Not much a-happening down here in Dolphin Land. Been relatively quiet last couple months.

The most frustrating time of the year for Fantasy Football Owners, Free Agency and the Draft are over, Training Camps have not begun. Aside from who got arrested, who got suspended for how many games for PEDs, a real dearth of actual news.

The times that try mens’ souls, be careful. A lot of the "Fantasy News" you see is regurgitated opinions from local beat writers. Some of it will work out to be true. Hard part’s figuring out what to believe, what to ignore.

A couple stories in the local press down here, a couple ex-Dolphins telling Fins Fans to cut QB Ryan Tannehill some slack. It was a hot Quarterback Class this year, teams wheeling and dealing, a real feeding frenzy to get these college QBs. Local media ran stories, like Miami should’ve tried to trade up, but this was manufactured news. Like when violence breaks out in an overseas "s"-hole, and White House reporters start asking if the U.S. is going to do anything about it, and then other media outlets start reporting how "people" are raising questions. Fins Fans are generally a lot smarter than their Front Office. They can recognize the team’s main needs, and I don’t know any who were advocating the Dolphins trade their future away to land any of these prospects. Yeah, they looked great placing NCAA. But, two words – Ryan Leaf. Or JaMarcus Russell.

For the record, for those of you with Keeper and/or Dynasty Leagues, I’m gonna keep an eye on Mason Rudolph. Drafted by The Steelers, you don’t know how long Big Ben intends to keep playing, and he has missed games with injury, but if he gets the chance to play Rudolph’s got potential to become another Mad Bomber.

As for The Fins, QB Ryan Tannehill was having a good Season in 2016 before he went down with an ACL, actually connecting on long passes. Still don’t think he’ll ever be elite, but frankly The Fins got bigger fish to fry. Drafting a Quarterback would not address their most glaring needs – a new Team Owner, Team President, GM, Scouting Dept., Head Coach, Offensive and Defensive Coordinators, and Miami’s "Welcome Mat" Defense.

Far as I’m concerned, the jury’s still out on Adam Gase. He’s kind of a media darling, but hasn’t shown me he knows what he’s doing. A perfect example is RB Kenyan Drake, who will be popular in Fantasy Drafts this Season. Over the final five games of 2017, Drake led the NFL in rushing, gaining 444 yards, broke some big runs, adding 17 receptions for another 150. Carry those numbers out to a 16 game season it’s 1,400 yards Rushing and 54 Receptions for 480 yards. What most people overlook, the Fins traded Jay Ajayi to Philly, Gase was starting perennial plodder Damien Williams ahead of Drake until the former went out with an injury. This harkens back to the famous Billy Turner, Dallas Thomas incident. Miami had to plug these guys into the O-Line due of injury and they sucked, gave up a couple sacks, sealed a loss. The Fins cut them and the media made a big thing about how Gase was making a statement.

Far as I can tell, the statement Gase was making was apparently: "I’ve got no idea who’s got any talent on my team, nor do I know how to utilize it correctly."

The two big questions for the upcoming Season are:

1.) Who will be the recipient(s) of all the targets that previously went to Jarvis Landry?

2.) Will the Fins D be able to stop anybody at any time, on any down, particularly when the game is on the line?

To replace the aforementioned Landry Miami signed Albert Wilson and Danny Amendola, bought a macaw with orange head feathers that could say: "Throw me the ball! Throw me the ball!" If the team has any brains, however, (see paragraphs 6-8 above) they will direct the majority of these targets at WR Kenny Stills, who has played lights out when they remember to throw him the ball. WR DeVante Parker gets a lot of press, but has yet to fulfill his potential, though he makes one or two incredible plays every year, just to show you how inconsistent he is. I like Albert Wilson, who has upside, but question signing Danny Amendola, who has under-achieved on previous teams. He caught a couple big passes in the Playoffs when Julian Edelman went out, but people tend to forget he was signed by the (Cow) Patties to replace Wes Welker, never lived up to it.

A key in Miami’s passing game may be rookie TE Mike Gesicki. My highest rated Tight End in this year’s Draft, he made absolutely "sick" catches. If he develops he might be worth almost all those targets previously went to Jarvis Landry.

Defensively it’s tough to expect much from The Fins. They used to be the Killer B’s and the No Name D. Now they’re the Welcome Mat Defense. You need to convert a 3rd Down? We don’t care if it’s 3rd and 4, 3rd and 8, 3rd and 14. Just throw it to your Tight End. The Dolphins haven’t covered a Tight End since 1982. I’m still questioning the selection of DB Minkah Fitzpatrick over LB Tremaine Edmunds, hope it doesn’t come back to bite Miami in the butt. Best case scenario they should be able to get after opposing QBs, when the other teams has to pass, but that don’t figure to be often. Their Linebackers could be all but invisible.

Training Camps start opening within a couple weeks. Don’t know how much that will tell us. Still don’t see Ryan Tannehill as a QB1, but he might win this Season’s "Heinz" Award, for he could be playing a lot of catch-up. RB Kenyan Drake is a gamble, but has massive upside if Adam Gase utilizes him to his full potential. (Hence the gamble.) WR Kenny Stills could be great, and DeVante Parker has to show me more before he’s more than a mid-round flyer. Rookie TE Mike Gesicki is definitely worth consideration, especially in Keeper and Dynasty Leagues, for it’s simply a question of how quickly he develops, how much he is targeted.

The only thing to consider about the Dolphin D is how often players on your Fantasy Roster will be playing them.

End.