For Dolphins, hope is responsible free agency spending leads to balanced team

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel won’t deny the Dolphins have been working through the offseason on a budget.

About two dozen free agents, limited cap flexibility and numerous holes to fill means Miami had to approach the first wave of free agency with prudence.

It also meant the Dolphins underwent considerable roster turnover, with some of their top players leaving for top-of-the-market deals. But Miami was active in bringing in players, and McDaniel is confident the team will field a competitive roster when the 2024 season starts in the fall.

“I’m very, very proud of the orchestration, particularly between the coaching staff and the personnel department,” McDaniel said Monday at the NFL’s annual owners meeting. “Let’s not fake the funk and act like it was an easy problem to solve — we’re always solving the problem of roster and trying to make it better. But I saw an orchestration of multiple people on all fronts being very communicative. I think we found really, really good players that really want to play for the Miami Dolphins organization.”

He added: “I think I’m very fired up about the individuals that have come in the building since the league year started and that are all about pushing us forward into 2024 because we have exciting things to do and big goals to accomplish.”

The most notable of the Dolphins’ departures included a pair of homegrown talent. Defensive lineman Christian Wilkins, whom Miami selected with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2019 Draft, signed a four-year deal worth $110 million with the Las Vegas Raiders. Right guard Robert Hunt, a second-round pick in the 2020 Draft, signed a four-year deal worth $100 million with the Carolina Panthers.

“There’s this whole thing about the salary cap, and when money goes from one place, it doesn’t go to another,” McDaniel said. “And our job is to facilitate the best team. Unfortunately, this is a process. It’s not easy but you’re looking at it from a reflective standpoint, successful organizations encounter this all the time, where you have homegrown talent, your job is to maximize what they are as a player, and then you have problem-solving situations year-in, year-out that change the complexion of your team. And the bottom line was we’ve never doubted Christian as a player, but you have to make some tough decisions when you’re thinking the whole scope of the team.”

The Dolphins had extension talks with Wilkins and Hunt at different points last year but both players opted to play out the final year of their rookie deals. The bets paid off, as both were rewarded with lucrative deals once they became free agents.

McDaniel said failed contract talks with both players won’t impact how the team handles future extension talks.

“You have to keep the scope of the entire team and the competitiveness that you can put forth at every position and those situations may arise that way,” McDaniel said. “I don’t think anything from those two players. That whole process isn’t going to necessarily change the process of players moving forward. Every individual is different.”

While the Dolphins watched two of their best players leave in free agency, they also made notable additions, including center Aaron Brewer, cornerback Kendall Fuller and safety Jordan Poyer. Miami’s first wave of free agency was highlighted by multiple potential low-cost, high-value signings.

And on multiple occasions, McDaniel noted that the Dolphins’ roster isn’t complete. The NFL Draft will take place next month and, barring a trade, Miami will have a first-round pick for the first time since 2021. The team will also get about $18 million in cap space from cornerback Xavien Howard’s post-June 1 release, funds that could be used to round out the roster before training camp opens in late July.

The identity of the team, McDaniel said, will continue to be shaped by the players that the team signs, whether it be a No. 3 wide receiver or another defensive lineman.

“You kind of evolve to where your opportunities are,” he said. “That’s where you have to stay at at this point, where you have to be very calculated in free agent acquisitions. And you have to make decisions not based upon necessarily position as much as team impact with your draft picks.”

While the magnitude of the Dolphins’ departures has sparked talk that 2024 could be a bit of a reset year, McDaniel doesn’t see it that way for a team that has made the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.

“I think everybody’s individual expectations are extremely high,” he said. “The more people lower their expectations, it’s kind of erroneous or irrelevant. But I know that starting April 15 [beginning of offseason workout program], guys are very, very hungry to deliver on what they know, which is an opportunity to be on a team that has the ability to grow from what we’ve learned last year and what we went through and have zero thought as to .... rebuilding, whatever those words are.”