Dolphins could block two Super Bowl contenders from a potential impact veteran
The Miami Dolphins don't really utilize their tight ends much in the passing game. But there's always room for improvement, even in Week 13. The Arizona Cardinals and TE Zach Ertz reportedly are parting ways, with the latter set to pass through waivers. The last part of that post is interesting, in that Ertz will […]
The Miami Dolphins don't really utilize their tight ends much in the passing game. But there's always room for improvement, even in Week 13.
The Arizona Cardinals and TE Zach Ertz reportedly are parting ways, with the latter set to pass through waivers.
The last part of that post is interesting, in that Ertz will pass through waivers. The waiver order after Week 3 is determined weekly based on in-season records, and the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens both currently have better records than the Dolphins. Both teams could use an upgrade at tight end after suffering injuries to their respective starters in Dallas Goedert and Mark Andrews.
As such, the Dolphins could potentially take him from underneath their noses. That is, of course, based on a couple of things. First, someone else with a worse record doesn't do the same thing to the Dolphins, which is certainly possible.
The other is dependent upon whether he'd make sense with the Dolphins. His remaining base salary is around $2.5 million, which Miami could afford to take on, as Miami currently has cap space of $3.72 million per OverTheCap.com. Durham Smythe, Julian Hill, and Tyler Kroft have been adequate, but not anything that adds an element to the offense that McDaniel could use. Ertz is a far better potential receiver than all of them.
If Ertz clears waivers, then he can sign with any team he pleases as an unrestricted free agent. But at that point, he could end up with the Eagles or Ravens anyways, given their need and their high positioning in their respect conferences. Philadelphia has an obvious advantage, given he played there for 8 seasons and won a Super Bowl in 2017. The Dolphins are, of course, also an attractive option themselves in the mix near the top of the AFC.
But Miami could make the choice academic between the three if they claim him. If they get the chance that is.
