Biggest need Dolphins must address in the 2024 NFL offseason
The Dolphins must address these needs to start with in the 2024 offseason.
Mike McDaniel’s second season with the Miami Dolphins looked to be a step in the right direction, even if it did have some unexpected bumps in the road.
The Dolphins improved by two games in 2023 but unfortunately finished second once again in the AFC East, falling victim once again to the Buffalo Bills. Still, the win total and second-place finish were good enough to get the Dolphins back into the postseason, although it was another quick exit, as they were beaten by the eventual AFC Champions in the Wild Card Round. They still have yet to win a playoff game since 2000.
Going into Year 3, McDaniel is obviously looking to take the next step and get Miami their much-coveted playoff win and maybe even more. But that will start with the 2024 NFL offseason and looking at what the biggest needs the team needs in hopes of making a promising season next year. So, let’s take a look.
Purge players/restructure deals to reset salary cap
The Dolphins are almost $52 million over the NFL’s projected salary cap for 2024, per Spotrac. That’s just behind the New Orleans Saints for the worst in the league. They’ll most likely need to purge somewhere between $65-100 million during the 2024 offseason just so they can hope to rebuild their team for the next season, whether that’s through current players or newcomers, according to SI.
Most likely replacing Terron Armstead, finding a left tackle
With his 11th season in the books, will Terron Armstead, 32, call it a career? Armstead started in just 10 games in 2023, thanks to a litany of injuries, which was apparently popular around the Dolphins locker room this season.
If the Dolphins were to keep Armstead, assuming he didn’t retire, he would be owed $14.2 million guaranteed. His deal was already restructured last season to create cap space, so the Dolphins are out of luck most likely with another restructuring.
So, for the Dolphins, it’s either keep an aging, beat-up left tackle like Armstead, which won’t help fix cap space. Or hit the market in hopes of finding another since Kendall Lamm, who was the backup to Armstead this season, is also a free agent in 2024.
Deciding on if Tua Tagovailoa is the guy or no
As we all know, finding a franchise quarterback is one of the toughest things in the entire league. Every year teams are hoping to find their guy in every NFL Draft. After four seasons, is Tagovailoa the guy for Miami or not?
The Dolphins went 0-3 to finish out their season, where they averaged just 13.3 points per game. The Dolphins starting quarterback finished those games with passer ratings of 71.9, 62.7, and 63.9, accounting for five interceptions to four touchdowns, falling under 200 yards passing in two of those games.
Sure, some of that you can blame on the number of injuries that the Dolphins sustained down the stretch, but Tagovailoa certainly didn’t help matters with his bad play, which included an interception on a game-tying drive against Buffalo that ended up losing the game and the division crown.
So, then the big decision comes on whether to allow Tagovailoa to play on his fifth-year option or signing him to a new, long-term deal. If Miami is confident in Tagovailoa, then it seems a no-brainer to make the long-term deal, which would not only secure their quarterback but also save them from a $23.2 million cap hit. The two-fold option of re-signing him could reduce a cap hit, at least for the first season to possibly under $10 million, depending on the deal.
Leave a Reply