Tallying The Miami Dolphins' 2024 Offseason Net Additions & Subtractions

There's a whole lot of new for the Miami Dolphins entering the 2024 NFL season. But what talent on the roster is better (or worse) than the 2023 squad? And is the team really better or worse overall?

The Miami Dolphins offseason overhaul seems to be, at least for the time being, complete. So much of the reported interest in additional moves for the Dolphins this offseason is focused on sorting out their own — be it a contract extension for Tua Tagovailoa or reworking the contract of WR Tyreek Hill. Could we still see another player acquisition sneak in before the start of training camp? Surely. But the majority of the heavy lifting here is complete.

Which now leaves us to beg the question: is this team better than it was last season? Are they more talented? Are the deeper? What was achieved?

If you’re a listener of Locked On Dolphins, you’re probably familiar with the general gist of my beliefs. The Dolphins’ roster and salary cap underwent an income redistribution this offseason. Gone are three of the better talents on the 2023 team in Christian Wilkins (the $110M man), Robert Hunt (the $100M man) and Connor Williams. Hunt and Wilkins’ contracts combined will vaguely touch the stratosphere of Tagovailoa’s presumed contract extension total over the next 4 seasons; making the transition an obvious and necessary one.

Their succession is a multi-pronged approach. Williams was replaced by a less proven talent in Aaron Brewer on a parallel contract to the former’s initial deal with the Dolphins — signed in 2022. Williams has been replaced by a future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee in Calais Campbell — for about a quarter of $100M cheaper than Wilkins’ long-term deal in Las Vegas. Hunt has yet to be replaced, unless you want to consider Jack Driscoll as the Day 1 starter at right guard.

The focus of talking points for Miami’s offseason gains and losses is focused here and rightfully so. It’s the obvious transitions Miami has undertaken and non-Dolphins centric outlets will see household names and big contracts and keep their conversations there. Each position is, admittedly a downgrade. At least it is perceived as such based on what we know now. But the rest of the Dolphins’ roster and the roles within are littered with upgrades and improvements to the 2023 team.

The big question left is if the net of all the moves produces a better or worse overall product. The good news in the search for this answer is that I’ve tried my best to quantify it all.

Let’s take a look.

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2024 Miami Dolphins Net Gains & Losses Board

Every season, I attempt to “grade” the players for the Miami Dolphins based on position-specific traits. Every position has 10 identified traits designed to capture the essence of skills required to successfully execute within the Dolphins’ expected scheme in the coming year. These traits are weighed by importance — not all skills for a scheme are created equal.

But the outputs for each player are equal: they’re out of 100 possible points. Consider it my equivalent of a “Madden” grade or a PFF score — although this is scored off of ability and not game by game performance.

The nice thing about having a system-specific scored value for each one of your players is that you can then compare and contrast in a quantifiable way where the team is better. And, more importantly, by how much.

Which brings us to the Net Gains & Losses Board.

If you’re a long-time subscriber to ‘Touchdown, Miami!’, you have seen a few iterations of this board. One for free agency and another for the draft.

Horizontal boards are designed to reflect not just a list presentation but rather a visual representation of player grading as a means of better presenting where talent does and doesn’t exist.

The 2024 Miami Dolphins Net Gains & Losses Board does that by illustrating where current Miami Dolphins players are (aqua & orange boxes), where new players to the roster in 2024 are (orange & white boxes for veterans & bright green boxes for rookies) and where 2023 members of the roster who are no longer with the team are (colors of their new team in 2024).

Players that are replacing someone from last year’s team are marked with red or green indicators to illustrate their connection to one another on the depth chart. Red indicators mark a downgrade from 2023 to 2024 while green indicators mark an upgrade on this year’s roster versus last.

You can download your own copy of the 2024 Miami Dolphins Net Gains & Losses board here.

The Dolphins said “farewell” to three players graded among the top two tiers of talent in this scoring methodology. Their replacements are each clearly marked with red indicators to signify their drop-off in talent.

But running back, wide receiver, tight end, offensive tackle, EDGE defender, linebacker, cornerback and safety all feature large green indicator leaps in talent. We’ll spotlight them each here.

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Upgrades & Downgrades By Position

Quarterback - Miami stood firm here with Tagovailoa, Mike White & Skylar Thompson. The ideal outcome for growth at the position is more continued maturation from Tagovailoa in 2024. But from a raw talent perspective, it’s difficult to justify a change in any of the scoring.

FINAL VERDICT - PUSH

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Running Back - Raheem Mostert and Devon Achane stand firm as the top incumbents but the upgrade Jaylen Wright presents over Jeff Wilson & Salvon Ahmed is not insignificant. Wright stylistically affords the Dolphins a runner that meets their explosion threshold but in a frame that hits much more effectively between the tackles. His addition projects as an ‘adequate starter’ addition to a backfield that already had two quality starters at the position — but a big jump for RB3 from the quality depth options that existed prior to his arrival.

FINAL VERDICT - IMPROVED (Upgraded RB3 from quality depth to adequate starter)

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Wide Receiver - Upgrades here come on multiple fronts. Odell Beckham Jr. is, at this stage, an adequate level starter; a far cry from the special teams rooted players who Miami used as WR3 in 2023. And the return of Erik Ezukanma offers a vertical element and versatility element that Cedrick Wilson Jr. simply doesn’t have in his game at this stage. Malik Washington’s expectations feel like they’re through the roof from the fanbase and I do believe he’ll be a long-term success. But he’s a fringe snap-taker early in a complex offense in my eyes. Beckham Jr., Washington & Ezukanma all rank ahead of Wilson Jr. & Braxton Berrios — who combined for over 1,000 snaps offensively last year.

