I can't wait. We got tons of cap room, and I wanna see who the next "Zach Thomas" we might get in the draft is.

We're gonna have a totally (and I do mean TOTALLY) different Dolphin team this year come game time. I can't remember when I've looked foward this much to a Miami Dolphin offseason. Either by trade or by draft. I CAN'T wait until the March 1st. Parcells has come and blown the doors off everything.

The FAs we can get. The draft picks we have. Including, if we stand pat, the  pick of the crop of who is coming out in from the college ranks.

GO Tuna GO! If you can trade JT to a SB contending team (and he wants to go) send him too. Let's shake this AFC East division up. Revamp this Fin team, and kick the NE Patriots square in the nuts.

WooHoo, Bring it on.

Are we surprised or shocked at the reasons why he was let go? I'm say most of us are not.

GIven his age, his recent history, and his salary - this is no surprise.

As before, good luck to Zach no matter who he plays for.

As for FA, I can see maybe one big FA signing but not a slew of them. In general it just isn't the way to build a team - we saw it last year with SF who signed FA's and then won few games because they still have no real QB. And we all should know what the redskins have done, in their insistence on paying little attention to the draft and overspending on numerous FA's.

In my opinion, for this first-ballot Hall-Of-Famer who should have his number retired, I think Zach has all the makings of a great coach.  He's a workaholic, team-first, no-B.S. guy who brings everyone around him up a level.  I hope we see him on the Dolphins' sidelines for years to come.  Who knows?  Maybe he's the future iron-jawed ex-defenseman no-nonsense Head Coach -- remind you of anyone?

One last thing:  A favorite Zach memory.  It was Michael Vick's rookie year (I think) and the Falcons were in town.  I think Chris Miller was the starter for Atlanta, but he got knocked out.  Vick came in and lit it up as the Falcons staged a furious comeback.  They had 4th-and-1 from the 1 with time running out and a TD wins the game.  For some inexplicable reason, Dan Reeves has Vick hand off (to Jamal Anderson, I think?) and Zach meets him in the whole, helmet-to-helmet, knocking Anderson backwards.  Game over.  Dolphins win.

Thank you, Zach, and, as always...

Go Dolphins.

It is time to trade Jason Taylor.

If the Dolphins can justify getting rid of Thoma because he will be 35 in September and his physical status is too uncertain and his trade value is practically non-existent, then they have to trade Taylor.

Why?

Because one move flows with the other. If you're cutting your losses of aging vets and building a younger team, you don't keep another aging vet especially if the possibility exists you can get something in return for him. That simply does not make sense.

That doesn't mean Taylor is in the same situation as Thomas. He has value where Thomas apparently had very little. But the Dolphins can't wait too long on this matter.

At 34 years old in September Taylor still has trade value now but may not next year. And Taylor's physical status is not in question now but may be a year from now.

Let's face it, even if all of Miami's offseason moves work as planned, the Dolphins will not be a Super Bowl or even playoff-caliber team in 2008. As one Dolphins official told me today, 10 years of ineptitude cannot be erased by one offseason of aptitude.

So even if everything goes well for the Dolphins in the next 12 months, Jason Taylor is still not going to help the team win a championship in 2008. So Miami has to take a wider view of this situation. The view has to include a year from now when Taylor is readying for his final contract season.

The market for a soon-to-be 35-year-old defensive end might not be very good -- certainly not as good as it might be this year for a soon-to-be-34-year-old. So why hold on to Taylor?

Please, somebody give a compelling reason to keep him.

Taylor would be happier elsewhere away from yet another Miami rebuilding project. The Dolphins will likely be better off without him dying a little bit every Sunday as the team continues to lose. And, again, getting something for a player is always better than getting NOTHING. And the Dolphins got NOTHING for Thomas and will get NOTHING for Taylor if they hold on to him too long.

Now, you might ask, what is the market for Jason Taylor? I have no idea. Last year an NFC North personnel man told me he could see some team giving up a third-round pick for Taylor. Some team might even give up a second-round pick. After all, the Chargers gave up a second for Chris Chambers.

If the Dolphins can pick up a second- or third-round pick for Taylor, that would give them five picks in the first three rounds of the coming draft. And that's one more player that should become a starter within two or three years in exchange for one player who will likely be out of the league in two or three years.

Do it!!!!

