3 Moves the Miami Dolphins Must Make This Offseason
As the NFL offseason officially begins for all 32 teams, we will examine what each franchise must do in free agency and the NFL Draft to emerge a better, more complete team when the 2025 season kicks off in September.
The Miami Dolphins took a step back in 2024, missing the NFL Playoffs for the first time since 2021. Rather than cleaning house by firing Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins are running it back, hoping for different results in 2025.
This will likely prove to be a pivotal offseason and upcoming 2025 campaign for both Grier and McDaniel. The Dolphins aim to break through and make a deep playoff run. However, they have some high-priced decisions to make ahead of free agency and must bolster the talent around embattled quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Regardless of what moves Grier makes in free agency, or the positions that the Dolphins look to address in the draft, Miami has to get serious about adding a competent veteran backup quarterback who can execute McDaniel’s unique motion-centric scheme, in Tagovailoa’s absence.
After all, the Dolphins are just 3-7 dating back to 2022 in games without Tagovailoa behind center, and Miami surpassed 20 points in just three of those games.
This also feels like a situation where the general manager and coaching staff are clinging to a roster that’s on the precipice of needing to be rebuilt from the ground up, hoping it can piece together enough wins for a job-saving playoff run. How Grier manages to build for the long term while trying to win enough games to survive another season will be interesting to watch unfold.
Here’s a full breakdown of the Dolphins’ assets to rebuild with this offseason, and three moves that could turn things around in Miami.
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Miami Dolphins Cap Space
Grier and the Dolphins have already gotten down to business retaining and extending some of Miami’s impending free agents, including tendering linebacker Cameron Goode and offensive lineman Kion Smith as Exclusive Rights Free Agents, assuring they’ll be back on a veteran minimum deal.
However, Grier needs to find a way to get cap compliant, in a hurry.
That’s because with one week remaining until the new league year begins, the Dolphins are currently approximately $7.4 million over the cap, in terms of effective cap space.
In all likelihood, that means Grier will need to restructure Tagovailoa’s contract that Miami just signed him to last summer, converting some salary into a signing bonus for the upcoming season to create spending flexibility for the coming weeks.
Miami Dolphins Draft Picks
Fortunately for the Dolphins, Grier has a full war chest of draft picks at his disposal, along with selections from the Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos to maneuver around the board to land some of Miami’s top targets.
Round 1, pick No. 13 overall
Round 2, pick No. 48 overall
Round 3, pick No. 98 overall (Projected Compensatory Pick)
Round 4, pick No. 115 overall
Round 4, pick No. 135 overall (Projected Compensatory Pick)
Round 5 pick No. 151 overall
Round 5, pick No. 156 overall (via Denver Broncos)
Round 7, pick No. 226 overall (via Chicago Bears)
Round 7, pick No. 233 overall
Round 7, pick No. 252 overall (Projected Compensatory Pick)
3 Moves the Miami Dolphins Must Make
Sign Marcus Mariota
In an offseason loaded with quarterback-desperate teams who are flush with cash to light on fire, there’s a chance that some team will view Marcus Mariota as a capable bridge starter to get them through the 2025 season and into greener pastures next offseason.
However, if Mariota, 31, doesn’t find a starting job, there might not be a better fit in terms of scheme and need for competence behind Tagovailoa out there in free agency.
The 6-foot-4 and 222-pound former No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft played his college ball in Chip Kelly’s hyper-warp-speed offense at the University of Oregon, and has rushed for over 300 yards four times in his 10-year career. Perhaps Mariota is finally the quarterback capable of understanding and executing McDaniel’s scheme that the Dolphins need in order to find a way to actually win games with a backup, should another calamity strike Tagovailoa at some point this upcoming season.
Draft Safety Nick Emmanwori at No. 13
There’s a pretty decent chance that the Dolphins are going to be priced out of safety Jevon Holland’s market, and the cupboard is pretty bare at the position, otherwise, in Miami.
Emmanwori would be a solid consolation prize to keeping Holland, and an ideal financial reset at the position. The 6-foot-3 and 227-pound dynamo of a safety posted a career-high 88 tackles last season at South Carolina, intercepting four passes and returning two of them for touchdowns while adding a pair of pass breakups.
According to Pro Football Focus, Emmanwori held opposing quarterbacks to one of the lowest passer ratings in the nation when targeting him, at 37.1, as he posted an elite 86.8 overall grade during a season in which he didn’t allow a touchdown. Selecting Emmanwori would be a worthy counterpunch to the deep-threat receivers throughout the AFC and give the Dolphins a building block on the back end of what has been an expensive secondary in need of retooling.
Sign Mekhi Becton in Free Agency
Real, or mirage, that is the question that teams across the league are going to need to ask themselves about Mekhi Becton.
Becton shrugged off and left the “bust” label for dead, for at least one season playing for Stoutland University and the eventual world champion Philadelphia Eagles. The 25-year-old allowed three sacks, but according to Pro Football Focus finished the season as the outlet’s No. 21 ranked offensive guard.
Signing Becton, and leaving him at offensive guard, could fix one of the most glaring weaknesses along the Dolphins’ porous offensive line and go a long way towards keeping Tagovailoa upright and available. If Becton doesn’t break the bank early in free agency, the Dolphins could be a perfect team to swoop in and plug him into the starting lineup.
In Case You Missed It
I think the Dolphins are lowkey one of the more interesting teams in the league this offseason. I am not at all convinced that Mike McDaniel is a good head coach; they seem to be built to beat up on the weaker teams in the league, but they crumple whenever they face an opponent who can shrug off their first punch. I was surprised their wasn't more talk of him being on the hot seat; the way the team crumpled when Tua was out (a good quarterback but hardly irreplaceable) is a sign of bad coaching. Anyway, I like your moves for them, but I don't know if any of them will be enough to fix their deeper problems.