I love the moves we're making and I know we still have the draft but I believe we need one more important FA that needs to be signed and that's Eric Winston. If we land him then I feel it's a complete Homerun!!!!

OmarKelly profile

OmarKelly Dannell Ellerbe has the 6th worst pass coverage metric according to @PFF. He's ranked 48th in that category. Dansby was 16th.

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BenVolinPBP RT @PFF: Dolphins defense getting more aggressive. Picked up 2 of the better blitzing LBs in the league. Really attack QB with intent

OmarKelly Old Dolphins LBer Karlos Dansby was rated the NFL's 13th best ILBer and new Dolphins ILBer Dannell Ellerbe is rated No. 14 by @PFF

OmarKelly New Dolphins OLBer Phillip Wheeler is ranked by @PFF as the NFL's 6th best 4-3 OLBer, 2 spots behind Mr. Kevin Burnett.

Releasing Dansby cleared up $3.9 million in cap space, releasing Burnett, if that is the plan, would clear up another $3.2 million.

But the more important number is the cap space cleared up for 2014.

Dansby was going to be an 8 figure cap hit in 2014, Burnett is going to cost $7 million. Almost $20 million in cap space!

Adding Wheeler and Ellerbe makes the linebacker position younger and you don't lose much in performance. You also get rid of some considerable future expense.

One other thing to point out. For 2014, the Dolphins have 35 players under contract (including Burnett for now) and a total cap expense of $66 million. So they have a ton of cap room (right now) for 2014.

Granted, I am not including Mike Wallace, Ellerbe, Wheeler and Clemons resigning to that figure. They'll definitely drive it up. Hartline and Moore's new deals are included though.

The Dolphins have set themselves up with a solid cap situation not only this year, but next year as well. And if they have some room leftover this season, they can roll that over.

Cook signed with St. Louis according to Ben Volin.

FIRE EVERYBODY!!!!

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BenVolinPBP And #Gators LB Jelani Jenkins has a pre-draft visit set up with the #Dolphins 59 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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BenVolinPBP Well-placed mole tells me #Dolphins LB coach George Edwards was checking out #Gators LBs Jon Bostic and Jelani Jenkins today in Gainesville

I love the moves we're making and I know we still have the draft but I believe we need one more important FA that needs to be signed and that's Eric Winston. If we land him then I feel it's a complete Homerun!!!!

Age: Dansby is turning 32 later this year. Burnett turns 31 on Christmas eve. Wheeler turns 29 in December, and Ellerbe turns 28 in November. So the Dolphins technically got younger, but not by much. Ellerbe is four years younger than Dansby and Wheeler is three years younger than Burnett.

Personality: I don't know Ellerbe and Wheeler so I won't pretend to know their personalities, but Dansby and Burnett were two strong-willed individuals with uncompromising personalities. If they felt wronged they usually spoke up. I can't help but think that was held against them by this regime.

Money: I've hinted that this would likely be Dansby and Burnett's last season in Miami based on their rising costs. What the Dolphins did was a pre-emptive strike. By cutting Dansby and Burnett, voiding the final years of their deals, the Dolphins clear $7.125 million in cap space. Dansby's release alone creates $3.9 million in additional cap room. However, Ellerbe signed a five-year, $35 million contract, which makes him the seventh highest paid inside linebacker in the NFL. Wheeler got five-years, $26 million (which features a $7 million signing bonus, and an initial cap hit of $2.4 million). I'm guessing the pair of new linebacker will cost Miami about $7-8 million in cap space all together. Dansby and Burnett were supposed to cost the Dolphins $14.275 million in cap numbers.

Performance: What's odd about Wheeler's signing is that Miami brought him in for a workout last season when the team was searching for linebacker depth. Wheeler competed with Quentin Groves and Gary Guyton in the same workout and Miami signed Guyton. Guyton didn't make it to the team's 53-man roster, but Wheeler started 16 games for the Raiders and contributed 109 tackles, three sacks and forced two fumbles.