What's the other side of that coin? Well, maybe the Dolphins want to keep their best player so they can put a better product on the field. Sorry, that argument no longer has merit based on the fact they just cast out another one of their better players for NOTHING. [By the way, even the Chiefs got a fifth-round pick from Miami for Trent Green, who was 37 and coming off a concussion-shortened 2006.]

The point is it makes no sense for the Dolphins to simply cut Zach Thomas but keep Jason Taylor. Not when everyone knows the Dolphins aren't playoff-ready for 2008. Not when they can still get something for Taylor this year, but might not get anything in return for him next year.

Not when the first shoe dropped already.

Salguero is really making sense (to me anyways) lately. I mentioned this earlier, where does this move leave JT? Looking at our roster now, what one Fin really stands out as being out of place? I love JT, but I have a feeling a trade is coming.....

   selling Chris Chambers means there's a great need at wide-receiver.
   the gutting of the offensive line means there's going to be heavy emphasis here.
   and the cut of Traylor and now Zack will mean the center of the defense will be valued greatly.

Then there's the upgrades at Safety and Corner. I sure am glad I don't have to put together a staff like what's required here!

It's exciting for sure. I just hope they get champs instead of chumps.
   Btw........ I see Zach in green and gold. Yep, Green Bay baby. With Bret coming back and taking another shot at the big dance.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/football/cowboys/stories/021508dnspocowshort.2a2f8b9 .html

Oh yeah, Jerry wants McFadden again. WOW. What a scenario this would make. What, with Marion and extra picks all in the mix. Whew, there's a storm brewing in the south again. And the name is Dolphins. So what will this storm bring...??

   "MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl and ended the season with a perfect 19-0 record -- at least it looks that way in Nicaragua.

   "The NFL donated 290 Patriots hats and an equal number of team jerseys trumpeting the slogans "Super Bowl Champions, 19-0" to impoverished children from two small communities in southern Nicaragua....

   "They were very happy to receive the hats and jerseys," Diaz said. "They said they did not expect such a surprise."

   "Neither did the Patriots."

I love it....... LOL.

To me this seems like a no-brainer.  Every team has the same cap number, and every year, almost every team spends right up to that cap number.  The only benefit to not spending is that the owner saves some money, but other than that, the only two things you really gotta worry about in FA are 1) structuring deals that give you 3 yrs or better of "real" contract time, without putting yourself is cap jail in the fourth year, and 2) leaving enough money to sign your draft picks.

So with that in mind, why WOULDN'T the Fins go out and sign 4 or 5, or even 6 serious FAs to 6 or 7 yr deals to spread out the signing bonus and lower the anual cap hit?  The could probably do this with half of what they have to spend and still have plenty to sign the draft picks.

If the contracts are structured right, the FAs get to talk about a big number on their contract and the contract is really a 3 or 4 yr contract because it balloons in the final years and no one actually intends to pay it out.  The cap hit you incur if you cut them is the accelerated signing bonus, and if they are playing well, you just restructure.  

And if you draft right, by the time you have to decide on this, your rookie classes are developing and you may have guys ready to step in as starters who are much cheaper.

So, again, why WOULDN'T the Fins and spend that cap money?

Ball Park Example: Samuel (not advocating him, just using his numbers) is talking about 100M (assinine!).  Let's say he gets 89M.

Over 8 yrs (what Clements signed), that's ~12.5M/year.  You pay him a 22M signing bonus (3.1M/yr) and a salary structure of 3, 4, 5, 6, 13, 14, 16, 16M/year.

The cap hit in yrs 1-4 is ~ 6M, 7M, 8M, and 9M respectively.  If you cut him in yr. 5, you take a 9.5M cap hit.  More likely, you restructure.

Do I think we should pay that much for a guy?  no.
Is it do-able?  Certainly.  And this is basic.  You can do even more with guarantees and voidable years to lower the total length and cap cost of the contract.

If Samuel is the most expensive FA we got, and he counts 6M against the cap, imagine who we could get for a 5M, a 4M and two 3Ms FAs?  And that only eats up 21M of our available cap space this year.

BTW, if my cap numbers are correct, Joey Porter is going to cost us 7.2M against the cap this year, whereas Adalius Thomas is only going to cost the Pats 5.4M.  Just thought I'd throw that in to point out the value of correctly structured contracts.