Miami Dolphins Free Agency: Embattled Front Office Making a Splash to Start

The Miami Dolphins had a reputation last year of playing it safe and not taking too many risks in the last year.

But yesterday all of that changed: first with a proposed trade, followed by a trade that is now official. 

I'll start with the trade already made.

Reggie Bush is now a Miami Dolphin. I'm not going to be lazy and say those infamous words everyone wants to use whenever someone gets acquired by a Miami team, especially since its much more egregious to describe it to someone going to a team that plays their games in Miami Gardens and is headquartered in Davie. Davie by the way is in Broward County, not Miami-Dade.

Reggie's numbers in New Orleans aren't anything to write home about, (career splits: 524 attempts for 2090 yards and 17 TD's, which over the course of two seasons would be decent and over the course of one season would be great, but this is over the course of 60 games), but he provides the Dolphins with two things they've been lacking: explosiveness and excitement. 

In New Orleans Reggie was mainly used as a receiver out of the backfield. It was as a receiver and overall playmaker where he shined brightest. (294 receptions for 2142 yards and 12 TD's.) This is key for the Dolphins, who now along with Marshall, Bess and Hartline have another option to go to, key on a team who's Tight Ends are a bit lacking on the pass-catching side of things.

This can also help to open up the running game more, whether its Reggie himself coming out of the backfield, or more likely on first and second downs, Kansas State rookie Daniel Thomas. 

Bush also only has 19 turnovers over the course of 60 games, which is pretty efficient when you add his return attempts (92 attempts for 720 yards and four touchdowns.)

Reggie is a nice toy for Daboll and the Dolphins offense to play with. Of course the next question is: who's going to be the quarterback to throw or hand the ball off to Bush?

Well for right now its Chad Henne (audible groan I can hear from you, the reader) now now relax, I said for right now. But the Dolphins are working with Denver on a deal for Kyle Orton.

Now right now things look to be at a stalemate. Denver wants at least a second round pick for him, the Dolphins won't give up more than a fourth, and Orton's agents want an extension. 

The Dolphins can give Orton that extension, its getting Denver's price down that seems to be the obstacle. My gut feeling though is that Denver will cave. I'll explain in a minute but first, here's why I like Orton.

A. He's not mistake prone. Last season Orton  completed 58% of his passes for 3653 yards, 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions (five more touchdowns and 10 less interceptions than Henne, and keep in mind, his number one receiver was Brandon Lloyd and the Broncos' running game was ranked 26th in the league so there wasn't much protection.)

B. Great rapport with Brandon Marshall. Yes, they only played one season together. But look at their numbers that season: Marshall had 101 catches for 1120 yards and 10 touchdowns, including that one game against the Colts when Marshall had 21 receptions for 200 yards and two touchdowns. Will he replicate that game down here? No, the Dolphins have too many weapons (the aforementioned Bess, Hartline and newly acquired Bush) but the fact that the two had a great year together already will put Orton ahead of the curve of learning the Dolphins offense.

C. Kyle Orton just wins football games. I know, weird to say this but, its true. His career record may not be as sterling as Vince Young's 30-17 (more on VY in a minute) but 32-29 with only one losing season is still pretty good.

D. As for that one losing season Orton had in Denver. It was last season. He was one of the few bright spots. I already mentioned Denver's non-existent running game, but their defense was also MIA for most of the year (mainly due to their Defensive Coordinator being IN MIA, and their best defensive player being out for the season.) On top of that, the team was a mess from top to bottom. Orton was one of the few steady forces on a team going through turbulent times. However prior to last season, Orton was a very good 29-19 and hadn't had a losing season as the starting QB. Plus, if you ask many Bears fans if they could take a do-over in the Orton for Cutler deal, many would say yes. And remember, Cutler got them to the NFC Title game last year (before quitting on the team but hey let's not mention him when we can pick on LeBron James, right Mr. Bayless?)

Now I mentioned earlier why I feel the Orton deal will get done. It's simple: Vince Young.

Right now, yes we're in Mexican Stand-off mode. However Vince Young hasn't officially been released by Tennessee yet. At the same time, Minnesota completed the trade for McNabb, Tennessee signed Matt Hasselbeck, and Arizona and Philadelphia are working on whatever details are necessary to finish the Kolb for Rodgers-Cromartie deal. In other words, except for the Dolphins, every team that's looking for a QB has theirs except Miami. Once Vince Young is released and the Philly-Arizona trade happens, the pressure will be on Denver.

Miami will have the luxury of being able to fall back on Vince Young, while Denver will still be faced with having a potential QB controversy and possibly owing $9 million to a backup QB when there are other areas to be addressed.

In the end I see Miami instead sending a player (Phillip Merling) and a 4th rounder to Denver in exchange for Kyle Orton. That way Denver gets a young defensive player who would benefit from a change of scenery and scheme (Miami runs a 3-4, Denver plans on running a 4-3) and could help the team immediately, along with a draft pick for the future, while Miami gets their quarterback not just for the next two years but possibly the next six (Orton turns 29 on November 14th.)

Also for Orton it will be new territory. For the first time it will be his team. Sure, he'll face competition from Chad Henne, however the odds are that the Dolphins will start Orton instead. Unless Henne truly is the future Dan Marino that Stephen Ross touted him to be and shock's everyone by taking the job during the pre-season (based off of Ross' football knowledge and what I've seen Chad do, I'm going to say how 'bout NOOOO Stephen!)

So after an off-season where I went from nearly disowning the team to heavily criticizing them to just saying "I'm not going to write about this team until the lockout is over", I'm glad to say that in the first 24 hours of the NFL year, I like what the Dolphins have done so far and what they're attempting to do. I'm contempt with Ireland and Sparano, for now.

Until their next screw up that is.