been measured at 35.5 inches.

The Colts also typically like their edge rushers to have a 10-yard split of 1.7 seconds or better. Ogbah posted a 1.58 in the 10-yard split during his pro day in 2016.

(Courtesy of Kent Lee Platte)

The Colts’ pass rush hinges on several players like DeForest Buckner and Kwity Paye, the latter of which will likely be working from the LEO spot along the defensive line.

This unit has been the Achilles heel for the defense for years but adding a talent like Ogbah would be a major difference moving forward.

The biggest question is whether Chris Ballard is willing to tweak his philosophy enough to pay up for an edge presence like this.

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Dolphins free agent profile: Should the Dolphins bring back Emmanuel Ogbah

He’s considered by some to be Miami’s top free agent.

Now that the season has finally come to a close, and the Miami Dolphins have head coach Mike McDaniel under contract and filling out his staff, general manager Chris Grier can begin building the roster for the 2022 season.

The Dolphins are set to have 28 unrestricted, restricted, or exclusive rights free agents this offseason, including some of their most talented players. One of the names atop that list is defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah.

Ogbah has spent two years in Miami to this point, recording 83 tackles, 45 quarterback hits, 18 sacks, 17 pass deflections, four forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries while playing in every possible game.

The 29-year-old had struggled in the early part of his career, leading him to sign that two-year contract for just $15 million. Now, this offseason, he could see a payday that could be $15 million per season. PFF has projected his contract to be roughly $46.5 million over three, equaling $15.5 million annually.

With Miami keeping defensive coordinator Josh Boyer and likely the same scheme, they would be smart to keep Ogbah around. He’s had his two best years in this system and has definitely helped guys like Jaelan Phillips, Christian Wilkins, and Jerome Baker get more pressure.

The Dolphins have roughly $64 million in cap space this offseason, according to Over the Cap, and a good chunk of that should be used to make sure Ogbah stays. A contract for $15 million is more than reasonable, considering the market for the position. That would put him around 15th in terms of highest-paid edge rushers by average annual value just behind Leonard Floyd of the Los Angeles Rams.

Of all of their free agents, the 28-year-old should be Miami’s priority.

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PFF ranks two Dolphins free agents in the top 25 available this year

Thankfully, Miami has a ton of cap space because they could be losing some key pieces.

The Miami Dolphins have been in the news a lot this week with Brian Flores’ lawsuit and their head coaching search still going on, but there’s still business to attend to.

With the postseason wrapping up in the next two weeks, the 2021 league year will be officially over, and the 2022 season will begin in March, allowing players with expiring contracts to become free agents.

Miami has roughly 30 players who fall in that category, including some of their most talented guys on both sides of the ball. In preparation for free agency, Pro Football Focus has ranked 140 free agents, and two Dolphins fall in the top 25 – defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah and tight end Mike Gesicki.

In Ogbah’s two years with Miami, he’s recorded 83 tackles, 45 quarterback hits, 18 sacks, 17 pass deflections, four forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. He’s been a consistent force on Miami’s defense which is what ranked him as the 22nd best free agent on this list.

Here’s what PFF said about Ogbah:

“Emmanuel Ogbah has finally blossomed into a solid defensive end after a few years of bouncing around rosters. The Cleveland Browns made Ogbah the first pick of the second round in the 2016 NFL Draft and subsequently traded him to the Kansas City Chiefs for a fourth-round pick and safety Eric Murray before the 2019 season. Now in his second season with the Dolphins, Ogbah has a career-best 79.9 overall grade through Week 13 to go along with a 71.0 pass-rush grade — which would be his first above 65.0.”

For Gesicki, he’s really started to flourish the last two years as essentially a big-bodied wideout. Since the start of 2020, he’s totaled 126 receptions, 1,483 yards, and eight touchdowns. He’s being ranked as the 21st best free agent.

