Dolphins to sign Tyson Clabo to play Right tackle.

[bsfins]

A few different NFL people Tweeted that his agent says he'll sign a 1 yr deal

@BenVolinPBP: RT @caplannfl: Veteran RT Tyson Clabo will sign with the Dolphins, according to his agent, Chad Speck

@RapSheet: It's a one-year deal for OT Tyson Clabo and the Dolphins. Takes the top free agent tackle available off the market. Moves Martin to the left

@JasonLaCanfora: Tackle Tyson Clabo is signing with Miami today

[Landshark]

Good move by Ireland to address the offensive tackle position

[bsfins]

Ben Volins' Blog on the signing from the Palmbeach post...

A snippet from the article...
The Dolphins chose Clabo over Eric Winston and Winston Justice, who both worked out with Clabo in front of the Dolphins’ coaches this week.
Despite getting cut by Atlanta, Clabo was productive last year. He allowed five sacks in 16 games, but the website Pro Football Focus rated him as the fifth-best right tackle in the league last year, and 14th-best offensive tackle overall.

[Sunstroke]

Glad they slapped a band-aid on that little boo-boo, but they really need to get a long-term LT solution in place. One that allows them to move Martin back to RT.  I'll toss an early penny in the wishing well for next year's draft, and think the names "Jake Matthews" and "Taylor Lewan."

[Landshark]

Glad they slapped a band-aid on that little boo-boo, but they really need to get a long-term LT solution in place. One that allows them to move Martin back to RT.  I'll toss an early penny in the wishing well for next year's draft, and think the names "Jake Matthews" and "Taylor Lewan."

What if Martin is that long term solution at left tackle? He spent four years protecting Andrew Luck's blind side in college.  He is a natural left tackle. This season will tell us what we need to know about him taking that capability to the pro level

[Sunstroke]

I literally watched every televised snap last season, and I just have a hard time seeing Martin developing into anything more than just an "serviceable" left tackle. I saw no flashes of greatness, just occasional OK'ness... The left tackle is one position where I'd really like to see Miami have "elite" talent.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Well, hopefully Tanny doesn't have to hold onto the ball as long anymore due to our upgrade in receivers. Clabo is very good, but I am nervous with Martin at LT.

[MikeO]

Glad they slapped a band-aid on that little boo-boo, but they really need to get a long-term LT solution in place. One that allows them to move Martin back to RT.  I'll toss an early penny in the wishing well for next year's draft, and think the names "Jake Matthews" and "Taylor Lewan."

If Martin fails at LT then he won't get moved back to RT I see him just getting moved off the team. He was drafted because the Fins knew Jake might walk after last season, he did. Now with Jake gone this is Martin's job. If he fails I don't see them moving him to RT I see them just moving on from Jonathan Martin all together.

[Pappy13]

I love this move. I think Martin and Clabo is a better combination then were Long and Martin last year. This is an upgrade.

[hordman]

Gotta agree with the signing.  Clabo at RT, which is where he played at ATL and moving Martin back to the LT that he played in college.

Anyone know the sacks of Tannehill at the end of the season where Martin played LT?  I caught a couple of the games on TV but can't recall if he look good/bad, etc.    I think Martin at LT is the long-term solution and the top brass knew this when they drafted him & that Long might walk after this past season.

I think the line will be solid.

[Pappy13]

Anyone know the sacks of Tannehill at the end of the season where Martin played LT?

9 sacks in 3 games which was higher than the average when Long/Martin were the tackles, however they only lost 37 yards on those sacks which is just over 12 yards per game. In the first 13 games, Miami gave up 25 sacks which is just under 2 a game, but for a loss of 179 yards which is not quite 14 yards a game. Tannehill had the bad habit of trying to escape out the back of the pocket in the beginning which produced fewer sacks, but when he did get sacked it was for a greater loss of yards. Near the end of the year he was stepping up in the pocket to avoid sacks which produced a few more sacks, but for fewer yards lost and also allowed Tannehill to escape sacks and gain positive yardage. Tannehill only ran for 120 yards on 22 scrambles in the first 13 games, but ran for 107 on 10 scrambles in the last 3.

I'm not worried at all about Martin playing LT. What I heard about Martin was that he graded out much better his first few games at LT than he did his first few at RT and that was with a whole preseason at RT and zero game reps prior to playing LT. I get the feeling that Martin is actually much more comfortable at LT then RT and after a full off-season at LT he will do just fine. He won't be Long in the pro-bowl years, but I think he'll be better then Long has been the last couple. If Clabo is better than Martin at RT, the tackle play should be improved over last year and with Garner backing up the right side and Dallas Thomas backing up the left, the line is in pretty good shape.

[hordman]

Pappy13, thanks for the breakdown in sacks stats, appreciate the work & info.

[Pappy13]

Pappy13, thanks for the breakdown in sacks stats, appreciate the work & info.

After further review, I made a small mistake in my analysis. I looked at Long's stats and saw that he started thru week 13 and mistakingly thought that was through the first 13 games for Miami, but because of the bye week it's actually only the first 12 games. Martin actually played LT for the final 4 games of the season, not the last 3. So with that in mind here are the corrected stats:

With Long (First 12 games):
Player            Plays  Yards TD Y/P  TD/P
Tannehill         404    2488  9  6.2  .022
  Complete        211    2560  7  12.1 .033
  Incomplete      139
  Scrambles       19     95    2  5.0  .105
  Sacked          21     -153     -7.3
  Interceptions   12
Bush              165    728   5  4.4  .030
Thomas            89     325   4  3.7  .045
Miller            27     147   1  5.4  .037
Totals            720    3829  22 5.3  .031

Without Long (Last 4 games):
Player            Plays  Yards TD Y/P  TD/P
Tannehill         147    816   5  5.6  .034
  Complete        73     743   5  10.2 .068
  Incomplete      48
  Scrambles       13     132      10.2
  Sacked          11     -54      -4.9 
  Interceptions   1
Bush              63     262   1  4.2  .016
Miller            24     105      4.4
Thomas            3      9        3.0
Totals            237    1192  6  5.0  .025


This shifts the stats a little more in favor of Long, but not too terribly much. The one glaringly big difference is that Tannehill only threw 1 INT in the last 4 games as opposed to 12 in the first 12, but I suspect that was largely just due to Tannehill doing a better job of protecting the ball. One more thing to consider is the competition. Miami played at SF and NE and home against Jax and Buff in the final 4 games, 2 wins and 2 losses, so overall I'd say that's a pretty fair comparison compared to the first 12.

Note: For those of you wondering why the numbers for the players don't add up to the totals, it's because I didn't show the stats for Moore and Lane in the first 12 games because there's nothing to compare them to, however they are included in the totals.

[MikeO]

Contract Details for Clabo

1 year....$3.5 mill. Only $1.5 mill guaranteed. And after June 1st Miami has $17 mill in cap space but will need $8 mill to sign rookies.

 Miami will have around $9 mill in cap space even after all of this big spending this offseason. Far cry from "cap hell".

[MikeO]

Clabo said he will wear #77 in Miami