When New England Patriots longtime assistant Brian Flores took over as the new coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2019, he immediately started importing a little bit of his former team’s culture. He brought assistant coaches with him and also started to hire players who had previously worked with the Patriots.
The New England-South Beach pipeline was only being assembled during Flores’s first year in office: defenders Eric Rowe, Aqib Talib and Ken Webster were the most prominent ex-Patriots brought in that season – all players who have played a limited role lately or, in the case of Talib, he had not been part of the organization for some time. However, it was clear that Flores valued the players he had worked with before.
So it was no surprise to see Dolphins become much more aggressive a year later. During the free agency period of 2020, they managed to hire three ex-Patriots: linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Elandon Roberts, as well as pivot Ted Karras, all decided to join the former New England assistant.
While all of their futures are uncertain for the 2021 league year – Van Noy was a surprise recently, while Roberts and Karras are unrestricted free agents again – the team must remain on its current course: according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald , Miami will once again pursue several free Patriots agents as soon as the NFL’s legal adulteration period begins next Monday.
So who could the team be targeting this time? While no player can be ruled out, the Dolphins’ current roster composition in combination with the team’s $ 33.5 million salary limit limits options to a handful of players.
Among them are pivot David Andrews, defensive tackles Lawrence Guy, Adam Butler and Deatrich Wise Jr, and quarterback Brian Hoyer. Everyone, except Hoyer, played prominent roles in the 2020 Patriots.
Andrews served as New England’s starting center after being out of the 2019 season due to blood clots in the lungs. The former team captain was the starter in 12 of the team’s 16 games and was an integral part of one of the best offensive lines in the game. With the other starting line player, Joe Thuney also headed for the free agency and designed to leave the Patriots, trying to keep Andrews should be a priority for the team.
As for the three defensive attackers the Dolphins should ask about, they led the group in cracking positions last year. Deatrich Wise Jr. (55.6% defensive time share) looked good as an inside passer, but was more inconsistent against the race; Lawrence Guy (49.5%) and Adam Butler (47.3%) were again productive, but also declined at times due to injuries. Still, they were all valuable members of the team’s defense in 2020.
Of those five players, Butler is likely to command the largest free agency contract. Still relatively young at 26, the former non-hired free agent is just entering its heyday after playing strong football during his four seasons in New England. He is therefore a realistic candidate to leave the Patriots’ comfort zone.
As for Andrews and Guy, the two team captains are slightly older than Butler – they will be 28 and 31 later this year, respectively – but they can still be key players for the Patriots due to their experience and roles. The Patriots will likely try to keep them, even if they are allowed to test the market first.
From a financial point of view, the team must be able to do this. Although New England had limited resources when it lost Van Noy, Roberts and Karras to the Dolphins last year, the team is among the league leaders in salary cap space in the off-season: the Patriots are currently $ 64.5 million below the limit, according to Miguel Benzan.