Here’s what PFF said about Gesicki:

“Gesicki will have one of the more interesting free-agent situations of any player in the NFL this offseason as he attempts to make the infamous Jimmy Graham argument that he should be considered a wide receiver for franchise tag purposes and not a tight end. Gesicki has played 94% of his snaps lined up in the slot or out wide as a receiver and is rarely ever in-line as a tight end. The wide receiver franchise tag is projected to be around $19 million, while the tight end franchise tag projects to be almost half of that — around $10 million-$11 million. It’s no small distinction.”

According to Over the Cap, the Dolphins are expected to have nearly $64 million in cap space, so they should be able to re-sign both guys if they want to. The question is: will they want to?

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Grading the Miami Dolphins defensive linemen after their 2021 season

The big guys did their jobs.

The Miami Dolphins didn’t make the jump that many thought they could in 2021, as they ended the year with a 9-8 record and just outside the postseason.

During this time, it’s appropriate to reflect on the performances of the guys who impacted the outcomes on the field.

We’ll be going through different position groups over the next week or so and reviewing how they played in 2021. After starting with the rookies, quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, and offensive linemen, we’ll start the defense with the big men up front. These are the grades for the Dolphins defensive linemen during this campaign.

The 4 most impressive Dolphins from 2021

These guys showed up and showed out in 2021.

The Miami Dolphins failed to make the playoffs for the fifth year in a row and fired their head coach despite having back-to-back winning seasons.

They still had some great performances from the guys on the field that really helped them turn around a year that saw them lose seven of their first eight contests. Without a lot of these guys, Miami certainly wouldn’t have been fighting for an opportunity to make the postseason with just two weeks left in the regular season.

It’s a good time to reflect on those who were the most impressive Dolphins during the 2021 season.

The 5 highest-graded Dolphins according to PFF in 2021

Four of the five were from the defense.

The Miami Dolphins 2021 campaign didn’t exactly go the way the players, coaches, or front office would’ve liked.

Winning eight out of their last nine games was certainly impressive, but they put themselves in too deep of a hole earlier in the season by losing seven in a row after the season opener. That caused them to fall just short of competing in the postseason for the first time under Brian Flores.

Despite missing the playoffs for the fifth straight season, the Dolphins did still get some solid performances from a lot of their young talent. These five guys were the highest-graded by Pro Football Focus.

Emmanuel Ogbah and Xavien Howard had high praise for Mac Jones

They’ve been impressed by the rookie’s first season.

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With the Miami Dolphins preparing to play the New England Patriots Sunday afternoon, they will face rookie quarterback Mac Jones for the second time this season.

In their first matchup, Jones completed 29-of-39 pass attempts for 281 yards and a touchdown. He wasn’t overly impressive, but he did enough to keep them in the game, but a late-game fumble from Damien Harris ended up giving the Dolphins the victory in their season opener.

On the year, New England’s first-year signal-caller has brought them to a 10-6 record while completing 67.6% of his passes for 3,540 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. His play has even garnered the attention of some of Miami’s best defenders.

“Mac Jones is a really good player for them,” Emmanuel Ogbah said. “Coach Belichick found a gem in this draft, so we just gotta do a good job containing him. We gotta stop the run game too. He’s doing a phenomenal job them so far.”

Ogbah will be tasked with getting after Jones on Sunday. Jones gets the ball out quicker than most, so Ogbah and his fellow pass rushers won’t have the easiest time getting to him. However, the man Jones will try to complete passes on had some kind words for him as well.

“I feel like he’s been improved this whole season,” Howard said. “When I first played him, in Week 1, and I see him play and the stuff he was doing I’m like ‘bro, he’s not a rookie.’ He was doing some stuff like he’d been in the league a minute. I just been seeing him improve, and I’m looking forward to seeing him this week.”

Jones has looked good for a rookie, but Miami’s defense, led by Howard, has shown that they are one of the stronger units in the league. They should be able to frustrate the quarterback and get him to make a mistake or two.

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