FINAL VERDICT - IMPROVED (Upgraded WR3 from quality depth to adequate starter, drafted quality depth option and return Ezukanma from injury to replace replacement level talent)

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Tight End - Jonnu Smith is an upgrade. And, unlike wide receiver and running back, this is an upgrade to a starter. The Dolphins have again upgraded a player in a de-facto spot on the depth chart from a “quality depth” option to an “adequate starter” option. This raises the floor for the offensive skill group, which of course drew criticism down the stretch last year.

FINAL VERDICT - IMPROVED (Upgraded TE1 from quality depth to adequate starter & a better scheme fit)

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Offensive Tackle - The tackle spots through Kendall Lamm stay status quo but a premium investment in a high-tools tackle in Patrick Paul does mark an upgrade over Kion Smith in this scoring methodology. Miami now boasts 5 tackles that have an argument for a 53-man roster spot. They certainly need the depth thanks to Terron Armstead’s troublesome injury history — but they’ve got a deep pool of talent to work with here.

FINAL VERDICT - SLIGHTLY IMPROVED (Improved OT4)

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Interior OL - I don’t have the audacity to lie and say this group has anywhere near the talent of the unit that took the field to start training camp last season. Aaron Brewer should be a sufficient starter in this scheme and I think there’s upward mobility for him to become an even bigger asset — but Connor Williams was a fringe cornerstone caliber talent. The good news? Brewer is still a marked improvement over Liam Eichenberg.

The bad news? Eichenberg appears to be in line to take Robert Hunt’s spot — marking the biggest individual position drop in talent on the roster from 2023 to 2024. Jack Driscoll is another quality depth option and will likely be needed at some point this season to presumably step in for Isaiah Wynn.

FINAL VERDICT - DOWNGRADE (Two downgrades at starting spots, upgraded depth option for IOL4)

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Interior DL - The biggest storyline for the interior defensive line in 2024 is the long-term ramifications. Calais Campbell doesn’t score quite as well as Christian Wilkins but he’s fairly close; especially in a scheme that he knows well and shined in during his time in Baltimore. The difference between the two is $108M in compensation and a decade of experience.

The rest of the group is actually, in my eyes, an upgrade. Tear Tart is more talented and versatile than Raekwon Davis (with a $5M+ discount). That is, of course, assuming you can keep him motivated. But Jonathan Harris, Neville Gallimore and Tart all grade better than the IDL4 in 2023, Da’Shawn Hand.

FINAL VERDICT - MARGINAL DOWNGRADE (Better depth, small downgrade for starter opposite Zach Sieler)

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EDGE Defender - This position is a fascinating one. I do think Shaq Barrett at this stage is a lesser talent than Andrew Van Ginkel; who is more explosive and potent with his first step off the edge. But I covet both players in the same bucket — they’re both graded as adequate starters.

The rookie class shines and should offer a huge boost to the depth of the group, however. Emmanuel Ogbah quickly soured after his triceps injury and appeared to lack the same power or burst he had before Miami gave him his contract extension. Burst (Chop Robinson) and power (Mohamed Kamara) are now in abundance in the deeper portions of the room.

FINAL VERDICT - SLIGHTLY IMPROVED (EDGE3 net loss is negated by significant upgrade to EDGE4)

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Linebacker - The closest thing to a parallel move among the starters is Jordyn Brooks and Jerome Baker. I do think the things Brooks excels at gives him a chance to make more impact plays in the passing game and I like the move to get younger, longer and more physical. But this group got deep in a hurry.

Both Cam Brown (special teams) and Anthony Walker Jr. graded as better players for Miami than Duke Riley, who was last year’s LB3 and could find himself on the roster bubble as a result given Miami’s presumed focus on special teams talent and Walker’s resume on defense.

FINAL VERDICT - IMPROVED (Breakeven move at LB2, upgrades to LB3 and LB4 roles)

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Cornerback - At the onset of free agency, I initially graded the transition of power from Xavien Howard to Kendall Fuller as a parallel one. But as we’ve learned more about the scheme we’re expecting to see from Anthony Weaver in 2024, the importance of versatility has become more and more prominent. And that pushes Fuller, with a robust resume of playing both inside and outside, ahead of Howard. Fuller’s 2,400+ career snaps in the slot are six times as many as Howard.

I have hopes for Cam Smith, too. I’m sticking to my evaluation there and think he can offer a better performance than Eli Apple did in 2023.

FINAL VERDICT - IMPROVED (CB2 versatility)

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Safety - DeShon Elliott was one of the better surprises of the 2023 season for Miami. I do think he’s a player that Miami will miss. Jordan Poyer is as savvy a vet as they come but he’s a late stage player who athletically isn’t what he once was. I think the exchange of Poyer’s instincts versus Elliott’s length and physicality is a compelling argument but ultimately a downgrade.

But the addition of Marcus Maye is a significant upgrade from Brandon Jones. (Pour one out for the Denver Broncos for that contract…) This defense should implement 3 safeties more often and the competency of this group versus the third safety (who played a lot) in 2023 is where Miami gets their headway this offseason.

FINAL VERDICT - SLIGHTLY IMPROVED (Similar to the EDGE group, where a modest downgrade is cancelled out by a significant upgrade elsewhere)

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The final verdict? 8 position groups of 11 come out graded as at least slightly improved versus their 2023 counterparts. 2 positions (IDL and IOL) are downgraded from a talent perspective and one (QB) position grades as a push.