PotM's Offseason Wishlist (Revisited)

There are essentially three stages to any off-season:

1) Re-signing current players

2) Signing Free Agents

3) Drafting and signing Rookies.

Any team that wishes to be successful must use a mixture of these stages otherwise they will not be able to keep up with all of the holes that are created because of various reasons ranging from retirement, aging, losing a FA and drafting busts.

Head Coach

Jeff Fisher: Fisher is a defensive-minded Head Coach that provides a blitzing 43 to any team. His aggressive style of defense will work wonders in the passing-oriented league that thrives on offensive timing. Fisher's Blitzes will be able to disrupt that timing and force turnovers. With this signing, Nolan is gone. Fisher also has experience using a speedy back as his primary back, which will allow Bush to continue to be effective.

Fisher will like the fact that he has an owner that is willing to spend money and stays out of the football management, laissez faire if you will. Fisher's previous owner was the exact opposite and that is why he gt fired, he wanted to do one thing and the owner wanted to do another.

Re-signings

Kendall Langford - Defensive Tackle - 6' 6" - 295 lbs. - 25 years old

Langford is coming off of a down year where he only recorded half as many tackles as in previous year and recorded absolutely zero sacks. Still, the man brings good depth to a good, young DL. We should sign him to a 3 year $9 million contract.

Phillip Merling - Defensive End - 6' 4" - 270 lbs. - 26 years old

Merling will be asked to lose the weight down to his pre-draft weight when he was a very good pass rusher in college. Sparano made this 2nd round pick to become an interior lineman and it didn't work out. Well, now is the time for Merling to get another chance as a pass rusher. 2 year, $3 million.

Adjusting to the 4-3 Base Defense

Along the Line, we will need to change positions. Starks will be asked to gain weight again and play the 1 technique Odrick will start next to him as the DT that disrupts the interior part of the line in passing situations. Due to fatigue, Langford and McDaniels will see regular action. Misi will fight Merling as Misi is a decent option, but is not a pass rusher.

At Linebacker, Burnett will likely be the SOLB, Dansby will be the MLB and Guyton will be the WOLB. Burnett has the athleticism to play the SOLB spot well and Dansby has played the position before. Misi has shown deftness in zone coverage and is not shabby in space, highlighted by the fact he is rarely throw at. If a rookie comes in and lights it up as a WOLB, Guyton will be excellent depth.

Free Agency

Jake Scott - Offensive Guard - 6' 5" - 295 lbs. - 30 years old

Scott will fill the need for a pulling Guard and will not cost an arm and a leg to get. We should be able to sign him to a 3 year 15 million dollar contract.

Micheal Griffin - Free Safety - 6' 0" - 203 lbs. - 27 years old

Griffin is a ball hawk and a risk taker. This means he will make plenty of plays, but he will also allow a few plays to be made. Griffin also has been a little inconsistent, but he is a play maker in the secondary, which we desperately need. We should sign him to a 5 year, $36 million contract with $15 million guaranteed.

Carlos Rodgers - CB - 6' 0" - 192 lbs. - 30 years old

Despite Roger's success hauling in picks this season, he has been known for being a good cover man that can't hold onto the INT. He has good size, good speed, good agility and good leaping ability, but is not great in any category. He could come in and immediately compete with our CBs, pushing them. 4 years, $16 million.

Gary Guyton - WOLB - 6' 3" - 245 lbs.

Guyton was a very good cover backer for the patriots in 2009 and 2010. With the implementation of Spikes in the Patriots lineup, Guyton has only seen the field on passing down mostly, but his overall athletic ability should be able to transition well to the 4-3 D. 3 years, for $12 million.

The Draft

Trade Alert: The Dolphins trade 2012 1st, 2nd, and 4th and 2013 1st and 3rd for STL's 2nd pick. I know this is a lot, but we need our franchise QB.

With the 2nd overall pick, the Dolphins select Robert Griffin III, QB out of Baylor!

Reason: Griffin has all of the tools to be a successful QB. He possesses amazing accuracy along with a strong arm. This prospect has a very high ceiling and I think is just what we need in a rookie QB. Of note is that he can escape the pocket due to his tremendous athletic ability.

With the 72nd pick of the draft the Dolphins select Ryan Swope, Wide Receiver out of Texas A&M

Swope emerged as Ryan Tannehill's go to guy this season and for good reason.Swope is a former HS RB that has transitioned well to the WR position. As would be suspected, Swope has excellent explosiveness in the open field and is known for his yards after the catch. Swope also has very good speed that defensive backs must respect, or be turn around and just look silly. Swope is quick in and out of his breaks and has good hands. He also has legit deep speed, making him a well rounded WR that can hurt Ds in different ways. I have only said this about one other WR prospect, Julio Jones, but this man is a can't miss prospect at WR. He is a real gem at this point and should give us great return on this pick.

In the 6th round of the draft, the Dophins draft Gerrell Robinson, Wide Receiver, out of Arizona State University.

This guy exploded this season and with his huge frame and leaping ability, he has a lot of potential. He has deceptive speed and can get YAC if you give him a cushion. He uses his size well to beat the jam. He can find the soft spot in the zone or beat his guy in man coverage. The concerns is that he hasn't had back to back productive years and that the conference he plays does not have great Ds. But some of those concerns could be calmed with his strong game against Boise St.

In the 7th round, the Miami Dolphins draft Matt Merletti, Strong Safety, out of UNC

Was having a great season until the injury. He had surgery on his MCL and ACL mid-season, but before that time he racked up 2 INTs and 2 forced fumbles to go along with his 36 tackles. He is a disciplined defender that fell this far because of the injury.

Positional Battles

Right Tackle: John Jerry vs. Lyndon Murtha vs. Josh Oglesby

I have faith that whoever wins this battle will be more than adequately fill the Right Tackle spot for the next 10 years. I threw in Oglesby not because I think he will win this battle, but because he will come in as a RT.

Strong Safety: Yeremiah Bell vs. Reshad Jones

Unless Jones has an epiphany, this is Bell's job. Bel is too much of a leader on the field and is too smart of a safety to lose to a young gun that doesn't know when to take his shots and takes bad angles.

Tight End: Anthony Fasano vs. Charles Clay

Unless Clay learns how to block better, Fasano will still start. It is no doubt that next year Clay will be the all round better receiver, but there is more to the TE position than catching it, you also have to block.

Defensive End: Koa Misi vs. Phillip Merling

Merling had a lot of promise coming into the NFL as an 3-4 rush backer, but Parcells thought he would be better along the interior. That didn't work, so Merling will move back to the position he played at in college to great success. Misi could be a solid DE, but hasn't been much of a pass rusher at SOLB. Then again, he played a lot in coverage, which says a lot in and of it self or it could mean that Nolan didn't like to call 5 man blitzes that often, which he didn't.

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