BREAKING NEWS: Dolphins Hire Vic Fangio to be Defensive Coordinator

[fyo]

Very possible he told Payton he will go with him if he comes back, but that's a terrible landing spot for him compared to Miami and San Fran. Miami is highest paid with tons of talent. San Fran is familiarity with tons of talent. Denver is a demotion on a team all but guaranteed to miss the playoffs the next 3-4 years.

Sadly, this is our offseason so stories like this are all we have to talk about. Free agency next and then somewhat the draft wince we don't have many picks.

We don't have any cap space, either, so free agency isn't going to be too exciting. Only 1 team (the Chiefs) has fewer players under contract and yet we're still $13 million over the 2023 cap.

[EDGECRUSHER]

We don't have any cap space, either, so free agency isn't going to be too exciting. Only 1 team (the Chiefs) has fewer players under contract and yet we're still $13 million over the 2023 cap.

The cap can be manipulated in so many ways. With cuts and restructures, I saw on some Dolphin blogs that we can have as much as $70 Million in cap space. Truth is, we are a pretty solid team as is with not many glaring holes. A top notch RT would be great but a league average one will do just fine, same with LG unless someone can show me where Eichenberg wasn't terrible. Got a lot of starters on secondary returning, Ogbah is coming back and should improve playing with Chubbs. Really, health was our biggest issue by a mile and it's hard to spend your way out of that.

[fyo]

^ Sure, cap space can be manipulated by pushing things into the future where it will constitute a smaller part of a future, higher cap space. But doing that isn't free. It really hurts in terms of flexibility and, if a player decides to quit (retire or quit on the team), moving on really, really hurts since all those charges you pushed into the future come crashing down. Players also usually expect (and get) more in terms of guarantees for doing these restructures, which again hurts in terms of flexibility.

The obvious moves are cutting Byron Jones (designate him a post-June cut - the cut itself usually happens much earlier, but the player is counted on the cap until 2 June), which saves nearly $14 million and restructuring some contracts. The largest of those are Hill, Chubb, Armstead, Ogbah, Howard, Waddle, and Wilkins. The latter two are on their rookie contracts which means they would need to be resigned long term instead of playing on their year 5 option (Wilkins) or last regular year of rookie deal (Waddle). It's certainly doable for Wilkins, but I'm not sure if he's proven himself enough where you want to lock in a huge deal. It all depends on what he would want, of course. 

The first four (Hill, Chubb, Armstead, and Ogbah) really are the ones to focus on with a combined cap hit of over $90 million for the 2023 season. But you do really want to redo Armstead's deal, for example? The Dolphins have great flexibility with the current deal where only $4 million is guaranteed beyond 2023, yet he is under contract for 3 seasons beyond that (2026). Hill's contract is the biggest, but 2023 is the last year with guaranteed salary and that flexibility beyond 2023 would almost certainly be lost in a restructure. Same with Ogbah. He hasn't really been *great*, despite getting *great* money, so do you really want to extend the period he gets guaranteed money? I could see Ogbah be traded in a post June-1 deal, but I'm not sure a restructure makes sense.

I could see them restructure Chubb contract, but you would need to keep in mind that his cap hit is over $20 million a year for the rest of his contract and everything you are saving on the 2023 cap is moved to future cap hits, making him even more expensive for those years.

If I had to guess, I'd say they restructure Hill and Chubb and save about $30 million there. Unless they reach a trade on Ogbah, any other changes are going to be pretty minor.

There could be some major cuts, obviously. Jerome Baker would be a $9 million savings if designated a June 1 cut.

[EDGECRUSHER]

According to Adam Schefter, Fangio has accepted the position with Miami. I think it's 100% this time.

I would still like more people to confirm it but I'm pretty sure it's legit now.

[CF DolFan]

He said he accepted it and will sign after the Super Bowl. I guess he’s too busy to come here and the Dolphins can’t send anyone to him to get it signed. Sounds legit to me. Oh wait a minute … it is Groundhog Day. I won’t believe it until the press conference after he signs.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

He said he accepted it and will sign after the Super Bowl. I guess he’s too busy to come here and the Dolphins can’t send anyone to him to get it signed. Sounds legit to me. Oh wait a minute … it is Groundhog Day. I won’t believe it until the press conference after he signs.

He is a consultant for a team preparing for the Superbowl. 

[EDGECRUSHER]

He is a consultant for a team preparing for the Superbowl. 

Is he even legally allowed to sign a contract with us if he is on another team's payroll?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Is he even legally allowed to sign a contract with us if he is on another team's payroll?

Don't know, he is a consultant not an actual employee.  But it would be extremely bad form for him to be putting much focus on the Dolphins instead of the Eagles. 

[DenverFinFan]

Looks like we got him, which is good. With the dolphins I will not believe it until the first preseason game but it looks like we dodged further embarrassment.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Looks like we got him, which is good. With the dolphins I will not believe it until the first preseason game but it looks like we dodged further embarrassment.

Yeah, on the field you can't deny that this was a huge get for us that can push us to the next level. I just hope that when the story comes out, it isn't that bad and we were all speculating on fake reports.

Proper coaching is worth it's weight in gold, it can be more important than adding a Pro Bowler to the roster.

[CF DolFan]

He is a consultant for a team preparing for the Superbowl. 

I'm sure he is putting in 16 hours days consulting ... LOL. You really don't think his consultant job is what is holding him up do you?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I'm sure he is putting in 16 hours days consulting ... LOL. You really don't think his consultant job is what is holding him up do you?

I doubt he is working 16 hours a day. But I would not be the least bit surprised if he wanted all news about his next job to wait until after the superbowl and is already a. little bit disgruntled at his next employer for not honoring that simple curtesy and instead leaking premature information during the NFCCG.

[Dave Gray]

The generally accepted principal is that you don't want the media asking questions during Super Bowl week as a distraction to the game ahead.  So, he probably wanted to keep it under wraps.

[masterfins]

The generally accepted principal is that you don't want the media asking questions during Super Bowl week as a distraction to the game ahead.  So, he probably wanted to keep it under wraps.

+1  Yeah that's generally an NFL Office rule, they don't want anything distracting from the big game that generates all the revenue from sponsors, etc.

But if he is consulting I'm sure he's watching a lot of game film to see if he can offer any bits of information to the Eagles.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

+1  Yeah that's generally an NFL Office rule, they don't want anything distracting from the big game that generates all the revenue from sponsors, etc.

But if he is consulting I'm sure he's watching a lot of game film to see if he can offer any bits of information to the Eagles.

I think it is less that than a mindset that everybody connected to the team is all in.