FanPost

Dolphins Draft/Offseason strategy -- Article 1: Approach to the offseason

I am in offseason mode (literally, as I am a high school coach) already (as the Dolphins are again in early January). So I thought it is my usual time to pretend my thoughts matter to Miami and have decided to step back an look at what we do with our team this offseason.

My plan is to do 10-12 articles about the draft and free agency. I wanted to give some insight into how I would (and I hope Tannenbaum will) approach this years offseason.

My first question would be about if we are "all in" this year or "building in 2016"? If we are building, which I think we are then we go about this offseason not trying to win the free agency superbowl (like we did in 2013, 2014 and 2015), but building to have a long term plan. I build for 2017 and on. I think with Brady closer to retirement and us having a young Head Coach and young Team we can build.

I also look at what is realistic for us in 2016. We aren't winning the AFC East. Sorry to put that out there, but it is the truth. I do, however, think we can compete to get to 10 wins and make the playoffs in 2016. With that in mind I don't completely purge our roster like some think would be wise. Instead I do get rid of contracts that would hurt us in 2017. I don't restructure some guys, but eat the contract this season so we do have some leadership and a realistic chance at winning. Restructuring 3-4 guys will kill us down the road. Cutting all 3-4 guys would kill us in 2016. I think you look at 2017 as our season and eat some money this year. You cannot fill all the holes in one draft, and you must have some guys with leadership/skill on the roster to compete.

With all that in mind over the next few weeks I wanted to cover the following:

1 - Draft overview (what the talent in 2016 looks like compared to 2015 and 2017 draft)

2 - Draft strategy (what should be on the table when we pick and how can we fill the most holes with elite players)

3 - Cut/Restructure/Re-sign

4 - Free Agents to sign this offseason

In my mind you work in this order now so you know how to handle your in-house free agents. It is easy to say, "just cut player X", but what is your plan to replace them? You also must look at what is in the draft so you know if you need to target a younger free agent, a fill-in free agent, or simply fill from this years draft class. So by looking at the talent and picking out a rough idea of what you hope to fill in the draft, you then work backwards to figure out re-signing plans and free agents to target.

Feel free to comment about why you'd hate/love me as our GM. Tannenbaum hasn't called me yet, so don't worry if you disagree.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Phinsider's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of The Phinsider writers or editors.