Dolphins and Good Free Agent Fits on Defense

The Miami Dolphins will head into free agency with some clear needs but a more limited budget than last offseason

It's completely understandable to look at the list of available free agents every year and start imagining all the big names landing with your favorite team.

And so it is with the Miami Dolphins, who landed a lot of those types of players during the 2020 offseason when they tied a franchise record by signing 11 unrestricted free agents.

As he free agent negotiation period — and with it the start of reports of players agreeing to terms with a new team — closed in, there were countless players who had been tied to the Miami Dolphins in some form or fashion.

Some were more realistic possibilities than others, as we break it down by position in terms of what to expect the Dolphins might do in free agency.

In this story, we look at the defensive market:

RELATED: The Dolphins and Good Free Agent Fits on Offense

DEFENSIVE LINE

For the purposes of this exercise, this group will include interior linemen only or pure 3-4 defensive ends. The Dolphins have a free agent who meets that criteria, that being Davon Godchaux. He will test the free agent market to see what kind of deal he can get, but don't be surprised if he circles back to the Dolphins and ends up re-signing. Among the top free agents from other teams, the one who stands out is Dalvin Tomlinson of the New York Giants. A former second-round pick, Tomlinson is a bona fide run stuffer, and if the Dolphins value that role enough they could go after him — even though Raekwon Davis showed great promise in that role as a rookie in 2020. The other name that stands out is Ndamukong Suh, but he's a pure 4-3 DT and his returning to Miami is borderline impossible to see. Another name to keep an eye on is Lawrence Guy of the Patriots. He's a solid complementary player who obviously has experience with head coach Brian Flores.

EDGE DEFENDER

This certainly becomes a more interesting position to watch after the Dolphins decided to trade Shaq Lawson to Houston for linebacker Benardrick McKinney, especially after the Dolphins already had terminated the contract of Kyle Van Noy one year after signing him as a free agent. So this now has become a really big need, and it's difficult to see free agency going by without the Dolphins adding a player there — yes, even though there are a lot of quality edge rushers in the 2021 draft. There also are a lot of great options here in free agency, starting with Shaq Barrett of Tampa Bay, Matt Judon of Baltimore, Yannick Ngakoue of Baltimore, Bud Dupree of Pittsburgh, Trey Hendrickson of New Orleans, Melvin Ingram of the Chargers and Leonard Floyd of the Rams. Barrett will be very pricey after playing last season under the franchise tag and will want to return to Tampa Bay unless he gets a huge deal, but he might be priced out for the Dolphins. Ngakoue and Hendrickson look more like 4-3 guys, and the Rams are said to be looking to bring Floyd back. So that would leave Judon, Dupree and Ingram as the logical options for the Dolphins. Judon are very intriguing, but they also played under the franchise tag last year. Of the two, Dupree is the better pass rusher, while Judon is more of an all-around player. Dupree, though, is coming off a torn ACL, so that will have to be taken into consideration. Ingram once was an elite player, but he's coming off a season when he had exactly zero sacks. Here's another good name to remember: Haason Reddick of the Arizona Cardinals. He did little in his first three seasons after being a first-round pick in 2017, but blossomed last year when he had 12.5 sacks. There was some thought that Arizona would pick up the fifth-year option on his contract, but that disappeared when the Cardinals signed J.J. Watt. At 6-1, 235, Reddick pretty is a pass rusher only and there has to be at least some concern about him being a one-year wonder.

LINEBACKER

The aforementioned trade for McKinney, couple with Miami native Lavonte David re-signing with Tampa Bay, probably means the Dolphins won't be looking for a high-profile player off-the-ball linebacker in free agency. Miami will need depth, though, because Kamu Grugier-Hill and Elandon Roberts both are free agents.

CORNERBACK

The Dolphins have two of the highest-paid cornerbacks in the NFL in Byron Jones and Xavien Howard, and the latter has a new agent amid speculation he'll be looking to redo his contract after Jones passed him in terms of compensation. With that in mind, it would be hard to envision the Dolphins spending big money in free agency, even for a quality young player like William Jackson III.

SAFETY

Three safeties were taken off the market — Justin Simmons, Marcus Maye and Marcus Williams — when they were tagged, but some good ones remain available, such as Anthony Harris of Minnesota, John Johnson III of the Rams and Keanu Neal of the Falcons. But the Dolphins are pretty set at safety with Bobby McCain and Eric Rowe, along with 2020 third-round pick Brandon Jones. So nothing will happen here unless, of course, the Dolphins end up cutting one of their veterans.

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Alain Poupart has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 as an editor for Dolphin Digest, write for miamidolphins.com and now publisher of SI All Dolphins. You can follow him on Twitter at @apoupartFins.